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1:288 ITHACUS SSTO Troop Transport Kit from FP

2K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  Steve H 
#1 · (Edited)
We've just released our 1:288 kit of Douglas Aircraft's ITHACUS SSTO troop transport concept from 1966. This massive reusable spacecraft was designed to ferry a full battalion (1,200 troops) anywhere in the world within 90 minutes.

The kit was mastered in CAD by Paul Roberts and cast by BLAP! Models. Decals are by JBOT, and provide for a variety of military and civilian marking schemes.

When completed, the kit stands almost 9 inches high. A launch pad/display stand is included.

The kit sells for $125.00 plus postage. See more here:

http://fantastic-plastic.com/IthacusSSTOCatalogPage.htm

Thanks for looking!
 
#9 ·
What a blast from the past, I remember finding the book "Frontiers of Space" by Bono Gatland in my H.S. library in 1974. I must have checked out that book a dozen times over the next four years, there are a lot of neat "what if" spacecraft designs in there. I recently thought about that book and found one in near perfect condition minus the full color slipcover on e-bay. The troop transport was one of the many designs pictured in it. One thing that always bugged me about this design is that it held 1200 soldiers but only the flight crew had an escape pod, this was true on the commercial passenger version as well.

Thanks for the heads-up on that book, I did a little search on Alibris, found a copy at a price I felt reasonable, and just got it.

Holy crud it's like a catalog of potential kits from Fantastic Plastic, isn't it? :)

but Ken...buddy, friend, how could you not have shown us page 71 of that book?! Troops gliding down slides! Vehicles being winched down! JETPACKS! B-70s on patrol! It's like every 'atomic battlefield' dream I've had in one painting!

And they were to be potentially launched from the decks of a specially fitted nuclear powered aircraft carrier?!?!?! Now THERE is something I'd like to see tackled. FP might want to crank out a 1/700 scale kit of the Ithacus just for fun...
 
#6 ·
It's a lovely thing, and that looks like a nice kit. Naturally it has a tragic flaw in that you'd have to have COMPLETE air superiority and be on the lookout for anyone toting around a Stinger shoulder-fired missile equivalent.

OTOH it would be pretty good if your battlefield had a secure rear area and the troops were re-enforcements and not first on the beach. I'm guessing this would be used on the 'Atomic Battlefield' as we pushed in to invade Russia and end the Commie Threat... :)
 
#8 ·
#10 ·
Never heard of that Frontiers of Space book by Bono Gatland but will definitely be chasing it up! Good to see more models like the transporter becoming available.

Not such a great idea though in practice. Not only could it be shot down but you could loose a whole battalion at launch if something went wrong, rockets still blow up at launch today after all. Guess just the design showed the faith in technological advances in those days.
 
#12 ·
Isn't that just some of the most amazing conceptual art you've ever seen? I can see at least 3 problems with launching HLLVs from a carrier but it doesn't matter because that's thinking BIG, brothers.

And I just noticed with the troop disembarking painting, there's a whole bunch of them just working their way down rope ladders, long, LONG rope ladders. Oh, THAT would be safe, huh? :)

So, what, just the officers get the escape slide?
 
#13 ·
I just ordered a copy of that book--incredible stuff! Very inspirational and, I think, will prove very accurate in terms of the looks of the spaceships that actually put man permanently in space in a commercially viable manner.
 
#14 ·
In those heady days of the late '50s to 1969, ANYTHING was possible. All it would have taken is the will to make it happen.

Just think of the money Douglas and Convair and North American et al were putting into speculation, even to the point of rough design planning. Think of Boeing, a HAIR away from having the X-20 built and flying tests. Spending money like water because Space was going to be the new thing.

And then it stopped. Somehow actually landing men on the Moon and returning them to Earth safely ended up putting out the fire, not building it. Makes me sad.
 
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