Reban Moon Rocket Indawo 17 and Indawo 18 (completed model on page 5)

[nönöbär]

The final version of the crew modules/lander. I will not detail it more because the printed one is not too big. Have to reprint it as the engines were too fragile when being printed, have to strengthen them a bit.



Lander and service module


Did I say the final version? I played around a bit with it and modified it again. I like the right one better, but printed both versions of it.



And with the painted test model, I liked @Weaver 's idea of a wooden heat shield, so I painted it this way. I think I use it.



And here is the little backstory about it:
In the early days of the Reban space program, engineers faced the challenge of safely returning spacecraft through Icin's dense atmosphere. Lacking advanced ceramics, they turned to nature—and found their solution in the bark of the Tharnok tree, native to Icin's polar forests. This remarkable tree had evolved a thick, fibrous outer layer that could withstand extreme temperatures from solar flares and volcanic gases. Reban scientists discovered that, when treated and layered correctly, Tharnok bark could char in a controlled way, dissipating heat while protecting the underlying structure—an ablative effect similar to human heat shields.

The material, lightweight and abundant, became the standard for early re-entry capsules and orbital gliders. Known as Tharnok shield, it was celebrated as a symbol of harmony between technology and nature. Even after synthetic materials became available, many Reban spacecraft continued to include ceremonial Tharnok panels as a tribute to their beginnings—an emblem of ingenuity rooted in the forests of Icin.

[Weaver]

I'm honoured.       

I appreciate that this project is as much an exercise in style as in function, but for what it's worth, I like the one with tip fins better. An awful lot of real life spaceplane designs, including some of the most serious ones, have had tip fins, although the obvious exception is the Space Shuttle. I suspect the latter's double-delta planform meant it got sufficient flow (or vortices) over the fin at high angles of attack (characteristic of reentry), and that meant the structural advantages of a single tail won out over tip fins in the same way they tend to do for normal aircraft. For more "flying Dorito" shapes, tip fins are de rigeur, if anything even more vertical than the ones on your model. I'm not sure where your design would come on this spectrum: on the one hand, it's fairly fat and so might blank fuselage fins, on the other, it does have sharp wing-root joins which look well positioned to throw a pair of handy vortices over your twin tails, F-18 style.

[NARSES2]

I do like that  and yes, I prefer the version with the tip fins as well.

[nönöbär]

All parts of the first stage are now painted and can be assembled.


First stage complete


The engines of the first stage

[Old Wombat]

Yup! Excellent, as expected!  

[NARSES2]

That's superb 

[nönöbär]

The other stages are now ready for assembling:

Stage 2:




Stage 3:




I used a new decal paper here. Which is quite good as it is very thing. And which is quite bad as it is very thin. Needed >6 attempts to add the decals, luckily I had printed enough of them

Service Module:




In the meantime, I continued to paint the first variation of the crew module. Worked quite good with the wooden heat shield.

[zenrat]

I luuuuurve that tubby little crew module.  Better than the other one IMO.
 

[Old Wombat]

Yeah, this wing & fin design of the crew module looks better for the tubby form. 

The wing-tip fin variant would look better if it was a flying wing design. 

[nönöbär]

Well, I will build both variants as I already have printed them , each for a special use case. Wait for the backstory

[Weaver]

Yes, the V-tailed one is more in keeping with the aesthetic, but the tip-fin one is more aerodynamically plausible. An interesting balancing act.

[zenrat]

Aesthetics first in my book.
But to each his (or her, thank you Reg) own.

[NARSES2]

I really do like this project   

Aesthetics first in my book.

Same here sir 

[Weaver]

Time to eat a bit of humble pie here. This was apparently a real proposal by Lockheed, under the designation OSP202:



It's apparently fairly recent, being a stage in the evolution of the Orion craft for the cancelled Constellation programme. Of course Orion eventually ended up as a ballistic capsule, not a spaceplane.

Note that the model in the pic is NOT a genuine contractor's model: it was made in the Phillipines and spotted on Ebay.

Secret Projects thread:
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/lockheed-martin-orbital-space-plane-osp.1098/#post-35552

[nönöbär]

@Weaver: I can guarantee that the Rebans did not know about this Lockheed design when they started to design their lander in 2004. Would have been difficult at all since they are 1426 light years away and did not hat faster then light technology at that time