David B's offer of referenece material and long wish list.

[davbro01]

Hello Everyone,

My name is David B. and I am the "space enthusiast" who has collected a "small" library of the rare, eclectic space technology documents. 12 months ago, while researching the topic of paper models, I learned about your forum and have used it on occasion to "track down" the designs of a handful of models. Jleslie recently posted a message on the forum, explaining about me and the list of space documents. Jleslie is a highly educated man with a Masters in Mathematics. I too and educated, with a Masters in Education - and when I contacted him, I looked upon him as a fellow "paper model intellectual" who would both appreciate the information that I was offering and who would provide advice as to what I should [ethically] do with it to assist the paper modeling community.

I work as a teacher and I originally became interested in paper models as a means of using them in my classroom - to teach about history, science and mathematics. Over the last two years, I have been investigating the topic of paper modeling and I have become enamored with the skill and satisfaction necessary to create such magnificent models. When I began to use them as part of the lessons (having the students construct their own models) I discovered that paper model making also teaches students the ethical and moral values of patience, perseverance, attention to detail, controlled demeanor, endurance (both mental and physical) and concentration. In short - the paper model [community] actively contributes to the continued progress and advancement of the education of the next generation of humanity. However, I no longer look upon such "craft and hobby" activities merely as a form of educational skill development. I now enjoy paper model making for its own sake.

On the subject of the PDF library, I emailed the list of documents to Jleslie because I have become frustrated at the lack of paper models that demonstrate the various spacecraft that "could have been and remain still to be realised". Unfortunately, the number of paper models that actually deal with the [as yet] unbuilt concepts is extremely rare, the vast majority deal only with the spacecraft that actually have been built, not the design concepts that were rejected by the various Space Agencies. Examples include: the various spacecraft that could have been built had the Apollo Project been continued, if the use of Single-Stage-to-Orbit spacecraft had been accepted by the Aerospace industry as "the next logical step", if the International Space Station had been built as a "mobile space station" that could have been used as a deep-space vehicle or even as a complete 100-ton lunar base, if the Soviet space program had built the MAKS spaceplane and evolved it into an air-launched SSTO shuttlecraft, if nuclear rockets had been politically acceptable for use in a lunar shuttle transportation system, etc.

All these designs, although as yet unbuilt in reality, could be built by paper model enthusiasts - if the paper model designs are eventually made available. This would enable all of us to experience the joy and awe of imagining what the world's space programs could have achieved and what we all may still manage to realize.

In addition to the ones mentioned in the email to Jleslie, I also possess many that were downloaded (and are no longer publicly available). One group of documents is from the SICSA School of Space Architecture (at Houston University) and details what post-graduate space architecture students have researched as part of their Masters and PH.D thesis work. The other group of [now unavailable] documents is from NASA which contains the actual Powerpoint/PDF documents that were used in the presentation to NASA personnel in 2005 as part of the Project Constellation CEV design assessment process. These documents explain the various alternatives that NASA rejected in favor of the current Orion CEV. The links to numerous documents are now no longer active - leaving the people in the paper modeling community without any means of obtaining this information... unless I make it available.

I am at a loss as to what to do with the documents in my possession. Many contain detailed schematics (with accurate measurements) of the various spacecraft. Others, at least, contain finely detailed illustrations that would enable a skilled paper modeler to extrapolate the measurements and recreate a 3D paper model.

Bear in mind that if any of these paper models that designed and made available to the public, they could very well end up in one of my classrooms - being used to broaden the minds of my students.

What should I do with my documents? Give them all to Jleslie?

When I sent my email to him, he was at a loss as to what to do and responded by asking all of you for advice. I have had no success in getting in contact with any of the other paper modelers listed on Jleslie's web site (except for Alphonso's AXM Paper Shuttle web page - he's very helpful). Could anyone help with advice in this matter? Whom to contact perhaps, other paper modelers whose names I have not yet discovered?

Your response would be appreciated.

Yours faithfully,
David B.

[merzo]

Hi everyone.

I read a small spacecraft in real debate has not been achieved.
MAKS model may help to build what I found.

Free download from the AN-225, 1 / 120 size / beta versions. Generous donation to the Russian developer: ??-225 ???? (4) - ?????????? ??????? - ???????? ????? - ????? ??????????, ???????? ??????, ??????? ?? ??????, ?????? ?? ???????.

Bottle Design: 4.1 Siatki .... Maybe?

MAKS: Maybe Buran conversion?

Good work Merzo

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Hi David,
Welcome in our community. Good story and explanation. The idea you have of trying to get these documents of 'what-ifs' known to a wider audience is a good one. Apart from the copyrights here and there, it's good to know there is someone with a broad database of information about prematurely cancelled but promising space projects.

Perhaps it is an idea to just have them at hand, when designers want to study a model they then know where to go to.
I personally have no experience yet with designing. Unfortunately I do not have the knowledge to work with 3D or 2D CAD apps. Perhaps now you're here it might be easier to contact people like Leo. He can sometimes be found here.

Most of the designers perhaps are also often working on the well-known stuff like Saturns and Atlases because the material you have and talk about is rare and difficult to find. The Up-Ship stuff is known, of course, but these more obscure drawings are perhaps a new oasis of designs.
I hope so.
That MAKS shuttle for example is a good example. A while ago I made an early proposed version of Skylab and that also was done from just one grainy sketch.

The more info there is to be found on designs and lesser known space projects, the better.

[Retired_for_now]

David,
For those that are not copyright/proprietary, you might look at offering them to Google books, uploading them to the cloud at Google docs, or check with the Gutenberg project to see if they are interested.
If you're really ambitious, you could write a Wikipedia article with pictures/diagrams for each "what if" spacecraft or project citing the material you have. You can also add to existing Wiki articles on the topics.
Copyrighted items you'll have to hold or physically transfer (your local library or educational institution?) to a repository - great resource to answer questions as they come up.

Yogi

[davbro01]

To whom it may concern,

Having studied at university and been "drilled" in the correct procedures of referencing [in assignments and thesis documents], I have come to the conclusion that it is acceptable to "pass on" portions of my documents.

I went to my university library and inquired as to the precise (legal) definition of "copying and plagiarism". According to international copyright law, an individual may copy a maximum of 10% of the total quantity (pages) of information or one full chapter of a book/document - whichever quantity is less, provided that the information is not to be used for commercial purposes and is for the education of the recipient.

In other words, I can copy the technical drawings (with a few sentences of an explanation) and then email them to another person as long as:

a) I do not exceed the copyright limit, and
b) the recipient only uses the information for an "educational purpose".

As long as I send my technical schematics and illustrations to other paper modelers who only make their model designs available for free and do not attempt to sell them, then everyone will be legally "in the clear". No-one will be liable for prosecution because the pastime of paper modeling is a personal craft activity with educational value; eg, in my classroom.

This means that Ton Noteboom et al can now utilize my documents to "upgrade" their existing models and to begin the process of creating models for the unbuilt concepts.

Yours faithfully,
David Brown.

[cgutzmer]

OK - before this gets out of hand....

First welcome to the forums and I look forward to seeing possible models of these subjects designed. I was personally drawn to the same one as goodduck.

To everyone reading this thread:
With that said I want to mention that you should not give advice as to what is legal and what is not legal in regards to copyright law. These laws are all different around the world and it's up to the lawyers and judges to determine what is breaking the law and what is not breaking the law for their particular countries. We already have countless threads about copyright law questions. I understand you are just joining the site and are likely unaware so this is not directed at you but rather my attempt - hopefully not in vain of getting the thread back on topic about the models and wish list.

If you are going to be sharing reference materials its my suggestion to exercise as much caution as possible when its unclear whether the materials in question are part of the public domain. If you got most of these documents and such off the net sharing the locations of these docs rather than the documents themselves would be the safe way to go. This way the designer will also gain access to perhaps other valuable references (assuming the site is legit)

I would tend to err on the side of caution given the amount of litigation in our society these days....
Thanks
Chris
p.s. I have not read the teaser link yet but I hope to see some of these models get designed!