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Anyone grow up near one of the battery sites? http://ed-thelen.org/index.html#loc (http://ed-thelen.org/index.html#loc)
I got curious about one local to me and our infamous Hessian Bill cranked out some parts to mess with, based on this Thingverse offering scaled down to work with ROCO Minitanks. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2996936 (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2996936)
Looks to be a reworking of the old Renwal kit. Ever wonder why these two guys are hauling butt?
(https://i.imgur.com/F1jYOPj.jpg)
After reading this, I think the background illustrates a normal day of accidents and not a launch scramble.
http://www.nikemissile.org/dangers_working_on.shtml (http://www.nikemissile.org/dangers_working_on.shtml)
Quarter for scale.
(https://i.imgur.com/j80pUNa.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/MYRzDJ1.jpg)
One I'll do static on it's launcher, the other possibly 'in flight' (anyone got a Tupolev bomber that needs chasing?)
https://youtu.be/D_tSIlMdZok (https://youtu.be/D_tSIlMdZok)
If I feel *really* ambitious, repurpose the booster (see http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=7630.msg138948#msg138948 (http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=7630.msg138948#msg138948) )
Nike Hercules and Ajax comparisons
(https://i.imgur.com/gRXIU25.jpg)
Launcher details
(https://i.imgur.com/LnMof5J.jpg)
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Missile #1 primed and framed out for display.
(https://i.imgur.com/zwXlDa4.jpg)
Basically, there's two choices for a finished product - all white or white and OD Green.
http://ed-thelen.org/Nike-hercolor.jpg (http://ed-thelen.org/Nike-hercolor.jpg)
Decals are non-existent in smaller scales, but for anyone ambitious enough to make their own here's the Model Rocketry offering
https://stickershock23.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/herc-p.jpg (https://stickershock23.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/herc-p.jpg)
from https://stickershock23.com/product/nike-hercules/ (https://stickershock23.com/product/nike-hercules/)
Want to build one already scaled to 1/72nd?
https://www.shapeways.com/product/CEXEX5RWV/1-72-nike-hercules-missile (https://www.shapeways.com/product/CEXEX5RWV/1-72-nike-hercules-missile)
The 1/35th model seems to be out of stock now
https://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/fmk15106.htm (https://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/fmk15106.htm)
https://www.themodellingnews.com/2018/07/freedoms-new-lil-hercules-135th-scale.html (https://www.themodellingnews.com/2018/07/freedoms-new-lil-hercules-135th-scale.html)
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ISTR that Japan operated Nike-Hercules missiles up until they replaced them with Patriot missiles and launchers I'm real tempted to go for a 1/72 Nike-Hercules and modify it to represent one of the competitors to Patriot for the Japanese program, a combined McDonnell-Douglas/Hughes offering called Nike-Phoenix where Phoenix systems were integrated into an upgraded Nike-Hercules airframe with upgrades to the rocket motors, too (improved solid-fuel formulations).
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I think I remember seeing an Ajax launch site sometime during my youth in the '60s, but I couldn't tell you where. My fatehr worked for Western Electric (now Lucent Technologies, I think) and was an early cyber security expert, sort of - he was one of the folks installing the secured phone lines for the ABM projects on Kwajalein, and later in the Dakotas. This looks like a nifty build, Story.
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This is a cool project! But man, that Nike missile site made me want to take up meth, move into an old trailer park and join Facebook...
I remember seeing LA-43 (http://www.coldwarla.com/la-43.html) in Palos Verdes, when it was active since it overlooked the ocean and it was impressive. IIRC, there was a big radar dome not far away.
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Youse is too kind.
1) Thought about this some, seems to me all those labels and unit insignia were "keep busy" projects for the ADA troops suffering from terminal boredom. My guess is that the missiles were shipped from the factory bone white, so I'll address that with Missile #2.
(https://i.imgur.com/ApTfm1M.jpg)
2) Calling Missile # 1 complete. Display base is a 70's vintage (I think) cork and dark stained wood coaster carefully given a OD green overspray.
Missile contrail is a stiff insulated wire, J-hooked through a tiny hole in the coaster and locked into a second hole on the underside (no glue needed, can do a pic if anyone is really bored and curious). Contrail courtesy the wife's medicine cabinet. Marble top of drum table represents the curvature of the earth.
Fun fact - the missile bobs easily, like one of those Tiki-bar flamingos. Appropriate for the MAD MEN era, no? Ice cube is flouride-free.
I call it the Tupolev Chaser
(https://i.imgur.com/U9LG4VH.jpg)
Bottle for scale.
(https://i.imgur.com/3ImQWdi.jpg)
I know chasers are supposed to follow a real drink, but with Jim Beam you're so damn 'merican you don't need anything else (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX5ZRE26YWM). AmIright?
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...that Nike missile site made me want to take up meth, move into an old trailer park and join Facebook...
You have enough hobbies already, Frank - stay focused.
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Jim Beam Nike rocket fuel - ask for it by name!
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I lived off and on in the Chicago area from about 1962 to 2010. I vaguely remember the missile belts. The various buildings on the sites were made of concrete blocks, and although they were nondescript, were I to see one I would recognize it in an instant.
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I lived off and on in the Chicago area from about 1962 to 2010. I vaguely remember the missile belts. The various buildings on the sites were made of concrete blocks, and although they were nondescript, were I to see one I would recognize it in an instant.
I know what you mean, I remember seeing some as a Cub Scout when we lived around Chicago (moved from there to Texas in the summer of 1962).
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:smiley:
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...that Nike missile site made me want to take up meth, move into an old trailer park and join Facebook...
You have enough hobbies already, Frank - stay focused.
;D
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So in one of those manuals, the Army mentions that the missiles should be launched as close to 90 degrees vertical as possible since the batteries were close to residential areas. We also know there was a fair amount of chaos in those batteries.
WAITING FOR THE NICE MAN FROM THE INSURANCE COMPANY
(https://i.imgur.com/QBXrPW2.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/AS1ozEy.jpg?1)
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Found a nicely built HO scale 1960's vintage ranch house for cheap, and my red light bulb illuminated. (https://i.imgur.com/dcN3db8.jpg?1)
Spare NIKE booster + ranch house = macabre art.
http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=9636.msg180723#msg180723 (http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=9636.msg180723#msg180723)
(https://i.imgur.com/QVpICIc.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/3Z8No5y.jpg?1)
Figured the pretty white paint would have burnt off during flight, leaving only the aluminum and steel behind.
(https://i.imgur.com/XqYJp23.jpg?1)
Less-is-more dissipating exhaust and structural fire from a cotton ball.
Booster didn't print with the fin skirting, so some aluminum foil from the kitchen was drafted as a stand-in.
Roof modified from the inside with a heated screwdriver tip.
Melted plastic became loose shingles.
(https://i.imgur.com/Nr0wDj2.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/cdW6YHQ.jpg?1)
Frame of mind
(https://i.imgur.com/lJXhZWj.jpg?1)
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:smiley: ;D
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Nice concept. :smiley:
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Looks good. It could also be the failed Nike Laundry Delivery Service.
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It's basic - the Booster addition was no more/less detailed than the originally finished model house. Generally, observers are a few feet away from any model railroad display.
(https://i.imgur.com/sH5OKjS.jpg?1)
Probably needs a few more painted figures; uniformed police, a couple of guys in suits or USAF blues and maybe one of those AIRFIX Astronauts to represent the HAZMAT team.
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;D ;D ;D
Mog
>^-.-^<
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Sure,,, them boosters come down somewhere :smiley: ;D
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;D
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Timely history lesson
https://www.app.com/story/news/history/2021/05/27/memorial-day-1958-middletown-nike-missile-explosion/5193403001/?fbclid=IwAR00vO4Ag0G5nSQjKNnzn7BVgB6MvKF39T7QkraMKyZfkAUkGXlXU8rWGeA (https://www.app.com/story/news/history/2021/05/27/memorial-day-1958-middletown-nike-missile-explosion/5193403001/?fbclid=IwAR00vO4Ag0G5nSQjKNnzn7BVgB6MvKF39T7QkraMKyZfkAUkGXlXU8rWGeA)
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Timely history lesson...
Youch! Looks like the folks in your HO rancher got off lightly :o
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No wonder RENWAL did the box cover the way they did.
April 14, 1955, was a good day to not be driving on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. It was also a good day to not be manning the U.S. Army’s Nike missile site at Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County, Md.
At around 12:35 p.m. on that Thursday, one of the 22-foot-tall antiaircraft missiles was accidentally launched from Fort Meade. It traveled three miles before exploding above the parkway, showering the pavement with debris.
“Luckily, no cars were moving along the section of the parkway a half-mile south of the Laurel-Fort Meade overpass when the fragments of the guided missile splattered down,” wrote The Post.
The only injury was to Sgt. Stanley C. Kozak, who was standing near the missile when it took off. He suffered minor burns.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/during-the-cold-war-dc-was-ringed-by-nike-missile-sites-one-had-an-accident/ar-AAPBSFo?ocid=BingNewsSearch (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/during-the-cold-war-dc-was-ringed-by-nike-missile-sites-one-had-an-accident/ar-AAPBSFo?ocid=BingNewsSearch)
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Anyone grow up near one of the battery sites?
Nike LA-40 Launcher
Date Activated: 1956
Date Deactivated: 1963
State: California
Nearest Town: Long Beach Airport (East Spring Street & Clark Avenue now a parking lot)
Defense Area: Los Angeles
Coordinates:
Latitude: 33°48'35.08"N
Longitude: 118° 8'42.81"W
Decimal:
Latitude: 33.809744
Longitude: -118.145225
GPS:
Latitude: 33 48.5846666666667
Longitude: -118 8.7135
Visited it on a Saturday in 1962 part of Cub Scout group, late baby brother (1955-2016) broke loose, ran towards rocket fueling restricted area, wrestled him to ground, battery closed around when we'd moved from Lakewood, CA 1963.