Scale Rocketry Reference books?
 

Gentlemen,

I am looking to build a reference library of rocketry books to be used for creating scale models. Obviously Rockets of the World and Jack Hagerty's Spaceship Handbook are at the top of the list. But what other rocket books, hopefully with lots of pictures, are at the top of your list?

Looking forward to your responses,

Steve

Bill Gunston's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Rockets and Missiles comes to mind.
-W

Wolf, LOL, great minds think alike! Just ordered it. :)

You will enjoy it. LOTS of pictures.

Here is one that I would add to the library

ttps://www.apogeerockets.com/Rocket_Books_Videos/Books/Model_Rocket_Design_And_Construction?zenid=qode1dh ralqq30ilrjeprlrv37

This just released:http://www.erockets.biz/book-eighte...by-peter-alway/

Plus:

I think Richard Morrow's "Small Sounding Rockets" should be in that library as well.

Some good detail info can be found in this series of books:

http://www.spaceinminiature.com/books/about.html

While primarily intended for plastic modelers, there's a lot of stuff in these books that's useful for detailing flying Scale model rockets as well.

And while the request was for books, if we can allow for a few rolled drawings to be stacked in one of the library's corners, then it's hard to beat these for the key US Space Race subjects:

http://www.realspacemodels.com/drawing-sets

WE used to simply write to NASA and their sounding rocket vendors to get data. Try General Tire and their buyers, Thiokol, and other historical rocket manufacturrs. We got some very high quality photos over the years.

Try a physical letter. Then go outside, the graphics are amazing.

Comrades:

Stay focused, Gus is looking for books. The stuff Jerry is talking about is now available on the Internet and Thiokol is now part of Northrup Grumman.

So for a unicorn of books, try to find the book of rocket drawings by Minakov. Soviet and Russian space launchers and sounding rockets and American sounding rockets, too, with metric dimensions. I've never seen one, but I am reliably informed that it exists. Individual Minakov drawings are in lots of places but I'd love to have that book.

If anyone knows where I could get one . . . well, there might be a finder's fee involved.

Oh, and Gus probably wants one, too.

You can find a few books on our site here: https://www.asp-rocketry.com/ecomme.....cfm?cat_id=22

Peter Alway graciously allowed scanning and publication (for free!!!) of his Art of Scale Model Rocketry. It is available on the NAR website for all (not just NAR members)

Forgot about this one:

John,

I agree. Do you know of a source? I think it's back out of print. :(

[QUOTE=MarkB.

...the book of rocket drawings by Minakov. ...

If anyone knows where I could get one . . . well, there might be a finder's fee involved.

Oh, and Gus probably wants one, too.[/QUOTE]

Mark,

I was extremely lucky to be gifted a set of the physical three volume set by a Russian friend at my very first internats in Serbia 9 years ago. I was subsequently given a CD version of the books (the second CD edition) by Mr. Minakov himself.

Through a very bizarre set of circumstances I actually had the opportunity to sit and chat with Mr. Minakov as we were each waiting to testify in a Bulgarian court 5 years ago. I convinced my English to Bulgarian interpreter and his Russian to Bulgarian interpreter to co-translate for us.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am eternally grateful to those interpreters for accomodating us. It turns out Minakov was really excited that Peter Alway is my friend and we spent most of our time discussing their almost identical difficulties in self-publishing their rocketry books. Minakov had exactly the same problem with his physical books, expensive to produce, then they sit in your basement for years as you slowly try to earn back what you spent.

By the time we talked he had already stopped producing the physical books and had started putting his works on CD. For those who don't know his work, he is the combination G. Harry Stine and Peter Alway of Russia. He was also the world's leading scale judge for international competition. His books detail all one needs to know, both theory and practice, to fly competition rockets, as well as providing truly amazing scale drawings for competitors. Just incredible stuff.

During our talk Vladimir was flabergasted that Peter suffered the same problems. It was just at that point that Pete entered his arrangement with the NAR and I suggested to Mr. Minakov that I would love to talk to them about doing the same for him. Unfortunately that never happened as the Russians did not come to Ukraine and Mr. Minakov's health began to fail.

Since his death two years ago, sales of his CD's, now into a final 3rd edition, have been taken over by the Russian team photographer. Oddly, we just corresponded about 3 weeks ago about trying to get permission from Minakov's family to allow NAR to sell copies of his CD.

I will let you know what I find out.

In the meantime, here is a link to a Russian website with a number of digital copies of Mr. Minakov's drawings. http://www.frms.ru/models/13

Photo below is of Vladimir Minakov examining my daughter's Little Joe 1A model in Slovakia in 2012. A truly remarkable man. May he rest in peace.

OK, Now back to the books. Please remember I am trying to put together a reference library of rockets and missiles, both general works and works specific to a particular rocket or series of rockets.

So far I've been concentrating on the general books. Here is what I've ordered so far (let me know what you think):

Title: Rockets and Missiles of World War III
Author: Berman, Robert Paul

Title: Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Rockets and Missles
Author: Gunston, Bill

Title: Spacecraft: 100 Iconic Rockets, Shuttles, And Satellites That Put Us In Space
Author: Gorn, Michael H./ De Chiara, Giuseppe (ilt)

Title: The Rockets and Missiles of White Sands Proving Ground: 1945-1958
Author: Gregory P. Kennedy

Title: ICBM : The Making of the Weapon That Changed the World
Author: G. Harry Stine

Title: Rockets and Missiles (Army Library)
Author: Nicholas, John

Title: The Rockets' Red Glare: An Illustrated History of Rocketry Through the Ages
Author: Wernher von Braun; Frederick I. Ordway III

Title: Missiles and Rockets (The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Spaceflight in Colour)
Author: Kenneth Gatland

Title: NASA Sounding Rockets, 1958-1968: A Historical Summary
Author: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Title: Rocket Power and Space Flight
Author: G. Harry Stine

Are these the books by V. Minakov you are looking for? http://www.frms.ru/models/14-minak-book-artcl and http://www.frms.ru/images/stories/f...book/ssmr_2.pdf

Mark,

I can give you access to many of Minakov's drawings . . . Shoot me an email !

Ez2cDave@aol.com

Dave F.

Bruce,

Thanks so much! I couldn't find the link when I posted last night. That is the online version of Minakov's last physical books, 1st edition of the CD. Turns out he subsequently produced more drawings which were included in the later editions. Nice thing about the online version is you can Google Translate it and read his incredibly in-depth explanations of various topics. We spent a fair amount of time going over his piston descriptions.

Steve

The most comprehensive book I have on this subject is: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Space Technology By Kenneth Gatland 1981 Harmony Books - New York.
Every Major Space Launch Vehicle listed per County with Spec's. 3 fold -outs with illustrations of rockets for comparison and showing system components, a real good source info.

About $4.00, with free shipping, on eBay right now . . .

I just bought one for my library ( the 1990 revised edition ), in "very good" condition !

It was copyrighted in 1981 and published in 1984 & 1990.

Dave F.

Rockets and Missiles of WW III
 

I just went looking to see if I still had a copy of that book but did not find it. (Don't remember if I already got rid of it.) IIRC, it was not a great source of scale data, having only "beauty shot"-style photographs of missiles and no scale drawings.

On the other hand, I can strongly recommend Soviet/Russian Aircraft Weapons Since World War Two by Yefim Gordon, published by Midland back in 2004. ISBN 1 85780 188 1. Lots of large, clearly rendered profile drawings from which measurements can be pulled. Lots of good photos. Good coverage of most Russian current air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground, cruise, and even post-WW II buzzbomb test missiles. Three thumbs up!

Dave,

Thanks! Really a great suggestion! In addition to volumes that cover the usual suspects I'm particularly interested in stuff we don't normally see. So, thanks again!

Steve

If anyone would like a "nice collection" of books, shoot me an email and a Dropbox invitation will be on the way . . .

Ez2cDave@aol.com

I'm not going to list them, but no one should be disappointed . . . Besides, the "price is right" - LOL !

Dave F.

Drawing the Rigel(s).

Does anyone have this book in their personal library collection?

Nope. But it's on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4028926377...CYAAOSwXQpgt0Q7

Yep. A decent book, lots of background material on the history of cruise missiles. Covers (chapters are) USAF, Navy, Intercontinental, Hound Dog, Air-Launched Cruise Missile, Tomahawk (3 chapters), Advanced Cruise Missile (was canceled), and future. Many photos but not a photo only book.

I was curious if it had any additional information on the Rigel other than rehashing the same info found in Gunston's ROCKET & MISSILES.

The Rigel development had some interesting prototype designs.

Two very brief mentions, just to say that Grumman was to develop it and that the program was canceled. Supposed to be a Mach 2 supersonic vehicle powered by a pair of Marquardt ramjet engines. Both mentions of it immediately goes into a discussion of the Regulus. There is one concept drawing.

I was hoping that maybe something new was in there.
That same image of the blue tactical version was in Gunston.
I have that one drawn already but the source shop blueprint does not show those funky hexagon fin tip plates.

I had similar prototype differences when researching the Grumman Eagle missile.
So I drew both versions.

A little more info on the Rigel program here:
http://www.designation-systems.net/...p1/ssm-n-6.html
The same images are in Gunston's book. I've been planning to scratch the orange test vehicle for some years now. Have the balsa ramjet nose cone set aside.

Gus, for a comprehensive directory of US military rockets and missiles you can't beat this site:
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/index.html
Only thing missing is dimensional drawings. But hey, military so, you know...
Laters.

There is an actual RIGEL hanging from the ceiling at The Cradle of Aviation Museum.

Here is some useful data for your future model.

Enjoy!

Outstanding!
Thanks Chris.

Chris,

Thanks for mentioning the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Long Island. Not a museum I hear mentioned very often but some interesting rockets and space artifacts.

My favorite there is Block One Command Module 002 which was flown on top of Little Joe 2 A-004, the one we all model. For reasons completely unclear it is painted in A-004 livery, but is displayed as having just landed in the water with a parachute draped over it (see photo). Again, for no apparent reason, the parachute is one of the three from Apollo 15. ???

Not that I would ever advocate such a thing but the display butts right against a short little rail which practically begs you to touch A-004 and the parachute. So, again, not that I'm suggesting such a thing, but if you yearn to touch an actual very historic flown spacecraft you may have actually modeled, one that isn't hermetically sealed in plastic, this is your place. :rolleyes:

They also have Lunar Module 13 there, meant for Apollo 19, and the very cool Lunar Module Trainer. the Lunar Modules were built just up the road at Grumman's Bethpage facility.

One final item I recall, again for no explainable reason, was the command pilot (McDivitt's) hatch from Gemini IV, hanging on a wall at the Cradle of Aviation museum. My understanding is that it has since been recalled by the Smithsonian to be reattached to Gemini IV. Ya think? Gotta love the Smithsonian and how they display flown spacecraft. Absolutely a wonderment. :confused:

I enjoyed reading it some years ago. But I get ANY book written by an Apollo astronaut pretty much as a rule. Well, Mercury or Gemini astronaut too. Not so much for the shuttle astros, though I have read several of those as well.

Earl

I found a few items . . .

TWO of the images of the model on the launcher are MUCH larger.

Dave F.

A lot of these museum curators now are more like interior decorators than historians... they create their displays in a way to create "drama" or be visually interesting not necessarily for the best observation, presentation of the historical artifact, or even historical accuracy or preservation of the artifact itself. IOW that's what happens when museums are expected to become cash cows rather than existing as repositories of knowledge and artifacts for display. It's why the NASA visitor centers are visually interesting and even striking in some cases, but historically often inaccurate or rife with errors-- NASA farmed out their visitor centers to independent contractor companies "edu-tainment" type outfits a long time ago, and thus while they have more "appeal" to passing tourists they're often not particularly concerned with historical accuracy, etc.

Later! OL J R :)

WOW has that place grown!!! Years ago I stopped there when it was just part of a hangar at the municipal airport in Weatherford, OK, when I was returning from a trip out east via Lubbock to visit my sister when she was in college at Texas Tech. General Stafford was from Weatherford originally and of course he had a distinguished military and NASA career, including the joint US/Soviet spaceflights of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) which was the last flight of the Apollo, along with Deke Slayton who finally got to fly into space on ASTP. They had a lot of Soviet stuff there too as General Stafford became good friends with Alexei Leonov who was the commander of the Soviet Soyuz that docked with Apollo on ASTP, whom had donated quite a bit of material to Stafford's museum.

If Stafford has a book out I'd sure buy it! OL J R :)

Yes me too... I get every astronaut book I can lay my hands on, but I prefer the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo books, shuttle program history is secondary IMHO... like everything shuttle related, it's not as good as its predecessors... OL J R :)