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SCALE: Unknown |
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INITIAL RELEASE: 1993 |
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MEDIUM: Paper/Plastic |
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RARITY: (3) |
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ABOUT THE DESIGN |
ABOUT THE KIT |
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In the late 1980s, McDonnell
Douglas set to work on the development of a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle
that could replace the clumsy and very expensive space shuttle. By
1993, they had their answer: The DC-Y "Space Clipper." Like
classic rocketships of the 1950s, the DC-Y was designed to lift off and
land vertically. Like today's commercial airliners, it was supposed
to ferry both passengers and cargo and could be prepped for flight in as
little as 24 hours. And its designers said it could do it all for a
cost that was 90 percent less than flying the Shuttle. In 1996, McDonnell Douglas -- now under contract with NASA --successfully test-flew the DC-X, a one-third-size technology demonstrator capable of taking off, hovering, and then landing vertically. Although the test was hailed as the beginning of a new era in space travel, budget cutbacks and resource reallocation soon resulted in the cancellation of this ambitious and potentially valuable program. |
This flying model of the
conceptual DC-Y was released by Quest in 1993. Components
consisted of a cardboard inner-frame, printed paper aeroshroud and a plastic
nose. The exhaust nozzles and landing legs were likewise paper. Although not a true representation of the actual Space Clipper -- its nose is far too sharp and narrow -- it remains one of the few models, flying or static, of this historic concept, one that one day may be resurrected. This model was built from an original issue. |
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Original Box Art |
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Concept Spacecraft |
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