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Subject: 
Re: Galaxy Explorer the Way it Should Have Been ;o)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.space
Date: 
Sat, 17 Feb 2007 18:46:32 GMT
Viewed: 
5732 times
  
In lugnet.space, Wolf Read wrote:
   In lugnet.space, John P. Henderson wrote:
   Great work. I love being reminded of the space sets that first got me into the theme, as some of the recent posts here have done. ...Still have a couple of X-1 Patrol Crafts myself, kicking around still assembled since days of old...


Thank you. And, yes, I too like the X-1! They are simply cool-looking. I’ve got a couple on my file cabinet, one I made in all white (I like playing with color too much).


Playing with color can be fun. It is Futuron, not true Classic, but I do have a copy of the Stardefender 200 that I built in the Blacktron I color scheme.


  
   But one thing I never understood: How the heck do the space guys fly using only a steering wheel?


I’ve often thought of this. I suppose one can imagine them using a steering wheel in combination with pedals. Or, imagine the steering wheel’s column is movable to allow for pitch control, like on modern aircraft, but with the right computer/electronic support to account for vacuum conditions. This could be simulated with a hinge-brick, btw, that works pretty well. Often, in MOCs, I tend to do away with the steering wheel and leave the piloting to the computers. :o)


Yes, now that I think of it, a single control, if it could move in three dimensions, would work much like the control stick that many aircraft of the early 20th century had. This simplicity meant many safety and navigation issues were left perhaps too much in the hands of the pilot, but at the same time it was relatively easy for a novice to learn how to fly the machine.

...One could move along with that logic and consider the Classic Space craft to be parallel - early pioneering in the technology, wherein the controls were kept simple to allow new pilots to learn quickly. As the small “open canopy” craft might be designed only for space or lunar transport, that meant complex computers were only required in the larger vessels that would need the computational features for entering and exiting a planetary atmosphere...Interesting...

-Hendo



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Galaxy Explorer the Way it Should Have Been ;o)
 
(...) Thank you. And, yes, I too like the X-1! They are simply cool-looking. I've got a couple on my file cabinet, one I made in all white (I like playing with color too much). (...) I've often thought of this. I suppose one can imagine them using a (...) (17 years ago, 16-Feb-07, to lugnet.space, FTX)

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