UFO vanes 15/16?

Hi Folks,

I've just been looking through some back issues of Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Modelling and in issue 53, their UFO special, I stumbled across the
following text;

"Exploding a Myth.
Many blueprints of the title craft from the series that have originated
from various sources since the '70s depict the UFO as having an
asymmetrical gap in its vane structure - i.e.: when viewing top and
bottom plans there is a gap at a point on the circumference of the body
that spaces the vanes on either side of that gap further apart from each
other than any of the other vanes are - giving the impression that a
vane is missing. In fact, that is exactly the case! A Japanese kit of
the UFO released in the early seventies has a vane missing and seems to
be the originator of the misconception, the company's modellers
obviously having worked from shots of a studio miniature (shots of this
particular model can be found elsewhere in this magazine) which had had
one of its vanes broken off. To set the record straight all gaps between
the vanes on the original models were uniformly spaced around the body
(as correctly depicted by SF-FX researcher Phil Rae in his blueprint of
some years ago) - replica builders take note."

You probably have already heard all this, but I thought in light of the
excellent instructions on how to build a UFO Mark Davies has kindly
posted and the subsequent comments, this might be of interest.

I also checked through the book 21st Century Visions (Paper Tiger) and
in the quotes from Derek Meddings about how he designed and built the
UFO models and the mechanism, etc. he points out that the motor which
spun the UFO was so sensitive that they couldn't tilt the model because
the weight had to be perfectly balanced to allow the motor to turn. That
could also imply that a 16th vane would be needed.

Cheers,

Kevin Bulmer





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

If that's the case, how come the template/guide sheet
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHADO/files/Miniature%20UFO%20Model%">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHADO/files/Miniature%20UFO%20Model%
20/template 26 DES.bmp
supposedly drawn by Derek Meddings shows a plan view of the "paddle
array" indicating a specific gap?

Rob

--- In [hidden email], "Kevin Bulmer" <kevin@s...> wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I've just been looking through some back issues of Sci-Fi & Fantasy
> Modelling and in issue 53, their UFO special, I stumbled across the
> following text;
>
> "Exploding a Myth.
> Many blueprints of the title craft from the series that have
originated
> from various sources since the '70s depict the UFO as having an
> asymmetrical gap in its vane structure - i.e.: when viewing top and
> bottom plans there is a gap at a point on the circumference of the
body
> that spaces the vanes on either side of that gap further apart from
each
> other than any of the other vanes are - giving the impression that a
> vane is missing. In fact, that is exactly the case! A Japanese kit
of
> the UFO released in the early seventies has a vane missing and
seems to
> be the originator of the misconception, the company's modellers
> obviously having worked from shots of a studio miniature (shots of
this
> particular model can be found elsewhere in this magazine) which had
had
> one of its vanes broken off. To set the record straight all gaps
between
> the vanes on the original models were uniformly spaced around the
body
> (as correctly depicted by SF-FX researcher Phil Rae in his
blueprint of
> some years ago) - replica builders take note."
>
> You probably have already heard all this, but I thought in light of
the
> excellent instructions on how to build a UFO Mark Davies has kindly
> posted and the subsequent comments, this might be of interest.
>
> I also checked through the book 21st Century Visions (Paper Tiger)
and
> in the quotes from Derek Meddings about how he designed and built
the
> UFO models and the mechanism, etc. he points out that the motor
which
> spun the UFO was so sensitive that they couldn't tilt the model
because
> the weight had to be perfectly balanced to allow the motor to turn.
That

If that's the case, how come the template/guide sheet
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHADO/files/Miniature%20UFO%20Model%">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHADO/files/Miniature%20UFO%20Model%
20/template 26 DES.bmp
supposedly drawn by Derek Meddings shows a plan view of the "paddle
array" indicating a specific gap?

Rob

--- In [hidden email], "Kevin Bulmer" <kevin@s...> wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I've just been looking through some back issues of Sci-Fi & Fantasy
> Modelling and in issue 53, their UFO special, I stumbled across the
> following text;
>
> "Exploding a Myth.
> Many blueprints of the title craft from the series that have
originated
> from various sources since the '70s depict the UFO as having an
> asymmetrical gap in its vane structure - i.e.: when viewing top and
> bottom plans there is a gap at a point on the circumference of the
body
> that spaces the vanes on either side of that gap further apart from
each
> other than any of the other vanes are - giving the impression that a
> vane is missing. In fact, that is exactly the case! A Japanese kit
of
> the UFO released in the early seventies has a vane missing and
seems to
> be the originator of the misconception, the company's modellers
> obviously having worked from shots of a studio miniature (shots of
this
> particular model can be found elsewhere in this magazine) which had
had
> one of its vanes broken off. To set the record straight all gaps
between
> the vanes on the original models were uniformly spaced around the
body
> (as correctly depicted by SF-FX researcher Phil Rae in his
blueprint of
> some years ago) - replica builders take note."
>
> You probably have already heard all this, but I thought in light of
the
> excellent instructions on how to build a UFO Mark Davies has kindly
> posted and the subsequent comments, this might be of interest.
>
> I also checked through the book 21st Century Visions (Paper Tiger)
and
> in the quotes from Derek Meddings about how he designed and built
the
> UFO models and the mechanism, etc. he points out that the motor
which
> spun the UFO was so sensitive that they couldn't tilt the model
because
> the weight had to be perfectly balanced to allow the motor to turn.
That

I have no opinion on this either way. I only took the trouble to type
all of that copy in to share it with the group. I didn't expect to find
the entire paragraph replicated around the newsgroup several times
afterwards!

You are probably right that there could be all sorts of reasons,
aesthetic and practical, for leaving a gap in the vanes.

I had passed other comments about this but my email seems to have been
deleted. Something I said, perhaps?

Cheers,

Kevin

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: 23 January 2004 19:06
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SHADO] Re: UFO vanes 15/16?

If that's the case, how come the template/guide sheet
<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHADO/files/Miniature%20UFO%20Model%">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHADO/files/Miniature%20UFO%20Model%
20/template 26 DES.bmp
supposedly drawn by Derek Meddings shows a plan view of the "paddle
array" indicating a specific gap?

Rob

> I had passed other comments about this but my email seems to have been
> deleted. Something I said, perhaps?

Ummm... either it didn't make it to Yahoogroups, or possibly it was
repetitive... I've noticed in recent days, some folks have been
posting essentially the same thing over and over, and I've deleted
posts which I considered redundant.

Also, some folks have posted things slamming other series, which
I've also deleted, because saying negative things about off-topic
subjects usually escalates into something nasty (and off-topic)

Marc

> If that's the case, how come the template/guide sheet
> <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHADO/files/Miniature%20UFO%20Model%">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHADO/files/Miniature%20UFO%20Model%
> 20/template 26 DES.bmp
> supposedly drawn by Derek Meddings shows a plan view of the "paddle
> array" indicating a specific gap?

That template was drawn in the past few months by someone here, NOT
Derek Meddings! As far as I know, Derek never drew blueprints of
anything -- he just did artist sketches.

Marc

Well my comment to which you have responded hasn't made it to me; so
perhaps it reached the group but I didn't see it.

I certainly haven't slammed anybody or anything to my knowledge.

Cheers,

Kevin


> I had passed other comments about this but my email seems to have been
> deleted. Something I said, perhaps?

Ummm... either it didn't make it to Yahoogroups, or possibly it was
repetitive... I've noticed in recent days, some folks have been
posting essentially the same thing over and over, and I've deleted
posts which I considered redundant.