I'll say this for you chaps -
You know how to build the suspense.
LOHAN preps Vulture 2 for hot vinyl wrap
The Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) team has some good news and some bad news today. The good news is that we've finished the paint element of of Vulture 2 spaceplane's livery, and it looks absolutely magnificent. The bad news, for you lot at least, is that we're not going to show our beloved readers just how …
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Friday 28th March 2014 10:28 GMT Anonymous Coward
You reckon?
"So, as you read this, the rocket ship is aboard a vessel somewhere between Bilbao and Portsmouth, ploughing inexorably forwards towards......"
a meeting with the busybodies of customs, immigration, "anti-terrorist" police, the bomb squad, all of whom will ask you difficult questions about whether you have a licence for this, whether you realise that even thinking about rockets is illegal under some dubious interpretation of a poorly drafted law rushed though in 2001, whether your dad was ever in Al Quaeda, and such like.
And as the courts have proven, it's quite OK for armed plod to shoot anybody they want, any time, for no good reason at all, and to walk away scot free. Or to taser you, even if you're blind, mentally ill, or under the age of criminal responsibility.
So good luck, gents, but look out for the welcoming committee, all of whom are there to "keep us safe".
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Friday 28th March 2014 11:04 GMT Sir Sham Cad
Re: You reckon?
"busybodies of customs, immigration, "anti-terrorist" police, the bomb squad"
At Portsmouth continental ferry port? Bwahahaha!
No, they all got downsized as part of the War on Public Sector Jobs. That and Pompey CFP is dying on its arse.
You might get one bloke from Group 4 on minimum wage who can't be arsed to look up from his copy of Heat magazine from 2008.
I reckon SPB could get an actual vulture through there if they wanted.
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Friday 28th March 2014 19:27 GMT Blofeld's Cat
Re: cheapskates!
"... flown over on the back of a Jumbo Jet"
Assuming the Antonov 225 was unavailable...
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Friday 28th March 2014 21:38 GMT PC Paul
Re: How much does this wrap weigh?
It's a weird thing with planes, especially gliders, which this essentially is - after a looong balloon phase and a few seconds of rocket powered terror, anyway. Weight makes them go faster. A given airframe will have a certain glide ratio, i.e. it will go a certain distance forwards for every amount it drops. Within sane limits this ratio is constant, so if you make it heavier it drops faster, therefore it has to fly forwards faster. With radio controlled gliders it's common to add lead or even tungsten ballast to really get the weight up. Full size gliders use water so they can easily ditch it.
In this case there are other factors that come into play. The vinyl will make the surface smoother which will help especially at very high speeds. The weight becomes an issue when you have to lift it with a balloon to ridiculous heights. But it also makes it tougher - I have a foam flying wing covered with vinyl which is super tough and super fast, at the expense of needing a really good day to go gliding.
I just want to see this thing FLY!
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
