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If so I would love to see pictures and get advice and suggestions. 

 

They were a fixture in the public consciousness all during the '50s through into the 'late 80s, even if our government went to extraordinary lengths to keep them out of public view. Has anyone modeled one.? 

 

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The photo was copyrighted!

 

I am thinking about my layout's next big project, a "secret missile base" -- the coolest possible thing  to any eight-year old raised in the Sputnik era (particularly the eight-year-old inside me).  So far I have the concept shown below in mind for one of several animated features of this base.  I would not have an actual ICBM, but instead a secret moon mission missile that is kept out of sight so Soviet spy satellites and Smersh can't find it.

 

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Last edited by Rich Melvin
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Lee

 

I have no Moon rockets on my layout.  The seven foot deep silo required to place a Saturn V below the terrain would lead to an undesirable layout height and insufficient ceiling height to raise the booster out of its silo for launch.  Besides, keeping such a large launch vehicle or the facility to launch it "secret" strains the suspension of disbelief.

 

Your drawing and concept for a silo and elevation of the vehicle to the surface prior to launch fits with the Titan I.  An O Scale Titan I would be plausible at about two feet tall.

 

As for me, only Minuteman and Bomarc missiles are allowed on the layout.  If it's not Boeing I'm not going. 

 

 

 

If you want it to be real mysterious just put up some fencing and signs, e.g Area 51A.  Would also be very easy to build.  

 

There used to be a Nike base one town over from where I grew up.  We all knew there was a base and that the radar array was on top of Mt. Nebo and could be seen for miles around.  What we didn't know were the missile pits were about 600 feet east of Route 303 behind some trees.  It was a base and there were guards and fences but I don't think it was common knowledge there were 6 SAM interceptors hiding under the steel plates that looked like covers for fuel storage tanks.  Everyone thought the missiles were on top of the mountain.

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I will look at the Titan Silo site, etc.

 

I realize that a real "moon rocket" would be much too big - as observed about seven feet high -  but keep in mind that this secret rocket base uses "eight-year-old kid technology" - in fact eight-year-old kid 1950s technology.   I figure a roughly 30 inch high rocket with fins and scoops, powered by double-enriched Potensium could easily take six 1:48 Cosmic Commandos to the moon and back.

Titan 1 had an elevator to raise the missile out of the silo like the Atlas launch complexes did.  Titan II and Minuteman were silo launched.  

 

Titan 1 used LOX and kerosene like the Atlas.  Titan II used storable liquid fuel, UMDH/Hydrazine and Nitrogen Tetroxide.  

 

A work crew found out the hard way that you don't want to damage the tankage in a 1980 accident when a dropped socket creased the skin and started a leak.  The fuel ignited and blew the warhead through the silo's blast doors.

Originally Posted by chuck:

Titan 1 had an elevator to raise the missile out of the silo like the Atlas launch complexes did.  Titan II and Minuteman were silo launched.  

 

Titan 1 used LOX and kerosene like the Atlas.  Titan II used storable liquid fuel, UMDH/Hydrazine and Nitrogen Tetroxide.  

 

A work crew found out the hard way that you don't want to damage the tankage in a 1980 accident when a dropped socket creased the skin and started a leak.  The fuel ignited and blew the warhead through the silo's blast doors.

That's right.  Decades ago, when a young engineer, I worked with someone who had designed part of the lift/launch cradle for the Atlas silos.  Without a doubt, launching from inside the silo was faster, etc., but a rocket rising slowly out of the silo to the accompaniment of blinking lights and a wailing siren is, well, just too cool (to that eight-year kid, again) - has to be done, along with the vapor . . .  

 

As for the liquid fuels, the LOX boiling off created the vapor I want to model with the smoke unit. 

Lee,

The picture you posted is the current Minuteman Launch Facility static display of D-09 near Ellsworth AFB, SD.  It was one of 150 such launch facilities, hardened and dispersed across western South Dakota.  All the launch facilities, except D-09 have been deactivated and destroyed.

 

I served in the Air Force at Whiteman AFB, MO, which also supported 150 launch facilities, all have been destroyed.  I worked on a maintenance team that replaced warheads and guidance systems and aided in the R&R of the missile.

 

My plans are to model a Flight of Minuteman Missiles (10 ea) when I start my layout construction.

 

I purchased resin replicas of the Topping Model of the topside of the Minuteman Launch facility from a guy on Ebay.  I purchased 10 to model an actual Flight of missiles.  One or two would do but I am nostalgic about my Air Force service.

 

Here is the link to the Ebay listing.  What he sells can be modified to make the missile appear to be inside the open silo, or to be launched, coming partially out of the silo.  The Minuteman was silo launched so if you model it coming out, it's time to enter your 1950s Civil Defense shelter.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-48-R...;hash=item337f2a1165

 

450 Minuteman 3 Missiles remain on Strategic Alert, supported by three bases in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.

 

Contact me directly if you want to discuss further @ bobgoat67@aol.com.

 

With your modeling skills I'm sure you can make a realistic scene.

 

Best regards,

Bob

The best missile I've seen on a layout is at the end of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbKRbB4Nd4Q&list=PL3Xq503D_mgAwain0pSTz3YMw3qiuWAsx&index=5

 

It's really nothing more than the Lionel launcher concealed. Not very realistic but loads of fun. A realistic model would be pretty out of place since most such launchers were located well away from cities.  

 

A Nike missile site could be interesting. There's a fully restored one just north of San Francisco in the Marin Headlands. http://www.nikemissile.org/

Originally Posted by chuck:

There used to be a Nike base one town over from where I grew up.  We all knew there was a base and that the radar array was on top of Mt. Nebo and could be seen for miles around.  What we didn't know were the missile pits were about 600 feet east of Route 303 behind some trees.  It was a base and there were guards and fences but I don't think it was common knowledge there were 6 SAM interceptors hiding under the steel plates that looked like covers for fuel storage tanks.  Everyone thought the missiles were on top of the mountain.


There was one in a neighboring town where I grew up as well, one of 4 Nike Hercules sites surrounding the Twin Cities (posed to shoot down Russian bombers), and the radar domes could be seen for miles. They used to have annual open houses and we visited on at least one occasion. I remember their computer, such as it was, occupied a refrigerated structure larger than a semi trailer. Of course, it had computing power that was a tiny fraction of a typical laptop today.

 

A missile silo is neat idea. Personally, if I were doing a missile site it would be a Nike site, just because of the memories, which is what a lot of my railroad is about.

when I lived in New York city, the Nike base was part of a multi role Army/Coast

Guard facility-- Fort Totten. one of the major highways was right outside the base's perimiter-- every time you drove by, you could see the launching revetments with the nosecones sticking out in plain view. Those were the days when the public schools still held A bomb drills---  

Because a steel silo tube would likely twist or bend under impact, I recall that when I was working for a cement trade group that we designed a underground concrete missile silo. The concrete silo was actually a series of low-strength concrete tube sections that were designed to collapse under an impact from above. ( I guess the idea was that as we were firing at them the other side was firing at us.) AS the concrete tubes collapsed under impacts they did so uniformly, so the firing tube remained concentrically a tube and the missiles would still continue to fire through the silo tube.

 

 

 

 

Originally Posted by AlanRail:

Because a steel silo tube would likely twist or bend under impact, I recall that when I was working for a cement trade group that we designed a underground concrete missile silo. The concrete silo was actually a series of low-strength concrete tube sections that were designed to collapse under an impact from above. ( I guess the idea was that as we were firing at them the other side was firing at us.) AS the concrete tubes collapsed under impacts they did so uniformly, so the firing tube remained concentrically a tube and the missiles would still continue to fire through the silo tube.

 

 

 

 


Wow!  I probably won't model that feature.

Originally Posted by AlanRail:

Because a steel silo tube would likely twist or bend under impact, I recall that when I was working for a cement trade group that we designed a underground concrete missile silo. The concrete silo was actually a series of low-strength concrete tube sections that were designed to collapse under an impact from above. ( I guess the idea was that as we were firing at them the other side was firing at us.) AS the concrete tubes collapsed under impacts they did so uniformly, so the firing tube remained concentrically a tube and the missiles would still continue to fire through the silo tube.

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Minuteman Missile silos are constructed of a steel liner welded, together, to create a one piece tube for the entire depth of the 90 ft +/- silo.  Surrounding the steel liner is tons of reinforced concrete.

 

The Minuteman silos are not made to collapse and can withstand all but a direct hit, however one defines a "direct hit."  As the missile sits in the silo, the tip of the warhead is just a few feet below the bottom of the launcher closure door.  If the silo collapsed to absorb a hit, the missile would be crushed and be destroyed in the silo, unable to be launched.

 

I'm not sure about weapon systems other than the Minuteman, but the currently deployed 450 Minuteman ICBMs are not constructed with collapsible silos.

 

 

 

 

Lee, we know for a fact NSA is monitoring the Internet, so why not this forum?  Their algorithms may not distinguish between 'real' and 'pretend'.  You now may be on the domestic terrorist 'watch list'.  Every email, every post, every website you visit, every purchase, every piece of snail mail, every telephone call will be analyzed.  GPS tracking devices will be sewn in your undergarments and attached to the underside of your bumper (in case you decide to go commando).  Way to go!

 

 

 

 

What, me worry?   

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