Hobby Thread - October 18, 2025 [Astro Rex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. A spin of the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) landed on space shuttle air transport.

Are you thinking "That's an oddly specific hobby but I love space and modeling and I like history and traveling and engineering. There are so many aspects that make this more of an interest than a hobby. I can't wait to get into the content!" I knew it. Enjoy.

Going to be a slightly abbreviated thread this week...for reasons. TRex is in an undisclosed location doing undisclosed things.

What are you hobbying?

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Pants are optional. Puns are welcome and encouraged.

Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.

The inspiration for this post is the space shuttle carrier on display at the visitor center for NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It is number 905 and the first of two shuttle carrier aircraft.

Can you imagine the conversation?

"We need to be able to test the shuttle's ability to glide home for a landing. We also need to transport the space shuttle around the country. How are we going to do that? We're all out of ideas. We can't fly it. We can't tow it behind a truck. We can't put it on a train."

Two guys from the back row: "How about flying it piggyback on top of a 747? We could build a model to try it out."

And they did...

John Kiker and Owen Morris built a 1/40-scale radio-controlled model of the Space Shuttle on top of a Boeing 747 to prove that the configuration was viable. The model is on display at the visitor center.

Never knew this:

Space Shuttle Carrying 747 Was Secretly Modified To Defend Itself From Heat-Seeking Missiles

In May 1983, what was then NASA's only Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a highly-modified Boeing 747 airliner capable of carrying a Space Shuttle on the top of its fuselage, arrived at the Paris Air Show carrying the shuttle Enterprise. The international aviation spectacle, arguably Europe's highest-profile air show, had long been an arena for Cold War competition. While the visit was hugely publicized, what most don't know is that the plane had been modified for its European trip with an advanced countermeasures system to protect itself from heat-seeking missiles that was still highly classified at the time. The defensive additions to NASA's 747 were so sensitive that the plane's crew was told to keep it a secret no matter what.

This NASA photo is all kinds of awesome.

From the War Zone:

I was told that the photo, taken in December of 2008 as Endeavor made its voyage back to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was one of the most beloved in at the installation and that it was shot by one of NASA's most acclaimed photographers, Carla Thomas. If I remember correctly, the photo was planned ahead of time and executed perfectly from the back seat of Armstrong's F/A-18B. The aircraft had rolled inverted-or near inverted-to capture the unique angle of the loaded-up SCA.

The MDD:

Horde Hobbying from PA Dutchman:

This is a Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank that I just finished and mounted on a diorama base made of foam insulation. The tank represents the 34th Tank Regiment,which operated in northeast China from 1944 until the end of the war, when it was overrun by the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. I included a picture of the finished model and an AI image made with Google Gemini.

Outstanding! Thanks for sharing.

Been waiting for a while to show this diorama. Amazing.

Hobby humor:

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a lumber theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week department:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute something from your personal hobbying. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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