I actually have a flying version of that on my desk at this moment. I have just over a dozen new designs that I'm currently working on as well as versions of current designs that are different. For example, the AS-203 and Apollo 5 versions of my Saturn IB will be ready for sales as soon as the parts get here from BMS. I also have some shuttle-style booster gliders and some of those involve the SDW lifting body. An Alti booster family could be under consideration as a line of Dr. Zooch products. Guess I'll have to try a couple and see how they sell.
I guess no one out there knows that the SDW lifting body that is seen in the cartoon is an actual flying model. The story behind it is kind of interesting. I designed it in 1975 for a highschool drafting project. It also had an Alti booster and a launch tower with a swinging protective service structure that looked remarkably like the current Shuttle service structure (keep in mind this was 1975). I got a "C" on the project because my drafting teacher said that an airplane without wings (my SDW lifting body)couldn't fly. The original version was actually inverted from the cartoon version, but when I switched from making them out of sticks and tissue paper to sheet balsa, the darned thing wanted to fly upside down! So I simply moved the fins to the other side and called that side "up." I rocket boosted the first all wood version in August of 1977 and it flew as well as my Estes Orbital Transport's glider. Recent versions fly quite well, but very fast- the thing really zings and on one occasion one passed close to me and I heard it whistle as it went past. A few months ago a friend of mine out at NASA Dryden was doing some research and found a 1950s era design for an orbital return vehicle that is almost identical to mine! That was in an obscure magazine that I'd never have had access to and besides, my original plans for the design were an inverted version- only after it was made in wood did I discover that it wanted to fly upside down.
So, an SDW on an Alti sounds like a fun idea- and fun ideas are what Dr. Zooch rockets are all about anyhow. I'll get to work on it right away... could be a cool spring or summer release. Most likely the SDW would ride shuttle style, however.
