Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2013/10/14/lohan_paintjob_update/

Reg readers rise to Vulture 2 paintjob challenge

Shades at the ready as we reveal your startling liveries

By Lester Haines

Posted in Science, 14th October 2013 11:47 GMT

Fans of our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) mission have outdone themselves in offering suggestions as to just how we should paint our magnificent Vulture 2 spaceplane.

Given that the world's first 3D-printed, rocket-powered vehicle is currently a bit lacking in the visibility department, as you can see from this delightful snap featuring team members (from L-R) Dave Akerman, Rob Eastwood, Paul Shackleton and Claire Edwards...

The LOHAN team poses with the Vulture 2

...we decided to throw the matter over to our beloved readers.

To get the ball rolling, we knocked together a few possibilities, including traditional SPB silver and orange, red and white, and an eye-catching yellow and black:

Three of our original colour scheme suggestions

Down in the commenters' mosh pit, there was plenty of support for El Reg red, or black, or British racing green, while true patriots demanded we fly the flag with a proper red, white and blue livery.

Well, there a plenty of ways to skin a Vulture, as it were, and on the matter of skin, here are three inevitable submissions which won't make the final cut, entertaining as they are:

Three graphics of reader submissions for our Vulture 2 paint scheme

The lovely Lindsay Lohan provided further inspiration for your fertile minds, and for enlightenment see here and here:

The Lindsay Lohan inspired paintjobs

In the "Land of Hope and Glory" category, try this trio of flag-wavers:

Three red white and blue paint schemes

Naturally, our American cousins weren't going to take this lying down, although Gareth Jenkins did restrict himself to suggesting we consider a NASA-style design:

A trio of US-inspired paintjobs

Fans of Belgian comic book characters, meanwhile, weighed in with a triplet of plausible ideas:

Three suggested Tin Tin schemes

Interesting, but what about the concept of really high visibility? Sunglasses at the ready...

The high-visibility suggestions for our Vulture 2 paintjob

A few commenters insisted we finish the entire aircraft in chrome, like some form of supersonic Philippe Starck lemon squeezer. The idea is as impractical as the Frenchman's kitchen design classic, but silver still gets a look-in among your concepts:

Three suggested schemes featuring silver

Jim Price noted that since our spaceplane's a "V2", it might as well look like one. We also have two other schemes with black and white, with some tasty red thrown into the mix:

Black, white and red suggested colour schemes

Finally, cast your eyes over this little lot, falling into the uncategorised, er, category:

The final three suggestions, in various colours

Good work one and all. We've got time for further ideas before making a final selection, since we're still fretting over exactly how to apply paint* to our rocket ship, so if you think you can do better, here's a template for your colouring pleasure (click on the image for an engorged version)...

Vulture outline for you painting pleasure

...on which you can work your magic and send to me right here. The deadline for submissions in this Friday, 18 October, after which we'll bring you more lively reader paintjobs, and consider how to make the fateful decision. ®

Bootnote

*We've had advice from Vulture 2 printers 3T RPD Ltd, and are going to do a test on a spare part.


Further LOHAN resources:

LOHAN - A Special Projects Bureau production in association with...

  • 3T RPD logo
  • University of Southampton logo
  • Applied Vacuum Engineering logo
  • Escher Technologies
  • Flashpoint Fireworks logo
  • HAB Supplies logo
  • Rock 7 logo
  • Random Engineering logo

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