Artifact: Hyperglider Sparrow (1/144)
Sparrow is one of the “hero ships” of The Extrapolated Man. A hyperglider operates in a manner analogous to an atmospheric glider, albeit in four dimensions rather than three. The blue elements are “hypervane” that can be rotated into the fourth dimension, much as a wing is rotated away from the horizontal plane to provide an angle of attack that generates lift. The hyperglider employs a large pentachoral wing to aft, and a smaller stabilizer forward, like the Wright brother’s canard design. Not rendered in the model are three small pentachoral stabilizers that would attach to the outboard tips of the wing.
In the gallery below I’ve included a Bandai 1/144 X-Wing fighter as well as a pre-built Apollo Command Module from Bandai’s amazing Tamashii Nations Apollo 13 set. These give a good sense of scale. The hyperglider’s capsule is roughly the same size as Apollo’s.
Shown below are some of the build photos. The first iteration of the reaction mass tanks for the NERVA-style rocket motor were spherical, whereas they are toroidal in the final version.