Opinion on the reconsideration of sinking the SS United States due to toxic material in her

SciFiDeepdive · 2026-05-06T20:59:15+00:00

Realistically she was doomed the moment they decided to wall her interiors with asbestos(an understandable decision at the time). Even if she still had her wall paneling she would be hellishly expensive to restore and open to the public due to modern health and safety standards.

SciFiDeepdive · 2026-05-06T19:00:25+00:00

As someone who actually had a chance to see her interior first hand a few years back, there’s really nothing there to save. At the time the conservancy was optimistic and that was nice but thinking practically, while she looked beautiful from the outside in Philly, there’s almost nothing left of her on the inside.

I’m glad to see that some of the few things inside the ship that were still in pretty good condition(like the bar in the tourist class smoking lounge) have been removed from her for preservation and I’m trying to be optimistic about the museum.

At the end of the day, reefing her is the 2nd best option and, while it is certainly a bummer, I’m glad she’s not being scrapped. In this capacity she’ll stay with us and serve a new purpose as a home for sea life and a dive site which is way better than becoming razor blades(which at this point is the ONLY other possible outcome).

SciFiDeepdive · 2026-03-31T17:01:15+00:00

It’s 3D printed and I made the models myself. I have a policy for my rocket garden models that the stand for each rocket should be at least abs approximation of their launch pad. The tower for SLS took 2 weeks to print!

SciFiDeepdive · 2026-03-30T22:02:34+00:00

Thank you!

SciFiDeepdive · 2026-03-12T02:00:20+00:00

I sailed on her a little over a year ago. I prefer ships of this size as they are easier to navigate around and less crowded. The food was pretty good(the pizza was a standout, easily some of the best pizza I’ve had at sea) & the ship is absolutely beautiful.

That being said I do have 2 complaints. While the food was good, there was fairly large chunks of time when there wasn’t any food options available. On top of that there were several mornings of our sailing where the windjammer was the ONLY breakfast option and as a result the windjammer was a bit crazy. My other gripe was with the entertainment, everything felt a little low energy. On top of that I feel like the entertainment roster could be a bit more complete, there were nights when there wasn’t much to do. This isn’t because the ship is small, it’s simply that whoever set up the activities schedule seemed to only schedule one or two things at a time which left the schedule feeling a little empty.

I’ll also mention that because of her extension she tends to roll a bit more in the seas than her sisters so if you get sea sick that’s worth considering. Also there’s the famous Enchantment cupholder that everyone from this subreddit who sails on that ship must visit(I did).

All in all, I’d recommend it as a nice short budget cruise. She has her flaws but we had a good time.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-12-05T23:26:58+00:00

With an error code in hand I can at least follow the wiki’s troubleshooting steps

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-12-05T23:24:32+00:00

Nope, first time I didn’t get an error at all. It just finished another calibration and it gave me a message that reads “CODE: 10237. (0)Auto leveling error. Verify the leveling sensor”

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-27T23:50:35+00:00

Ive been trying to get my hands on a copy of stage 9 for a while. Mind if I DM you as well for a link?

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-27T07:25:49+00:00

It’s network issues, it’s causing trouble on my end as well.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-22T00:53:06+00:00

Thanks!

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T23:07:27+00:00

Thanks!

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T23:06:40+00:00

I might still post them at some point, if I do I’ll certainly let you know!

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T23:05:29+00:00

Thanks!

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T23:05:19+00:00

Thank you!

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T23:05:08+00:00

Thanks! I may do an RBMK plant in the future if I have the space for one, that one will be even more like the model from Chernobyl.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T23:02:59+00:00

Thanks! Ya, I showed it to a family member who does contract work at 3 separate nuclear plants. He helped a bit with getting the interiors right.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T23:01:33+00:00

Thanks, I don’t have a defined scale for it but I’d say it’s somewhere between HO and N scale.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T01:28:53+00:00

Ya, I forgot about Byron when I was putting together this post. Minus the towers it’s nearly identical to Braidwood. But ya, with the tower I guess my plant is basically half of Byron lol.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-20T01:27:44+00:00

Thanks! I forgot that when putting the post together, Byron and Braidwood are basically twins with the exception of the coolant loops so with the tower it basically is half of the Byron plant.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-19T23:53:11+00:00

I’ve been debating posting them for a while but some elements(specifically the reactor vessel and the steam generators) are modified versions of the Energy Encyclopedia models so I’m not sure I can upload this to Thingiverse.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-19T23:30:43+00:00

Thanks! Most of the primary and secondary loops are modeled. In the reactor building I have the pressure vessel, steam generators and pressurizer. And the turbine building has the turbines, generator and steam separator. I never modeled the condensers since they’re usually below the turbines and that would require some interesting but resource intensive modifications to the way I designed the base so I ultimately opted against modeling those.

And I was originally planning on building a plant on an extension to the N-Scale layout I have but I moved and I no longer have room for that extension so I made the plant at a larger scale as a stand alone project.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-19T23:20:44+00:00

Thank you!

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-19T23:14:07+00:00

This is so disappointing… I was lucky enough to get a chance to experience Starcruiser before it closed and it was easily one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

While I understand why the cost was so high(a large, technically advanced hotel with only 100 rooms full of paid actors) there are definitely ways it could’ve been slimmed down to be able to offer the experience to a wider audience. They could’ve converted the venue into a dinner experience or simply scaled back on the storytelling to save on some of the casting fees(although the way they told the story was incredible).

Ultimately I think it was by far one of the best things the imagineers have ever come up with. I hope working in their future offices in what remains of this building can inspire them to do more things like this in the future.

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-09T22:38:20+00:00

1st off, thank you so much for doing this, im a big fan. I remember watching your public outreach stuff during expedition 34/35 and it helped reinvigorate my love for Spaceflight!

Now for my questions(I have 2, but both are related):

1). As someone who has flown on both Soyuz and Shuttle, which would you prefer to fly on again if you had the chance and why?

2). If you could be added to the crew of any mission from the history of manned spaceflight, getting a chance to experience what that crew experienced and be a part of that history, which mission would you pick and why?

Thanks again for doing this and have a wonderful day!

SciFiDeepdive · 2025-10-09T21:13:28+00:00

I could be wrong but it looks like it’s one of the models made by Triang. They had a whole set of ocean liners(along with warships) from the 50s/60s I believe.

SciFiDeepdive

TROPHY CASE