Cover illustration from the 1953 Scribner's edition. Cover and interior illustration by Clifford Geary. Max Jones works the family farm in the Ozark Mountains. With his father dead and his stepmother remarrying a man he detests, Max runs away from home, taking the astrogation manuals that his uncle had left him. Like most occupations, hereditary membership in the Astrogators Guild is tightly controlled. Since his uncle had been a member and had no children, Max hopes that before he died, his uncle had named him his heir. At the guild's headquarters, Max is disappointed to find that he had not been named as an heir, but a hobo he had met on the way helps him get forged papers that they use to ship out on a starship. Disaster strikes the ship and Max uses his photographic memory of his uncles navigation manuals to save the ship and its passengers.
Title page from the 1953 Scribner's edition. Even though the story is set in a far future where the human race has faster-than-light travel and has established colonies on many other worlds, it starts in a back-woods area of the Ozarks. One of the few indications early in the story of advanced technology is the supersonic, passenger carrying projectiles that are guided across the landscape by huge rings mounted on towers or the sides of mountains (as entrances to tunnels). Heinlein provides a bare minimum of description of the appearance and function of these "ring trains" but uses them to great effect to create a sense of separation between the main character and the rest of his universe. Although the ring train played a relatively small part in the story, it was a visually striking piece of technical invention and is featured twice in the book's illustrations.
The other interior illustration featuring the ring train.
This is a composite image made by combining a photo of my model of the ring train with other photos of sky, rocks and grass. The intent was to duplicate the interior illustration from the book, without Max.
The ring train projectile was made from the drop tank of a plastic aircraft kit. (this model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Starman Jones")
The ring was the hardest part of the model to find. I eventually located plastic rings of the right size and thickness in the sewing notions department of a large craft store. (this model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Starman Jones")
This close-up shot of the ring assembly shows the brass pins holding everything together. (this model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Starman Jones")
(this model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Starman Jones")
The "insulators" were made from styrene strips of different lengths and widths to build up the tapered shape shown in the illustrations. (this model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Starman Jones")
The tower is a model railroad "N" scale kit of an electrical tower, modified for this purpose. (this model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Starman Jones")
Although the aft end of the projectile is never seen in the illustrations and Heinlein does not specifically mention how it is propelled, there is a suggestion that it is rocket powered so I made a rocket nozzle for the model. (this model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Starman Jones")
A common lighter provides a comparison for the size of the model. (this model is based on the Robert A. Heinlein novel "Starman Jones")
