Fictional Late 1940's bomber
 

I've posted a few pictures of a fictional aircraft I'm doodling for fun using Google Sketchup 8.0.
This design is obviously not exactly "balsa friendly", but it would be a fun project for sheeted foam and some cheap electrics. The aircraft has six seven row (!) radials based roughly on the Wright Cyclone series, a full B-36 style greenhouse fishbowl and forward glazing, and will have a full array of defensive armament when it is finished. As you can see, I threw common sense through a woodchipper and instead decided to create the most outragously enormous late 1940's Cold War atomic bomber. Needless to say, the structural insanity of the twin booms is quite dubious at this size, but I figured it looked cool. Isn't that how most aircraft were designed during the Cold War, anyways?

I doubt that I'll pesonally ever build this, but I figured someone might get a kick out of it.


Graeme


http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yLXSMV6teV...ber+lowres.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LyQdsr0ycZ...r+lowres+2.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RwMALGTcCt...s+Bomber+3.jpg



[edit: renderings just won't upload. Server error. Lemme try again?]

Sorry for the large photo sizes! Main photo uploader doesn't work...
<br type="_moz" />

RE: Fictional Late 1940's bomber
 

Interesting concept. I like It!

RE: Fictional Late 1940's bomber
 

Howard Hughs would have loved it but it might not have been big enough.

RE: Fictional Late 1940's bomber
 

Build it anyway. Give em something to talk about. Electric, no doubt!
Edwin

RE: Fictional Late 1940's bomber
 

Maybe I will build it then - 6 wankles, maybe? :D

RE: Fictional Late 1940's bomber
 

Yeah! That'll be easy to do.:D
Edwin

RE: Fictional Late 1940's bomber
 

You did ALL THAT in Sketchup ! ? ! ? ! ?

I have to say that I'm incredably impressed! I've only doodled around with Sketchup for a couple of simple drawings and found it actually quite frustrating to use. But then it's like any CAD package and spending the time to jump through the hoops counts for a LOT! So I likely wasn't tenacious enough.

From a design standpoint the fuel cells needed on a bomber doodle of this sort are about 1/2 to 1/3 what they should be to cover the sort of range needed for a post WWII "atomic age" bomber. And the tail booms are simply not big enough to be period correct. Look at the booms used on the Fairchild Packet cargo plane for a more realistic view of what twin tail booms on a "full size" craft of this sort and size should be.

RE: Fictional Late 1940's bomber
 

Thanks for the tips! - as it is only a work in progress, I will make some changes to those booms and tanks. I could argue that the smaller tanks are because this is only the Cessna 152 of bomber command, and would spend most of its time in the circuit - the REAL bomber would be much bigger of course! :D<div>
</div><div>Sketchup is still a learning process for me - once you understand the basics, you can come up with really complex components quick quickly. Ribs and such can be cut and pasted, so a wing section might only take a few minutes to complete. What has been the biggest challenge for me is finding the most efficient methods of creating components, especially when it comes to compound curves, fillets, etc. </div>