Author Topic: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB  (Read 9236 times)

Offline Weaver

  • Skyhawk stealer and violator of Panthers, with designs on a Cougar and a Tiger too
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Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« on: March 10, 2014, 09:06:07 PM »
DRB have put up a page of excellent British retro-sci-fi inspiration from the 1950s. It's mostly spacecraft, but there are also these various land/air vehicles:





That Belevedere-on-steroids definately needs building.... :-*
 
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
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Offline jcf

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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2014, 02:02:53 AM »
I think the Super-Belvedere may be a result of the artist reading the written description
of the Type 194 but not being aware of the details of the design.

From the Bristol Putnam in the section on the Belvedere and related helicopters:
"A still larger civil design, Type 194, was also investigated, having a fixed wing amidships to
offload the rotors during cruising flight and powered by four D.H. Gnome turbines in pairs
driving two six-bladed rotors designed to reduce vibration at high forward speeds."

So the painting:
Enlarged Belvedere?, check; wing? check; four engines in pairs? check.
However on the real Type 194 the engines were in pairs at the base of each pylon.  ;D



Opens up all sorts of possibilities if one takes only a written description and lets the mind wander.

 :icon_fsm:

p.s. is that Kit driving the 99?  ;)
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline Weaver

  • Skyhawk stealer and violator of Panthers, with designs on a Cougar and a Tiger too
  • Chaos Engineer & Evangelistic Agnostic
Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2014, 02:23:45 AM »
Yes, the transmission path from those wing-mounted engines would be "interesting" wouldn't it? Have you noticed how small the rotors are in the painting BTW?  ;D

I really like those tandem rotor designs with a mid-mounted wing. I think there's another in Stuck on the Drawing Board: I'll have a look when I get home.

One of the things on my to-do list is a hypothetical Belvedere Mk.II with all it's problematic design decisions fixed. However, by the time you've put the engines in pods and replaced the oval-section fuselage with a square section one (from a 1/100th Yak-24), there isn't much Belvedere left!
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
Minds.com: @HaroldWeaverSmith

Offline PR19_Kit

  • Likes to brag about how long his...wings are.
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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2014, 06:54:11 AM »
p.s. is that Kit driving the 99?  ;)

Who, me????  :)
Regards
Kit

--------------------------
Any aircraft can be improved by fitting longer wings

Offline PR19_Kit

  • Likes to brag about how long his...wings are.
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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2014, 06:55:04 AM »
One of the things on my to-do list is a hypothetical Belvedere Mk.II with all it's problematic design decisions fixed. However, by the time you've put the engines in pods and replaced the oval-section fuselage with a square section one (from a 1/100th Yak-24), there isn't much Belvedere left!

... and you've got a Chinook.....  :)
Regards
Kit

--------------------------
Any aircraft can be improved by fitting longer wings

Offline Weaver

  • Skyhawk stealer and violator of Panthers, with designs on a Cougar and a Tiger too
  • Chaos Engineer & Evangelistic Agnostic
Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2014, 10:14:03 AM »
One of the things on my to-do list is a hypothetical Belvedere Mk.II with all it's problematic design decisions fixed. However, by the time you've put the engines in pods and replaced the oval-section fuselage with a square section one (from a 1/100th Yak-24), there isn't much Belvedere left!

... and you've got a Chinook.....  :)

Well not quite. It's still quite a bit smaller, it doesn't have a tail ramp, and I'm sticking to the idea of one engine at each end (like the Belvedere) because I like the idea of the connecting shaft being lightly loaded in normal operation. My engines will be in external pods though, on opposite sides of the machine, which should please Tophe no end.... ;)

The thing I'm not sure about is the front end. I don't want to use the distinctive Yak-24 glazing (and the Plasticart part is rubbish anyway) and the best fit I've found is a 1/100th Skycrane cab with an extra section spliced into the middle, but I dunno, it's too distinctively Sikorsky somehow.... ???
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
Minds.com: @HaroldWeaverSmith

Offline jcf

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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2014, 10:38:24 AM »
Perhaps putty and paint over the cheek windows and extend the nose forward?

Less Sikorsky?
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline Weaver

  • Skyhawk stealer and violator of Panthers, with designs on a Cougar and a Tiger too
  • Chaos Engineer & Evangelistic Agnostic
Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2014, 10:39:51 AM »
This is the other tandem-rotors-plus wings project I was thinking of; the Saunders-Roe P.514:



« Last Edit: March 11, 2014, 10:47:54 AM by Weaver »
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
Minds.com: @HaroldWeaverSmith

Offline jcf

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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2014, 10:46:03 AM »
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline PR19_Kit

  • Likes to brag about how long his...wings are.
  • Made it at last!
Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2014, 10:55:17 PM »
How about a tandem rotor, tandem WINGED Rotodyne?

The only downside would be that you'd never keep enough crews to fly it, they'd all fail their hearing tests after any flight.  ;)
Regards
Kit

--------------------------
Any aircraft can be improved by fitting longer wings

Offline elmayerle

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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #10 on: March 12, 2014, 12:17:46 PM »
Perhaps putty and paint over the cheek windows and extend the nose forward?
Move the cheek windows to the side and extend the nose forward.  You still need that down and forward visibility.  Consider the extra windows added to the long-model MU-2 fuselage for the Boeing-Vertol Model 222.

Offline MaxHeadroom

  • The man has built a jet Stuka, need we say more?
Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #11 on: April 10, 2014, 10:31:25 PM »
Once (between 1953 and 1991) there was a similar magazine in germany called "Hobby - Das Magazin der Technik" (must I translate? ;) ).

If someone is interested in the (sometimes real weired) covers and title themes, look at http://www.sklasse.com/web/hobby_das_magazin_der_technik.htm.
I think, it's worth to take a look - especially the early issues.

Max
« Last Edit: April 10, 2014, 11:34:06 PM by MaxHeadroom »

Offline Volkodav

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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #12 on: April 11, 2014, 07:07:42 PM »
I wonder how much it would cost to kick start the Rotodyne in this day and age, it was ahead of its time has time caught up?

Offline jcf

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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #13 on: April 12, 2014, 04:39:04 AM »
The Rotodyne was a very much exactly of its time, in terms of concept and technology.
Like many seemingly wondrous bits of kit, it died because it was an answer looking for
a question. Unless someone comes up with a really new way to make them that addresses
the inbuilt faults, pressure-tip rotor drive systems are still a dead end.

“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline Volkodav

  • Counts rivits with his abacus...
  • Much older now...but procrastinating about it
Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #14 on: April 12, 2014, 04:47:39 AM »
Ok fair enough, sad but fair enough. :(

Offline PR19_Kit

  • Likes to brag about how long his...wings are.
  • Made it at last!
Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #15 on: April 12, 2014, 01:44:04 PM »
By today's standards the Rotodyne didn't have all that big a rotor, the blades having a remarkably short chord. It would certainly be possible to drive a rotor of that size by almost any of today's turbo-shaft engines so you could envisage a 'dyne without the tip jets and with a couple of turbo-shafts either side of the pylon like a Chinook, or ahead of it like a Skycrane.

And it might then stand a chance of NOT deafening people. Oh that such an idea existed back in the 50s and then I might not need plastic ear bones and hearing aids now!!!!
Regards
Kit

--------------------------
Any aircraft can be improved by fitting longer wings

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Planes, trains hovercraft and helicopters from DRB
« Reply #16 on: April 13, 2014, 03:27:44 AM »
If you have a look in this book:



There is some talk of potential modern day versions of the Rotodyne.
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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