Beyond The Sprues
Modelling => Completed GBs => Group and Themed Builds => The Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda GB => Topic started by: perttime on September 14, 2013, 08:21:15 PM
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(http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/258/9/d/macchi_m39t___side_views_by_perttime-d6mdsoj.jpg)
The Gordon Bennett Trophy could have been running through the 1920s and '30s, with rules paralleling the Schneider Trophy rules - but for landplanes. Italy should certainly have participated, and let Mario Castoldi base the landplane racers on his Schneider Trophy designs. For 1926, the Italian Gordon Bennett Trophy entry would have been Macchi M.39T.
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Macchi M.39T (T for Terra) was a single-seat landplane of mixed metal and wooden construction. The wooden wings were wire-braced, with two thirds of the upper surfaces used as low drag surface radiators. The pilot sat in an open cockpit parallel with the trailing edge of the wing. The cockpit's windscreen and "turtledeck" were somewhat raised for better visibility, compared with the seaplane version. Being lower weight than the seaplane, the M.39T was given a shorter wing span.
Macchi built two types of M.39T: two trainer aircraft and three racers. The trainer version had a 447-kilowatt (600-horsepower) Fiat AS.2 liquid-cooled V12 engine, while the racing version had a 597-kilowatt (800-horsepower) Fiat A.S.2.
On 17 October 1926, the three M.39T racers took part in the 1926 Gordon Bennett Trophy contest at RAE Farnborough, Hampshire, England. Major de Bernardi, took first place with an average speed of 426.7 kilometres per hour (265.1 mph), setting a new world speed record. Three days later, on 20 October 1926, de Bernardi achieved a new world speed record of 442.6 kilometres per hour (275.0 mph) over a 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) course at Farnborough.
A larger version of the picture can be found at DeviantArt: http://perttime.deviantart.com/art/Macchi-M39T-side-views-400392307?ga_submit_new=10%253A1379247143 (http://perttime.deviantart.com/art/Macchi-M39T-side-views-400392307?ga_submit_new=10%253A1379247143)
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The beginning:
An SVG file from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macchi_M39.svg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macchi_M39.svg)
Preview:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Macchi_M39.svg/439px-Macchi_M39.svg.png)
Some adjustments to landing gear and cockpit area:
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Thanks for reminding us this rare M39, cousin of the even-less famous push-pull cinque-motore M39/5m:
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Thanks for reminding us this rare M39, cousin of the even-less famous push-pull cinque-motore M39/5m:
... But how much wing and how many floats does it need to carry the weight of the five engines? Not to speak about surface area for the radiators... ;D
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M.39T...
You can have it in any color - as long as it is red.
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Beautiful in colour, thanks!
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Looking good.
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That's a great idea, and the profile looks gorgeous - nice one! :)
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Thanks!
The idea has ben calling me for a while already ... but, apparently, I needed an Evil Administrator to push me a bit to get anything done about it ;D
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Fixed a minor goof in the pic ... but it is past the official deadline...
(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/259/d/b/macchi_m39t___side_views_by_perttime-d6mdsoj.jpg)
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Splendid piece of work! Makes me wonder how the M.C. 72 would look in spats...?
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Thanks!
I think that the M.39 is the best looking of the Macchi racers: compact and curvy. I wanted to make the turtledeck a little higher for some more curves ;) (somebody else has done pretty good artwork with higher turtledeck. I forget if it was M-39 or M.52)
MC.72... I don't think I'm going to do it. Not now anyway. It is just a long straight nose with lots of exhausts and a contraprop... ... Matter of taste, I suppose. Besides, without the floats, you'd run out of space for those surface radiators ::)
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Well, that just leaves it open for somebody else ;)
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Geez, don't know where I've been that I've not commented on this yet. I love Golden Age aviation including the racers and the red Italian ones have always been lovely. It's not real well known, but Italy bought a Travel Air Mystery and used it as the inspiration for the Breda Ba.27.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Breda_Ba.27_Metallico_rear_quarter_view.jpg)
Why not make keep things closer to home and just modify your lovely Macchi M.39T into a fighter? Give it a more conventional cockpit, maybe a more conventional tail and you're almost there.
Cheers,
Logan
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Why not make keep things closer to home and just modify your lovely Macchi M.39T into a fighter? Give it a more conventional cockpit, maybe a more conventional tail and you're almost there.
I might do something like that later on...
I was thinking of changing the tail more but changing just the fin seemed to cause a severely nose high attitude on the ground. Maybe I should check the Curtiss R2C proportions to see how it managed a reasonable stance with wheels.
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The Gordon Bennett Trophy does live on in aviation (albeit called the Gordon Bennett Cup) - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bennett_Cup_(ballooning) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bennett_Cup_(ballooning))
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Looks like James Gordon Bennett, Jr sponsored a number of contests: yachting, automobile Races, ballooning, soccer. The airplane races were only run a few times. The Gordon Bennett Cup (ballooning) had a pretty solid run from 1906 to 1938, and it was resurrected in 1979 (official status under FAI from 1983).