TT somehow finds time to participate?!

[taiidantomcat]

just a very simple "chop job" in paint. I'm no profiler and this is not mine originally (I would give the artist credit if it was noted, couldn't find it)

I removed the nose MG (sloppily) used a square to cut the cockpit, dorsal and turret off, and then matched the paint to add just a little bit of blend.

I'm just a huge sucker for any "glass nose" aircraft like the B-29, AR-234 (hey! no wonder this looks familiar!) and I have had this idea with plastic forever, but it will be a while before I ever cut the styrene. Very sleek looking ... I guess its reconnaissance due to the lack of armament? or a bomber before we realized they couldn't outrun fighters and needed protection? I believe the colors and such are correct for the 1940ish era as well.

anywho, one of those things I was exploring and that lead to a lazy internet search that turned this profile up, and then i right clicked saved, and in 5 minutes or so was able to create something. 

[Acree]

That looks really cool.  If you like that, how about USAAC orders Stearman A-21 into production to supplement A-20 (or instead of)? 

[Brian da Basher]

That's a killer concept, Mr Tomcat!

Reminds me of some of the earlier N. American design studies.

Quite well done for a quickie!

Brian da Basher

[jcf]

Yep, it definitely resembles the Stearman Model X-100/XA-21 in it's original form.

[The Big Gimper]

Must build .....

[taiidantomcat]

This one kind of fell into my lap. Just another concept. Again I'm no digital expert if you look closely you will see a lot of seams but a pretty easy photo to tinker with with the monochrome color matching closely to the monochrome sky.

[Old Wombat]

Nice!

[finsrin]

Both looking good   

Jon - I didn't know of the Stearman Model X-100/XA-21 - Thanks for the tip.

[Kelmola]

[I guess its reconnaissance due to the lack of armament? or a bomber before we realized they couldn't outrun fighters and needed protection? I believe the colors and such are correct for the 1940ish era as well.

The Mosquito proved that speed, not defensive armament, was a bomber's best defence. Even in its IRL configuration, the B-25 was a pretty sweet ship capable of fully acrobatic flying (which the Soviet test pilots demonstrated in front of the horrified Lend-Lease officials on the ground). Remove all those guns and turrets and the extra crew (and their oxygen systems, flak jackets, etc.) to man them,  and it probably would lose enough weight and drag to gain enough speed to be very difficult to intercept, especially early in the war.

[taiidantomcat]

Yep, it definitely resembles the Stearman Model X-100/XA-21 in it's original form.

I had never seen that before! The nose reminds me of some of the late war Junkers bombers.

[I guess its reconnaissance due to the lack of armament? or a bomber before we realized they couldn't outrun fighters and needed protection? I believe the colors and such are correct for the 1940ish era as well.

The Mosquito proved that speed, not defensive armament, was a bomber's best defence. Even in its IRL configuration, the B-25 was a pretty sweet ship capable of fully acrobatic flying (which the Soviet test pilots demonstrated in front of the horrified Lend-Lease officials on the ground). Remove all those guns and turrets and the extra crew (and their oxygen systems, flak jackets, etc.) to man them,  and it probably would lose enough weight and drag to gain enough speed to be very difficult to intercept, especially early in the war.

its all coming together   



  This is getting out of hand. I'm really thinking about how I could wedge in a model now... 

[ChernayaAkula]

  Gorgeous!

<...> the B-25 was a pretty sweet ship capable of fully acrobatic flying (which the Soviet test pilots demonstrated in front of the horrified Lend-Lease officials on the ground).<...>

Glad you brought that up. I knew I'd read about that Soviet episode - including the horrified onlookers -  somewhere. But try as I might, I couldn't find it again in my references, almost making me doubt my memory.

[jcf]

The Mosquito proved that speed, not defensive armament, was a bomber's best defence

No, it proved the DH concept that defensive armament wasn't needed on a fast, small bomber.
Anything larger was going to need defensive weapons.

[taiidantomcat]

B-29 backdated with B-17 turrets. All of this is from Mark Styling. I just copy pasted some stuff, from the same artist's B-17F works. Again, I'm still a noob when it comes to this. The turrets are offset a little. On the B-29 the turrets are seemingly stacked evenly, but since these would be manned, I didn't know if there would be any room one on top of the other. Nothing here is to scale either. I just fitted it until it was proportional, so don't take this one to the bank. 

Hopefully more B-29 stuff to come.

[finsrin]

Nice        Unpressurized B-29 with B-17 type turrets as predecessor to full on B-29 could enter earlier.   Interesting concept.

[Old Wombat]

Just saved those Topless B-25 images for future reference.

Bloody TT giving me unwanted ideas!

[GTX_Admin]

See here:  https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/manually-operated-turret-armed-boeing-b-29-superfortress.7396/

[jcf]

Perhaps single fin and turrets like buried engine concept.   

[Frank3k]

The Trumpeter 1/200 (and 1/350) B-25s are good, cheap canvases to try these ideas!

[apophenia]

... On the B-29 the turrets are seemingly stacked evenly, but since these would be manned, I didn't know if there would be any room one on top of the other...

I suspect that there'd be plenty of room if the turrets were lined up. But your current arrangement looks great as is.

As an aside... considering the visual distractions, probably best to avoid phrasings like "stacked evenly" and "one on top of the other" 

[taiidantomcat]

... On the B-29 the turrets are seemingly stacked evenly, but since these would be manned, I didn't know if there would be any room one on top of the other...

I suspect that there'd be plenty of room if the turrets were lined up. But your current arrangement looks great as is.

As an aside... considering the visual distractions, probably best to avoid phrasings like "stacked evenly" and "one on top of the other" 

  I know! The lightbulb went on too when Wombat refered to my B-25 as "topless"

[taiidantomcat]

I've been working on ways to make a B-29 more shelf/space/ceiling/significant other friendly-sized. This idea utilizes B-17 wings and I tried to scale it appropriately along with cutting the B-29 length by around 1/4 to match all the proportions, but the drawing I used were not the same size so its very much the TLAR method. Since the wings look so different, it really does look backdated. And in the right hand drawing I left some of the B-29 "prop circles" and the Landing gear to give another inkling of just how darn Big B-29s were compared to the B-17

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Looks good TT.  Maybe ramp it up a bit further with the engines from the XB-38? 

[taiidantomcat]

Looks good TT.  Maybe ramp it up a bit further with the engines from the XB-38?

Let me see what I can do 



Just a real quick one, a P-51D with Spitfire wings

[jcf]

Bearing in mind that the B-17 has a basically circular cross-section, you could cheat appearance wise
and remove the cockpit hump.

[taiidantomcat]

Bearing in mind that the B-17 has a basically circular cross-section, you could cheat appearance wise
and remove the cockpit hump.

good idea 




just a random one. V-22 with B-25 wings. No idea what its job would be.

[jcf]

The cutdown Aphrodite B-17s could be a guide for the B-17 notion.

[LemonJello]

just a random one. V-22 with B-25 wings. No idea what its job would be.

For some reason, I really want to collect the kits to make this one.  Some whif-ication of the engines and you'd almost have an early Marvel Cinematic Universe Quinjet...

[Klown]

Reminds me of a Ar 234 a little in the front area.