Lockheed C-5 Galaxy

[Diamondback]

We know that the C-5 was proposed as a Minuteman-III air-launcher and a civilian competitor to the 747 freighter variant, but what else could our WHIFfer minds do to these birds?

Some of my ideas for a WHIF that's waiting for a suitable donor (read: "bigger than 1/700 that I can also get a CH-53E in the same scale, and NOT have to drop $100+ on the damn thing"):

1. Dump those CF6-80C2's and re-up-engine with Rolls-Royce Trents or GE90-115B's. (Bonus point: I was discussing things with a GE tech-rep at a Boeing Propulsion Systems Division open house, and he thought the GE90 core would be good for 120-125K with a little more development and maybe a slightly bigger fan.)

2. Mount 3000-gallon tanks (tall-tail B-52 tip-tanks) between the engines and outboard of the outers, like the drop-tanks on a C-130.

3. Buddy-stores out near the wingtips (goal with these three on the WHIF I'm concepting is a C-5 variant that can haul a Super Stallion and drag two modified F-15s transPac).

Anybody else ever think on the heavies, or is it a dead subject simply for lack of a donor beyond the Skywave 1/700 or Academy 1/480 kits other than the two huge-price-tag Anigrands?

[Rickshaw]

There is also the ancient but lovely 1/144 Otaki kit.

I'd love to have both the dosh and the room for a C-5/C-141/An-125/An-225 in 1/72. 

[Kerick]

C-5 "flatbed" for hauling goofy shaped stuff.

[kitnut617]

I'd love to have both the dosh and the room for a C-5/C-141/An-125/An-225 in 1/72.

Got a 1/72 Blackbird C-5 waiting to be built, it will be as the C-5M as I've bought the CF-6 engine set from Aircraft in Miniature for it.  The engines from the C-5 will then be used on my planned Boeing XC-X proposal.   Got the Combat Models 1/72 C-141A and C-141B to do too (they're not much bigger than a C-135 though).  I'm waiting for delivery of the Anigrand port wheel sponson for the 1/72 C-17 I have.   I have the Combat Models vacuform to build but a short while ago Nostalgic Plastic (now part of Rare-Plane Detective) had one of the revised Anigrand forward fuselage for their C-17 for sale so I bought it. It comes with the revised starboard sponson only so I had asked if I could buy the port one too and I was able too.  The Anigrand forward fuselage extends to just aft of the wing so my plan is to spliced the two kits together.  I'm gearing up to build the C-17 fairly shortly.

[GTX_Admin]

Couldn't resist:

[finsrin]

In case you missed out on the AC-25A.

[arkon]

ac-5......awesome!!!

[Diamondback]

Only problem with the Otaki kit (knew of it, and if it were readily available would be my first choice) is that it's near-Unobtainium, and when it does surface it's as expensive as the Anigrand. There are rumors that they dumped the tooling somewhere in Tokyo Bay, but that's an awful lot of expensive steel (not to mention the cost of shaping it into tooling) and usuallycompanies don't just throw that kinda money away lightly.

Sold for scrap after they got all they thought they could out of it is more plausible... at least get SOMETHING back out of it.

[elmayerle]

Well, there's always the twin-fuselage version proposed for shuttle transport.

Personally, I'd like to see a stretched shuttle carrier ala' the An-225 development of the An-124.

*grin* For something different, how about a gussied-up civilian version in the same colors as "Auto-Train" as "Auto-Plane"?

[GTX_Admin]

Well, there's always the twin-fuselage version proposed for shuttle transport.

This one?

Personally, I'd like to see a stretched shuttle carrier ala' the An-225 development of the An-124.

I like your thinking.

[kitnut617]

Isn't Burt Rutan supposed to be twinning a couple of 747's for one of the new space projects just like that?

[elmayerle]

Isn't Burt Rutan supposed to be twinning a couple of 747's for one of the new space projects just like that?

Actually, it's a twin-fuselage design using the engines, nacelles, and pylons from a pair of 747's.  The major aerostructure (wings, fuselage, et al.) will be all new.  It's supposed to be capable of carrying, and air-launching, up to a Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

[ChernayaAkula]

Well, there's always the twin-fuselage version proposed for shuttle transport.

This one?

It's good to know there are job opportunities for whiffers at respectable companies!  :)

[Cliffy B]

Wouldn't they need a brand new 10 mile long runway to get that whale in the air? 

[elmayerle]

Wouldn't they need a brand new 10 mile long runway to get that whale in the air? 

That's why it's being built at Mojave, there's the room for that.

On another topic, ISTR that there were proposals for launching micro-fighters, roughly A-4 sized at largest, from the back door of a C-5.  That could get interesting, especially the retrieval.

[Diamondback]

I do recall that they actually DID launch a BD-5 out of a C-5's tail end in trials... problem is the BD-5's too small for a combat load (I'm not even sure it could pack ONE PAIR of .30s or .50s), and even if you could cram A Scooter in you'd be lucky to get very many  and still have room for launch/recovery rig. And, oh  by the way, if Tail-End Charlie breaks down before you can launch anybody else ya gotta dump the busted bird into the ocean...

[dy031101]

Why settling for just one refuelling boom when you can have three?

[kitnut617]

I thought this one was on here, this model sat in Lockheed's foyer for a long time

[GTX_Admin]

Wow!!

[jcf]

Extend the span on a wing that already had structural deficiencies and then operate it at low-level which would
increase the stress on the structure.
 

Yeah, that makes heaps of sense.