Piasecki Airgeep What-If

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Justa teaser for the moment and a place holder. 

I should have done this last year right after I acquired the replacement 70mm fan blades for this project/concept. 

What if the Piasecki Airgeep was given a second chance?  Instead of relying on the original mechanical drive train to power the propellers/impellers.  Why not incorporate hub mounted electric motors that would be powered by a generator driven by a gas turbine? 

Attached images of the replacement 70mm fan blades and the same fan blades residing in the body of the Glencoe Models Airgeep. 

[GTX_Admin]

Go for it

[Dr. YoKai]

Just about a perfect fit, and visually very effective. Looking forward to seeing where this goes. (And where did you order the fan blades from?

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Just about a perfect fit, and visually very effective. Looking forward to seeing where this goes. (And where did you order the fan blades from?

From a guy in California via e[vil]Bay. 

This is the link to the fan blades at: eBay > 0toheaven > FREEWING 70MM 12 BLADE COUNTER ROTATING EDF IMPELLER SET (2 X +2.0KG THRUST)

I ordered two sets of LH/RH blades and the price was not cheap.  I guess that was one of the main obstacles in this idea was to accept that the fan blades were going to be the expensive bit if I were to go forward with this idea. 

The fan blades include a spinner which sticks out/up so far that it is foolish to include the things and the plan now is to just cover over the top of the fan hub and call it done.  Maybe a bump or something right in the center to cover the hole and serve as a maintenance access cover or something.  Too early to tell how this is going to turn out but the idea has been grinding away at me for quite a few years now.   





***Edit to add eBay link -- jjf

[LemonJello]

Those fans look really, really good.  This project is off to a good start.

[Frank3k]

Wow - this looks great, Jeff! They make my blades look anemic. Maybe I should try to replicate this.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Wow - this looks great, Jeff! They make my blades look anemic. Maybe I should try to replicate this.

If you do, I will be interested to see how you can modify the fans to be accommodated within the AirGeep.  Also consider me a customer if they turn out better than the commercially available fans. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Those fans look really, really good.  This project is off to a good start.

The original idea for this was to combine two AirGeeps in a side by side arrangement and have a drive-on-drive-off platform in between to hold a HMMWV size vehicle.  The cockpits and passenger spaces would be covered over and the flight controls would be via a tethered controller in the front passenger seat of the vehicle being transported. 

This first iteration is to figure out how to attach the fans inside the AirGeep and to determine what needs to be done with the fans that will not have the huge spinners on top blocking the view.  The only way the spinners could be used is if this turns into a twin craft with platform in between. 

I may have to order another set of fans.   

[Frank3k]

How about these: https://grabcad.com/library/fan-blade-38



There's also a 3D jet engine model that has a pretty nice first stage fan.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Looks good but not as many blades.  Does the jet engine fan have the same number of blades?

[Frank3k]

There's this model

The fan seems to have p[lenty of blades:

[Jeffry Fontaine]

More blades = More better!  I like that fan much more than the first fan you posted. 

[GTX_Admin]

There's this model

The fan seems to have p[lenty of blades:

Looks very much like a GE90: