Amerika Bomber WIP

[finsrin]

Sweet interior - WOW  :)
One day - perhaps and maybe - I will build an interior half as nice.

[Brian da Basher]

You have some mad detailing skills!

Brian da Basher

[tc2324]

Thanks guys.  :)   

Time to start putting this thing together.

First pic shows the use of my old friend `Spare Sprue` in helping me give the fuselage halves something to hang onto. The second shot is a general shot of the main fuselage parts loosely put together to show size and concept. As expected, it`s a tad large....! 

[Dr. YoKai]

 Now thats an ingenious solution to getting the extra pair of props...and it turns it into an eight-engined
 bomber in the bargin! ( I tried my hand at an He 277 a few years ago. It turned out ok, but I just
 never got around to the final details.)

[tc2324]

So here`s where I start to `deviate` from what some of you may have been imagining this will turn out like. I started work on the u/c bays which as you can see would have been the bomb bay. Thats right, I`m giving this the B-47 treatment with out riggers placed under the inner pair of props. This means that the design will have space for more, and bigger fuel tanks, that can be placed the fuselage and wings with the weapon load hanging from a pylon on the wings.

Obviously I don`t want to do easy....... 

One slight hiccup you can make out in the following picture is the slight gap between the front bomb bay section and the rest of the fuselage. Obviously theres a slight `kink` but it`s not really noticeable and the gap can be filled in easily enough.

[Spey Phantom]

i like where this is going 

[ChrisF]

What Nils said ! :)

[tc2324]

Cheers guys.  :)

Scratchbuilt u/c now pretty much complete, concept layout looks like this.

[GTX_Admin]

 :)

[finsrin]

Between concept, build details, photos, am so much enjoying your kitbash.  :)
Undercarriage & bays are a WOW on their own. 

[apophenia]

Scratchbuilt u/c now pretty much complete, concept layout looks like this.

Too cool!  :)

[kengeorge]

tc2324, looking very good so far,

I would like to suggest somethings-

1-I expect you have already decided where to put the jet engines, if not, then how about in the rear of the outboard engine nacelles, like the Shackleton MR.Mk.3 phase II? Are the Jets to be used for take off only?

2-Weapon(S) found this earlier-

http://mundosgm.com/discusion-general/wunderwaffen-la-bomba-atomica-nazi/

A Spanish site, third way down is an He-177 carrying a nuclear bomb & further down is an image of other nuclear weapons that may be of use.

3-I think you said, fuel inside, bombs outside. If I may suggest, swap it round,
Bomb(S) internally with external drop tanks that can discarded on the way to the target.

4-Undercarriage. Try this, normal He-177 main gear & nose Gear, with an additional droppable wheeled dolly placed under the fuselage with RATO bottles attached, so the fuselage wont sag under the huge weight of fuel & weapons.

Anyway those are my suggestions,
What do you think?
Ken...

[tc2324]

Thanks for the comments chaps and I`m glad this seems to go down well with you all. I`ve connected all the main bits together now, just waiting for them to dry.

Ken, thanks for the link, some good stuff on that site. Just wished you had posted some of them ideas earlier as I`m too far down the line to incorparate any of them now. However to answer some of your questions, the jet engines will now be `podded` onto the outer wings and they are there not only to assist on take off but to also add some speed if needed during flight. I have however envisaged them to be switch off during the long transit flight to save fuel. I`m also going for a conventional payload as an atomic attack isn`t suited to the the GB criteria. I think the bomb / u/c issue is six of one and half a dozen of the other. Being a whiffer I wanted to go in another direction with the look so it stands out and isn`t just `another` standard Amerika bomber build you find on the internet. All great suggestions though.  :)

[kengeorge]

 tc2324 If I may, I've got some short questions for you,

1-Target?
Will it be New York? It seems that every Amerika bomber will aim for NYC, how about Halifax NS, or Portsmouth (New Hampshire) shipyard just to be different instead?
I looked up on Google Earth, the direct route from Cherbourg to New York crosses over Halifax Nova Scotia & gives a one-way distance of 2,939 nautical miles, or 5,878nm round trip.

2-Weapons?
According to Wikipedia, The He277 Amerika bomber could only carry "up to 3,000 kg (6,612 lb) of disposable stores for Amerika Bomber trans-Atlantic missions, maximum of 5,600 kg (12,345 lb) internally for shorter ranges, up to 4,300 km (2,670 mile) combat radius w/maximum bomb load"

A Fritz X has a weight of 3000lb (1,362kg)  so by rights your A/B could only carry two weapons, both under-wing.
OR a trio of Hs293's as they weigh in at 2300lb (1,045kg) instead.

Why anti-shipping missiles I hear you ask & not free-fall bombs? The ASM's modified for surface attack are sort of stand-off weapons, so your A/B doesn't have to overfly its main target.

But here's another thought, why not have a pair of Fiesler Fi 103's under wing as they weigh 4,700lb (2,150kg) each (9400lb/4,300kg) & launch them near to target, or a pair of unmanned Bachem 349's (4921lb/2,232kg) under wing, radio controlled or just fired off 35-40 miles from target.

3-Unit?
KG 200?

4-what to do with the left overs?
As an Amerika Bomber needs about 4,478us gal (16,950l) fuel to give a range of 6900m (11,100km) why not make an Inflight refueller to top up on the outbound leg & a top up to get home.

If you have a back story to go with your wonderful creation, I would suggest The departure point could be on the Cherbourg peninsula, as its well away from RAF interference.

Well that's by thoughts, what say you?

Ken...

[tc2324]

Ken, your killing me..., you gotta leave me some ideas for my back story.... 

To answer your questions,

1. Anywhere on the eastern seaboard

2. Got my free fall bombs planned already although the glide bombs/missiles idea is very cool. Might be a bit too modern though?

3. tba

4. Always planned for the Germans to have invaded the Azores early on in the what if WWII GB. So that should help out on some of the combat range issues.

You have some great ideas there backed up with data, some of which I`m going to `borrow`.  :) 

[Frank3k]

Is the landing gear from the kit? It looks great. The whole build looks fantastic.

[tc2324]

Is the landing gear from the kit? It looks great. The whole build looks fantastic.

Cheers Frank, yes the gear is all from the kit. Tried to only use stuff in the box..., but you will read below, I had to go into the spares...

So, to overcome the problem of the props avoiding eachother I went for the longer inner engine nacelles. Dwelving into the spares box I came out with a couple of 1/48 scale F-14 burner cans and a couple of 1/72 scale B-17 exhaust rings.



A little of the old tc magic and I came out with this....,



Ok, they aren`t pretty, but it`s the best I could do with what I had to play with.

Here`s where I am now overall and you will note that I have also raised the main u/c as that was a bit too low as well. I`m getting there.

[LemonJello]

Simply fantastic work you've got going on here.  Looking forward to further progress pics.

[father ennis]

Fantastic ... !!!

[raafif]

your prop solution is too conventional -- what's wrong with geared, inter-meshed blades like the Husky helo ??   That's just the sort of thing Heinkel would have done.

Is it too late to add just a little rake to the main gears like the original ?

Coming along very nicely -- what's the colour scheme going to be ?

[tc2324]

Cheers chaps.  :)

raafif, I wanted to go with the gears idea too, until someone asked what would happen if one of the props had to be feathered....  

As for colours, I`m thinking some kind of night scheme. :)

[raafif]

raafif, I wanted to go with the gears idea too, until someone asked what would happen if one of the props had to be feathered....  

Damn practicality !!  surely it can dump the bombs & still fly on just the 2 engines on the other wing ?   ............. I want to have a go at the inter-mesh idea sometime

[tc2324]

If you do go for it raafif, you will get the  :) from me.

Some people have been asking about the scheme. I was thinking about something along the lines of this....,



... but as always, I`m happy for further input.

[Brian da Basher]

I think that night scheme would be perfect, tc!

Brian da Basher

[father ennis]

I really love that black scheme. It reminded me of the MPC/Airfix kit I had when it was first available. I think it was the boxart of the kit I bought. Those big bombers really look good in it.