No…not lately. But that is kind of where the idea came from, I think. Even as I was typing it out, I was shaking my head.
I’m going to have to file this all away, maybe when I can not feel guilty about buying some more kits, I’ll pick up a donor 1/72 V-22 and another kit (I like the Cessna that Phil started this with, but Trigger’s Bronco has possibilities, or maybe I’ll try it with a Mohawk, just to be different? I’d like to have an escort sitting next to my 1/48 “Spooky” Osprey gunship on the shelf/tarmac. Then I’ll have to get another 1/48 V-22 so that I can make the plain vanilla V-22 troop carrier…man, this is just one vicious cycle, isn’t it?
Yep. I bought a AM Pave Hawk weapons set and some odds and ends to make a few more guns for this baby…I just need to keep my eyes peeled for some dome-shapes and the like for the sensors that I think I’ll have to add…FLIR, gun radars/camera…that sort of stuff…can’t forget the chaff and flares, too.
I tore my feet up on a little 6 mile hike yesterday, so I had to pass on a trip to the LHS today or else I’d probably have my kits too! Maybe a little later today I can hobble in and look at whats on the shelves. Getting old can be a drag.
Hey, cool guys. I look forward to seeing some variations. I guess when we’re all done we’ll need to have a fly off and the winner will get a mutli-million dollar contract to develop this for the Marines!!! OK, maybe not, but I still think it’s a neat idea.
Trigger it’s good to see you got the stuff to styart this project… Don’t worry, it’ll be a long while before I start one of these. I have so much on my plate as it is, and with a new job starting, it’ll take even longer. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
LOL!!! so we’re BOTH in a hurry-up and wait situation! I got lucky my LHS had a Bronco and Osprey kit…oh crap… that reminds me… I gotta go get them out of the car!
I guarntee you when and if the V-22 ever sees service use after all the problems are weeded out it will be armed with plenty of M134’s and M2’s.The USAF MH versions for sure.If you look at any schematics for these they are armed with door guns.
Now as far as armed with pylons or racks with hellfires and other goodies that still remains to be seen but Im quite confident a Heavily armed Spec Ops version will surface.
OK, the Osprey’s wing looks too short of a span on the Bronco IMO. Phil - you’re the aerospace engineer: is there a reason the Osprey’s blade discs encompass the entire leading edge of its wing?
Right now I’m leading towards using the Bronco’s wing and modifying it to allow the nacelles. It’s span is greater and would allow at least one underwing pylon per wing since the rotor disc covers only 2/3 of the leading edge. However the chord seems thin to put a cross-shaft between the two engines. Maybe wing plugs to increase the span.
I’m working on the tail mock-up right now and I think that it will fold for carrier storage since it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get the wing to do so.
I don’t think there is a requirement that the rotor span covers the whole wing, Rotor size is driven by hover requirements and I think they just picked the smallest wing the could put the rotors on to make a compact configuration.
I’m looking into curved blades such as what are used on the C-130J or, prop-fans (supposedly there’s an added noise reduction benefit to these) as alternatives. Of course, I need to find curved prop blades.[:P] Anyone know of a good source? Phil - am I tilting against windmills with those ideas?
The reason I haven’t posted pix is I’m out of masking tape to assemble the mock-up. Hope to get some soone when the corner store opens up.
Sounds like quite a critter you are starting there. I think that I will start collecting parts for one. My only problem is getting the parts from at least three planes to do it.
V-22, Citation? and A-10
Stopped in at the LHS earlier this afternoon and they had neither a 1/72 Osprey or a Bronco, Mohawk or Citation…so I’m debating on ordering the kits online, or maybe making a trip down to Wilmington NC when I go on leave later this week. I’m leaning to the Mohawk just to give us all one more version to debate when/if we get these projects going in earnest.
In the meantime, once the A-10 gets done, I think I’ll take a crack at my AV-22.
Not sure where they’d go. I kinda had the sponsons in mind for something like that, but I can’t forget COG issues. Maybe the sponsons should be of a larger volume?
While it certainly has an anime look to it, it’s not really what I’d call “CAS-ugly.” Phil’s configuration with the internal volume that comes with it lends itself more to a flying gunship whereas mine looks better suited to the COIN mission.
Neat Trigger. Very different look than mine. I think it will look plenty CAS-ugly with some weapons and sensors. Good start.
I really like the gunship idea. It would be really neat to put a couple of side firing miniguns in the back of mine. But maybe too much. Maybe an alternate configuation?
The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that weapons should be deployed from underneath the fuselage.
While a side shooting bird like the AC-130 would certainly be neat, if you want to keep it in scale, I think the biggest weapon you could possibly fit in there would be the 40 mm Bofors, but more likely you’re going to want 2-3 gattling guns, the minimum probably required to adequately soften up an area… I can’t speak to Trigger’s Bronco, but the Cessna Citation numbers I’ve found so far indicate that cabin dimensions are ~ 5 feet wide and ~ 5’ tall in the center… that doesn’t leave much room to crawl over the guns, meaning that each guy in the back will need his own door (or you could put just one guy/door between two gun stations)
If you look at current escort helicopters, they essentially can carry up to 16 TOWs/Hellfires, or up to 76 2.75" rockets. That many finned projectiles could be deployed laterally, but given the gun sighting issues discussed earlier, pilots will probably want to be facing their target rather than circling (potentially) semi blind.
Rapid loading of this configuration could be assisted by creating side access panels.
