North American Vigilante V/STOL

McColm · February 12, 2022, 02:24:42 PM

I'm thinking along the lines of a 1/72 North American RA-5C Vigilante with a lift fan in the hump taken from the Harrier kit and also vectoring nozzles. Two being placed on the exhaust pipes and two along the fuselage. The fan would swivel 90° when in flight mode along with the rotation of the nozzles.

PR19_Kit · February 13, 2022, 06:06:24 AM

Sounds an interesting idea, but how would the lift fan exhaust when it's swivelled aft for forward flight?

The complexities of the transmission to the fan boggle the mind, but this IS WhiffWorld of course.

Gondor · February 13, 2022, 09:26:31 AM

Far better just fitting l;ift engines along the centre line as there was a big void there from the bomb tunnle.

Gondor

McColm · February 13, 2022, 11:44:27 AM

Well there's the Harrier layout, F-35B layout and the Yak-141 layout. I'm going to cover all three in the build.

Gondor · February 13, 2022, 12:08:16 PM

So your not going to use the engines already in the aircraft for normal flight then? If that's the case your building a Vtol aircraft using bots of a Vigilante a bit like parts were used from various aircraft types to produce the XFV-12A?

Gondor

McColm · February 13, 2022, 04:11:04 PM

Not quite,, the transfer box will still use the existing engines with swivel exhaust pipes either round or square. There will be swivel nozzles just like the Harrier GR.5. Air will still come through the lifting fan for vertical take off and landing with a nozzle directed downwards similar to the Yak-141, one instead of two lifting engines with FOD vents similar to the Mig-29.If the bicycle chains don't break it should lift the aircraft off the ground and then transit to flight mode.

Gondor · February 14, 2022, 05:14:49 AM

There is a saying. KISS (Keep It Stupidly Simple. You are going to make this a really complex and difficult airframe combininb multiple engine types and technologies which is very messy and will take up loads of space, probably far more that you have to play with.
I agree with your idea of haveing the existing engines haveing a swivelling nozzle. The rest is a mess and overly complex and you will not have the space to fit it all in.

Gondor

McColm · February 14, 2022, 09:48:30 AM

It's not real, and therefore it doesn't need to be able to fly. This is the Whiffing World where everything is possible.
I just need to buy a few kits for the donor and other parts.
Once I start the build everything will be clear.