Liberator Variant:

[Daryl J.]

Think Liberator meets Sunderland.    Although not originally my own idea, I'd love to take a 1/48 B-24D and convert it into a full flying boat.   Extending the fuselage down a bit, adding a boat underside, and putting on a pair of jowl-position heavy duty beaching gear with dual wheels each side and Consolidated has a new aircraft.    That way, they could land beside a fueling boat, gas up, and escort ship's way across the Atlantic.

Presumably necessary antisubmarine equipment would need to be carried externally.  Or, were there water proof bombay doors?

Guess what I'll be looking for at the McMinneville model show this September!    

And as always, if anyone beats me to constructing said beast, more power to ya'!!!  


   
Daryl J.

[Andrew Gorman]

Wouldn't that be a Coronado?
http://pb2y.org/
The Seamaster had waterproof bomb bay doors a decade later, but they were problematic.  But, If you have a B-24 and it's a whiff, why not?
Andrew

[Daryl J.]

Coronado?  Not quite but close.  

No tipped up surfaces anywhere although introducing a slight gull in the main wing close to the hull is tempting.  It's just beyond my skill level by at least a long ton.  

Daryl J.

[Andrew Gorman]

although introducing a slight gull in the main wing close to the hull is tempting.  It's just beyond my skill level by at least a long ton.  

Piffle!  Make a wide-ish slit in the upper surface of the wing just outboard of the fuselage, and a matching wide-ish slit a couple of inches outboard in the lower surface of the wing.  Bend, glue, and there's your gull wing.  My favorite tool for a slit like this is the saw on a swiss army knife.  Cuts fast, easy to control, and you can always make the angle shallower by adding bits of sheet plastic to the slit.  It is easier than you think, although smaller scales are easier than 1/48...
Andrew

[jcf]

Well, you'd kinda have a four-engined Model 31(XP4Y-1). The Model 31 was powered by two R-3350s, the Model 32(B-24) used the wing and empennage from the Model 31.





Interestingly Consolidated later proposed their Model 38 to the Navy for long-range land-based patrol, this design married the wing and two R-3350 engines of the Model 31 to a standard B-24D fuselage.

I'll post a scan tomorrow of a SARO project for a Lancaster derived flying boat, the S.42.

Cheers, Jon

[GTX]

Have you been reading my mind again?  Only yesterday, I was thinking about the possibility of making a flying boat Liberator!

Regards,

Greg

[jcf]

The SARO S.42 proposal:


Cheers, Jon

[jcf]

Here is a nice side view photo of the B-24's older sibling as the XP4Y-1.


The wingspan of the 31 and 32(B-24) was identical at 110', the 31 fuselage was longer at 73' compared to 66' 4" for the B-24D. The planing section of your waterborne B-24, if real, would probably be very similar to that of the Model 31. The Model 31 weighed less than the B-24 with almost equivalent power; two 2,300HP R-3350 versus the four 1,200HP R-1830 of the B-24D.

Developments of the Model 31 were proposed as replacements for the PBY, a 'Luxury Air Yacht', and the BM-14 patrol bomber with three power turrets and R-2800 engines.

Cheers, Jon

[Daryl J.]

So in other words:

One could curse the budget (yay), grab a Liberator, Meteor Productions B-29 cowling replacements, gull the wing, reduce the engine number to two, and really befuddle the JMN crowd!    

Methinks this sounds interesting. .....but the time involved....


Daryl J.

and thanks for the referances too.

[jcf]

Yer welcome.

Personally I'd skip gulling the wing, bending the wing in that fashion is generally a design compromise and almost always adds weight and drag. Better a deep skinny hull for prop to water clearance than a bent wing, especially as the Davis design relies on its high aspect ratio to generate its high performance.

BTW, as originally built the Model 31 had a built in retractable tricycle beaching gear,while the gear was designed to be dropped into position after the aircraft had alighted on the water it could be used as an emergency gear for a tarmac landing. That feature was dropped when the aircraft was converted to the XP4Y-1.

Cheers, Jon