Puddingwrestler's Thundercat

[puddingwrestler]

Gentlemen, you may call me insane (cries of "You're insane" from the peanut gallery), but I've decided that what the world really needs is a twin engine, floatplane P47 Thunderbolt. Called a Thundercat, naturally.
So I have taken up impliments of destruction and set to with an Academy P-47D and a old Hasegawa P-47D, and the floats from an Airfix Arado AR196 which I intend to turn into a land plane...

Behold: The incredible double-ended, push/pull twin floated THUNDERCAT!



There has been a little porgress past the point at which these pics were taken - the rear engine cowling is now glued in place as are the wings. They were only blu-tacked on for the pics.  Naturally, the float mounts will be modified a bit to fit this plane, so the angles will change.
And it'll be armed with as many bombs and rockets as I can strap on...

I'm having a little trouble coming up with a designation for the Thundercat - I don't fully comprehend the labarinthine US Navy system. Let's see... Fighter Bomber + Ground attack + Floatplane + Number + Manufacturer +          Number of lemmings required to push-start on an uphill slope + square root of commanding officer's ego multiplied by inside leg measurement of chief designer + intended theatre of operation.... er... FBGF6J-12-27.333-Alpha Centauri? Hmmm.... I think i went wrong there somewhere...

[lenny100]

Noe that a beautiful idea
why has nobody ever built it in 1/1 scale

[puddingwrestler]

Cause most aero engineers have a better grasp of aerodynamics/physics/reality than I do!

[lenny100]

who needs to know about things like reality

I work on the word of the designer of the spitfire

" IF IT LOOK RIGHT IT WILL FLY "

[Archibald]

Or Dassault, "Si un avion est beau, il volera bien" !

Interesting idea btw!

[B777LR]

who needs to know about things like reality

I work on the word of the designer of the spitfire

" IF IT LOOK RIGHT IT WILL FLY "

Well, if you throw it fast enough, it will...

[lenny100]

if they can get a bedstead to fly................................................

[Ed S]

Interesting.  How do you plan to make the tail?  Is it going to be twin tailed?

Ed

[Brian da Basher]

This is a very cool concept PW! As for lateral control, may I suggest wingtip rudders like those on my Cabal Bolide II?

Brian da Basher

[B777LR]

Why not combine the landing gear and a rudder? Spats, and on those spats, a rudder

[Patrick H]

Gentlemen, you may call me insane

don"t know about the rest of the gentlemen but I sure do 
But hey, you do fit amongst the crowd here and that thundercat looks superb.

Looking forward to see the finished bird

[puddingwrestler]

It will have a twin tail out on booms; otherwise it just seems to look to short. The tails will be on V-angles.

[puddingwrestler]

More porgress!
Quite a bit of the old PSR going on - using Tamiya grey putty to blend the rear engine cowling into the belly - the upper engine cowling is bieng left open as an air intake. I figured it needed one! I've also glued the landing bay doors on and puttied them up. One of them has been re-puttied as I didn't use enough. I've also added the lower vertical stabiliser. This was cut from the Academy P-47, flipped upside down, trimmed a bit and glued on. I've got some pics here of the machine resting on the floats. I have not modified the float mounts from those used in the Arado, so the angle is all wrong, but you get the idea. Also got a shot of the plane just sitting on it's floats with the tail fins in thier approximate positions.

[puddingwrestler]

The Cabal Bolide II is a very interesting idea, however it's fuselage is a lot longer than the Thundercat's. If I went with wing tip fins, the 'cat would be wider than long, and that just looks all wrong to me. Except in a flying wing, but the 'cat doesn't have that sort of wing.

Hmmm.... maybe that should be my next project 

[Sisko]

Can't wait to see where you go with this one.

I bet the pilots would nickname it the blender.

Cause thats what's going to happen when you bale out of the thing!!!