BAC Narwhal

Weaver · January 17, 2009, 03:13:19 PM

Might not get time to finish this (or even start it) but the intention is:

Make a supersonic seaplane missile carrier out of a Revell 1/144th Concorde, in the style of the various Russian studies in Soviet Secret Projects - Bombers.

Initial thoughts are: turn the fuselage upside-down, cut the tail cone off, and rotate it 180 deg back again, attach the wings the right way up, attach the droop nose the right way up at an intermediate angle to give a normallish nose-cone, attach engine pods to tops of wings. Missile on top, based on a re-arranged 1/72nd Bloodhound.

Unresolved issues:

Fins: two would be better but where from? (don't want to butcher my other Concorde)

Hydroskis: where and what shape and do I still need a planing hull? All - thoughts and contributions welcome.....

Daryl J. · January 17, 2009, 09:56:00 PM

Ideas for the using if so wished:

Sheet styrene for a butterfly vertical tail?
Reference the Convair Sea Dart for a hull shape?

Daryl J.

Weaver · January 21, 2009, 07:24:05 PM

We have a mockup........

I've done this with the single fin, moved as far back as possible, and I think it's okay. The idea is that the missile ramjet tubes will be extended aft and carry butterfly tails that rotate around them to lie flat whilst on the carrier, so it shouldn't generate too much turbulence over the latter's fin.

The wing mod looks surprisingly good (considering it's had no sanding and is taped together) because the "square" lower centre section overlaps the wing surface. The underside wing-root joins are going to be interesting though...

Canopy and cockpit will come from a Revell 1/144th Tomcat. "Gloster Greyhound" missile/drone from... well, you guess......

I might change the mission from Nuclear strike to recce, SR-71 & D-21 drone style. The basing flexibility would make more sense then. It's probably going to have three hydro-skis retracting into the former engine cut-outs under the wings and the underside of the nose, so it could land on snow too.

Things to be decided:

Colour scheme: I'm thinking an EDSG/blue grey ripple cammo on top to hide it when it's on the water, and PRU blue undersides. Still half-tempted to make it Russian and paint the whole thing titanium, mind....

Possibly add a T-tailplane for extra "unstick" force?

As ever, comments, suggestions, howls of derision all welcome....

Now who was it who volunteered to fill all those windows in again?

puddingwrestler · January 21, 2009, 08:45:33 PM

Most interesting. Is that a Bristol Bloodhound I see before me?
THe nose looks a little 'beaky' which I guess is kinda normal for flying boats with radomes, however I think it detracts from the feeling of super-sonic speed... I guess when you fit a hull to it things'll look different.
I think a Y-fin would detractg from the look, as would a twin tail, so the spining butterfuly rocket (sounds like a move from mortal kombat!) is your best bet... unless you want to convert it to a full length delta with fins half way along the trailling edges. which I think would work pretty well on this design. Course, you'll need to find a way to stretch the wings for that.

Taiidantomcat · January 21, 2009, 11:26:26 PM

Wow

Weaver · January 22, 2009, 12:50:20 AM

Quote from: puddingwrestler on January 21, 2009, 08:45:33 PM
Most interesting. Is that a Bristol Bloodhound I see before me?
THe nose looks a little 'beaky' which I guess is kinda normal for flying boats with radomes, however I think it detracts from the feeling of super-sonic speed... I guess when you fit a hull to it things'll look different.
I think a Y-fin would detractg from the look, as would a twin tail, so the spining butterfuly rocket (sounds like a move from mortal kombat!) is your best bet... unless you want to convert it to a full length delta with fins half way along the trailling edges. which I think would work pretty well on this design. Course, you'll need to find a way to stretch the wings for that.

Cheers - 'tis indeed a Bloodhound, courtesy of the elderly Airfix kit.

It's not getting a flying boat hull, it's getting hydro-skis as per the Convair Sea-Dart. That means it'll sit very low in the water when stationary but then there are real flying boats that do that too. The nose will look less beaky when it's been trimmed to fit properly.

I think the missile will clear okay. The idea is that the launch pylon extends, but still holds it, while the ramjets fire up, so by the time it's released, it's under power and under control. It should just climb away........ Probably means the lower half of the fin is going to have to be Metalkote Steel though...

ChernayaAkula · January 22, 2009, 06:46:55 PM

That's pretty awesome even in the mock-up stage!

Daryl J. · January 22, 2009, 09:24:58 PM

If you live in the US, may I recommend Magic Sculpt for filling in the windows. 5 lbs costs about the same as a little box of milliput and is far stronger. Ammonia smell is strongish but not unbearable.

Daryl J.

Weaver · January 25, 2009, 07:46:28 PM

Quote from: Daryl J. on January 22, 2009, 09:24:58 PM
If you live in the US, may I recommend Magic Sculpt for filling in the windows. 5 lbs costs about the same as a little box of milliput and is far stronger. Ammonia smell is strongish but not unbearable.

Daryl J.

Unfortunately, I don't, but I do have plenty of various putties. The windows arn't openings anyway; just "dents" in the fuselage shells.

Weaver · February 01, 2009, 02:53:52 PM

Cockpit opening cut and one engine pod recessed into the wing:

The front part of the intake will sit clear of the wing on a "gothic" spacer, just like a real Concorde's, except that the Narwhal's has to be deeper and tapered from outboard to inboard due to the curvature of the upper wing.

Filled in (hopefully!) windows and the slots in the wing (which I hope you can see):

I made these using a new find: the broken tip of a needle file, which makes an excellent plane/chisel! I've also used it to open out the backs of the Bloodhound's ramjets in order to take a standard Evergreen spacer tube, but I forgot to photograph it.

It now has to wait while I do the cockpit, but that won't be for a while since the bench is covered in Trainers with Teeth cockpit bits at the moment and I'm getting twitchy about losing stuff. The Revell 1/144th F-14D cockpit is a little work of art by the way, complete with front and side-panel decals for both cockpits, and a tiny, tiny joystick.... The whole kit is much the same: FAR better than many, if not most 1/72nd kits I've got, and all for under £4.00...

Brian da Basher · February 02, 2009, 11:32:29 AM

This is an incredibly original concept and I'm impressed with your vision and imagination, Weaver!

Watching with great interest!

Brian da Basher

Mossie · February 02, 2009, 12:10:55 PM

You really did loose the instructions on this one, didn't you?!?!?

Weaver · February 03, 2009, 04:24:11 AM

Quote from: Mossie on February 02, 2009, 12:10:55 PM
You really did loose the instructions on this one, didn't you?!?!?

That's the piece of paper the decals come wrapped in, isn't it?

John Howling Mouse · March 05, 2009, 07:46:20 PM

Very cool. Believe it or not, I wouldn't put a T-tail on this one. You've got such a sleek look going, I think a t-tail would deter from the sleekness factor.

Gasp!

Weaver · March 06, 2009, 12:44:16 AM

Cheers John - believe me, I won't be making it any more complicated than it needs to be: there's been scant progress since the last update and time is marching on. I just can't work on lots of projects at once, so Trainers with Teeth are eating all my time at the moment....