Vulcan Flying Boat Idea

[PR19_Kit]

.....a flying boat victor is an interesting idea, but where will you house the weapons for ASW/ASuW?

Same as the Seamaster.

That had a rotating, sealed bomb bay door that had the weapons mounted on the door itself, like a Bucc, but LOTS larger. They could either swap the entire door when the aircraft was beached or re-load through a hatch in the top of the fuselage just aft of the wing box.

And I have a couple of Victors and an Airmodel Seamaster that's been 2/3 finished for DECADES too......... 

[kitnut617]

Coincidently, I've just been re-reading an old 2005 issue of Air-Britain's Aeromilitaria, in 'Out of the Archives' pages there's a short article about a 'Hull-less Flying Boat'.  It was a study written for the RAE in 1935 and basically the boat is a biplane, but the lower wing is also the hull which from the front view, looks like a B-2 in shape but upside-down.  Something like this might work for the Vulcan --- (in the drawing below, the front view is upside-down too)

[sandiego89]

Yes, I am thinking the rotating bay like the Seamaster would be best for the Victor. Alternatives could be side mounted bomb bay doors that some of the advanced CONVAIR designs had. Doors were either hinged at the top and the weapons were mounted on the inside of the doors, or they spun around like a revolving door.  

Stargazer, I will likely use the seamaster stepped hull shape for the bottom of the hull, but I don't want to spend over $100 for a Anigrand 1/72 Seamaster, so will likely go from scratch built up styrene.  Balsa might work well if I don't do the bomb bay. Not sure of the floats yet, but will likely be similar to the Seamaster.

McColm, yes I already thought of the MiG-29 type sytem with a FOD door and top intakes, but not sure they would provide enough airflow for the main engines for take off?  Can the MiG-29 take off with only the top louvers open, or is that just a taxi thing?    

I was really going to wait for a GB for this, but I am tempted to get it going sooner after I bought the Victor kit last week when I saw the dusty box on the shelves at the great Berkeley ACE hardware store in California, USA.  A must stop if you are in the San Francisco Bay area.  

Other mods will include JATO/RATO provisions, think it will need the extra thrust to get up on step. Will likely also delete the wing fuel bulges, but that is major surgery.  Also a top mounted hatch to rearm while at sea.      

Howard, the hull will be much deepr than a tradtional Victor with a new botom hull, so it will not be like a Victor ditching which I agree would not have been pretty.  

[PR19_Kit]

The Mach 2 Seamaster is cheaper, about 30% off, and comes with a beaching trolly too.

As for Mig 29s taking off using just the top intake doors I believe they can do that, the idea being to stop any FOD getting into the intakes on a rough field take-off. When the landing gear retracts the top doors close and the main doors open.

[sandiego89]

Thanks kit, forgot about the Mach 2 version.  Hate cutting up the beautiful SeaMaster, but might be worth it.  The cradle would be nice to have. 

[Weaver]

As for Mig 29s taking off using just the top intake doors I believe they can do that, the idea being to stop any FOD getting into the intakes on a rough field take-off. When the landing gear retracts the top doors close and the main doors open.

IIRC, it's linked to a weight-on-nosewheel switch, so the doors drop down as soon as the nosewheel hits the ground and flick up as soon as it leaves it. The FOD spray from the nose wheel is the principle reason for having the doors, since it's so far ahead of the low intakes - pity nobody thought of that for Concorde!

[McColm]

hi,
have you ever thought of using the Airfix Shorts Sunderland's hull as an alternative. Maybe the dimentions are a bit too big, but the V shape would help raise the fuslage out of the water.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks kit, forgot about the Mach 2 version.  Hate cutting up the beautiful SeaMaster, but might be worth it.  The cradle would be nice to have. 

At a 'Serious Engineering' level you could build a Seamaster kit (Mach2 or Anigrand) and take a mould off the lower hull to reproduce one for the Victor. 

Best to get shares in DuPont first though, then you'll get some pay-back on the TONS of silicone rubber you'll need for the mould!

McColm's plan on using the Sunderland hull is LOTS cheaper, but you may need to 'cut and shut' that hull, as it would need to be lengthened and narrowed to fit the Victor, that's one loooooong and narrow hull. (I've got both kits and just eyeballed them to check)

[McColm]

What about using a model ship's hull? depending on how you are going to display your model, the hull would be covered by the sea, however whilst in flight you would see all of it. I'd go with the sea option, this will hide any mistakes you make.