Project ongoing and a few thoughts of other flying machines

[maxmwill]

Well, I've started drawing of the plans for an RC Skycrawlers Sanka. I used a scaled up drawing of a J7W Shinden as a basis, having just over a 17" length, and went from there, using a Sanka 3 view for all my scaling. As was suggested in a previous thread, I set the total wingspan at 30", and also scaled the nosewing accordingly, because if I kept that on scale, it would have spanned something like  6 inches total, which I felt would nit have been enough to provide sufficient lift.

A few differences, other than the increased span are that I'm going to have something like 2 - 5 degrees positive AOA on the nosewing, as with a canard, you want the nosewing to stall before the wing to help keep Murphy at bay(a vicious and nasty beast, for whom a whip and a chair are not enough, but guile and a nastier sense of humor than he has). In all the 3 views I've seen of the Sanka, the nosewing is set at 0 degrees relative to the wing, which, while a certain amount of instability is welcome in a fighter, the 0 degrees AOA would in fact make for a more vicious stall. This is what I get for having talked with more than a few aeronautical engineers a bunch of years ago. Also, I'm thinking of putting a bit of washout in the outer wing panels, around 2 degrees. While it might be better to have washout through the entire wing, as this is a gull wing(the wing panels inboard of the fins have a small amount of anhedral), I really didn't want to mess around with a fancy jig, and besides, a bunch of years ago, I helped build an RC Stuka(a G model, because the guy wanted to mess around with a pair of recoil actuated .22's under the wings, and close to 1/4 scale was just about right. The mounts for the guns were a bear to design sufficiently so that the whole wing wouldn't break in flight with the first shots of the guns), and tried to put in a couple degrees of washout through the entire wing and  just couldn't figure it out at the time, and decided on washout in the outer panels, and it flew just fine.

Anyway, I've started, but  it has been something of an experience, as I haven't pulled a set of drawings off just 3 views in a long time, but the reflexes are coming back,

An iron I'm thinking of putting in the fire. Some time ago, I started a thread on the Hotelicopter, a 2009 All Fools Day youtube prank. No replies, but that still stuck with me, and I started thinking about that. The Hotelicopter is based on the Mil V12, and a kit for this is, if and when it is available, is quite dear. But, the Mi6 used the same engine,gear box, and rotor, and I found a pair of 1/144 VEB Plasticart Mi6s(late model), so perhaps I could stick another iron in the fire and see what cooks. Of course, the Hotelicopter also has a pair of what appears to be high bypass turbofans mounted in back, so I might have to find either a 1/144 747 or similar for the engine nacelles. Otherwise it is a big box(even at 1/144 scale, this is not a small "flying machine"), and the rest looks like it'd be card stock and rod of various diameters.

In still another thread, there was some discussion about a twin engine B17(the Shackleton thread), and I asked if a pair of 4360s might do. And thinking further on that, I think that they might, as the 299Z test bed that Boeing used for testing different engines, the first iteration of that had a 4360 in the nose, and that flew with the wing mounted engine shut down. So, a pair of 4360s in the wings might be doable, and there are a few different kits which could supply the engine nacelles, the C97, KC97, and if you want to spend the cash, an Anigrand C124, in 1/144 as well as 1/72.

I also think that the 299Z itself is a pretty nifty looking machine, but that's just my personal preference.