DONE (@ p.5) - Focke Wulf Ta 338 (inspired by Flyer's Fw 190 VTOL RC project)

[Dizzyfugu]

You can't put a gun through the spinner of a radial

Well mine will be very late war or even purely hypothetical turboprop or offset engines with a gearbox maybe because then I can have a gun on the centreline.

I'm thinking about 3 tails on the back of mine.  Two on the top and one underneath.

That will look good too but I like the look of 4 better.

An engine like the Double Mamba or the unfortunate XT40 of the XFV-1 could work, even though I have doubts concerning a simple propeller due to torque issues, and you need lots of area to convert all the horse power into propulsion. A kind of tri-tail arrangement (even with an inverted T-tail!) was used on the Northrop N-63:



Looks cool. IIRC, someone here built one - maybe PR19_kit?

[PR19_Kit]

A kind of tri-tail arrangement (even with an inverted T-tail!) was used on the Northrop N-63:



Looks cool. IIRC, someone here built one - maybe PR19_kit?

Jeepers, where did you see the advert for that book? I've never heard of it before! 

I started an N-63, using a Pegasus XFV-1 and a KP XFY-1 mixed and matched, but it's still 'in build' after 3 years. 

[Tophe]

where did you see the advert for that book? I've never heard of it before! 

Are you kidding? I own the 3 (wonderful) books by Jared Zichek in this collection, and I was sure this was what-if... So how would you have built it without knowing the book?

[Dizzyfugu]

The N-63 book is, together with books concerning single similar projects of that era (I think these were all proposals before the Salmon and Pogo were chosen for the hardware stage), available through amazon, at least the German web store:

https://www.amazon.de/Northrop-N-63-Convoy-Fighter-Tailsitter/dp/0996875417/ref=sr_1_1?s=books-intl-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1465540454&sr=1-1&keywords=N-63

Maybe a good inspiration for the N-63 project? I thought it was finished, and I'd love to see it done. 

Others:

https://www.amazon.de/Martin-Model-262-Convoy-Fighter/dp/0996875409/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=8AG8Y7GEKY9F3MXKQYAA

https://www.amazon.de/Goodyear-GA-28A-Convoy-Fighter-Tailsitter/dp/0692504338/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=D3AEBMP7ZHP5DHXC2TDK

Don't own any, because they are too specific for my taste, and too expensive for a comprehensive overview as a bunch. Somewhere in the WWW I have seen the whole content of the N-63 book as pictures - illegible, but good for a content impression.

[Dizzyfugu]

In the meantime, more pics from the workbench.

Since this will be a tail sitter, the landing gear wells are not needed anymore. The BMW 803, which is supposed to drive this aircraft, was liquid-cooled, odd as it seems. The original annular radiator is certainly not enough, so I use the former landing gear space in teh wings for additional coolers.

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Cowling extension for a BMW 803 28 cylinder 4-row/inline engine under the bonnet... Still a little uneven, if not asymmetrical, but we get there!

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


I was lucky to find two pairs of stabilizers from MiG-21F kits (Hasegawa and Academy), a good match.
Differing from the line drawing I will add four wheels, though, which will make groundhandling easier - and for a more massive look, the original anti flutter booms will be replaced with reversed Mk. 82 bombs...

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Major surgery on the fuselage. The machine guns in the cowling and their bulges had to go, and I inserted a BMW 801 bulkhead with single exhaust pipes as an adapter for the longer cowling.
Cutting the wings off of the massive Hobby Boss fuselage was not easy, and moving them up a little neither...

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Carving this thing from a piece of would could have been easier... 

[zenrat]

Given that this will pull itself up into the air by it's own boot straps as it were, does it need as large a wing area as the original aircraft which needs to generate lift while accelerating down a runway?

[Dizzyfugu]

Hmm, it needs to fly like a normal aircraft, and I'd assume that the overall weight would be higher than a standard Fw 190 (just the engine should weigh twice as much - it's two BMW 801 plus a gearbox!), and you need some aerodynamic lift for cruise and manouevers. Personally, I would not reduve the wing are - but you could alternative reduce span and increase wing depth?

[PR19_Kit]

where did you see the advert for that book? I've never heard of it before!  

Are you kidding? I own the 3 (wonderful) books by Jared Zichek in this collection, and I was sure this was what-if... So how would you have built it without knowing the book?

I've got Scott Lowther's treatise on the N-63, which goes into some detail, and has great plans for it as well. But I'd generated my own 1/72 scale plans from an overlayed  large scale colour 3-view that was done by our own Sentinel Chicken way back when.



You're making HUGE strides with the 338 Dizzy, it would have taken me a week to do what you've done in a day!  

[Flyer]

looking good. I agree about keeping the wing area for horizontal flight. 

[zenrat]

I forgot about the heavier engine.

Hmmmmm, maybe X wings...

[Flyer]

Hmmmmm, maybe X wings...

[Tophe]

I've got Scott Lowther's treatise on the N-63, which goes into some detail, and has great plans for it as well. But I'd generated my own 1/72 scale plans from an overlayed  large scale colour 3-view that was done by our own Sentinel Chicken way back when.

Thanks for these explanations! So: is this "what-if" as "ubuilt in RW", just, not fantasy of nowadays?

[Dizzyfugu]

This is IMHO fictional, but based on one of the many potential tailsitter designs like the XFV-1. "Real SF" could be a good category? AFAIK such kind of design was never drawn up in Germany, even though there were even weirder layouts like the Lerche (ducted fan/wing) or the Treibflügel (jet engines driving a huge, rotating wing rotor). Against these, this converted Fw 190 looks harmless and even realistic...

In the meantime, two more days' progress: The rough work on the extended cowling has been finished, and the original front part has been modified to take the contraprop from a VEB Plasticart 1:100 Tu-20/95 bomber - I still had one in the stash... It even rotates, in both directions, even though that takes a lot of effort and breath!  

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta 338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta 338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


More progress from under the wings, the coolers take more shape, not that outlet flaps were added.
The armament will have to go under the wings, too. Wing tip pods, as on the XFV-1, were ruled out because of design reasons, and at the moment I favor single cannons in teardrop fairings, just outboard of the cooler intakes. Found slipper tanks from a MiG-15, and they look perfect in size and shape, the fit exactly under the wings and even look good and "different".

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta 338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Finally, the fins: marking the position on the tail with a pencil,...

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta 338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

...adding the upper pair and....

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta 338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

...finally the lower pair. Getting them into a proper cruciform position is not easy, and the MiG-21 fins turned out to have considerably more sweep than those shown in the line drawing (these are more LTV A-7 style). Consequently, the span is less wide and the roots start a little further forward - but I will stick with this solution, since it is the best quadruplet of parts I have at hand. Also note the added long cowling. Looks pretty good!

1:72 Focke Wulf Ta 338 (Fw 190 VTOL thing/whif) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

That's starting to look the BUSINESS now. 

[zenrat]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, lovely...