DONE @p.5 +++ 1:72 Cornell/Jackson "American Spirit" Reno Racer

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, things in the pre-Xmas season kept me away from this GB, but I will try to add a 3rd build until the deadline. The idea is to scratch something along the lines of Darryl Greenamyer's "Shockwave" project, a purpose-built Reno Unlimited Class Racer and serious speed record contender. But AFAIK the aircraft has never been finished.



What I find interesting about the aircraft is that many parts from a T-2 "Buckeye" were used - and parts from the 1:72 Matchbox kit will certainly find its way into this kitbashing mess. The thing was also supposed to have a tricycle landing gear - the tailsitter layout in the picture was just the result of the CoG shifted backwards because of the lack of the massive engine.

My build is not intended to be a true model of the Shockwave, rather something along its lines, a kind of tribute build for somethang that apparently has not fully materialized yet?

[zenrat]

 

[PR19_Kit]

Typical Greenamayer, so far out into left field it's almost in the next county!

My mind is pre-boggled at what you'll make of it Thomas. 

[kitnut617]

I believe it will end up like this

[PR19_Kit]

Those look like Sea Fury wings............

[kitnut617]

Yes, it's based on a highly modified Sea Fury Kit

[Dizzyfugu]

AFAIK, the real Shockwave utilized the (shortened) tail and the wings (incl. the landing gear, but sanss wingtip tanks) from a T-2, including the air brakes on the fuselage. The cockpit was moved backwards, with several equipment and tank compartments ahead, and it was to be driven by a pimped R-3350, driving a three-blade propeller with a fat spinner and really deep but short blades (from a P-3, literally sawed off). The nose wheel came from an F-100, and I assume that it was mounted behind the engine and retracted backwards (found no evidence for this so far). I just found mention that the wheelbase must have been very short and the track utterly wide - certainly no fun to handle the aircraft on the ground...

[PR19_Kit]

The wings in the very first pic you posted look to have curved trailing edges, like a Sea Fury. So what happened to the T-2 wings?

[Dizzyfugu]

No idea... I am also not certain which evolutionary stages the thing made since its conception. As a weird side note, the T-2 landing gear seems still to be there in the real world WiP picture above?!

[kitnut617]

You're right there dizzy, but the wheel bays look Sea Fury. Plus there's the space in the leading edge between the fuselage and the rest of the leading edge, for the oil radiators and air intake on the Centaurus engine.

EDIT later: Just looked at some photos of the T-2 u/c, what's installed in Dizzy's first pic are not T-2 legs, different hinge set up in the wing altogether.

[PR19_Kit]

EDIT later: Just looked at some photos of the T-2 u/c, what's installed in Dizzy's first pic are not T-2 legs, different hinge set up in the wing altogether.

I don't think they're Sea Fury legs either, as they have that weird sideways translating movement linkage and you can't see that in the pic.

[Dizzyfugu]

Ah, I can clarify the confusion: I mixed up two projects of the same designer (Dave Cornell), who created the "Shockwave" for Darryl Greenamyer, but ALSO built a very similar aircraft in the mid Nineties on his own agenda, the "American Spirit". The picture above is actually the "Shockwave" in the making, and it correctly had Sea Fury wings, an R-4360 engine and is/was a tailsitter!

But it's not the aircraft I will use as a benchmark - it's Cornell's "American Spirit", and then things make more sense. Both aircraft have a similar profile, though, with a swept tail, but there are some considerable differences. The T-2 wings were mid-mounted, the engine was an R-3350, cobbled together from four DC 7 powerplants, and the aircraft had a cruciform tail (with de-swept F-86 stabilizers), plus the F-100 frontwheel. Here are some impressions from it:


Cornell/Jackson Special "American Spirit" Reno Racer by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Cornell/Jackson Special "American Spirit" Reno Racer by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Cornell/Jackson Special "American Spirit" Reno Racer by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Sorry for the confusion - I just threw both together in my mind!

[PR19_Kit]

That one's even WEIRDER than the Shockwave! 

[zenrat]

That's one mother of a prop.
IMO (based purely on aesthetics) this American Spirit has too much fuselage.  I would lose the section between the rear of the canopy and the front of the fin thus making it more Gee Bee like.

Are there, like in the automotive world, historic aircraft purists who object to genuine parts being used to build Hot Rods?

[KiwiZac]

I'm sure there are, Fred, but then there are weirdo race fans like me who love warbirds AND really enjoy seeing bastardisations like Shockwave, Tsunami, Miss Ashley II etc.