Airwolf 1/48 - "serious" approach :)

[wacek85]

Hello,

I have all needed kits so I can begin this kitbash
At first...What is timeline of Airwolf series? I think it's 1980 or so...so Cold War. Supersonic helicopter during Cold War? No...but very fast helicopter - why not?
So what are our possibilities? What we can use to build very fast chopper around 1980? IMHO - we have everything to do so
We have Mi-24 - one of the fastest real choppers, we have A-10 - tank killer and finally, we have Sikorsky RSRA - X-wing project
Soooo...front fuselage section with cockpit and gun from A-10, rest from Mi-24, additional jet engines from A-10, main rotor (that can be stopped during fast cruise) from Sikorsky RSRA. And what we will have as a result? Very fast jest chopper , not supersonic but fast enough

Now...I assure you...I'll built this beast no matter what...but is my theory above makes any sense?

[The Wooksta!]

Somewhere online is a long piece of Airwolf fanfic, where Hawke was testing something called the "Coyote" before he was assigned to the Airwolf program.  Perhaps that's a better name?

[wacek85]

Somewhere online is a long piece of Airwolf fanfic, where Hawke was testing something called the "Coyote" before he was assigned to the Airwolf program.  Perhaps that's a better name?

Good idea😁 very suitable 😁

[Devilfish]

If you "stop" the rotors then one side will provide lift, and the other not.  Better off to let them auto-rotate.
Or you could go with something like the Whispercraft in "The 6th day", but of course that might be beyond 1980's tech.

Surely the Lynx was the fastest helicopter, as I believe it still holds the record?

[wacek85]

If you "stop" the rotors then one side will provide lift, and the other not.  Better off to let them auto-rotate.
Or you could go with something like the Whispercraft in "The 6th day", but of course that might be beyond 1980's tech.

Surely the Lynx was the fastest helicopter, as I believe it still holds the record?

Sure, but if you use blades with slot then you can use them as wings. Look here, finał chapter about blades:
https://www.sikorskyarchives.com/X-WING.php I know Lynx was fastest but Mi24 also held a speed record. That's why I wrote "one of the fastest".

[PR19_Kit]

Surely the Lynx was the fastest helicopter, as I believe it still holds the record?

It was, and it still does, 240.09 mph over Glastonbury on 11 August 1986, flown by Trevor Eggington and Derek Clews. The Lynx itself is in the Helicopter Museum at Weston-Super-Mare just across the Severn Estuary from me.

Various attempts have been made to beat it, usually by adding jet engines to existing helicopter airframes, but that's cheating as it's not the 'helicopter' bit that's providing the forward thrust.

IIRC the Lynx's record is close to the theoretically maximum possible with such technology because otherwise the rotor tips go supersonic and wreck the lift and thrust at the same time.

[wacek85]

Surely the Lynx was the fastest helicopter, as I believe it still holds the record?

It was, and it still does, 240.09 mph over Glastonbury on 11 August 1986, flown by Trevor Eggington and Derek Clews. The Lynx itself is in the Helicopter Museum at Weston-Super-Mare just across the Severn Estuary from me.

Various attempts have been made to beat it, usually by adding jet engines to existing helicopter airframes, but that's cheating as it's not the 'helicopter' bit that's providing the forward thrust.

IIRC the Lynx's record is close to the theoretically maximum possible with such technology because otherwise the rotor tips go supersonic and wreck the lift and thrust at the same time.

What about Eurocopter X3? 293 mph without jet engine.

[PR19_Kit]

The X-3 is a COMPOUND helicopter, it has two socking great props on either side mounted on auxiliary wings.

All of those go to offload the rotor, indeed that's the avowed intention of the design in order to allow the rotor to be slowed and thus preventing the leading tip going supersonic and the trailing tip stalling.

It's fast and it has a rotor, but it's not a true helicopter, the same as the Sikorsky X-2.

See Wikipedia for a description of the design etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_X%C2%B3

[wacek85]

The X-3 is a COMPOUND helicopter, it has two socking great props on either side mounted on auxiliary wings.

All of those go to offload the rotor, indeed that's the avowed intention of the design in order to allow the rotor to be slowed and thus preventing the leading tip going supersonic and the trailing tip stalling.

It's fast and it has a rotor, but it's not a true helicopter, the same as the Sikorsky X-2.

See Wikipedia for a description of the design etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_X%C2%B3

Of course you're right 😊

[AS.12]

I'm surprised no-one on this forum has proposed a Zwilling-Lynx with intermeshing 'mirrored' rotors, so that blade stall on one disk is compensated by the other...

[Captain Canada]

Sweet. Looking forward to seeing how this one goes ! After flying 3+ hours in an S-61 out to a rig, you sure appreciate the odd time you get to halve that in an S-76 lol. I'm all for faster helos !

[kerick]

I'm surprised no-one on this forum has proposed a Zwilling-Lynx with intermeshing 'mirrored' rotors, so that blade stall on one disk is compensated by the other...

This experimental helicopter tries to use this idea.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/03/sikorsky-boeing-joint-effort-for-armys-assault-aircraft-program-makes-first-flight/

Now two side by side fuselages would be crazy weird!

[PR19_Kit]

The Defiant helicopter uses two stacked, contra-rotating rigid composite rotors for its lift and a pusher propeller for thrust at high speeds. Since it is a true helicopter, it has a much smaller footprint than the V-280, which .......

No, it isn't! 

It's a compound, there's a socking great pusher prop on the back!

I do wish the manufacturers would stop trying to change the rules, if it's a compound, entitle it as such!

[zenrat]

Defiant.  Can't they think up their own names?

[Devilfish]

I know Lynx was fastest but Mi24 also held a speed record.

And it seems the Chinook is even faster. Now that's scary!!