P-47 SeaBolt

NARSES2 · April 10, 2005, 02:17:20 AM

Talking of seaplanes, a hotel I stayed in at Anchorage backed onto a lake used as a "Seaport". I had no idea so many sea-planes had ever been built in the 100 years of flight ! Awesome watching them take off at all times of the day and night - it was June so very little true night.

Chris

John Howling Mouse · April 10, 2005, 12:43:29 PM

A very rough mockup of the reworked cockpit aperture and the intended canopy.
Sorry 'bout all the tape but, at this point, that's all I've got holding it together.

The open vent thingey's on the sides of the fuselage just aft of the new canopy's rear, are these some form of cooling vents, maybe serving the same purpose as the ventral rad air scoop on the Mustang?

If so, they've got to go 'cause, as you might be able to make out, there's going to be a hatch c/w round window on the side of the fuselage!

John Howling Mouse · April 10, 2005, 12:45:13 PM

Aft view. I'm really starting to like the general concept. Reminds me of a TBF Avenger....say, a TBF Avenger on floats-----add that to the list!

John Howling Mouse · April 10, 2005, 12:46:28 PM

Just to prove that my modeling bench DOES get messy from time to time...

John Howling Mouse · April 10, 2005, 12:47:40 PM

Just some bits. Always hard to see the details once they're embedded so I like to share in advance....real diehard aviation gurus will realize that I have modified this prop, too.

nev · April 10, 2005, 01:20:39 PM

Great stuff Barry! I agree with you, you definately has the look of the Avenger about her with that fat fuselage and long canopy

I think those vents in the rear fuselage are to do with the supercharger...I'm sure Ollie or Evan will be along shortly with the correct answer

Oh, and that workbench is NOT a mess!!!!! That is a very tidy workbench, upon which you have put down a few tools (someone show him what an messy workbench really looks like

)

Keep up the good work (and don't stop on your other projects either!)

Spellbinder99 · April 10, 2005, 02:15:29 PM

The vents are the intercooler doors for the turbo-supercharger system. They are pretty essential to the system, but as a floatplane version would spend most of its operational life at low level, why not remove the entire system to lighten the aircraft and leave plenty of room for the extra crew?
The turbo itself sits almost exactly where that door is anyway.
The bulged scoop underneath will need to be removed and faired over as well if you go that way.

Cheers

Tony

AeroplaneDriver · April 10, 2005, 02:50:46 PM

I love that long canopy! I think it needs a torpedo hanging underneath too!

Since we're on the subject of floats, I'm looking into getting a Seaplane Rating in the next few months, and how about a floating B-25 with the big 75mm gun in the nose for anti-shipping work and a torpedo in the bay?

John Howling Mouse · April 10, 2005, 03:17:25 PM

Quotehow about a floating B-25 with the big 75mm gun in the nose for anti-shipping work and a torpedo in the bay?

See, now I can't tell if you're just teasing or not!

If you could theoretically deck out a Mitchell with floats, can you imagine an entirely different version of the Doolittle raid? Squadron(s) of floatplane B-25's meet up with refueling submarines at a rendezvous point much closer to Tokyo, fuel up, strike their targets and re-group at a second rendezvous point for refueling prior to returning to home base. No need for aircraft carriers or having to ditch aircraft after the mission!

John Howling Mouse · April 10, 2005, 03:29:09 PM

QuoteThe vents are the intercooler doors for the turbo-supercharger system. They are pretty essential to the system, but as a floatplane version would spend most of its operational life at low level, why not remove the entire system to lighten the aircraft and leave plenty of room for the extra crew?
The turbo itself sits almost exactly where that door is anyway.
The bulged scoop underneath will need to be removed and faired over as well if you go that way.

Cheers

Tony

I was going to eradicate them. Thanks for the tip re: the ventral bulgie-thingey too. I'll chew it off as well.

I plan on opening that hatch you can just barely see. Will do a bit of an interior.
Will try to find some interior pics or blueprints of the Avenger to get an idea of what is possible/realistic.

Ideally, I'd like to pose this baby on a rough sea diorama complete with a fighter pilot being rescued from the drink. Did WWII Navy pilots get inflatable dingeys or just their personal "Mae West" lifevest?

And why did they call it a Mae West, anyhow?

Does everyone hear know how a very young Clint Eastwood nearly died, freezing (and, IIRC, suffering from low oxygen at altitude) in the donkey end of an Avenger late one night? Can't recall if he was actually stowing away or if the pilot knew he was there for the trip.

A friend of mine reminded me that I have one of those IPMS Norway vacform kits of the Northrop N-3PB so I dug it out and you can see the first, rough cut-outs of the kit's vacformed floats. I'll include these in my mold-making efforts to get some resin floats going.

Ollie · April 10, 2005, 04:41:12 PM

WW2 pilots got dingies under the 'chute in the seat, or somewhere else on the aircraft.

The Mae West was called as such because it looked like the oppulent breast of the actress of the same name.

Looking good buddy!

Gary · April 10, 2005, 04:53:32 PM

Veeeeryyyy delicious dude. The nice thing about doing away with the turbo stuff is that all that fuslage space that was occupied below the pilot is now justifiably available. There was a ton, literally, of piping and tubes and crap just below the pilots floorboards. Now that space can be occupied with a nice beer fridge, or better, a keg of Gunnisse.

AeroplaneDriver · April 10, 2005, 05:30:56 PM

Quote
Quotehow about a floating B-25 with the big 75mm gun in the nose for anti-shipping work and a torpedo in the bay?
See, now I can't tell if you're just teasing or not!

If you could theoretically deck out a Mitchell with floats, can you imagine an entirely different version of the Doolittle raid? Squadron(s) of floatplane B-25's meet up with refueling submarines at a rendezvous point much closer to Tokyo, fuel up, strike their targets and re-group at a second rendezvous point for refueling prior to returning to home base. No need for aircraft carriers or having to ditch aircraft after the mission!

I was thinking the same thing about the Doolittle Raid. I don't think the raid would be so burned into the conscoiusness of those of us who are into such things if it werent for the image of those Mitchells rolling off the carrier deck.

Gary · April 10, 2005, 05:42:30 PM

True. Another thing that makes the Doolittle raid so important in our lexacon of heroism is the fact that these guys took off knowing it was a one way trip. They knew they had little hope of making it home and yet they took off. The fact that any made it at all was remarkable.

elmayerle · April 10, 2005, 09:01:26 PM

QuoteThe vents are the intercooler doors for the turbo-supercharger system. They are pretty essential to the system, but as a floatplane version would spend most of its operational life at low level, why not remove the entire system to lighten the aircraft and leave plenty of room for the extra crew?
The turbo itself sits almost exactly where that door is anyway.
The bulged scoop underneath will need to be removed and faired over as well if you go that way.

Exactly right, that scoop on the bottom is actually the exhaust outlet from the turbocharger. If you're removing the turbocharger, there's a lot you can remove.

Evan