Stargazer2006's Northrop P-700 Adder and P-800 Viper !

[Stargazer2006]

Hello everyone! Following the suggestion of a moderator, I'm creating this topic which will centralize all my imaginary aircraft...

Who am I?

Well, for a start, I am not exactly your average kind of model maker... True, I DO have tens of aircraft plastic models, including some rare ones, but they are still lying in a cupboard somewhere, for lack of space. All the built kits I took with me a few years ago from my previous address got damaged in the move... and it kind of pissed me off, so I don't know when I'll built my other models (hopefully we'll find a bigger house in a couple of years' time and I will have enough space to have my own workshop... (first on my "to do" list will be my Convair XF-92, Curtiss XP-55, Grumman XP-50 and Curtiss SC-1...)

Anyway, for the time being, I am a VIRTUAL model maker... I indulge in something I love just about as much as plastic: creating imaginary models or variants on my computer... I have no knowledge in 3D rendering, CG or whatever... so I do it the old fashioned way: in a graphics software using layers, filters, effects and my imagination.

First of my contributions, here is my own Navy version of the XP-67 Moonbat, which I chose to designate the McDonnell XF2M-1 Manta... Why so? Well, as we know the later Phantom became FD (then FH), I thought that maybe the Navy could have considered at some point the use of the letter "M" for McDonnell, and reallocate the unused General Motors F2M designator, initially planned for a version of the Wildcat... As Bat or Moonbat was the USAAF version, Manta (which was the name of the Davis prototype that inspired the XP-67) seemed perfect for a naval version... and voilà!






Here is a set of fakes I did using the Soviet Mil Mi-6 helicopter in U.S. markings. One is a U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter, the second one is a U.S. Marines transport, while the third one is a specially-modified version for U.S. Navy as a drone-director helicopter! For the sake of designating them, I suggest using the as-yet undocumented "H-44" DoD designation (which we know refered to a USAF "project Big Tom") and assume that the large helicopter could be that "big Tom", evaluated by the U.S. after a squadron of them deserted from the East. In my scenario, the USAF would be leading the project and share the evaluation of the six prototypes with the other armed forces. So from top to bottom we have: the U.S.C.G. YHH-44D, the U.S.M.C. YCH-44B, and the sole U.S. Navy YDH-44C. I haven't done the Air Force's "A" version but will do so eventually... Hope you like these!








To thank you all for the excellent welcome, I prepared this fake USCG Mil Mi-26! It carries the H-69 designation, which is said in official documents to have been skipped because the number is evocative of sexual practices... (did you buy that story? well I DIDN'T...) Anyway, I've used it and here's the Mil Helicopters CH-69A Halo (great name for a... helo...). Hope you'll enjoy looking at it as much as I did doing it! It's one of my fave.




Ever wondered what the Wedell-Williams XP-34 would have looked like? Well here's my take on it, using a photo of the "44" as a basis... As a fellow member rightly pointed, this should be based on the Model 45, but anyway...





You've gotta love the Icon A-5... Sleek, rugged, easy to handle... Wouldn't like to own one? I know I would! Here's another one of my "What Ifs" introducing the A-5 used by the US Coast Guard under the designation Icon UV-30A Seabird.




The notion of pairing two aircraft in the way North American did with the Twin Mustang is fascinating... Here is the North American XB-25T Twin Mitchell. As the twin fuselage configuration forced me to remove the turrets on one side, I thought of this central nacelle to fit two gunners, each looking in opposite ways. The one at the back activates two mobile turrets (one on top and one underneath) while the one at the front operates the cannon. I know, that's kind of crazy! I must admit I thought the design to be a little weak on power. Perhaps I should consider fitting it with two R-4360 Wasp Majors... That should do the trick, right? I might upgrade this one some time soon...





Finally, something I hadn't tried before: a fake aircraft in the form of a fake blueprint! Using the bulgy and squat-looking Boeing Stratoliner, I stretched the fuselage, increased wing and fin span, changed the engines and raised the wheels to obtain the Boeing Model SC-307A Super Stratoliner...

[jorel62]

Very cool.....

[ElectrikBlue]

Welcome! 

I love your Wedell-Williams XP-34 and the UV30A-Seabird!   

[Stargazer2006]

Thanks! There's a couple more I forgot things I already posted on this forum that I forgot to include here...

First of all... what if the unallocated "F-109" designation had in fact been finally properly allocated to a later cancelled program? And what if that program had been an Americanized version of the ill-fated Canadian Avro CF-105 Arrow? Here's my take on this idea, the Avro YF-109A Arrow, adapted from a photograph of the replica taken by Simon Blakeley and found on Airliners.net.




Remember the Moller Skycar? At some point in the 80s it was supposed to be the next big thing in aviation. Millions went into its development. Michael Jackson even sponsored the thing in exchange for a promise to be the first flying customer I think... What of it now? Two decades later it is still a hot design... On the left is an original photograph, and on the right is a fictional military variant, the Army's Moller XUV-29A evaluation article... Hope you like it!

[Wyrmshadow]

I like all the photoshop work.

Wouldn't the Stratoliner be at a very high angle when sitting on the ground? The passengers and pilots would need to climb a small hill to get where they're going.


This is really good, but keep it as a VIP transport. It could never make it as a special operations vehicle because it's just TOOOOO LOUDDDD!!!!!

[SSgt Baloo]

All good stuff! 

[Stargazer2006]

I like all the photoshop work.

Thanks! I appreciate. I wouldn't do half of all that stuff if it weren't to put a smile on other people's face!

Wouldn't the Stratoliner be at a very high angle when sitting on the ground? The passengers and pilots would need to climb a small hill to get where they're going.

Gosh! Now we know why they never built it!  
Seriously, I think you're totally right about this. Initially I hadn't changed the landing gears so it worked alright, but then I realized bigger engines were needed, which required larger propellers, and therefore a higher gear. Now obviously it puts the SC-307A at a much too high angle for boarding to be practical... if at all possible! Also I realize I should have increased the empennage's size a bit...

I think I'll have to revise that blueprint soonest... and perhaps change the Super Strat into a tricycle!

[Logan Hartke]

Wouldn't the Stratoliner be at a very high angle when sitting on the ground? The passengers and pilots would need to climb a small hill to get where they're going.

Gosh! Now we know why they never built it!  
Seriously, I think you're totally right about this. Initially I hadn't changed the landing gears so it worked alright, but then I realized bigger engines were needed, which required larger propellers, and therefore a higher gear. Now obviously it puts the SC-307A at a much too high angle for boarding to be practical... if at all possible! Also I realize I should have increased the empennage's size a bit...

I think I'll have to revise that blueprint soonest... and perhaps change the Super Strat into a tricycle!

Hey, they built the Hastings, didn't they?



Cheers,

Logan

[Stargazer2006]

You're right, they did!!

One last posting for today... it's a Canadair CL-41F Tutor trainer from the French Armée de l'Air (Air Force).

[Stargazer2006]

The Bell XP-77 always struck me as too frail looking to be very convincing as a fighter. But what if it had been fitted with a radial engine?



By adding 10% to wing and rudder area, using a P-63-shaped fin, and raising the landing gear a bit, we get a much more pleasing result I think. I called it the Bell P-77C Airafighter, to keep in line with the company's tradition of "Aira-" monickers. The engine was taken from a Curtiss CW-21 Demon.

And now the blueprint...

[ElectrikBlue]

Nice! 
The more I look at your whifs and the more I like the subtle changes you made to the originals!

[Damian2]

Very cool stuff indeed!!

D

[Stargazer2006]

Thanks ElectrikBlue and Damian2! It's cool to know that these aircraft fantasies are appreciated!

And now for a bit of (alternate) aviation history...

Anthony W. "Tony" LeVier was an air racer and test pilot for the Lockheed Corporation from the 1940s to the 1970s. According to official lore, it was the creation of the Goodyear racing class which inspired LeVier in 1947 to create a new racer. Together with a team of professionals that included Fish Salmon and Glenn Fulkerson, later joined by Irving Culver, he is said to have created the Cosmic Wind, the final assembly of which is said to have been done at Maynard Guilford’s machine shop.

The truth behind the genesis of LeVier's Model W-5 is actually quite different. The US Army Air Force had issued a requirement in June 1945 for a pilotless aircraft of moderate size to be used for target training. As opposed to the current Culver Cadet drones, the Q-6 target was to be really fast and of metal fabrication. Douglas, Fairchild, Northrop, North American and Lockheed submitted design proposals. Northrop (through their Radioplane division) and Lockheed were selected to each build a set of two prototypes.

Lockheed's Skunk Works management considered that having a piloted prototype built beforehand was the safest approach to validate the concept, and therefore the new Model 48 was conceived under Tony LeVier's supervision as an optionally piloted aircraft. A company-funded article (Model 048-05-01) was test-flown successfully late in 1946 by Fish Salmon. However, by the time Lockheed was ready to submit the two unmanned articles, the Air Force's priorities had changed. With the war ended, there were plenty of surplus aircraft available for target conversion, including Lockheed's own Shooting Star. The Q-6 program was therefore terminated even before Northrop had test-flown their own submission, and Lockheed now found themselves with three unwanted airframes.

LeVier, an air racing enthusiast, suggested to convert the two drone prototypes to piloted configuration in the fashion of the initial article, and to fly the three aircraft under the name Starracer at various aviation events throughout the country. Lockheed's management, however, was not keen on diversifying the company's activities in that direction, and an agreement was reached that the three aircraft be turned over at no expense to LeVier for him to pursue the racing venture on his own. Thus was born the Model W-5 Cosmic Wind, whose main difference from the early configuration was the use of a more sophisticated landing gear. And the rest, as they say, is history...

[Bladerunner]

Welcome,

You have some great ideas and I like the CH-69A the most. Keep it up

Cheers
Bladerunner

[coolusername]

Nice! Love the CC birds