staggerwing said:While not as grand as the DC3 on floats, check out the Aztec Nomad www.aztecnomad.com - a Piper Aztec on amphibious floats. While only a six seater, the Aztec is a fairly large aircraft for it's type (compared to a Beech Baron or a Cessna 310). The best part is, unlike the DC3, you don't have to be a zillionaire to afford to fly the thing. So, I've been thinking about taking the plunge (I hope not literally). Only problem is, wife isn't too keen on it. She's got no problem with my buying airplanes, as long as they're fast. The Aztec is, because of it's size, the slowest in it's class, and when you add two cabin cruiser-sized floats, it tops out at around 135 knots. Still, not bad for a machine that can go anywhere, carry anything you can close the doors on (or tie between the floats), and has that aura of class that few modern aircraft can boast. By the way, while the Aztec is not really a golden age airplane having first folwn in the late 50s, it has its roots in the "Twin Stinson," so it's lines are classic in certain respects.
Its a buyer's marketstaggerwing said:Hey, if you've got the bucks, go for it! Too rich for my blood though. Aztec Nomad = similar performance for, oh, $2,000,000 less! And, alot more options when one engine quits.
I like it. It's way too aerodynamic, no glassed-in galleries or bathtubs or engines on stalks or pantsed landing gear taller than a man. But I like it.Diamondback said:For weight comparison, we're talking about four loaded Space Shuttles, basically, or a small World War II destroyer. And if I have my way, the darn thing will never be built--quite frankly, I'm scared of what I've created!
Dime and Back, you're crazy in a really fun way.Diamondback said:Okay, if we're going BIG... not a favorite, just something I designed.
FYI, the sections shown in white are engineering changes since the last revision. First image is in perspective, other four are parallel-projection (more like 3-view drawings)
Design power 16 hybrid 125K-uprated GE90/ramjet/linear-aerospike rocket hybrid engines, gross weight 2 million pounds, optimal weight 1 mil. Final revision will also be able to "mothership" 16-18 X-47 UCAVs... and "Col. Norm", my old fighter-pilot prof, thinks this monster could deliver an entire war's worth of firepower on one pass.
Fletch, interesting that a 1st-gen stealth-tech (IE, F-117-style faceting) design would be considered "aerodynamic"--as for glass, bear in mind that this thing was quite literally conceived as a "Doomsday Plane", a superweapon. Fully blacked out, this thing would also have a lighting system designed to simulate the starfield above it as a kind of "active camouflage", so once the sun set you'd never even know it was there until all of Delta Force had parachuted in around you or the Daisy Cutters landed...Fletch said:I like it. It's way too aerodynamic, no glassed-in galleries or bathtubs or engines on stalks or pantsed landing gear taller than a man. But I like it.
Actually, the Acclamators (Episode 2) were the standard troopships, although Venators may have been capable of landing, and (as yet unseen) Victory-class ships (steppingstone from Venator to Imperial) were capable of limited high-level endoatmospheric flight. And there was a case of an SSD that pulled it off, in one of the X-Wing novels... I'd assume they'd use magnetic fields like the Death Star hangar's atmospheric containment to manage airflow if necessary, an SSD would probably take it better than an Imperial actually due to its smaller tower relative to overall size and proportionally stronger hull structure!Jerekson said:Well, the SD comparison was hardly accurate; moreso I just saw the little figure standing next to the enormous arrowhead and I guessed. But obviously the Star Destroyers are much larger.
And although planetary landings are not unheard of, especially during the Clone Wars era (Annihilator-class did most of the invasions, right?) obviously the craft weren't designed with atmospheric aerodynamics in mind. The main bridge tower would just be a major drag-fest for the rest of the body.
A repulsorlift unit able to support a ship of that size would have to be radically powerful. Even so, a Super-class wouldn't even stand a chance of breaking an atmosphere.
Decodence said:
Diamondback said:fftopic:
Actually, the Acclamators (Episode 2) were the standard troopships, although Venators may have been capable of landing, and (as yet unseen) Victory-class ships (steppingstone from Venator to Imperial) were capable of limited high-level endoatmospheric flight. And there was a case of an SSD that pulled it off, in one of the X-Wing novels... I'd assume they'd use magnetic fields like the Death Star hangar's atmospheric containment to manage airflow if necessary, an SSD would probably take it better than an Imperial actually due to its smaller tower relative to overall size and proportionally stronger hull structure!
To be honest, aside from the weapons bay Project Infiltrator would actually be a fairly cramped airframe, between the fuel and the multiple 20 and 30mm Gatlings, the 120 and 155mm "main battery" and all the avionics... and we won't even put the possibility of 8", 12" or 16" "big-bores" on the table at this point!
You do raise a good point: except for the X-47s' inability to operate above a certain altitude and speed, have I possibly created a real-world "Star Destroyer"?