EXO Posted July 31, 2015 Posted July 31, 2015 It's funny that this thread popped up and it became a 50% airwolf thread as I've been working on a 1/6 scale Airwolf helmet. Quote
Valkyrie Hunter D Posted July 31, 2015 Author Posted July 31, 2015 Lol, it was inevitable-comparisons will always be made between the two. 1/6 scale helmet? Don't forget the cello! Quote
spanner Posted July 31, 2015 Posted July 31, 2015 There's one thing about it that irks me, and it was a deal breaker. The whole tail assembly needs more mass, and it's angled way too high: bt.png Otherwise, I would've jumped on buying it because 1/32 is pretty big. Damn shame. The toy's proportions are quite a bit out especially when you compare it side by side to the real thing. Is a shame really. But then again how many toy reproductions are ever 100% accurate. Quote
electric indigo Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 Just re-watched it after decades, boy is it slooow in the first half. But once the action starts, it still entertaining. And the special effects (flight scenes, actors in the cockpits, scale model shots) hold up really well after 30+ years.. Here's a nice BTS: Quote
Thom Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 The toy's proportions are quite a bit out especially when you compare it side by side to the real thing. Is a shame really. But then again how many toy reproductions are ever 100% accurate. It looks like the angle problem starts just behind the ammo box. The rear of the fuselage looks upswept just slightly too high. If you cut it there and put in a plastic wedge filler, you could probably bring the whole tail down to where it's supposed to be. Quote
peter Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 Would the 20mm rounds from Blue Thunder penetrate whatever armour Airwolf was packing? I mean, that’s a big *uck-off round. What amount of armor would Airwolf have to have, and still be able to remain airborne? I don’t know a thing about helicopter dog fighting, if there even is such a thing, and yeah, I know Airwolf has the missiles (were they guided?), but I’m still a fan of Blue Thunder over Airwolf. BT just looks so much more bad-ass. It’s so ugly, it’s cool. Quote
myk Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 Well, to extend the hypothetical "dogfight" between the two, I would offer that Airwolf would be too fast for Blue Thunder to draw a bead on it, let alone strike it with those heavy cannon rounds. Blue Thunder after all is an urban based riot suppression/close quarters machine; Airwolf was the high speed mover equipped with guns and guided missiles for air superiority. Were Blue's rounds really 20mm shells? Quote
Sandman Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 I loved the movie and the TV series too though the latter only lasted several episodes however it did have Garth from Wayne's World starring in it Wow i remember watching this as a kid. It's funny how much i actually remembered from it considering it was only on for 11 episodes. Quote
peter Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) Well, to extend the hypothetical "dogfight" between the two, I would offer that Airwolf would be too fast for Blue Thunder to draw a bead on it, let alone strike it with those heavy cannon rounds. Blue Thunder after all is an urban based riot suppression/close quarters machine; Airwolf was the high speed mover equipped with guns and guided missiles for air superiority. Were Blue's rounds really 20mm shells? Well, that's what I was wondering as well, I just went with what the OP posted, which I think is actually a quote from the film: "This ship is equipped with a forward-mounted, twenty-millimeter electric cannon. Its six barrels are capable of firing four thousand rounds of ammunition per minute. And that, gentlemen, is one hell of a sh!t-storm in anybody's language!" I guess it wouldn’t impossible because the Cobras carried a 20mm and the Apaches carry a 30mm. I just bought myself a bolt action rifle that fires .50bmg and that is a big, angry round. I can’t imagine what a 20mm round on automatic would do to the side of a helicopter, armored or not. To put in perspective, here’s a size comparison: Left to right: 30mm (guess what's loaded in the Apache), 20mm Cobra and Blue Thunder, .50bmg (M2) and 5.56mm (standard AR pattern rifle) And not to sound like I’m continuing to trash on Airwolf, because I was a fan of Airwolf as well, but can a helicopters reach supersonic without tearing itself apart? They just don’t seem like they could handle the speed. Edited October 27, 2015 by peter Quote
EXO Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 And not to sound like I’m continuing to trash on Airwolf, because I was a fan of Airwolf as well, but can a helicopters reach supersonic without tearing itself apart? They just don’t seem like they could handle the speed. I think that was what was suppose to make Airwolf special, the whole plausibility thing. Just like Blue Thunder had it's 360° loop capability. But the loop is actually possible in some copters. Quote
peter Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) True. I'm sure it's been debated to death who would win, and whether or not either of these helicopters could even exist by their fictional spec sheets. Apparently the real BT was kind of a pain to fly, I wonder what about the RC? It's cool that the gun has simulate fire. Edited October 27, 2015 by peter Quote
F-ZeroOne Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) Modern attack helicopters are typically designed to be armoured against 12.7mm rounds and "tolerant" of 23mm rounds (or the equivalent), but there really is no such thing as proof. Airwolf took and survived hits which in reality should have obliterated it. 30mm is a big ol' round and to put that into perspective, a couple of 30mm hits was considered by the Luftwaffe to be enough to down a B-17 bomber, arguably one of the strongest airframes ever built. I've seen some concept designs for jet/helicopter hybrids - one of which actually slightly resembles the "Switchblade" from "M.A.S.K"! - but I don't know if any of them are supposed to be supersonic. Edit: Oh, while I think of it, whilst Airwolf did indeed carry "guided" missiles, its arsenal included "Copperhead" rounds, which was actually a laser-guided artillery round... One thing that they did get sort of accurate was the use of "Sunburst" flares to decoy missiles, though real flares probably aren't the 100% effective they were in the show! Edited October 27, 2015 by F-ZeroOne Quote
peter Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 Just for fun, I looked up 20mm gatling gun and I think the film and TV show failed to represent the true power of that weapon, lol! And the target: I realize that BT's gun was not the same technology as the Phalanx, but the TV show and film could have been so much more, haha! Quote
M'Kyuun Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 Man, I used to have the BT vs Airwolf debate all the time with a kid I knew in middle school. At the time, I had a fascination with helicopters, and read a number of books about the mechanics of flight and the structure of the rotor drive mechanisms and such. Anyway, Blue Thunder seemed very plausible, whilst Airwolf was a lovely piece of fantasy. I'm not an engineer or a metallurgist, but I'd say the majority of helicopters in existence, if equipped with the means to achieve Mach by virtue of JATO or some such mechanism, would suffer catastrophic failure of the rotor, or the main shaft, due to the stresses, especially in turns. However, given our knowledge of carbon nano-tube structures, high grade steel, titanium, and various alloys, the feasibility of producing a chopper capable of supersonic speeds is currently considerable, in my uneducated opinion. But, given the helicopter's traditional roles, where maneuverability takes precedence over speed, I doubt many companies are interested in building one or I imagine we would have seen a couple attempts by now. I'm not aware of any. Quote
spanner Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 those CIWS guns are bad ass!!! I'd love to mount one on top of my house for personal security! Quote
Valkyrie Hunter D Posted October 28, 2015 Author Posted October 28, 2015 (edited) Just for fun, I looked up 20mm gatling gun and I think the film and TV show failed to represent the true power of that weapon, lol! The sound of that thing when it goes off is truly awe inspiring. I don't know who Ralph S. is, but he makes a sweet looking Blue Thunder Lego model. Actually, ALL his Lego models are spectacular. Edited October 28, 2015 by Valkyrie Hunter D Quote
myk Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 No helicopter could travel at the speeds implied by the Airwolf show; those rotors would be sheared right off, even if the frame could handle the required powerplant and the subsequent speeds... Quote
F-ZeroOne Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 (edited) I believe the in-show excuse was that the rotor-system was disconnected prior to supersonic flight (despite what the footage shows, I guess they weren't paying the pilots that much to try it... ). Yes, I know, but at least they tried... Edited October 28, 2015 by F-ZeroOne Quote
peter Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 (edited) The sound of that thing when it goes off is truly awe inspiring. I don't know who Ralph S. is, but he makes a sweet looking Blue Thunder Lego model. Actually, ALL his Lego models are spectacular. That my friend, is the sound of music. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt! Would be awesome if someone could digitally enhance the original film so Blue Thunder looks like this when firing: and sound like this: I realize the A10 fires a 30mm, but Blue Thunder could have been so much more if it had the sound effects right, haha! So much potential..... Edited October 28, 2015 by peter Quote
Jefuemon Posted October 29, 2015 Posted October 29, 2015 those CIWS guns are bad ass!!! I'd love to mount one on top of my house for personal security! Check out the Russian Home Shopping Network then Quote
peter Posted October 29, 2015 Posted October 29, 2015 How about a small Destroid? Wow, that actually does resemble a destroid. Just need to add a pair of legs, holy. Quote
reddsun1 Posted October 29, 2015 Posted October 29, 2015 Holy crap. Holee. Effin'. Crap. That is so kewl. Why the hell isn't someone at John Deere's walking tractor division working on a platform for this? Part Phalanx. Part Defender. All badass. Quote
thereal9thdoctor Posted October 31, 2015 Posted October 31, 2015 I kinda think the Airwolf vs Blue Thunder debate is useless myself. I love both, but readily acknowledge Airwolf, while prettier and cooler, isn't realistic that much past some of its avionics. It would be torn apart at turbo speeds, and could not possibly carry the amount of ordinance it does. Blue Thunder, however, is pretty much like an Apache attack heli, in fact was inspired by technology developed for it(the fire control helmet in BT is exactly like that in the Apache). The most realistic thing in Airwolf is the steath aspect, which is very similar to the stealth helicopter that has been in development (I think by Lockheed?) for what seems like forever. That helicopter even has retractable weapons ala Airwolf! Quote
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