Lightning Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 I was wondering, how big would a 1/10 scale VF-1 be? the reason why i'm asking is, i'm thinking of building one after i get my project car done (that should take about a year to do) so i can test out GERWALK mode to see if it'll really work without risking some poor test pilot's neck. Quote
Knight26 Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 Big, let's put it that way, about the same size as a 1:10 scale hornet. But making gerwalk will had a heck of a lot of weight and will make the plane damn hard to fly. We've had this discussion before off the boards if you remember. Quote
Lightning Posted August 31, 2003 Author Posted August 31, 2003 yea, but that's why it'll be a R/C plane instead of a full scale one so that way if i crash it (or tear it up basically) it'll be my money instead of the governments and i can refine it so it'll work. Quote
ewilen Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 (edited) Valkyrie dimensions are here. Briefly, a 1/10 VF-1 in fighter mode would have an overall length of 1.423 m (4' 8") and a fully-extended wingspan of 1.478 m (4' 10"). I think you'd have a really hard time making a flying Gerwalk. It's hard enough for Boeing or Lockheed to make a VTOL. Edited August 31, 2003 by ewilen Quote
Aegis! Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 Valkyrie dimensions are here.Briefly, a 1/10 VF-1 in fighter mode would have an overall length of 1.423 m (4' 8") and a fully-extended wingspan of 1.478 m (4' 10"). I think you'd have a really hard time making a flying Gerwalk. It's hard enough for Boeing or Lockheed to make a VTOL. I think the most feasable way is to make it fly and then when preparing for landing the model releases the legs and lands (obviously it would need to release various air-brakes as well , before releasing the legs at a very low altitude ). What I´m worried about is the mechanical structure of the legs for walking and at the same time thrust. Quote
Lightning Posted August 31, 2003 Author Posted August 31, 2003 I'm not gonna try to make it walk (not yet at least!) i just wanna see how it'll mess up the airflow and how quick it'll come to a stop in the air when it does transform. And also to test out the flight charistics of Gerwalk and transforming in flight. Basically, it'll be a "full" blown test plane program. Quote
VF-19 Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 Valkyrie dimensions are here.Briefly, a 1/10 VF-1 in fighter mode would have an overall length of 1.423 m (4' 8") and a fully-extended wingspan of 1.478 m (4' 10"). I think you'd have a really hard time making a flying Gerwalk. It's hard enough for Boeing or Lockheed to make a VTOL. I think the most feasable way is to make it fly and then when preparing for landing the model releases the legs and lands (obviously it would need to release various air-brakes as well , before releasing the legs at a very low altitude ). What I´m worried about is the mechanical structure of the legs for walking and at the same time thrust. I can see a huge problem. If you have one engine producing more thrust than the other, your plane will flip over... Better it be an RC model than me in the cockpit... As to the mechanical structure, I think you can get away with it locking in the hovering position. One thing at a time... First you get it to hover, then you can install the servos and whatnot in the legs to retract the engines so it can fly around. BTW you are planning to put mini jets in this thing right? Quote
Lightning Posted August 31, 2003 Author Posted August 31, 2003 yep, definately mini-jets for the engines, I'm thinkin about doing the backpack thrusters too (rockets for those? or even smaller mini-jets?) Quote
VF-19 Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 yep, definately mini-jets for the engines, I'm thinkin about doing the backpack thrusters too (rockets for those? or even smaller mini-jets?) Err... The main problem with rockets is how short they'll last. Not to mention if you use the solid fuel type you can't shut them off once they're on. Just how small can these mini jets get anyways? Quote
Lightning Posted August 31, 2003 Author Posted August 31, 2003 i've seen a pulse Jet that was about a foot and a half long... Quote
VF-19 Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 i've seen a pulse Jet that was about a foot and a half long... Hmm... That might still be too big to fit into the back pack... Especially since there's three nozzles in the back pack... Not to mention the possible location for all the fuel... Although, the main body would probably be a good place to house it. That or you could basically go the MiG 25 route. Make the entire body one huge fuel tank. Quote
Commander McBride Posted September 1, 2003 Posted September 1, 2003 On the subject of the backpack thrusters, it may make sense to make it either a small fan or two, or a compressed air mechanism. Quote
VF-19 Posted September 1, 2003 Posted September 1, 2003 On the subject of the backpack thrusters, it may make sense to make it either a small fan or two, or a compressed air mechanism. Now that's not a bad idea! However, in what he's building, you'd want to keep your weight distributed very evenly. So, if you were going the route of compressed air, you'd want to mount your tank in the centerline of the aircraft, so as it gets lighter (as air does weigh something), it will make the craft overall lighter, rather than one side. Also if you do go this route, you'd need to either build an access port to the tank somewhere on the fighter, or make the tank removeable. Oh and you may need to design a custom tank to be able to carry any significant ammount of air... I doubt the standard cylinder will work... Quote
twinmoons Posted September 1, 2003 Posted September 1, 2003 (edited) Be prepared for the FBI to knock on your door "All your plans are belong to us!" Edited September 1, 2003 by twinmoons Quote
Commander McBride Posted September 1, 2003 Posted September 1, 2003 On the subject of the backpack thrusters, it may make sense to make it either a small fan or two, or a compressed air mechanism. Now that's not a bad idea! However, in what he's building, you'd want to keep your weight distributed very evenly. So, if you were going the route of compressed air, you'd want to mount your tank in the centerline of the aircraft, so as it gets lighter (as air does weigh something), it will make the craft overall lighter, rather than one side. Also if you do go this route, you'd need to either build an access port to the tank somewhere on the fighter, or make the tank removeable. Oh and you may need to design a custom tank to be able to carry any significant ammount of air... I doubt the standard cylinder will work... Well, optimally, the compressed air would be generated with an accessory drive off the engine, like on the real thing, or maybe just a small electric compressor. I don't know if it's possible at this scale, though. Quote
Pat Payne Posted September 1, 2003 Posted September 1, 2003 i've seen a pulse Jet that was about a foot and a half long... Also, how much is this thing gonna cost? Aren't jets (even the micro-type kind) prety darn expensive? Quote
Wumzi Posted September 1, 2003 Posted September 1, 2003 I don't mean to discourage you, but if you want this thing to be able to do a fighter to gerwalk transformation in mid air, you're going to be in for a nasty surprise. First off, the second you lower the legs, all the aerodynamics are gonna be shot to hell. It's not going to do a sudden stop in the air like in the anime, it still has a lot of forward momentum. So with a big surface area of the legs is exposed to the air, they'll act like big air brakes. That would've been good to slow it down, except for the fact that your center of gravity is still above the engines. So, it's going to nose down and flip over. Picture yourself standing on ice with your torso horizontal (funny gerwalk ). If a sudden force starts pushing your legs bacwards, wouldn't you tip over? Second, you're going to need a heck of a lot of motors or servos to get the legs moving. That's bound to make it heavy. If you manage to overcome the fist problem and avoid tipping over, now you need to figure out how to control those legs to direct thrust. I don't think it would be as simple as forward or backwards. Think of trying to balance a chair with 2 of its legs in the air and the other 2 on your hands (simply resting on your palms, not being gripped by your hands). It would woble all over the place. The only position i can think of that would make the valk stable is with the 2 legs thrusting forward and away from each other, and the backpack thrusting backwards (kinda like a tripod). Again, i'm not trying to discourage you, i'd love to see this thing fly. Heck, the reason i went into mechanical engineering is because i always dreamed of building the real thing! Which is going to be a lot worse... and financially impossible without that overtechnology (come on ASS-1, get down here already ) Good luck with your project Quote
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