Gee Bee Pod Racer

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lakeroadster

lakeroadster

When in doubt... build hell-for-stout!
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I saw this rendering on the Facebook Dieselpunk Gallery.

Diesel Punk Air Racers.jpg

It's kind of a bash of Star Wars pod racers, and what I believe to be a 1930's Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster air racer. Gee Bee's were purpose built, just for racing. A way cool airplane that doesn't look like it should even fly.. but fly they did. In 1932 it not only won the Thompson Trophy Race, but actually lapped all the other competitors, except one.

Gee Bee.jpg​

So the diesel punk rendering is just so cool I took a stab at making a model of it in Open Rocket.

My mindsim thinks the offset thrust will try to steer the pod racer into an inside loop.

But it also has asymmetric drag to help counteract the offset thrust.

Motors in the pods are F15-0 Estes BP, and it has a C6-3 in the tail. The C6-3 ejects into a 3/8" tube that directs the pressure wave into the nose and pushes out the 24" parachute.

The V-tail reminds me of the Beechcraft Bonanza's that sported those. They were also known as the "fork-tailed doctor killer", due to their handling characteristics.

2023-04-25 Diesel Punk Dual Pod Racer Open Rocket Simulation Side View.jpg
 
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lakeroadster said:
I saw this rendering on the Facebook Dieselpunk Gallery.

View attachment 576988

It's kind of a bash of Star Wars pod racers, and what I believe to be a 1930's Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster air racer. Gee Bee's were purpose built, just for racing. A way cool airplane that doesn't look like it should even fly.. but fly they did. In 1932 it not only won the Thompson Trophy Race, but actually lapped all the other competitors, except one.


So the diesel punk rendering is just so cool I took a stab at making a model of it in Open Rocket.

My mindsim thinks the offset thrust will try to steer the pod racer into an inside loop.

But it also has asymmetric drag to help counteract the offset thrust.

Motors in the pods are F15-0 Estes BP, and it has a C6-3 in the tail. The C6-3 ejects into a 3/8" tube that directs the pressure wave into the nose and pushes out the 24" parachute.

The V-tail reminds me of the Beechcraft Bonanza's that sported those. They were also known as the "fork-tailed doctor killer", due to their handling characteristics.

View attachment 577001
Click to expand...

I love you creative people who do this kind of stuff. I just have zero vision for creating like that. Super awesome!

Sandy.
 
I think you're safer getting rid of the tail motor, and just using the tractor motors, but that's just my thought. However, I see you're using the tail motor for the ejection charge to get a parachute out the front. My bad, I see how it all works now. I think....
 
Love the look of the design.

As I have said, I am the Jester of Asymmetric fin designs, and I know you can get away with a lot , especially if you see a corkscrew smoke trail as a bonus rather than a defect.

Not experienced with tractor motors. What gets my spider sense tingling is asymmetric fins dorsal and asymmetrical thrust VENTRAL. As a see it, the fins are going to tend to PULL the nose up and the pods are going to PUSH the nose up. So my MindSim ain’t liking the combo. As @Daddyisabar might say, “an imbalance of the Force, I see.”

That said, you prove me wrong frequently, so starting to become routine.
 
I love it. Go for it. The way you use the CAD program is magic as far as I'm concerned. I have tried open rocket a few time and can't get past Go. I think it will fly fine. Just use big motors.
 
BABAR said:
Love the look of the design.

As I have said, I am the Jester of Asymmetric fin designs, and I know you can get away with a lot , especially if you see a corkscrew smoke trail as a bonus rather than a defect.

Not experienced with tractor motors. What gets my spider sense tingling is asymmetric fins dorsal and asymmetrical thrust VENTRAL. As a see it, the fins are going to tend to PULL the nose up and the pods are going to PUSH the nose up. So my MindSim ain’t liking the combo. As @Daddyisabar might say, “an imbalance of the Force, I see.”

That said, you prove me wrong frequently, so starting to become routine.
Click to expand...

Easy enough to make the elevators on the vertical stabilizers adjustable. The tough part is setting them for a straight and true flight... well... unless your @burkefj
 
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You're going to build the trusswork? That might induce some drag....
Might as well scale it to fit a 3-1/2" Action Figure (GI Joe or Star Wars figures come to mind); and build in a seat and control panel.
And if you get all that in, call Kenner, as it'll make a great toy for kids come Xmas time...
 
techrat said:
You're going to build the trusswork?
Click to expand...
Yes, out of poplar dowels similar to how I built my Mercury LES tower. Should be the most tedious part of the build.

techrat said:
That might induce some drag....
Click to expand...
The truss is in the high base drag area, behind the 3" fuselage, so that's probably unlikely.

001.JPG 1682512492540.png
 
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Reviewing the data for the motors I noticed the (2) F15's and (1) C6 put this rocket over the NAR specification of 125 grams of propellant.

Changing the C6 to an A8 brings this rocket back under the HPR lower threshold.

NAR HPR Threshold.jpg
 
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Daddyisabar said:
That plane is all nose, no fuselage to speak of. And that is some nose art. Maybe too much for the old dude's ticker!
Click to expand...
And the Gee Bee's were designed in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Surprising what folks can do when they put their minds to it.

As for Betty Page...

 
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