Alternate Reality Fighter circa 1932

[SCLRSIGS]

The WIP attached is for an alternate reality Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force fighter from the early 1930s.

The feel I hope to convey was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's mid-'80s japanese cartoon 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky'. It featured advanced turn of the (20th) Century technology such as gigantic airship fortresses and sky pirates flying hummingbird-type craft. Such tangents in past technological development is seldom explored which is a shame as it is a fresh departure from the cutting edge space-faring technology that is the default setting for most of our creative outlets (I include myself in that category).

The alternate reality involves an uneasy truce to the Great War in the early 1920s. The truce was the result of a stalemate in the War which was brought on by the exhaustion on resources on both sides (Britain and German and their respective allies). A Cold War ensued. The front lines remained and more permanent defenses where constructed. Brilliant minds on both sides were put to work to develop better weapons for land, sea and air. As technology got better, so the fragile truce became threatened. Defense was at the heart of every endeavour. Both sides had borne a generation of soldiers. War was inevitable.

Comments are welcomed. Thank you for your time.

[Cyba_storm]

You have a great start here. A good back story has given you plenty of scope to explore your creativity. Are you going to build different types of technology, and will you be building the machinery of both sides?

[SCLRSIGS]

I will develop it for as long as it holds my interest (and how much interest is generated in this forum). Ideas for what you might like to see (on both sides) are very welcome. Thanks for the interest.

[Coolhand]

I'd rethink the fuselage/propellor, most of the thrust is going to be wasted on the front of the fuselage. take a look at real life rotary engined biplanes and see how much of the propellor blows past the fuselage. yours looks way too small, and the front of the fuselage looks too flat - give that a bigger curve to blend it into the fuslage better.

[efritsch]

On the flip side of the coin Coolhand, this is Sci-fi, which as we all know, really needs no basis in the real laws of physics and aerodynamics. I mean, we build ships that weigh in the hundreds of thousands of tons that can lift off from a planets surface under its own power.

Maybe he's going for that cartoon look. I think it looks good so far.

[MagnumHB]

Originally Posted by efritsch

On the flip side of the coin Coolhand, this is Sci-fi, which as we all know, really needs no basis in the real laws of physics and aerodynamics. I mean, we build ships that weigh in the hundreds of thousands of tons that can lift off from a planets surface under its own power.

Maybe he's going for that cartoon look. I think it looks good so far.

But in standard scifi ships, we get to use things like Nuclear! power and gigantic jets at the back. With a prop plane, you can't really deviate quite as much from reality. My biggest problem is the wings. First, they are not airfoils, which means they aren't actually wings. This could just be because they are just blocked in at this point. They really should be bigger though. There's just not enough surface area to create lift. If it was fast enough to fly (think of the F-104 with its tiny wings), then it would barely be able to turn because of the ridiculously high wing loading. Even Scott Robertson's wacky "toy" aircraft drawings have bigger wings. I like the overall aesthetic of it, but some of the technical features need to be tweaked.

[SCLRSIGS]

Thank you for your observations, Coolhand. I know that your work is incredibly detailed and feasible based on certain technological assumptions. I do enjoy spending time going over your work and admiring the thought that has gone into almost every aspect of it.

I view creativity in science fiction as somewhere between the feasible and the fantastical. Where you sit between those two is competely subjective, as highlighted by Efritsch. Nonetheless, it is a WIP and your valued advice is well recieved. Thank you again.

[SCLRSIGS]

You're right, MangnumHB. It does need something to give it some lift. Will look into doing it without falling to the default pre-1950s aircraft wing configurations. Afterall, this is a technological tangent I'm trying to explore. Thanks for the comments, will hopefully post an update WIP soon.

[The B5 Fan]

If those are wingss, as opposed to stabilisers then they would nee dot be bigger, and I'm pretty sure that having them angled like that produces some serious problems.I think for them to work like that then they curve would have to change as it goes along. when I first saw it I thought it was essentially a mini-dirigible with satbilsers which I'm pretty sure would be unique if not quite phyisically possible. Still I certainly like the concept. Good start.

[Coolhand]

oh, i thought the wings and other control surfaces were still to come!

Sure there's the cartoon aspect and the fantasy aspect to it... but SCLRSIGS, you mentioned that you hoped to convey the feel of the types of designs seen in the excellent animation, laputa. This is probably my second favourite japanimation so i'm pretty familiar with it. The designs in that film were fantastical yes, but they also had a sense of reality to them, they felt real and not cartoony, the proportions were correct, you felt like they could actually fly. To be honest This aircraft barely looks like it could power itself along the ground with the current proportions, let alone fly. The shape and everything is funky, but it's lending itself to be more of a cutesy caricature aircraft, and if you're going for that then cool, but it seems to be falling short of the influence you mentioned in your first post.