MOC Fairchild A10 (WIP) pics added

[MinusAndy]

I’ve started building one of these in fairly big scale. 
The plan is to have all functions run from a combination of two motors, one acting as a constant speed power unit and the other one spinning the turbines. 
functions will be:

ailerons.

elevator.

rudders.

The functions below are powered by a control+hub and two motors from 42099 through a three way, 2 direction distribution box which is currently just in front of the wing.

turbines spinning.

retractable undercarriage

extending leading and trailing edges.

BRRRRRP!!.

It’s 99 studs long, with a span of 111 studs.

The fuselage is generally 9 wide.

 

Ill be putting work in progress pics on Flickr if anyone is interested. 
I imagine I’ll also be grovelling for help on here a fair bit too I imagine.

Thanks for looking.

Andy

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by MinusAndy

[Rudivdk]

I was looking forward for this post to show up for some time now

I'll be watching this one, can't wait to see how this will end  Good luck!

[MinusAndy]

3 hours ago, Rudivdk said:

I was looking forward for this post to show up for some time now

I'll be watching this one, can't wait to see how this will end  Good luck!

Cheers man. I’m stockpiling dbg for it, the new osprey looks like a great donor.

[Gray Gear]

Cant really see much yet, exept that this thing will be massive.  Looking forward to see your progress 

[MinusAndy]

Here’s a few update pics:

I’ve had to go with 8 barrels instead of 7 on the gun. If anyone can think of a way to get seven then I’m all ears.The Scale is about right If I use bar and one cylinder brick

Edited July 20, 2020 by MinusAndy

[dhc6twinotter]

This looks fantastic!  I like a great airplane MOC!  It's going to look great in DBG too.

How's the CG going to be?  It looks like all the motors and BB are mounted in the rear, and I'd be concerned with the plane being tail heavy.   

 

Looks like a great build!

[MinusAndy]

12 hours ago, dhc6twinotter said:

This looks fantastic!  I like a great airplane MOC!  It's going to look great in DBG too.

How's the CG going to be?  It looks like all the motors and BB are mounted in the rear, and I'd be concerned with the plane being tail heavy.   

 

Looks like a great build!

I’ve now got the battery box going behind the ejector seat so that should help. 
plus I have the scaled down 3000 rounds of depleted uranium shells to go behind the gun so that should sort it :)

[BusterHaus]

This is looking great. The A10 is one of my favourite planes, you are doing it great justice. Just don't let the German Peace Society know.

[suffocation]

You've nailed the looks and the internals look deliciously complex

[MinusAndy]

4 hours ago, BusterHaus said:

This is looking great. The A10 is one of my favourite planes, you are doing it great justice. Just don't let the German Peace Society know.

Haha! Thanks for the kind words. It’s my favourite flying thing that doesn’t have rotor blades. There aren’t a huge amount of 40+ year old things in modern warfare. (The .50 cal browning and chinook spring to mind though) I was quite surprised it hadn’t been built in technic before as it is pretty square compared to a lot of modern jets, then I started the engine pods and found out why!

1 hour ago, suffocation said:

You've nailed the looks and the internals look deliciously complex

Cheers. I’m a fan of “treebling” (technical greebling) and would much prefer to use a complex and unnecessary system of mechanics than a servo motor. 

[Rudivdk]

13 minutes ago, MinusAndy said:

“treebling”

Best... word... ever...  

But seriously, mechanical solutions are far more fun that just slapping in a motor for every function (sorry RC-lovers...). And if done clever, it can be far more compact too. Which you'll need in this build, there is not so much space to work with. But it looks like you're getting there.

One piece of advice: test out your wings as soon as possible with a full build. Since they are only attached from one end, have a considerable surface and have the wheel pods as well, the ends will suffer from gravity and probably start hanging down. You'll need to reinforce them a lot or build them slightly angled up to negate gravity. Better to check early on to avoid redoing all your hard work in the end...

Edited July 21, 2020 by Rudivdk

[MinusAndy]

That’s a good point. I was going to basically build a big tricycle and then add wings but as soon as I get it standing I’ll sketch some wings on and see what happens.

[Rudivdk]

I learned the hard way with my P-38... Luckily I always build in CAD as well, so I could figure out my redesign over there, but it was still extra work. And your wings look to be longer (I had 3 fuselages to distribute weight) and heavier because your wheel pods are part of the wing and not in the main fuselage...

[suffocation]

15 minutes ago, Rudivdk said:

30 minutes ago, MinusAndy said:

“treebling”

Best... word... ever... 

This one should go straight into the OED!

16 minutes ago, Rudivdk said:

mechanical solutions are far more fun that just slapping in a motor for every function

Seconded. I admit I've made a couple of one-motor-(or-more)-per-function Mocs but the experience made me appreciate the fewer-motors-&-more-functions approach even more, especially when space is at a premium.

[MinusAndy]

1 hour ago, Rudivdk said:

I learned the hard way with my P-38... Luckily I always build in CAD as well, so I could figure out my redesign over there, but it was still extra work. And your wings look to be longer (I had 3 fuselages to distribute weight) and heavier because your wheel pods are part of the wing and not in the main fuselage...

Yeah I’m trying to make the pods as much of a separate structure as I can. Fortunately the hawg has tonnes of dihedral after the pod and is flat before it so this should help too.

[Jeroen Ottens]

Looking good so far. If I may add one more bit of advice. Since you have these nice cut-out drawings of the real plane. When I was working on my Tomcat I found out that following the original planes internal structure was the best way to get structural integrity in my LEGO version. In the Tomcat's case that was especially true for the structure between main fuselage and the rotationpoints of the wings. In this case I would look carefully at the mounting of the engines and wings as @Rudivdk also mentioned.

I love the shaping on the rear of the engine nacelle with the 2x5 panels. Very organic.

One of the reason I like these kind of builds is that they really challenge you to fit functions, structurale integrity and form into one very tight package. Looking forward to see more progress (even when it is breaking things down to go back to square one).

[MinusAndy]

Wise words! I tend to work by drawing a scale sketch using the model scaler, then sketch it in technic. I’ve already gone pretty much back to square 1.5.

Update pics. I’ve sorted the joystick and rudder pedals into rotary outputs.

 

[MinusAndy]

 

[MinusAndy]

I’ve been grappling with the engine pod structure for a couple of days and finally have a system for making a reasonable cylinder.

[MinusAndy]

if I can lose four studs in length here then I think it’ll work. Engine seen here in rare mcv paint job (military colour vomit)

[MinusAndy]

 

[TeamThrifty]

Once you've virtually finished it, prepare for a protest against it and then withdraw it at the last minute!! 

(its just a joke.. calm down..!!)

Moc looks brilliant. Not something i'd ever build, so something so different makes it even more interesting... 

[MinusAndy]

26 minutes ago, TeamThrifty said:

Once you've virtually finished it, prepare for a protest against it and then withdraw it at the last minute!! 

(its just a joke.. calm down..!!)

Moc looks brilliant. Not something i'd ever build, so something so different makes it even more interesting... 

I’ll pop it on Lego ideas when it’s done lolz. 
 

 

[MinusAndy]

Somewhat ironically, I was relying heavily on the new osprey for an array of panels in peaceful grey to enhance my death-machine so I hope they release the panels into the wild soon.

Engine design is now pretty much sorted I think. I’m trying to cut down on system parts as much as I can, despite thinking originally that this would be a moc that was heavily covered in system parts, as time has gone on I much prefer technic.

 

[BusterHaus]

Great looking nacelle. I didn't see any space for moving components in the WIP pictures, any chance of squeezing in a at least the first stage (single row of blades) of a turbine?