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NASA Ames AD-1 Variable Wing Testbed

3,030 geek1love  2.5 years ago

NASA developed the AD-1 Oblique Wing Aircraft for testing swept wing technology in the 1970s. The experiment led to successful designs like the F-14 Tomcat.

This is an early release for low parts mobile users without cockpit and detail work.

Weapons:
SCIENCE!

Controls:
VTOL rotates wing.

Production notes: I've since added the bump that's above the point of rotation on the real plane. Future versions will have this along with a somewhat detailed livery and cockpit.

The fuselage is a little lumpy here and there (under the cockpit in particular) and I have a lot of detail to add. Let me know if you see anything out of place.

The landing gear shouldn't retract, but you'll just have to decide for yourself. I'll likely build custom gear for the more detailed version. I like how clean it looks without the gear sticking out anyway.

At one point I had the mass accurate to the real spec. I'll have to scale it again for future versions but this one is a little off.

I may have the wings at an acceptable state for the moment. I settled on the performance given by Flat Bottom shaped, unrealistically big hidden wings. The wings were hidden before, but not only were they symmetric (oops!), they were "realistically" sized -- I made them as close to the same size as the cosmetic "wings" before I hid them by making them very small. This method clearly doesn't work. A stall speed of 200kph made landings very rough. Now it should be able to cruise at 20% power and ~120kph. Let me know if there are any other tweaks that will make it more realistic. For all I know, the thing really did fly that badly and I'm just trying to make it more enjoyable. This would be contrary to trying to create a true replica -- I want stall speed to be accurate if possible.

I also want to know if rotating the wing caused the right hand roll I experience with this plane. That sounds like it may be more research and effort than people really care for. Let me know what you think.

Have fun!

Spotlights

General Characteristics

  • Created On Windows
  • Wingspan 32.3ft (9.8m)
  • Length 38.2ft (11.6m)
  • Height 8.5ft (2.6m)
  • Empty Weight 1,624lbs (736kg)
  • Loaded Weight 2,155lbs (977kg)

Performance

  • Power/Weight Ratio 1.188
  • Wing Loading 10.8lbs/ft2 (52.7kg/m2)
  • Wing Area 199.8ft2 (18.6m2)
  • Drag Points 1922

Parts

  • Number of Parts 146
  • Control Surfaces 5
  • Performance Cost 792