Grymlock73
New member
Hey all! Just wanted to share the scratch build that I created for the Biggest Little Air Show last weekend at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA.
I took inspiration from the Soviet "Zveno" project where they utilized a Tupolev TB-1 or TB-3 heavy bomber as a mothership to carry up to five smaller fighters to deploy and run escort once they reached enemy territory. Piggyback launching is of course nothing new, but I hadn't seen five being carried at once so thought it'd be a fun challenge. ^_^
She's a big bird, 100" wingspan with twin motors turning 14x8's and weighs in at 18lbs AUW without her baby birds. She's constructed from mainly dollar tree foamboard and hot glue, some plywood for the spars and the wing connection points, and 3d printed parts for the landing gear and the launch mechanisms which I modeled in Blender and printed on my Prusa.
We've launched all sorts of aircraft off of her; dual conscendos, wings, etc. and up to 5 planes together, ranging from 700-1000mm. Linked some photos and vids below. Enjoy! ^_^
Mothership starts at 6:02, but if you go back to 3:42, you can see my Snoopy and later my Seaduck dropping parachutes. =)
I took inspiration from the Soviet "Zveno" project where they utilized a Tupolev TB-1 or TB-3 heavy bomber as a mothership to carry up to five smaller fighters to deploy and run escort once they reached enemy territory. Piggyback launching is of course nothing new, but I hadn't seen five being carried at once so thought it'd be a fun challenge. ^_^
She's a big bird, 100" wingspan with twin motors turning 14x8's and weighs in at 18lbs AUW without her baby birds. She's constructed from mainly dollar tree foamboard and hot glue, some plywood for the spars and the wing connection points, and 3d printed parts for the landing gear and the launch mechanisms which I modeled in Blender and printed on my Prusa.
We've launched all sorts of aircraft off of her; dual conscendos, wings, etc. and up to 5 planes together, ranging from 700-1000mm. Linked some photos and vids below. Enjoy! ^_^
Mothership starts at 6:02, but if you go back to 3:42, you can see my Snoopy and later my Seaduck dropping parachutes. =)
