I havent posted here for a bit since I was busy on a full time job, but now I have some free time! I have always LOVED Crimson Skies and wish Microsoft did a proper sequal. Im starting to make some assets for maybe a Crimson Skies 2 fake poster or concept work. Maybe even a desktop wallpaper. I wanted some feedback on some of my concepts if you please.
The base concept is from a Spitfire book and the design of having the engine in front, and cockpit hooked up to the tain via twin booms is actually a 1939 british concept! The engine is an inverted liquid cooled V-16 with the radiator port in the nose of the engine coweling, driving a contra-rotating prop.
Armorment varies like any game, but the concept is to have 2 MG guns between the booms and engine, and a big cannon build into the booms with ammo stored in the wings or down the boom in a helix.
If you havent noticed, the engine is build very low, and there is NO room for landing gear. This is because they wont be landing on the ground, but under a giant carrier blimp via a trapeese and hooks deployed from the TOP of the aircraft. The two big round objects under are drop tanks
Its hard to make out, but the radiator exhaust is below the prop hub. For such an odd config, the pilot has amazing sight lines and is able to pull load very easy with the engine in this position vs aircraft like the P-51 or Spitfire with a long nose.
The timeline for this is sometime around mid 1940's and before the jet era. Engines have gotten about as big and powerfull as they will get, so the only thing to do now is streamline designs to better suit the available power.
Right now im not happy with the rudder and gondola shape/config and will be playing with it today a bit. Your looking at about 2 days work, so things will change quite a bit. Any comments and suggestions are very much welcome!
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Going just style-wise, you're pretty darn close to what I expect from CS. If I remember correctly, the P-21 Devastator from the game had an arrestor cable assembly that rose out of the fuselage directly in front of the pilot with a pair of sturdy clamps on it. You might consider that as something to utilize as the hook system for this aircraft.
The thing is, this aircraft is a huge departure for me, in designing something impratical. A lot of sci-fi is like that, in that it looks more cool then practical. About 95% of the stuff I have seen in sci-fi flicks would never fly! So this im using my emagination more then my common sense, or at least trying too.
Wayting for further touches !!
Cheers, S.
This would fit right in!
You want to balance your aircraft in such a manner so as to counteract the wing's lifting moment enough so that your aircraft will not be unstable (as in it is prone to flipping itself over backwards above a certain speed).
I did this sketching method for designing aircraft;
http://twitlink.ws/jpelovitz_airtut
As far as the design goes, you're doing well, but I prefer the first cockpit setup to this one. The first had a more sound connection to the main tail assembly. The point of connection with the current image seems too flimsy: there aren't any major structural supports in that part of the tail, so you would have weak points that could cause potential damage in high-g maneuvers.
Here is one of my previous models.
So im trying to work outside the box on this one. Go for something that looks cool, but may not really work in reality.
With that said, I went onto detailing the model. Adding gun blisters, flaps, ailerons, and so on.
I should be getting onto texturing it rather soon after I make a cockpit shell.
That's Crimson Skies design in a nutshell!
Why perpetrate the same errors when you have the knowledge and skill to advance science fiction?