Valom's Airacuda

[mgp]

I was just looking at the preview of the new Airacuda by Valomon Modeling Madness  and a couple of ideas popped into my head. If we assume that a redesign took care of most of the problems that the real plane had, other than as a bomber interceptor, what other roles could it have undertaken?

Two roles spring to mind: ground attack and anti-shipping. Kind of like a US version of the Beaufighter. Add a .50 cal mg to each nacelle or the nose sides and you've got some real punch then!

I've also seen a comment elsewhere that if you delete the rear mounted engines and replace the gunner canopies with radial engines you end up with a plane that looks rather Ki-46 Dinah. Who'll be brave and try that out?

Any other ideas?

[Andrew Gorman]

I have 1/50 UPC Dinah in the basement- maybe I should turn it into an Airacuda?  What would work for the gunners pods?  1/144 He-111s or B-29s?  I'm open to suggestions!
Andrew

[tinlail]

I've also seen a comment elsewhere that if you delete the rear mounted engines and replace the gunner canopies with radial engines you end up with a plane that looks rather Ki-46 Dinah.

Why remove the rear engines? A push pull configuration might get the speed up, to what was hoped for.

[B777LR]

Add a .50 cal mg to each nacelle or the nose sides and you've got some real punch then!

Why stop there? Im sure a MK-108 30mm cannon could be fitted in each nacelle   (and i dont think many ships could survive that )
http://www.luft46.com/armament/mk108.html

With the small size, on could even fit 4 in each nacelle

Then fit 2 turboprops instead of piston engines, and perhaps 2 jet engines as well, and you get a heavy interceptor capable of blowing away B-29s/Tu-4s as were they candles on a cake  

[Maverick]

For myself, I can't see an Airacuda looking anything like a Dinah, even remotely so.  The Airacuda is kinda chubby, whilst the Dinah is svelte & sexy.

Either way, love 'em both!!

Mav

[GTX]

A Mk-108 is fine so long as you want to go for the German side.  If you wanted to stick to the USA, I'd stick with the 37 mm M4 cannons (as also used in the Bell P-39 and P-63 fighters) that it really did have.

Regards,

Greg

[Jschmus]

I always thought that it could've benefitted from higher-powered engines and better cooling.  The Airacuda featured a lot of nice ideas, but I think Bell tried to cram too many of them into one machine.

Delete the gunner's positions from the nacelle fronts.  They weren't really gunners anyway; they just served to reload the 37mm cannons.  Fill each nacelle with 6-8 .50 caliber guns or four 20mm cannon, and it would make a suitable strafer.

[jcf]

Add a .50 cal mg to each nacelle or the nose sides and you've got some real punch then!

Why stop there? Im sure a MK-108 30mm cannon could be fitted in each nacelle   (and i dont think many ships could survive that )
http://www.luft46.com/armament/mk108.html

With the small size, on could even fit 4 in each nacelle

Then fit 2 turboprops instead of piston engines, and perhaps 2 jet engines as well, and you get a heavy interceptor capable of blowing away B-29s/Tu-4s as were they candles on a cake

The Mk108 would be a poor choice for anti-shipping use, it was slow firing and had a low muzzle velocity. The weapon was intended purely as a bomber destroyer and while it worked well on aluminum airframes, it was not intended for hard targets and the German's did not produce armour piercing rounds for the gun.

The Mk.103 is a better choice if you insist on a 3cm German weapon.

Jon