Lookit what i found!

[proditor]

I wish I could find my preliminary plans for the AAC (Airborne Aircraft Carrier).  What I remember is this.  Use the Revell ATBas a base.  Build it pretty much stock with the following changes:

Internal:

Turn the cockpit into a 2 level flight deck in 1/700 scale with sheet styrene and very simple details.  Most of it will not be seen, so don't go crazy.  Make an internal "Launch bay" behind one of the two forward engine compartment bulges (This will make sense in the next section)

Top:

Along the centerline, Use evergreen styrene to make a Flilght deck.  Long and reasonably thin, it is intended for recoveries.  Slightly inset to the top deck with a very slightly raised lip along all the edges, slightly raised above the fuselage near the tail.

Now, scribe into the front edges of the engine housing, two "garage door" style openings that lead to scribed catapults.  One of them should be open to the launch bay you made above, the other three can just be scribed detail.  Now you can launch 4 fighters at a time, 2 from either wing.

Flanking the recovery deck on the raised rear fuselage are the topside weapon systems consisting of RAM, CIWS and a VLS on either side.

Clip the wings about an inch in and fair them upwards with wing extenders like on modern airliners.  This cleans the look up a bit and gets rid of the "soft edged" wingtips.

Bottom:

Replicate the weapons fit from above on the outside of the bomb bay doors.  Make a very very tiny recovery trapeze to go in one open bomb bay.  Now you can recover or launch from above and below using catapults, flight decks and the wonder of the 50's, the articulated trapeze!

Use the existing gear, and slap a whole bunch of 1/700 modified aircraft on that sucker.  It looks nasty-intimidating.

And if anyone has a copy of the directions with the big planform and would be willing to scan and send it to me, I can show you what I mean a lot easier.  

Lastly, if anyone has one of these kits for sale at a reasonable price, also drop me a line as this is the "one that got away" when the kit was devastated in a move a few years back.

[Tophe]

The ferret was made for people like us.

Use the Revell ATBas a base.

Yes, and we are not the only ones - let us play the JMN: "this ATB model is bad, just acceptable as base: the span is 2.5mm (0.1") too big, what a shame..."
 

[Shasper]

Top:

Along the centerline, Use evergreen styrene to make a Flilght deck.  Long and reasonably thin, it is intended for recoveries.  Slightly inset to the top deck with a very slightly raised lip along all the edges, slightly raised above the fuselage near the tail.

That would be a witchin crosswind landing, much less take off.


But good concept.

Shas B)

[proditor]

Top:

Along the centerline, Use evergreen styrene to make a Flilght deck.  Long and reasonably thin, it is intended for recoveries.  Slightly inset to the top deck with a very slightly raised lip along all the edges, slightly raised above the fuselage near the tail.

That would be a witchin crosswind landing, much less take off.


But good concept.

Shas B)

Yeah, I thought about some of the problems an, oh say, 200 knot wind across the deck might cause.  I finally came up with something that seemed like a kludge, but possibly a good one.  If I don't get to the kit in the next week or so (I might have a new one by next week) I'll post what I can remember of the back story.

Oh, and according to my cable company, only 14 more days till I get my crappy fun cam!  Which is good, since a crappy fun cam is still better than the lousy no-cam I have right now.