The Socialist Republic of Sieran

[denodon]

That's a good idea yeah, when I do actually draw the carrier I'll probably look into including some. Still not decided whether I want just a steel deck or steel with planking on top. The wood would give better grip for the poor guys that have to work on deck during the poorer weather. Might complicate de icing however.

[Rodondo]

Steel and Wood both have their pros and cons

Added Wood Pro's:

*Better insulator, especially across a big surface
*Low temperatures doesn't greatly affect strength
*Cheap


Just Steel Pro's
*Less weight (75t-200t worth)
*Not a fire hazard
*Needs to be replaced as a whole, a lot less

[denodon]

Hmm, in that case I may go with wood simply because of the benefits it has.

Also nobody got feedback on the bomber concept? I'm still not entirely sure about it for some reason.

[Rowdy36]

I think the TSB looks pretty good, the design seems to suite the era well and it looks like it has come from the pedigree of the TB-31. My only thoughts were if there was enough space in the present configuration for internal torpedo carriage?

[Kilomuse]

The torpedo bomber looks good. If the main gear eats up internal space for a torpedo, you could carry the torpedo semi-recessed, maybe by removing the bomb bay doors.

[eswube]

Sorry for not commenting the bomber earlier. Like Rowdy36 and Kilomuse, I like it general looks and I too have some doubts about the main gear reducing space for bomb bay.

[denodon]

I wasn't sure what kind of gear I could really use for the aircraft, though I agree it would use a decent amount of space with that Grumman style arrangement it has currently.
Any ideas where else I could move it? I looked at the Avengers gear as that plane is roughly the same time period and overall design similarity to the TSB but I have no idea how their gear works.

Also is it feasible to fit a bomb crutch in the bomb bay to allow for dive bombing using the internal bay or is it easier to just use the hardpoints under each wing instead?

[eswube]

Avenger had the landing gear retracted to the wings, towards their tips (in principle like Spitfire or Bf-109).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ger_23.JPG
I suppose that it would be possible to install a crutch in the bay, but hardpoints would be simpler and probably much more practical.

[denodon]

The Avengers gear arrangement might work best then, free up space in the fuselage for the longer bomb bay needed to lift a torpedo. Probably a bit lighter too. I'm guessing the engine would have to be in the 1400hp range for this aircraft, a vast improvement on the TBs 800hp engine.
I'll probably stick with the hardpoints then, they're certainly much more simple and allow for the carriage of other weapons outside of the bomb bay.

[eswube]

You could also try the gear arrangement similar to the one on F6F Hellcat and P-36/P-40 - wheel rotating 90deg. and retracting backwards.
http://chivethebrigade.files.wordpress. ... 920-31.jpg