1933 TB-3 AM-34RD Replica. 25 tons of Ural steel sent aloft by the mutual will of the proletariat!

[Goddess Bhavani]

Having been a fan of ridiculously huge and slow aircraft like the ANT-20 Maksim Gorky, I set out to test if the will of the Koviet people could really hold a 20 ton, underpowered and completely un-aerodynamic aircraft in the air. Indeed there is no other reason, Comrade Reader, that such planes could actually fly!

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After a night of fudging around with a shape roughly based on the simpler and smaller Tupolev TB-3, and going through piles and piles of different propellers, I finally managed to put together a 3 blade, variable pitch unit good enough to send 25 tons of Ural steel up to the required flying speed of 20 meters per second! Thusly, I named it the AM-34RD variant, as it was the more streamlined long range modification and conveniently also had 3 bladed propellers.

There, our brave Kosmonauts, now doing the Motherland proud by piloting this rare jewel of the Koviet nation's historical glory, reported remarkably little could ever go wrong due to the glacially slow flying speed and mammoth reserve lift capacity. Even if it would somehow drop out of the sky (impossible!), absolutely nothing would happen to the crew and passengers.

Thusly, it was decided nothing in the way of crew amenities or safety features were to be provided.

Truly, even in the 1930s, Koviet engineering has no equal! And now, Comrade Reader, you too can see the TB-3 AM-34RD Replica for yourself, as the craft file is hosted on KerbalX!

http://kerbalx.com/crafts/2116

[Scoundrel]

Ha! Well done! Rep from me!

Though a question: how is it that you write Koviet, but write Comrade?

Also, since communism means everyone has to share, does that mean everyone gets my dashing style of anarchy and rugged individualism?

[Goddess Bhavani]

Ha! Well done! Rep from me!

Though a question: how is it that you write Koviet, but write Comrade?

Also, since communism means everyone has to share, does that mean everyone gets my dashing style of anarchy and rugged individualism?

Ahh, you have detected the flaw in my Koviet act since I am not familiar enough to think in Krussian. Only Klint Eastwood could do that on the run from the entire KVS!

[xenomorph555]

*Starts clapping*, well that made my day

Still laughing from the Soviet music in the background of that video.

Overall a really good craft, I also enjoy old soviet mega-bombers, maybe you should try the K-7 next...

[Goddess Bhavani]

Oh my, the K-7 looks ridiculously tempting. It also has a cockpit section that's really easy to make from the 1x1 structural panels.

I'll see what I can do - the main challenge is making the landing gear structures. Maybe I could put useful modules in them.

The rest of the ship should be quite okay; just follow the 'original instructions' and I can save a hundred parts since KAX and Firespitter.dll has been updated for 1.02.

[eddiew]

That is... extraordinarily glorious!

[Payload]

That is awesome! Now make it launch I-16 Ishaks and I-15 Chiakas as parasite fighters!

http://aerostories.free.fr/appareils/compopara/page19.html

[Goddess Bhavani]

That is awesome! Now make it launch I-16 Ishaks and I-15 Chiakas as parasite fighters!

http://aerostories.free.fr/appareils/compopara/page19.html

Yes, Zveno / SPB is something to do in future, now that KAX is available for 1.02. Is there a nice non-cheaty way to control more than one aircraft at once though?

[Goddess Bhavani]

I decided to continue with this thread, as the 'new' craft I built for nuFAR is basically the same aircraft albeit with better streamlining and proper prop engines.

Introducing the 'all new' 1936 TB-3 AM-34FRN replica!

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Just in time for a dawn patrol, the TB-3 of 1936 modernization "AM-34FRN" with more powerful engines, better streamlining and a whopping top speed of 300kph is ready for test flight.

Craft file:

http://kerbalx.com/crafts/2287

Includes fictional weapon loadout of 8x 250kg bombs and 8x unguided rockets as simulated payload. You can feel free to remove the ordnance and carry something else... more constructive. Maybe a pickup truck or something

The mods used are

KAX (cos trying to make horizontal helicopter rotors just plain did not work! Not enough RPM!)

Infernal Robotics (animated gunner stations)

nuFAR (Ferram Aerospace 0.15+)

I upgraded my earlier TB-3 design to see what the new voxel aero model thought about it and to my surprise nuFAR gave me a tremendous drag reduction that I could easily exceed the top speed of the historical "FRN" variant. To add a bit of game balance I allowed acceleration beyond the historical 300kph but there would be insufficient pitch authority to prevent the plane from doing its own thing!

This was one of the most advanced TB-3 models used for anything from bombing, paratroop transport to fighter mothership in the SPB/Zveno project, first seeing combat in 1938 in the Russo-Japanese conflict.