KHB-52 Stratobomber (B-52 replica)

[kapteenipirk]

Here is one days worth of building, testing and having fun. The idea of making a B-52 replica craft was running around in my head for a while, but now i tought was the time to finally do it and man was it a long Project but also very fun.

Im lying a bit when i say its completely stock since the main version uses the Marble-8 cockpit from the SXT Stock eXTension pack, but other than that its fully stock and i also made a version with the stock cockpit.

At first i wanted to make a B-52ish aircraft, but not long after i started building i tought that why dont i just make a proper replica of it.

It ended up being almost about as accurate as it can get, aka the aircraft is only one metre off in lenght and a couple of metres off in height. Wingspan is the same as in the real one. It is slower than the real one By quite a bit, i tried to fix this By putting engines inside one another but it caused over heating issues and was not worth it (i only got around 30 m/s more speed).

So here are the stats of it in the pick below.

The aircraft feels and flyes like a big aircraft should fly. For an aircraft of this size it has pretty amazing pitch authority but is slow in roll control, so take it slow and steady and dont do sharp turns or youll end up recreating the infamous B-52 airshow crash like i almost did.

With a top speed of about 180-200 m/s in low altitude its pretty nippy but not a fast as the real thing (top speed of the real thing is about 260-270 m/s).

 

There are currently 4 version of this aircraft: the one in the pick above is the main version with the RATO system but no weapons.

Secondly there is the all stock version witch is the same as the main version except for the switched out cockpit and the flags being removed.

Thirdly we have the BD version witch is the all stock version without the RATO system, but instead has 24 MK-85 bombs and 6 cruisemissiles for taking down ground targets. It also has a defensive tail gun.

Lastly we have the KSP version witch is the main version with a K-15 (X-15ish) rocketplane under the wing instead of the RATO system.

 

SOME NOTES ABOUT FLYING THE AIRCRAFT!!

First of all before you takeoff you need to click on the main cockpit and say control from here since it for some reason wants to make the rear gunners cockpit the default one from where to fly the aircraft.

Its probably caused By the fact that i started building this from the fuselage so it would be easyer to switch out the cockpit to the stock one.

If you do not remember to do this you will have no yaw control and your other controls will be reversed.

Other note is that the engines will start overheating about 6-7 minutes after takeoff but if you fly with 2/3 of throttle the engines wont overheat.

It pretty amazing to think that the engines are still overheating even altough i have 2 small radiator panel and an engine precooler for each engine.

I suspect that the precoolers might be the source of the problem, but im not sure

And try to avoid making the same mistake as i made when i released the K-15 rocketplane, and that is that i pointed the nose down and this happened.

Lets just say that we had a minor........ehm collision. So point you nose up a bit before separation and you will be just fine.

 

Here are some picks of it in action.

First we have picks of the main version of the aircraft.

Its able to takeoff pretty quickly with the help of the RATO boosters witch have 24 "Twitch" engines each so they last for a very long time before they burn out.

And here are ofcourse a couple of picks to show off the looks of the aircraft.

There you can see pretty clearly the Radiator panels glowing red hot. And yes there are a dozen canards "hidden" in the fuselage to make the aircraft fly better.

Originally i was going for a more traditional tail design (2 adaptors and a nosecone) but i tought it would be a better idea to go for a more realistic tail section. IT looks pretty good but is a little "twisty" unfotunetly.

Next up we have the bomber version.

Should be enough for one days destruction.

I put the bombs in to 6 4 bomb groups to make sure that i actually hit the target. Releasing them all at once is way too inaccurate and releasing them one by one creates too big of a spread plus we dont have enough action groups.

Bombs away.

Thats a hit. This time i more than just scratched them.

Finally we have our special mission of carrying and launching the K-15 rocketplane.

It went suprisingly wekll considering that i got it right in the second try.

Guess i might as well say a couple of things about the K-15. It flyes well in a straight line, it has a top speed of about 600 m/s, it brakes apart at a speed of about 700 m/s and is inspired By the X-15.

It flyes terribly in the sence that when you lose control witch you do stupidly easily, its all over. Even when i had 3000 m of altitude left i still couldnt get it under control, but luckuly i installed some paraschutes cause i knew that it would be pretty hard to land.

Other than the fact that the takeoff is a bit of a challenge, it all went nice and smooth (on the second try).

I ended up flying so far away from the plane that it despawned so there was no need to land it back on the runway.

 

So there you have it, the KHB-52 Stratobomber. I hope you enjoy it .

Mods used: KXT for the cockpit and BD armoury for the bomber version.

The download package includes all 4 versions of the KHB-52, the rato booster as a subassembly and the K-15 as a craft and as a 3 piece subassembly. 

Download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5dwzu5l66ziousf/KHB-50.zip?dl=0

 

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

That is amazingly huge!  There really aren't many full-size replicas.  The use of mk3 wings for the leading edge is clever, but the main wing looks a bit messy.  But the tail and fuselage both look amazing!

[kapteenipirk]

On ‎18‎.‎12‎.‎2015‎ ‎3‎:‎45‎:‎58, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

That is amazingly huge!  There really aren't many full-size replicas.  The use of mk3 wings for the leading edge is clever, but the main wing looks a bit messy.  But the tail and fuselage both look amazing!

Thanks . Yea thats a bit of a broblem when you use swept wings as the leading and trailing edge of the wing, they dont really match up with the inside of the wing.