F-27 "Friendship" replica

[kapteenipirk]

Time to continue the stock replica side of things again...well, not fully stock this time, but 95%. The only modded parts are the engines and the helicopter cockpit inside that i taught would give a nice IVA.

I taught about continuing with fighter replicas, but nah, lets make something a little different this time.

 

 

The F-27 is probably the aircraft that is the closest to my heart, not my absolute favorite, but the one i care about the most. The reason for that, is the fact that this aircraft was the primary focus of all our maintenance practices and systems testing.

We tested landing-flaps, landing-gears, cockpit stuff...all kinds of things.

I can still remember when i first saw this aircraft, i said it was one of the more nice looking aircraft's ive seen, and then i just got a bunch of weird looks from the others.

 

So, since i did the Draken, witch was also a part of this special group, i taught it was only appropriate to continue along those lines, and replicate the F-27 once more. Yes, i have replicated this aircraft 3 times before, once using B9 parts, once using mostly stock parts, once using a ton of mods, and now using 95% stock parts.

 

The replication process for this aircraft was a little more laid-back on this one in certain areas, the engines are definitely too large, and this is not 1:1...but it is pretty well scaled to the Kerbals. I taught it was more important to find a scale that would produce a really realistic and clean fuselage shape, witch in the F-27 is nowhere near round.

I did some part saving on this one by leaving some detail off from areas that you normally don't look at, mainly the underbelly and the underside of the wings.

No, you cannot carry any passengers with this one, i did think about adding some cabins inside and some landercan doors, but the doors where too large, so there wouldn't have been any way to get in or out of the aircraft.

I did think about doing a full interior for this one, but it just seemed like something for a future larger more heavily modded version, with opening doors, working cockpit controls, open cabin windows...stuff like that. But, it remains to be seen if im going to do a fifth replica of this thing.

 

Just like with the Draken, here's some comparison shots.

Spoiler

 

Decided to give the aircraft a nice paintjob (saved as a separate version)

 

 

 

 

 

And here are the actual aircraft we did work to

Spoiler

 

F-27 FF-2

 

And here it is in it's current paint-job with our schools name stickerd on behind the windshield.

(This is a picture from the pori airport that our hangar is connected to. We have a Pori day during witch people get to visit the airport (and other places) and see a bunch of aircraft from the flight schools, private owners and others. Our Fokker and the schools Learjet are frequent visitors.)

 

FF-2 had already been at the school for years when i started. It was as you might expect, pretty much in no flying condition.

In order to fit the aircraft inside our hangar, the rudder had to be removed. It also had to be exactly in the middle as the both wingtips where very close to the hangar roof (our hangar had a rounded roof/ceiling).

 

F-27 FF-3

 

And here is a shot from the day we received it, with some airforce guys with some of our teachers/staff.

(this pick made national news here in Finland)

We received FF-3 in the later part of the second year there (if i remember correctly). The airforce flew it to the airport from where we towed it to the hangar.

So, it was in flying condition...until the airforce came and stole some of the bits like one of the engines and replaced them with not so working ones so that they could keep FF-1 going a little longer.

 

It's really nice that these old veterans are getting a new life like this. My only hope is that when these are let go, at-least one of them ends up in a museum.

 

I decided not to add a flight demonstration video, as this is a little more what you would expect from an aircraft like this, no loop de loops, you can go upside down but you need a lot of altitude, so no fancy tricks alright. But one thing that has to be said, is that this aircraft has pretty fantastic acceleration due to me having to place 8 engines on this one.

Technical specks:

Top-speed: 112m/s.

Stall-speed: 42m/s.

Length: 18m

Wingspan: 20.4m

Height: 14.8

Mass: 43.8 tons

Parts: 238

Mods used: Airplane+

Download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c3g70obrrnmgpxi/F-27 Friendship.craft?dl=0

 

And there it is for you, a lovely little replica of an aircraft i care oh so deeply about. I hope you enjoy it .

[JPmAn]

Nice job! 

[Chel]

Looks great! I particularly enjoy the little backstory you've added