May 3, 2010: Big Boy, Big Toy

Brit, Tony Nijhuis, like a zillion other people, built himself a model airplane.
But his 1/7th model of a B-50 bomber is so big... [SIZE="1"]how big is it?[/SIZE]

...it is classed as a light aircraft and had to be tested by the Civil Aviation Authority and requires a certificate to fly it at public shows.

It's not only capable of carrying mini-bombs, it's sneaky quiet.:unsure:

'It's a model of the Boeing B-50 bomber that was used from the 1950s to the 1970s. It's all scratch built and has a wingspan of 19ft. 'It weighs just over 100lb and is powered by four, four kilowatt electric motors and each motor has 24 batteries powering it. The propellers have a 2ft diameter.
It has 96 batteries that power four electric motors which drive the aircraft to 40mph along a 50m runway before it takes off. It can then fly for eight minutes in the air before it has to descend so the batteries can be recharged.

[YOUTUBE]jFSOMzTromM[/YOUTUBE]

I wonder if having to assemble a crew, and get government permission, takes some of the spontaneity from playing with this toy? ;)

link

What would propel a man to build that?

Quite electrifying.

I'm up in the air on this one.

ZenGum;653263 wrote:

What would propel a man to build that?

- Umm... Propellers? 4 of them.

In any case this is a 100 times cooler than the half a boat from the other day.

Building it spanned 2 years, a departure from the norm. I'd rudder it didn't take so long.

All of this punning is putting my head into a tailspin.
I almost split my Buttock Line.

ZenGum;653263 wrote:

What would propel a man to build that?

The answer seems plane enough to me.

Clearly he just wants a little lift in his life.

It has 96 batteries that power four electric motors which drive the aircraft to 40mph along a 50m runway before it takes off.

What? No treadmill?

Well, there goes my plan to build a scale model of Nagasaki.

OK that takes care of what my 11yo son is going to be doing for the next two years....
[COLOR="LemonChiffon"]
....building a 1/7 size treadmill[/COLOR]

Nobody tell Spirit or they might start trying to cram ua all into one of these to further reduce costs.....

Built from scratch?

That means...








Wait for it.....








...he was winging it.:lol2:

24 batteries...for each motor? And each motor consumes 4k watts? WTF kind of batteries is he using so that the whole plane only weights 80#? Nuclear?

Lithium and NimH are very light

Elspode;653790 wrote:

24 batteries...for each motor? And each motor consumes 4k watts? WTF kind of batteries is he using so that the whole plane only weights 80#? Nuclear?

A little over a hundred pounds.

Look up LiPo.

I could ride in that thing!

You must be tiny. :eek:

Or a big fan of Dr. Strangelove.

I'm pretty sure this one is bigger:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xNmLJju6n

I had the privilege of seeing it fly (and crash) when I was a wee propeller-head.