Project Heavy Metal

[T.Neo]

On top of that the high isp of the engines would cause large amounts of water to flash evaporate

And the engines would not flash evaporate a spaceport?

I was thinking a water landing more in terms of mitigating the lack of runways large enough to suit the craft. AFAIK this was the reason for the brief success of flying boats in the 1930s (1920s?).

Don't get me wrong, the art is stunning, but launching from land seems overly fantastic to me, even for this baby...

 

[Gumdrop]

Wow, that's a big ship! So big, in fact, I wonder if its feasible to land it conventionally. There is the risk of a tail-strike while flaring or taking off. The stubby wings and lifting body characteristics make it reminiscent of those high AOA landing operations. There would have to be long landing gear struts to prevent this from happening, and that is a weight concern. The high speeds of takeoff also make water just as damaging. So I say there needs to be be hover engines. Really, big hover engines.

 

[T.Neo]

Perhaps it could even be launched vertically? I have a feeling that would turn passenger seating into a nightmare...

Perhaps it needs larger wings, that could provide enough lift to bring down landing and takeoff speeds to a comfortable level. Even swing wings, although they could complicate things.

Vaguely like the XB-70 Valkyrie;

What are the rough dimensions of the spacecraft, for interest's sake?

 

[Coolhand]

I'm not sure you guys understand, I want to glide and land this huge spacecraft at high speed, on a large runway... :thumbup:

I'm not expecting this to be able to land unpowered at heathrow or even KSC, but if you wanted to do that your hover engines will help you out and its important that it can do that too. You can decide for yourself whether a full glide landing is something that should only be an emergency measure or not and fly accordingly. Hopefully this pleases everyone. if not...:lol:

This may also lead to the creation of a very large runway and facilities for you to land on, unless others become available in the meantime. because as i've mentioned before "Heavy metal" as a project is about more than this spaceplane and obiter currently really doesn't have the infrastructure for this type of craft. I hope that it will provide a new fun experience in orbiter.

Anyway, here i've partly painted over an interior rendering to get some ideas for textures. on the model itself i've added doorways and bulkheads to seal off sections, there would probably be rows of seating in this area as in a very wide airliner. the running lights on the red strip indicate the 'down' direction and act as emergency lighting. it changes colour around doorways and should probably have different colours depending on which side of the ship you're on. This could be a very confusing ship to navigate around in an emergency... I should probably look at sea ships and see if there's anything useful there.

 

[Pilot7893]

Looking good! I'll probably be making a video for this thing when it comes out.

 

[Hielor]

Anyway, here i've partly painted over an interior rendering to get some ideas for textures. on the model itself i've added doorways and bulkheads to seal off sections, there would probably be rows of seating in this area as in a very wide airliner. the running lights on the red strip indicate the 'down' direction and act as emergency lighting. it changes colour around doorways and should probably have different colours depending on which side of the ship you're on. This could be a very confusing ship to navigate around in an emergency... I should probably look at sea ships and see if there's anything useful there.

Nice, but is it necessary to have such large "EXIT" signs? That would make me think I'm going to need to use them...

 

[Pilot7893]

Nice, but is it necessary to have such large "EXIT" signs? That would make me think I'm going to need to use them...

Hielor, this is the future. Everyone knows people will get lazier in the future

 

[Coolhand]

the exits are normally displays for entertainment or information, in emergencies they're context sensitive, for example its no use telling people to go to the exterior exits if theres nothing but vacuum beyond

 

[Ark]

the exits are normally displays for entertainment or information, in emergencies they're context sensitive, for example its no use telling people to go to the exterior exits if theres nothing but vacuum beyond

"Exit At Own Risk"

 

[Izack]

"Exit At Own Risk"

:rofl:

 

[Coolhand]

That just begs for a Ron Cobb inspired warning sign - if you watch the old movie 'alien' closely, there are symbols for most doorways, on the airlock i think is this upside down guy.

btw If anyone wants to use this symbol in their projects feel free, its a png with transparency for easy use.

 

[Coolhand]

what, you're still here? Orbiter 2010 has just been released, go now... download, fly.:hello::thumbup::tiphat::rofl::hotcool::threadjacked::threadjacked::threadjacked::threadjacked::threadjacked:

 

[Zachstar]

what, you're still here? Orbiter 2010 has just been released, go now... download, fly.:hello::thumbup::tiphat::rofl::hotcool::threadjacked::threadjacked::threadjacked::threadjacked::threadjacked:

Tis downloading!

And back on topic. I fully agree with the large runway for landing deal. The chance is flying style will be a new challenge and be fun to master!

 

[Zachstar]

About the interior. I am kinda iffy on the color. I don't know if you plan on using shaders in OGLA or use Orbiter DX7 but that color would be very annoying very quick on a week long cruise to Mars.

The 787 touts its ability to change lighting to allow for better resting or whatnot. Any chance it will be implemented with this?

 

[Coolhand]

to be honest wall and floor colouration are the last thing i'm thinking about with that concept since its so easily changed... even if you want to do that yourself - the only way to make everyone happy as everyones colour tastes are different. So, i'm more thinking about what needs to go in there than what shade it is. Here might be an example of night lighting... but its possible that it might be better to keep many areas brightly lit, like walkways especially in zero g... and that might all be beyond the scope of the project. There's a lot to work out still.

 

[Zachstar]

I like that look a lot better. Tho yes its kinda silly to worry about that at this stage.

My opinion. Bathrooms. During launch and 1G burn events where people are normally seated they would work fine if they are rotatable however in 0G it would be best for them to be in one of the centrifuge modules. Asking people to use a zero g system when its possible to go into a gravity area is a PR stretch to say the least in my opinion.

Haha gave a design suggestion!

 

[Coolhand]

due to the deck layout, it might be inadvisable to allow your passengers or even crew to move around, since if you're looking at that pic of the deck, you're looking down a 100ft drop when its at 1g, which is only of course for a small fraction of the journey. The toilets would be standard throughout, capable of operation in any gravity orientation or none at all. otherwise it might get messy... you might lose centrifuge rotation and the centrifuge has to be packed away so some of them are going to be going through landings upside down so it all needs to be stored away safely or ejected. Due to keeping poly counts down i'm not sure if i'll show anything other than a door to a toilet. perhaps 'noises' will play as you stroll past, no, i'm kidding.

 

[Zachstar]

I forgot about poly counts... Ah well then I will just ask for MOAR Sceenshots plz.. :lol:

 

[eveningsky339]

Let me just chime in and say that plausible or not, gliding in for a landing on a runway of epic proportions, nose at -20 degrees pitch down, dropping the gear and gently easing up for the landing flare, would be a religious experience with this beautiful monster of a spacecraft.

 

[Gumdrop]

I'm not sure you guys understand, I want to glide and land this huge spacecraft at high speed, on a large runway... :thumbup:

Will a dry lakebed suffice for a large runway?