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Forums » Art & Creativity » Type 42 CR/Astral Twilight-class Strike Bomber

I just finished my latest plane design! Take a look at the Type 42 CR/Astral Twilight-class Strike Bomber!
[img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/68086f94-6d33-40fa-81fc-2f5e294795a9/de6a7ck-355b6796-3dc3-44fe-a9dd-1b7bfbfb7fda.jpg/v1/fill/w_1131,h_707,q_70,strp/type_42_cr_astral_twilight_class_assault_bomber_by_lenauphydas_de6a7ck-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3siaGVpZ2h0IjoiPD0xMjAwIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvNjgwODZmOTQtNmQzMy00MGZhLTgxZmMtMmY1ZTI5NDc5NWE5XC9kZTZhN2NrLTM1NWI2Nzk2LTNkYzMtNDRmZS1hOWRkLTFiN2JmYmZiN2ZkYS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTkyMCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.KTVOnRPsfgBB-QwfydmarV9ocLHy-OaqhwEek01vrww[/img]

I spent a looong time on this project, three weeks to be precise, and I put most of that time into the environment. I havent modelled environments before so it took alot of research and trial and error to get it to look decent, even though I'm still not really satisfied with it. I decided to model a gravel airstrip in a forest, which I could re-use for several future projects and also re-render some older projects with.

I also have a deviantart now! which is exciting! This is the first thing I've modelled since i made the account though I did already post all my older stuff there, and here it is: https://www.deviantart.com/lenauphydas/art/Type-42-CR-Astral-Twilight-class-Assault-Bomber-857080244?ga_submit_new=10%3A1601826931&ga_type=edit&ga_changes=1

Anyways, heres the dossier for the plane:

Type 44 CR/Astral Twilight
Wingspan: 17.34 Meters
Length: 13.7309 Meters
Height (total): 4.344 Meters (including tail and landing gear)
Height (fuselage): 1.442 Meters
Engines: 4x Type 44 CR/Storm 1100 KW Turbine turboprops, four-bladed scimitar propellers
Weaponry (bomber): up to 2500 KG of ordnance, Type 42 CR/23mm Rotary Cannon with 333 rounds
Weaponry (Interceptor): Type 42 CR/30mm Rotary Cannon with 1000 rounds, up to 500 KG of ordnance on wings (typically rockets)
Additional equipment: Interceptor equipped with radar search
Maximum speed: 720 KM/h

Role: Tactical assault bomber (bomber configuration), heavy long-range high-altitude interceptor (interceptor configuration)

Design: The Type 44 CR Astral Twilight is a four engine, pusher-puller configuration assault bomber/heavy interceptor, with two engines in each wing. The hull of the plane is a laminar airflow, lifting body blended wing, with an x-tail and monocoque, cold-rolled cobalt steel body. Vital sections of the plane have thickened hull for armor protection.

The interceptor variant has the radar in the nose, with the rotary cannon placed on the underside- in the bomber version, the bomb bay takes up the middle of the plane where the rotary cannon is on the interceptor, and a rotary cannon is placed in the nose, firing through a narrow indentation in the planes body.

For propulsion the Astral Twilight possesses four liquid-methane fueled Type 44 CR/Storm 1250 KW Turboprop engines arranged in a pusher puller configuration, two on each wing.

History: In Cytaari aerospace doctrine, the three types of bombers are dive bombers, assault bombers, and strategic bombers. The Type 44 CR/Astral Twilight was designed to fulfill an assault bomber role, capable of medium to low altitude, medium to long range tactical bombing missions against military targets.

The Astral Twilight began design with the rest of the Type 42 design year, but its development proved arduous, due in large part to the complex aeronautics of its design. Midway through its design, the parameters of the project were changed to adopt the then in-development Type 44 CR/Storm-class gas turbine engines.

The Astral Twilight was eventually delivered at roughly the same time as the production of the gas turbine engines began, and as such the lions share of early Type 44 CR/Storm 1250 KW turbine engines were devoted to Astral Twilight production. Production was given top priority, as the delayed development had lead to a large deficit in tactical bombers, and the cytaari armed forces had had to make do with dive bombers and strategic bombers for all bombing missions.

As air superiority shifted towards the Americans and strategic bombers entered the skies over Shatrafal, a heavy interceptor variant was authorized for high-altitude bomber-destroyer missions. As the first interceptors were produced, the decision was made to hold both the interceptors and any completed bombers in reserve for Operation Shadowfall in late 1946. The class saw its largest usage during the second stage of Operation Shadowfall, where they carried out large-scale ground attack operations against american forces in the vicinity of Shatrafal in conjunction with Type 44 LD/Banshee's.

Meta (not official part of dossier): The Astral Twilight design was very heavily based on the real world XP-67 moonbat, which was a cancelled experimental american interceptor. The silhouettes of both planes are very similar, though the astral twilight makes use of typical Cytaari design characteristics such as the elliptical wing and x-tail, as well as pusher-puller propulsion. The four engine pusher-puller design seemed like a good fit for a medium bomber, as it would have less drag compared to a regular four engine design and lots of thrust, while the lifting body would allow it to carry heavier bomb loads. The lack of internal room is a problem however- I determined that to carry torpedoes, it would have to use the interceptor variant, as the torpedoes would need to be carried externally and the bomb bay doors on the bomber variant would get in the way.

I wasnt sure about the interceptor design even existing, as four engines seems... excessive for an interceptor. But I liked the design too much to not have a fighter version, so I went ahead and accepted it. The interceptor would also in theory be used for ground-attack, as it has a powerful cannon, durable airframe, and large capacity for rockets. No purpose-made attackers exist though, because I didnt feel a purpose-built attacker justified the high individual expense of an Astral Twilight (four engines and monocoque laminar airflow body means high production costs) I considered adding a turret, but it didnt end up on the model. I'm still unsure whether or not it should have one- it would slow it down significantly and negatively impact its low drag design, but a tail gunner would maybe help reduce its vulnerability to dogfighters. atm, canonically the first production run was made up of half designs with gunners, half designs without, and whichever proved more beneficial would be maintained for the rest of the production run.

A further variation with two propfan engines instead of four turboprops is also considered. It probably wouldnt have more speed, but would weigh less.

I spent twenty days on this project, and I'm still not entirely sure if I'm happy with it- I might take it down and add a new one later with adjusted grass and materials and stuff. I spent alot of time to make the environment cause I'm planning on re-using it for several vehicles, and I'll be reusing these materials and environment to re-render a bunch fo my old projects now. The render took 45 hours. I cant use my GPU cause it is unstable and crashed alot, sometimes it works with shorter renders but with long renders I need to use the CPU which takes like ten times as long.
Bruh. I thought it was a 3D printed plane. There is a lot going on here! The render looks crazy good.

The wing design is interesting. Are you able to run it through any AutoDesk fluid simulations?
Spiritualeclipse Topic Starter

well I have no idea what that is so. I guess not.

(...plus work on vehicles has halted while I'm tearing my hair out over plants. plants are my mortal nemesis I swear. ugh why are plants so hard to model.)

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