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Scifiwarships In reply to tophoo [2015-09-03 07:18:03 +0000 UTC]

Hehehe..
Yes! Ejection seats would probably fit this widowmaker like a glove... They'd look damn cool too I suspect.
However I didn't make them for three reasons. 
I decided not to because I REALLY wanted to make offshore racing seats. You know, the ones with suspension underneath. since I think they look very cool+ sweet. www.bpress.cn/im/x-craft-suspe…
 And also they were a lot simpler to design than ejection seats. Finally it was because I wanted to retain a nautical feel in the cockpit as all the rest of it (instruments, switchgear etc. would scream aircraft.) 

I thought about mentioning safety it but haven't gotten round to it yet as I haven't really shown the cockpit in detail. The cockpit of this aircraft/boat hybrid is a safetycell/bunker. I spent a lot of time studying the F111 Aardwark cockpit as I wanted something similar..

Problem is you can't really see it in a design like thi as the structure remains hidden, except for the ridiculous amount of locks (36) on the canopy. (It's built like a vault door)
 
My ONE rule(which I bend a lot) with scifi design is that: If you can't see it, then it isn't there. 
I try to avoid falling into the trap of stating design features in the text with no hardware to back it up. It kind of misses the whole point of scifi design and that screams amateur hour a mile away 

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tophoo In reply to Scifiwarships [2015-09-03 14:55:31 +0000 UTC]

OK, the F111 (B1 also, I believe) -style crew survival 'pod' is badass- probably way safer for your crews moving at such high speed with virtually no altitude.
And I agree- the racing seats are far cooler than ejection seats.
In general, I agree with your 'What You See Is What You Get', philosophy as well, but then again, sometimes hydraulics or wiring harnesses might run through a hollow titanium support structure, or circuits or even power lines might be printed directly on/in parts of a monocoque, just as example. Don't ride yourself too hard over something that your 'engineers' might be busting their asses to hide in order to save weight/space/whatever.

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Scifiwarships In reply to tophoo [2015-09-04 10:10:32 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!, I'm glad you like my idea. 
Power lines printed directly onto the structure. Hmm.. Killer concept, no truely rad.. I would love to use it on one of my builds is that okay with you?
I just have to figure out how to show it off.. In fact I think I have just the craft to fit it on..
Have you seen this?Martian Aeroracer1
It's just another low flying aircraft I'm hacking away at but it turns out another Deviant, well you can read it here: The Challenger
I was going to let the build stew for a while but now I want to pick it up and see where it goes. Power lines printed onto the structure is a sexy idea that I think might fit with this build.

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tophoo In reply to Scifiwarships [2015-09-04 23:43:10 +0000 UTC]

Feel free to use printed power- if I bring up an idea with an artist, they're welcome to it. If I've got an idea that I really don't want others to use (at least, not before me) I'll keep my mouth shut. The problem with power lines will be figuring out how to visually portray what they are without having sparks and arcs all over the place proclaiming, "THIS IS ELECTRICITY!" That can be fun, but I don't think you'd want it on  a racing vehicle. We're not barbarians talking about pod-racers, after all.
The Maracer is badass- there's this certain movement that birds do in flight sometimes, with their wings forward as if 'over their heads', rather than to the sides. The Martian really brings that flight motion to mind- and given the shape of nose/cockpit, if you throw on a slick paint job, you've got a racing raven.

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Scifiwarships In reply to tophoo [2015-09-05 13:58:10 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! Oh, I have just the thing for the printed power lines... if I can pull it off. I want to use them in the glass of the canopy as fine filligree thread that possibly glows.. it'll be part of a HUD setup. The idea anyway is to make the canopy something more than just glass.

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Scifiwarships In reply to retromaniak [2015-02-02 17:25:05 +0000 UTC]

Hi mate, thank you very much!

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Scifiwarships In reply to Quesocito [2015-01-16 13:39:20 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! Fuel consumption isn't an issue with this contraption as it's nuclear the idea is that it uses super heated air from a fusion plant in place of a normal propellant. (Check out the NEPA and ANP USAF programs from the 1950's and sixties.) Both if which were abysmal failures, but they show the principle and that's good enough for me 

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Quesocito In reply to Scifiwarships [2015-01-17 13:39:51 +0000 UTC]

ya dont worry about the stuff not working out in the past, many attempts were made to fly before it was actually done (even helicopters) but it still happened eventually, so i reckon if uve got any principle to work on ultimately no one can denounce the feasibility.

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Scifiwarships In reply to Quesocito [2015-01-22 21:56:13 +0000 UTC]

Exactly! That's what science fiction is all about! 

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Quesocito In reply to Quesocito [2015-01-16 10:06:58 +0000 UTC]

sorry u meant move ur critical switches to the roof, we dont have many switches on the lower console, but we do still have some, otherwise we'll fill the space with other instruments, like controls for the radio or that there GPS or something, maybe even lights or something

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Scifiwarships In reply to Quesocito [2015-01-16 13:03:55 +0000 UTC]

I do have a roof console as well, but I've only placed the fire extinguisher system there at the moment. You reckon I should place all of the stuff behind the throttles up there then, and just keep stuff like monitors, nav screen and radio etc down below?
My plan was to place identical screens to either pilot, and have stuff like engine monitors, reactor display and nav screen in the center of the instrument panel. What you're suggesting will help a lot. Since I don't know the first thing about any of the systems on board any real or fictional craft, I planned on placing obvious stuff labeled and fairly visible, and just fill in the extra spaces with swithces and toggles marked with AUX and other (to me) meaningless abbreviations to make an impression of a real cockpit 
There's just soo much detail in a cockpit, and ti's all to human scale so I can't cheat anywhere or else shit detailing will ruin the whole model. Damn.. Next time I'm making a goddamn drone..

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Quesocito In reply to Scifiwarships [2015-01-17 13:38:23 +0000 UTC]

hey bro that sounds good, our lower console is seriously almost just radios, each crew member has about 6 radio volumes, and we have 5 radios, 2 radio nav aids, a weather radar, 2 GPS control screens (independant of the GPS display screen)

main console are all ur standard instruments which could be replaced by screens instead, and each engine has about 5 gauges, (so ten gauges between the 2 of them) and then about another 10 gauges for the other things like gearbox. and amongst that are some autopilot controls and a few minor fuel controls (not fuel flow levels but for switching on fuel pumps, aux pumps, fuel levels etc) so although it sounds a lot theres few actual switches on either lower or main panels. everything is roof mounted or mouunted behind us actually.

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Scifiwarships In reply to Quesocito [2015-01-22 22:21:30 +0000 UTC]

This is gold mate, thank you very much for the info. 
I tried, but it wasn't possible to fit any meaningful instruments on the overhead panel except for the fire extinguishers and various kill swithces. The rest of the panel I just filled up with various switches in random patterns as they are just not properly visible from any angle because of the cramped cockpit. Damn...
I've also got the whole canopy hinged upwards, so in the open position, all the overhead controls are 2m above the pilot's heads... 
This cockpit is killing me because everything has to be in such exquisite detail. With instruments and switches sorted, I now have to go to the same level of detail on the rest of the interior or else any parts not at the same level are going to stick out like a shit on a wedding cake.
Anyway, thank you very much for all of the info. This is most helpful. 

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Scifiwarships In reply to flaketom [2015-01-16 08:55:50 +0000 UTC]

Thanks much mate!

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Scifiwarships In reply to LUCAS-REDESIGN [2015-01-16 07:16:23 +0000 UTC]

Hi mate, thank you very much! I've still got a few miles to go, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.

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