This is a weekly posting with GURPS vehicles (and the like) to the GURPSnet mailing list. I grant the permission for all non-commercial redistribution of my work, but I would like to know if you put it on a website or the like. With a slight delay, old vehicles appear at http://omeyer.gmxhome.de/GURPSnet_files/summary.html Onno Meyer, 2006-08-14
SpinDevCorp Stormbird Amphibian Seaplane v1.0 (Late TL6) Copyright 2006 by Onno Meyer SpinDevCorp sells kits and plans for the Stormbird on underdeveloped worlds which cannot maintain contragrav technology or jet engines. The seaplane needs only a river or lake, a pier and a few fuel tanks as an airport, and ordinary mechanics should understand the manuals for the internal combustion engines. The seaplane has a cockpit with seats for the pilot and copilot, a cabin for 17 passengers and a small galley with a seat for the steward. The cargo can be stowed in overhead bins in the cabin and a cargo hold aft of the galley. SDC used advanced computer models to design the airframe. Two bulges on the waterline flare into pontoons to provide stability on the water and extra lift in the air. The STOL wings are mounted high to keep the propellers out of the water. At the routine travel speed of 170 mph, the engines burn 120 gallons of aviation gas per hour. A full load of fuel is $800. Subassemblies: Body +6, three Retractable Wheels +2, two STOL wings +4, two Pods +2. Powertrain: Two 1,200-kW aerial propellers; two 1,200-kW turbocharged HP gas engines; 960-kWs lead-acid batteries. Fuel: 2,000 gallons aviation gas (fire 15). Occ: 2 RCS, 17 RS, 1 folding CS. Cargo: 150 cf. Armor F RL B T U Body: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 Wings: 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 Pods: 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 2/2 Equipment Body: Two short-range radios; long-range radio; navigation instruments; transponder; autopilot; small galley; toilet; 20-man environmental controls. Statistics Size: 120'x96'x32' Payload: 10 tons Lwt.: 18 tons Volume: 4,200 cf Maint.: 7 man-hours Price: $2,315,142 HT: 8. HPs: 563 Body, 50 each Wheel, 300 each Wing, 38 each Pod gSpeed: 175 gAccel: 10 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.125 gSR: 3 Ground Pressure Very High. 1/8 Off-Road Speed. wSpeed: 30 wAccel: 4 wDecel: 0.2(2) wMR: 0.05 wSR: 5 Draft 3.1'. Flotation rating 72 tons. aSpeed: 285 aAccel: 4 aDecel: 12 aMR: 3 aSR: 2 Stall speed 30 mph. Ceiling 6,600 yards. Design Notes Body is 3,200 cf with very fine lines, a trimaran hull, very good streamlining and a lifting body. Wheels are 160 cf, retract into body. Wings are 436 cf each. Pods are 64 cf each. Structure is extra-light, advanced. Armor is advanced metal. Mechanical controls with duplicate maneuver controls. Waterproofed. There are 376.7 cf of empty space in the body, 284.4 cf of empty space in each wing and 3.55 cf of empty space in each pod. Empty weight is 16,000 lbs. The late TL6 vehicle uses the design rules from GURPS Vehicles [2nd edition, 3rd printing, Dec 2004 errata] with some optional rules from VXi and VXii. The stall speed is calculated according to VE133 rather than the more realistic optional rule on VXii30 to compensate for the unrealistic low water speed of seaplanes - the errors cancel out. The bulges mentioned above were simulated by the combination of a lifting body and a trimaran hull. At TL6, the Traveller background affects the design decisions but not the available technology. Next Week: A smaller floatplane. _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
