Finalized Rockwell ATF Design?

[Kryptid]

~claps~ Very nice!

I sure hope this will get Dr. Raymer's attention.

 

[BAROBA]

Hi all,

Update time again

C&C is welcome

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Forscher]

It's wonderful. Thank you for sharing this, BAROBA.


Forscher

 

[AAAdrone]

This is beautiful. Thank you.

 

[Stargazer]

Outstanding job!!!

 

[mithril]

honestly, the tilted nozzles are an interesting feature. would such a configuration actually provide a useful benefit compared to the F-22's more conventional approach?

 

[Kryptid]

That is amazing! I really want to go ahead and show this to Dr. Raymer, but I'm waiting on Bagera3005 to do a 3-view. I don't want his efforts to have been in vain. Although if he hasn't started, I could cancel that request to him...

honestly, the tilted nozzles are an interesting feature. would such a configuration actually provide a useful benefit compared to the F-22's more conventional approach?

I believe it was chosen to save weight. Dr. Raymer says that they decided to go with tilted nozzles so that they wouldn't have to put canted wedges of material beside the engines (to prevent a side-looking radar from seeing a flat surface).

EDIT: Dr. Raymer says they "look pretty good" and that he will look at them some more later when he has more time.

I'm hopeful!

 

[Raptor_101]

Good to hear he responded back. I really do like the render you drew.

 

[BAROBA]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the kind words

Worked a bit more on the plane.
I have now everything that is on the drawing ( except for wheelwells and weaponbay-doors)

Next up is texturing, anyone got a nice idea for a camo-scheme?
I would guess something similar to an F-22 or F-35?

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Kryptid]

It's quite nice. As far as critique goes, I see that you make the wing out of straight lines and kinks instead of being smoothly blended. That makes more sense for a stealth fighter, but I'm not sure if that's how it was actually done. In his own words, Raymer says in the first E-mail that "we kept the strake running smoothly all the way to the nose, like in my original design". I imagine that was done to keep aerodynamics reasonably similar to the original design.

Also, I may have oversimplified the nozzle design on my drawing. I'm wonder if the real thing would have looked more like the nozzles on the F-15 S/MTD, just tilted to the side? That may be difficult to depict, however.

Indeed, I would think that a low-observable gray paint scheme would be appropriate.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Yes, 2D vectoring nozzles something like the SMTD or maybe YF-22.

 

[Grey Havoc]

A little late, but keep up the good work!

 

[AAAdrone]

Once more I am impressed. Keep it up BAROBA!

 

[BAROBA]

Hi all,

I worked on some camo and the beginning of the decals.
The camo is inspired on the F-22.
Does anyone has a suggestion for decals? Squadron numbers and names and such.
If they bird had a callname, what would it have become? Not Raptor I think..
And ofcourse a F-number, Also not F-22 I think...

Cheers,

Rob

 

[AAAdrone]

This is a definite improvement over what Rockwell submitted back in the day. Perhaps if this were presented in the Rockwell RFI submission the DoD wouldn't be claiming that Rockwell "just wasn't getting it."

I have one question though: What about the leading edge of the wing? How would that have fared in terms of LO characteristics as the curvature can't be very good at reflecting radar away without huge complications.


In any case, I believe Stargazer2006 said something along the lines of "Rapier" for a name as a tribute to the aborted NA F-108. I'm thinking that either that or Rapier II would be a good idea in order to avoid potential confusion.

I really don't know about designation though considering there were many other submissions to consider. I'd like to say F-24 but I'm not sure. Perhaps anything between F-24 and F-28 might do considering the number of potential winners to actually build a prototype.

P.S. Nice work as usual! It's looking good!

 

[fightingirish]

As an F-number I suggest "F-25", since the "F-24" is mostly used for a fictional NAFT. F-24 would have been a sucessor to F-14 and F-25 to the F-15. As name I suggest "Rapier II" from the XF-108. Just my 2 cents...

 

[AAAdrone]

Right. I forgot about the F-24.

 

[Stargazer]

Also remember that Joseph A. "Broadway Joe" Lanni flew first flights of two classified prototypes during the late 1990s. One of them was designated YF-24.

The information accidentally appeared in an online CV that was later edited.

 

[Kryptid]

Looks excellent, though Raymer states that the inlets were still conical. You have them designed more like DSI.

 

[BAROBA]

Hi All,

Here is the design as I have it now.. The artwork isn't finished yet..
@Kryptid, I modeled what I saw on the the image you drew... The lack of detail leaves room for interpretation ...
If you have some pictures of how it has to look, feel free to post them

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Kryptid]

Sweetness! That's a beauty.


I apologize for the poor quality of my original drawing.


I have some news from Dr. Raymer. He says that your design is "pretty close" but that something seems off about it that he can't put his finger on. The good news about this is that he is going to be meeting up for a North American Rockwell luncheon in a few weeks and will ask if anyone else remembers the design. He also intends to apply for a Freedom of Information Act to obtain the original reports.


So with any luck, we'll see the real deal.

 

[BAROBA]

.... The good news about this is that he is going to be meeting up for a North American Rockwell luncheon in a few weeks and will ask if anyone else remembers the design. ....

Did you hear anything yet?
I think that lucheon has long past now?

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Kryptid]

Unfortunately, I have not.


I'll keep a look out.

 

[BAROBA]

Fixed the intakes.
Now with cone-intakes (and splitterplates, which used to be commonly used together with cone-intakes)
Cheers,

Rob

 

[Kryptid]

Nice.

 

[Kryptid]

Update: Dr. Raymer was unable to acquire what he needed at the luncheon, but says that he might try to remodel the aircraft in CAD as close as he can remember it. If he does, he'll let me know. I'll keep an eye out.

 

[BAROBA]

Hi Kryptid,

Any news on dr. Raymer and his drawings? I have worked a bit on the model, but not much to show at the moment.

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Kryptid]

Unfortunately, he did not create the ATF CAD as originally planned. He created a propeller aircraft to test the program out instead.
Did you see the tilted nozzle designs revealed in the original Rockwell ATF topic more recently? That might help some with modeling.

 

[ScrutorAudax]

Kryptid, have you reached out to Dr. Raymer since your last post?

 

[Kryptid]

Kryptid, have you reached out to Dr. Raymer since your last post?

I'm afraid not.