Quite? Fuel efficient? No No NO
In reply to Duke :
The frightening part of yours is that they clearly were intended to carry passengers. The NYCRR M-497 (aka The Black Beetle) was just little more than a publicity stunt. Although the intended purpose was to see if very high-speed rail was possible in the US, everyone knew that the Japanese could obtain it because the roadbed was government constructed and maintained to a very high standard, whereas US rail was built by each company to varying levels.
So NYC welded a pair of Convair B-36 Peacemaker engines to the top of a Budd RDC and went 183mph with only a 1/2 mile of throttle application.
The Wasp Major engines had a prodigious appetite for lubricating oil; each engine required a dedicated 100-gal (380-l) tank. Normal maintenance consisted of tedious measures, such as changing the 56 spark plugs on each of the six engines; the plugs were often fouled by the lead in the 145 octane antiknock fuel required by the R-4360 engines. Thus, each service required changing 336 spark plugs. Another frequent maintenance job was replacing the dozens of bomb bay light bulbs, which routinely shattered during test firing of the turret guns
As engine fires occurred with the B-36's radial engines, some crews humorously changed the aircraft's slogan from "six turning, four burning" into "two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking, and two more unaccounted for."
aircooled said:
The Wasp Major engines had a prodigious appetite for lubricating oil; each engine required a dedicated 100-gal (380-l) tank. Normal maintenance consisted of tedious measures, such as changing the 56 spark plugs on each of the six engines; the plugs were often fouled by the lead in the 145 octane antiknock fuel required by the R-4360 engines. Thus, each service required changing 336 spark plugs. Another frequent maintenance job was replacing the dozens of bomb bay light bulbs, which routinely shattered during test firing of the turret guns
As engine fires occurred with the B-36's radial engines, some crews humorously changed the aircraft's slogan from "six turning, four burning" into "two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking, and two more unaccounted for."
You know your aircraft has an issue when you end up designing underslung pds that can carry additional replacement engines. Hilariously enough, the M-497 only made 1 or 2 runs before they engine had a failure and they couldn't make any more. So even off the B-36, those jets were trouble.
Apparently the Soviets were inspired by M-497 and tried to put a turbojet train into use. It didn't work so well. Thinking of how Russian rail line is laid, I imagine it was a terrifying bone-shaking ride.
I heart Syd Mead, and it's been too long since I had a Syd Mead fest. Here's his Sentinel 280 design from 1964 (yes, 1964):
Despite its obvious influence on '70s car design, it was only ever an illustration. But somebody decided to make a mockup a couple years ago:
There's been an engineering study done and it can be feasibly built on a Superlite SL-C chassis with room for a mid-mounted Viper V10.
If I had a spare million or two looking for a project, I'd definitely get one built.
And Syd's Sentinel 400, designed to be built on the same modular platform:
TJL said:Saw one of these today. I laughed and said “what the berk is that thing?”
new chevy fleet rig. So ugly it hurts. And i generally, until this body stile, found chevy trucks to be pretty good looking.
I didn't really pay a lot of attention to this, because I don't really disagree, but its not really that offensive in my eye. I was reminded that I shouldn't let peoples idea of ugly go unchallenged when I saw one of these on the road, because it is way, way worse than the Chev.
They have been the ugliest trucks on the road for some time, though. No surprise there.
I don't like the new GM trucks at all. They just look so bland
Suprf1y said:They have been the ugliest trucks on the road for some time, though. No surprise there.
I don't like the new GM trucks at all. They just look so bland
"Bland" would be a substantial improvement over that white truck in the upper pic.
Woody said:
Still $100k.
This is a SkyArrow, on my list when I hit the Lottery.
It's N7 Day! Too bad it has felt more like a funeral than a celebration these past couple years
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