If you've never noticed, a lot of my builds revolve around a single concept or cool contraption I thought up. Some of them are just excuses to use some sub-assemblies I never get to use. Payload II is one of these. Spiritual successor to my first Payload, Payload II features a spacious bomb bay housing 9 500 pound bombs. Along with its Cleaver missiles, torpedoes, and forward gun battery, this medium bomber is ready and willing to unleash havoc wherever it may roam.
Suitable for long-range, long-duration missions, Payload II has plenty of fuel to keep itself aloft for quite a good length of time. I had enough time to destroy both convoys, sink the first fleet, destroy the two bridges, and return to base with fuel to spare.
In design, the bomb bay presented me with the difficulty of figuring out where and how to place the main landing gear. My solution is quite graceful, and frankly, I'm quite proud of the mechanism.
For control, note that this plane is quite sluggish when fully loaded. Rotate around 140 mph at takeoff, and aim for the same speed on a fully-loaded landing. Cruising altitude is 15,000 ft, but you won't be breaking any speed records. Once lighted of its load, and nearing empty on fuel, the plane actually becomes quite a bit more nimble, but care should still be taken, especially in dives. Landing speed nearly empty is 100 mph.
Open the bomb bay and arm the bombs with AG1. It's a 1-press activation. Very convenient!
Specifications
General Characteristics
- Created On Windows
- Wingspan 70.3ft (21.4m)
- Length 62.7ft (19.1m)
- Height 24.8ft (7.6m)
- Empty Weight 35,241lbs (15,985kg)
- Loaded Weight 45,038lbs (20,429kg)
Performance
- Horse Power/Weight Ratio 0.168
- Wing Loading 32.1lbs/ft2 (156.5kg/m2)
- Wing Area 1,405.0ft2 (130.5m2)
- Drag Points 14880
Parts
- Number of Parts 175
- Control Surfaces 13
- Performance Cost 1,412
@ChiChiWerx Yeah, the bomb bay was my design. I actually had it saved as a sub assembly for quite a while. It wasn't until now that I decided to build a plane around it. The hardest part was timing the doors with the internal mechanism so they don't intersect when opening or closing. A lot of parts have collision disabled though. It had a habit of blowing up after sharp control inputs, and that was the only fix.
I just like the landing gear because it's stylish. The bomb bay is pretty big and square.
Well, actually the bomb bay is far more impressive than the gear...did you build that part? Also, I figured out that the “Boom 50” is far larger than the real thing, so I actually scaled the bomb to the correct size of the Mk 82, as well as the Mk 84. The unrealistic part of that is that both my pseudo Mk 82 and Mk 84 is that the “Boom” is the same size regardless of of the scaling.
@Treadmill103 Thanks! The retraction mechanism on the gear is actually my favorite part of this build. I never tire of seeing it retract and extend. The way it lines up in the fairing is just 👌.