Author Topic: Australian Belly Tank  (Read 3165442 times)

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Offline Reverend Hedgash

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Streamliner results
« Reply #4590 on: August 22, 2014, 02:23:23 PM »
Streamline test of the model with the rear fenders being used as fins. I like the potential look of this and so shall explore it a bit further before putting it to rest.

Offline Reverend Hedgash

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Streamliner results
« Reply #4591 on: August 22, 2014, 02:25:01 PM »
This is the version without a gap between the front axle and rear axle, in other words one wing acting as a ground effects device.

Offline manta22

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4592 on: August 22, 2014, 02:29:25 PM »

"4/9 equals 4 September - day month year...can't mess that up unless you're in China where they use year month day or the USA where they can't get the order right in either case. :roll:"


...unless you're in the US military. They always use day/month/year so there is no confusion., even when referring to spelled- out dates such as  22/08/2014 or 22 August 2014.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline Reverend Hedgash

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Streamliner results
« Reply #4593 on: August 22, 2014, 02:30:06 PM »
The following are some renders of the two finned vehicle to see what it could look like. These are very early day renders and are straight off the raw CFD model and it will be a process of tooing and froing between the science of CFD and the art of the eye to get something we are all happy with.

Offline Reverend Hedgash

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4594 on: August 22, 2014, 02:44:57 PM »
The gold parts on the side are a natural separation line for the body so we can have access to the wheels. One of the considerations of course are where cut lines go on the body as they can act as triplines detaching an attached boundary layer which is not something we want to happen. Therefore a seamline running parallel to the flow of the air helps avoid this. Other cutlines will be for access to the engine bay and the canopy which I have shown here as a single vac formed piece. This takes up the angle of the rollbar as does the current bellytank. I'll add a side window in future too as per the bellytank as it is extremely useful for seeing where to turn (eg when turning into the pits) as well as will keep a family resemblance to the bellytank.

These renders look OK but there is nothing like a solid model, so I took the STL file of this and printed a solid model of the car about 220mm long.

Offline Reverend Hedgash

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4595 on: August 22, 2014, 02:52:30 PM »
I have found that when designing for savvy clients that exotic renders don't convince them of the look of their building. They look real enough on paper but everything from lighting to the treatment of material is fake and never looks the same, and there are too many tricks that can be done with virtual wide angle lenses and the like to allow the client to trust the image. But a model doesn't lie, it has spatial integrity. even though it is not full scale, nor accurately represents material, the freedom of the client to move their head and choose their own angle is the best explanatory and selling device out there.

Holding this model also makes me feel that the project is real... it has become physical. It looks surprisingly good at this early stage but then so did the early tank renders and I laugh when I look at them now.

Offline manta22

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4596 on: August 22, 2014, 02:56:15 PM »
Rev;

Nice model!  This body shape sort of reminds me of a pre-war LSR vehicle built by Auto-Union, NSU, or some other German company. Pork Pie probably knows who I'm talking about.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline Reverend Hedgash

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Streamliner results
« Reply #4597 on: August 22, 2014, 03:06:27 PM »
So that is the first circle of testing. It is not at all the direction that I thought the car was going to take when I first started scribbling and thinking about it but I let some thinking about the concepts of aero drive the design, applied to the chassis that we already have. Obviously this is not ideal but it saves us making a whole new car. Also as mentioned previously it allows us to continue to run the Bellytank body as well as the streamliner body and ties us a little into the history of bellytank racing as soCal did the same thing.

I should note here that I have made one change to the chassis to make this work, that is I have reversed the radius rods for the front axle so instead of trailing that project forward like the ones for the rear axle and would probably be made exactly the same way as the rear ones. A simple modification but has a number of benefits geometrically.

So that's it. happy to receive any input or questions on it. It will change as we continue to try out new ideas. Would you believe someone actually offered me a spare tailfin from Concord to use on it yesterday? A little large would be my hunch but what an offer!

Reverend Hedgash
The go-faster pastor

Offline Reverend Hedgash

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4598 on: August 22, 2014, 03:11:59 PM »
Rev;

Nice model!  This body shape sort of reminds me of a pre-war LSR vehicle built by Auto-Union, NSU, or some other German company. Pork Pie probably knows who I'm talking about.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Thanks Neil, I know the one you mean.

In fact there are a few from that age which it reminds me of, as well as the batmobile! One I went to see was the Mercedes streamliner currently on display in Stuttgart Mercedes Museum.

I hope to create something that acknowledges the historical aspects of streamliners and yet has a contemporary relevance too. I don't mean an average, or a compromised in between style, but one that is the natural next step in a long process of experimentation.

Dik


Offline Dr Goggles

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4599 on: August 22, 2014, 11:26:13 PM »
Absolutely amazing, astonishing.

New frame is my suggestion, fat people, like we'll all be soon won' fit in our tank.

Once again, amazing work!
Few understand what I'm trying to do but they vastly outnumber those who understand why...................

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Current Australian E/GL record holder at 215.041mph

THE LUCKIEST MAN IN SLOW BUSINESS.

Offline Stainless1

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4600 on: August 22, 2014, 11:36:20 PM »
Ewes aint gettin fat... Ewes gettin fluffy  :-D

If you start with another frame, it will be like starting over...  :cheers:
Stainless
Red Hat 228.039, 2001, 65ci, Bockscar Lakester #1000 with a little N2O

Offline SPARKY

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4601 on: August 22, 2014, 11:58:55 PM »
That my vote ---PLS  do not ruin a DaNN Good Lakester

Build another car and jus swap the systems back and forth
Miss LIBERTY,  changing T.K.I.  to noise, dust, rust, BLUE HATS & hopefully not scrap!!

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."   Helen Keller

We are going to explore the racing N words NITROUS & NITRO!

Offline Dr Goggles

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  • The Jarman-Stewart "Spirit of Sunshine" Bellytank
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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4602 on: August 23, 2014, 01:26:02 AM »
Bill, that's DGL, we run EGL :cheers:

Yes Bob, but we have the cad for the frame and there's more room that we didn't have In the tank below the midline :wink:
Few understand what I'm trying to do but they vastly outnumber those who understand why...................

http://thespiritofsunshine.blogspot.com/

Current Australian E/GL record holder at 215.041mph

THE LUCKIEST MAN IN SLOW BUSINESS.

Offline stay`tee

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4603 on: August 23, 2014, 02:22:29 AM »
lookin sweet fellas, :cheers:,, now, who dosent believe in Evilution, :-D, (pun intented)
« Last Edit: August 23, 2014, 02:24:04 AM by stay`tee »
First Australian to ride a motorcycle over 200mph at Bonneville,,,

Offline Milwaukee Midget

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Re: Australian Belly Tank
« Reply #4604 on: August 23, 2014, 02:52:09 AM »
I agree with Sparky

I know there's a long tradition of turning Lakesters into Streamliners - usually based on economics -  but realistically, the reengineering that would likely need to occur in order to see this BEAUTIFUL streamliner happen deserves a clean sheet of paper.

If you're looking to keep costs down, I'm certain there are components that the two cars can share, but the advantages of a new frame would negate a number of the compromises you had to make for packaging into a bellytank.

And having done this before - creating a car out of whole cloth - you know now where the mistakes were made, and likely how to avoid the really costly ones.

Other than as a mental exercise, why compromise the design to an old set of parameters?

Dik, it's beautiful, and I'm sure you relished the challenge of creating a form that would work with the existing chassis.  But think of what could be done if you weren't constrained by packaging issues irrelevant to a streamliner!

If it's the cost of the tubing that's the issue, consider the cost in frustration you'll encounter modifying the Lakester.  You could well have to take it to the point of no return - and that would be a shame, because this is really one of the most elegant bellytanks on the planet.

I know this had been a plan in the back of everyone's mind for a while, but  seeing what Dik came up with, I think the extra effort of creating a new chassis would be the best bet in the long run.
"Problems are almost always a sign of progress."  Harold Bettes
Well, I guess we're making a LOT of progress . . .  :roll: