LEGO Northrop XB-35 Flying Wing MOC
This MOC has been a long time in the making! The cancellation of Brickfair set this back by a few months, but its finally done! This is my primary model for the 2021 Brickfair Virginia eXpermental military collaboration. The XB-35 first flew in June of 1946 shortly after the end of WWII. The XB-35 was built around the concept of a flying wing where the empennage and fuselage were completely eliminated. This produced significantly less drag compared to its contemporaries which made it much more efficient and enabled it to carry out long range operations.
My XB-35 is depicted with contra- rotating props. The very first variant of the XB-35 used contra rotating propellers mounted in a pusher configuration. The Contra- rotating propeller was eventually removed and a single prop replaced them due to excessive vibration caused by the dual contra- rotating propellers.
The XB-35 was designed during WWII at about the same time as the B-36. As the jet age came into full swing, the XB-35 was redesigned yet again and the Wasp R-4360 radial engines were replaced with 8 turbojet engines and was re-designated the YB-49. This made the flying wing faster, however the thick wing of the XB-35 was still significantly slower than thin and fleaxable winged aircraft like the B-47.
My model is built using a combination of plates along with SNOT techniques for the upper surface. One of the most challenging parts was fitting all of the power functions motors and battery packs into the wing while keeping the wing relatively thin and at the same time keeping it from drooping. my model also features a full interior along with bomb bays and retractable undercarriage.
This will most likely not be my last model for the collab since I am eyeballing an XB-70 too ;)
LEGO Northrop XB-35 Flying Wing MOC
This MOC has been a long time in the making! The cancellation of Brickfair set this back by a few months, but its finally done! This is my primary model for the 2021 Brickfair Virginia eXpermental military collaboration. The XB-35 first flew in June of 1946 shortly after the end of WWII. The XB-35 was built around the concept of a flying wing where the empennage and fuselage were completely eliminated. This produced significantly less drag compared to its contemporaries which made it much more efficient and enabled it to carry out long range operations.
My XB-35 is depicted with contra- rotating props. The very first variant of the XB-35 used contra rotating propellers mounted in a pusher configuration. The Contra- rotating propeller was eventually removed and a single prop replaced them due to excessive vibration caused by the dual contra- rotating propellers.
The XB-35 was designed during WWII at about the same time as the B-36. As the jet age came into full swing, the XB-35 was redesigned yet again and the Wasp R-4360 radial engines were replaced with 8 turbojet engines and was re-designated the YB-49. This made the flying wing faster, however the thick wing of the XB-35 was still significantly slower than thin and fleaxable winged aircraft like the B-47.
My model is built using a combination of plates along with SNOT techniques for the upper surface. One of the most challenging parts was fitting all of the power functions motors and battery packs into the wing while keeping the wing relatively thin and at the same time keeping it from drooping. my model also features a full interior along with bomb bays and retractable undercarriage.
This will most likely not be my last model for the collab since I am eyeballing an XB-70 too ;)