Cool, ... Hot, and Near Smokin'

**Milton Shupe** · February 15th, 2009, 15:18

Work In Process ... i.e. "Beyond just piddlin'"

**t.creed** · February 15th, 2009, 15:21

this is looking very nice..!!! detailed..

rgds
t.creed

***PRB*** · February 15th, 2009, 15:42

Is that the X-'something" with the big giant cannon in the nose..? Looking pretty darned good, whatever it is!!

pointy31 · February 15th, 2009, 15:48

That is fantastic Milton...:ernae:

I will start brewing the Cajun Koolaid RAT NOW!!!

**Milton Shupe** · February 15th, 2009, 16:17

Beechcraft called it the A-28 Destroyer; the US Military called it the XA-38 Grizzly. Yes, a 75 mm cannon out the nose, two turrets, and two .50's in the nose. Fast, sleek, and too late ... but not for us.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/fac...ID=3178&page=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XA-38_Grizzly

EDIT: For any of you who keep Airpower Magazine, the November '78 edition featured the Grizzly. The Bell Airacobra was on the front cover.

**Wing_Z** · February 15th, 2009, 16:39

Can you imagine squeezing off a round in that thing?
Anywhere else you'd have both thumbs in your ears, deep breath and shut your eyes...

It would've wreaked havoc with airframe life too.

Thanks for posting the WIP Milton, fascinating to see this.
Can't wait to try it.
You thinking of a way to make that Big Gun go Boom?

**FengZ** · February 15th, 2009, 17:02

WOW! beautiful! Love all the details in model and VC.

-feng

**Milton Shupe** · February 15th, 2009, 17:06

Here is public information on the cannon ... pretty awesome looking. Auto-loader ... yes!

I haven't gotten to the effects yet .. not sure what is possible in FS9. There will also be a FS2002/CFS2 version.

**Lionheart** · February 15th, 2009, 17:24

Can you imagine being in that plane when that cannon goes off? Must be a powerful hit on the airframe. I wonder what it sounded like on the ground, watching it overhead firing off some rounds.

Nice work on that VC Milton!

Bill

**Milton Shupe** · February 15th, 2009, 17:39

The cannon was electronically fired. When the pilot hit the switch, the cannon would fire off 20 rounds at 1.2 second intervals, then auto-reload, and commence firing. Expended shells were captured in a box for re-use. To ease maintenance and re-arming tasks, the whole front fuselage section was hinged on a set of counter-balance springs and would open forward to expose the entire installation. Despite the cannon firepower in the nose, noise levels were reported to be acceptable to Army test pilots during the test firings at Eglin Field, Fl.
SOURCE: Airpower Magazine. Nov. '78

**Javis** · February 15th, 2009, 17:45

As always, beautiful smooth modeling, Milton ! LOVE those tire textures ! :ernae:

Cheers,
Jan

**Milton Shupe** · February 15th, 2009, 17:51

Originally Posted by Lionheart

Can you imagine being in that plane when that cannon goes off? Must be a powerful hit on the airframe. I wonder what it sounded like on the ground, watching it overhead firing off some rounds.

Nice work on that VC Milton!

Bill

Thanks Bill ... Scott Thomas and I have just gotten the basics in place, so much yet to refine. Scott is doing the artistry work there as well as the panel and gauges.

I must say thanks to Willy for inspiring the project, and especially to Moses03 for getting the contacts and the unbelievable cockpit drawings and other rare access to information and pictures without which, basic accuracy would have been impossible.

Special thanks also to Andrew Labosky, Volunteer Archivist, Kansas Aviation Museum for finding real world pictures of the XA-38 Cockpit and Gunner's station, and;
Special thanks to Glyn Owen for panel references and Gary Newman for wind tunnel model and cannon photos.

Fliger_747 (Tom) has done a beautiful job on this flight model. I think you will be very impressed with her speed and handling, and slow speed landings.

**Milton Shupe** · February 15th, 2009, 17:53

Originally Posted by Javis

As always, beautiful smooth modeling, Milton ! LOVE those tire textures ! :ernae:

Cheers,
Jan

Hello and Thank you Jan. :wave: The tire textures were graciously provided by Manfred Jahn of recent Connie 1649 fame (and others).

I too love them.

**Flyboy208** · February 15th, 2009, 19:14

This project of yours has come a long way Milton, the end result will be highly cherished on this end! Mike ! :ernae:

***Tom Clayton*** · February 15th, 2009, 19:22

Beautiful work Milton!

So much for "retirement!" :costumes:

**PeteHam** · February 15th, 2009, 21:27

Absolutely stunning

A masterpiece in the making.

Thanks Milton.

Pete.

**TICTOC** · February 15th, 2009, 22:25

What was that about retiring?
I'm glad old habits die hard. :woot:

Cam.

***Sundog*** · February 15th, 2009, 22:34

Wow, that's looking great. Compared to an A-20, that cockpit looks absolutely spacious.

**Ian Warren** · February 16th, 2009, 03:34

You have got to love the amazing designs from WWII sorta forgotten , that is one mean machine with the looks and attitude !

**Terry** · February 16th, 2009, 05:23

Nice workmanship Milton.

Was this the same 75mm cannon that was mounted in the B-25h? I don't believe that aircraft was modeled either.

**Milton Shupe** · February 16th, 2009, 05:28

Originally Posted by Sundog

Wow, that's looking great. Compared to an A-20, that cockpit looks absolutely spacious.

I have to fight that feeling a lot. The panel was spread widely across the cockpit, and the height was less than normal so that the pilot has excellent forward visibility. The cannon is visible in the seating position. If you can imagine the pilot's shoulders being wider than the yoke, then you get some sense of the smallness (height-wise) of the panel. With that said, one issue raised during testing was that the throttles were difficult to stagger at takeoff as the pilot normally wanted to lead with the left throttle. That throttle being a longer reach was difficult to set that lead with.

**MudMarine** · February 16th, 2009, 05:28

WOW.............dang................WOW!! Don't know what else to say?!

**Milton Shupe** · February 16th, 2009, 05:30

Originally Posted by Terry

Nice workmanship Milton.

Was this the same 75mm cannon that was mounted in the B-25h? I don't believe that aircraft was modeled either.

Same cannon, different model without the auto-loader I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong here please.

**T Square** · February 16th, 2009, 06:04

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry

Nice workmanship Milton.

Was this the same 75mm cannon that was mounted in the B-25h? I don't believe that aircraft was modeled either.

Same cannon, different model without the auto-loader I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong here please.

On the money, same gun but manually loaded. Only carried 21 rounds. Imagine the poor crewman who was assigned in a limited amount of space having to pull the brass reload and sit within a foot or so as the trigger was pulled on this 75 MM monster. They even had to partially plate over part of the pilots wind screen to protect him against the cannon's flash and blast. Although thought to be ineffective imagine yourself in a Japanese Destroyer and being hit with the concentrated fire of 14, 50 Cal. and one 75 MM cannon, all aimed at amidship or at the bridge. This was also the same gun used in a Sherman Tank as well.