Poll: Am I A Genius Or Just Messed Up In The Head? (Empress 400 Revisited)
Friday, November 22, 2013 at 07:31AM 
My very modern yet retro Empress 400 airliner design from 2010 (400mph cruise)
Check out the fascinating details on the Empress 400
I admit I'm feeling a bit frisky today. After weeks and weeks of intense ceramic tile installing on a very large job I finally got paid for all that work. That'll do wonders to add frisk to your day! I'm also heading out for a few days of fun at The Henry Ford in Michigan soon and will be getting there in a 2014 Ford Escape that we're now leasing after trading in the 2006 G6. 240 EcoBoost horsepower (turbocharged I-4) pushed out by just 2,000 cc of displacement makes this little 4WD Escape accelerate like crazy! (hmm, I wonder how well a 2.0 EcoBoost would convert for use on something like an RV-8?... and no, I'm not receiving any remuneration for all the Ford plugs here)
And now on to the point. I had a reason this morning to go back and check out my Empress 400 retro airliner design from back in 2010, and wow I was really impressed! I like the way I think : ) That got me to wondering, am I some sort of fringe genius on aircraft design or am I just seriously messed up in the head? For entertainment purposes only, I thought I'd ask for your opinion. (even if y'all indicate that I'm messed up in the head, I will refuse your further advice to be institutionalized)
So, your task is to go check out this post from 2010: Empress 400 RetroLiner Details - C’mon, Dream With Me. Then, once you've soaked up all that radial engine retroliner goodness, come back here and vote in the poll below.
If you're confused or offended by all of this, please just vote for 'bacon!' and enjoy the rest of your day!
Reader Comments (4)
A few problems, but you can correct them:
1- the master bulkhead of the fuselage and wing are at the same place and that's not too good because you are inviting wing fuselage interferences.
2- Don't try to force laminar flow with a plane of this size, Reynolds are too high. flow will trip into turbulent after a few feet no matter how well it is designed.
3- Avoid tadpole tails, you will invite major wake drag.
4- Think smaller, you will get less drag.
Good luck, keep sketching
+1 on watteville's comments, especially the laminar body and drag. A more slender fuselage will result in significantly less wetted area.
I would also suggest that you lower the engine positions. The current positions will result in lots of flow interference over the wing. Lowering them would also appear to bring the thrust line closer to the center of gravity.
Keep iterating! I love the concept.
Specify R4360's as power and I'll change my bacon vote. :oD
Looks pretty impressive to me my friend