Just a passing thought.......................!!!

[albeback]

Was curious as to what you fellow "whiffers" would think of the concept of a Special Ops  AC-400 Gunship! . Kind of had this crazy notion in my head since Revell announced their A400M!Not too outlandish even for Whifworld?

I'd welcome any suggestions for armaments etc. Got a few ideas in mind but, I'd like to keep it reasonably plausible!

One of the things I had in mind was a pair of side mounted remote controlled 20 or 30mm gun turrets - similar sort of thing to the remotely controlled guns on the Messerschmitt 410
Or perhaps I should just keep taking the pills?

[Hobbes]

The armament of an AC-130 would be a logical starting point: a couple of Gatlings and a howitzer. I don't know what you would gain by making the guns remote-controlled.

In this day and age though, I'd use missiles or bombs instead of guns. You're going to need plenty of altitude to escape the MANPADS. An AC-400 could carry a whole lot of Brimstones, SDBs or similar. Hell, you could probably build a fairly low-cost guided glide bomb with a 105mm grenade payload. More accurate, and you only need to be in the general vicinity of the target rather than having to aim precisely. 

[albeback]

The armament of an AC-130 would be a logical starting point: a couple of Gatlings and a howitzer. I don't know what you would gain by making the guns remote-controlled.

In this day and age though, I'd use missiles or bombs instead of guns. You're going to need plenty of altitude to escape the MANPADS. An AC-400 could carry a whole lot of Brimstones, SDBs or similar. Hell, you could probably build a fairly low-cost guided glide bomb with a 105mm grenade payload. More accurate, and you only need to be in the general vicinity of the target rather than having to aim precisely. 

! Food for thought   The only problem I can think of with that load out would be sourcing the ordnance - especially the Brimstone

[Hobbes]

I scratchbuilt a bunch of Brimstones for this project, it's a bit fiddly but doable.

[Spey_Phantom]

i knew when the A400M kit was announced, that someone whould have the b*lls to propose a gunship version.
i guess i would suggest the same as everyone else does, kitbash it with parts from an Italeri or Airfix AC-130 Spectre.

im gonna buy the kit to when it comes out and build it as a Belgian (to be realworld) version, that is, if i can make some space on the shellf, guess my failed 1/144 AN124 has got to go 

[Hobbes]

What was the problem with your An-124, Nils?

[albeback]

i knew when the A400M kit was announced, that someone whould have the b*lls to propose a gunship version.
i guess i would suggest the same as everyone else does, kitbash it with parts from an Italeri or Airfix AC-130 Spectre.

im gonna buy the kit to when it comes out and build it as a Belgian (to be realworld) version, that is, if i can make some space on the shellf, guess my failed 1/144 AN124 has got to go 

Too good a chance to miss Nils!!

[deathjester]

My main problem with the 'classic' gunship design is that you have to orbit your target, and you have to fly in the same directiion because your guns are only on one side!

Surely, the best answer would be gun turrets that can aim in any direction, and surely a large transport has enough room aboard to mount such things!

[pyro-manic]

That does add a lot of weight, complexity and of course cost to the whole thing, though. Plus having a turret makes the maximum size of the weapon smaller - more weight and volume taken up by the mounting means less for the gun itself.

If you're going for missiles and bombs instead of guns, why bother with a gunship at all? Just have a high-flying fighter-bomber or UAV that's out of reach of AAA and MANPADS. Much less interesting, of course, but more sensible, and more useful.