A swingin' F-15!

[anthonyp]

Well, here's a project I've been tossin' about in my head for at least two years now.  I've been bouncing ideas off of Evan, since he's got a bunch of F-15 designs in his head, and sought input on fleshing this idea out a little more.

This was one of the first ideas that popped into my head when I got back into building, but knew my skills were nowhere near up the challenge of building this thing.  Not long after I'd come up with the general arrangement of the plane, someone (I forget who) put up some pics on the web of a bunch of cut n' pasted plane schematics, one of which was an F-15 with F-14 wings and tails, and vice versa.  That pic gave me an idea of what mine was going to look like, but I didn't like some of the details (like using F-14 tails).

I decided to try the F-14 wings on the F-15.  I hacked off the wings and wing gloves from an old, junked F-14 kit, and pretty much stopped there, as I had no idea how to proceed.  That was sometime late last year.  It went into storage and I'd forgotten about it until I got hit in the head in my car wreck earlier this year.

I sent Evan a bunch of ideas for F-15's back in June, and we traded ideas back and forth a bit, fleshing mine out at least (the F-15G Wild Eagle was the first result from that exchange).  The next piece to my swingin' F-15 came in the form of an ESCI 1/72 F-18 prototypes kit that I found in a LHS back in June.  Those F-18-ish gear were perfect for the F-15N I had going in my head.

The final pieces fell into place last month, when I got ahold of an ancient Revell F-111A and a Hasegawa F-111C.  I took out the Airfix F-15 that was going to the project, and started comparing wings.  After a few mockups with the various wings on the fuselage (and consulting the Oracle Evan on what he might do; he suggested F-111 wings and wing gloves... I liked that), I settled on the F-111A's wings and wing gloves.  They looked better than the longer wings of the F-111C, and much better than the short, stubby, and fat wings (it was from an Italeri kit) from the F-14.




All this was done over the weekend.

Today, I've been working on the underside, trying to figure out how things are going to fit under there.  I was always going to go with an armament of four AIM-97C Seekers, as well as a few other missiles.  At first, I had the four AIM-97's on the fuselage stations, but they didn't look quite right sticking out the way they did.  I'm still torn on the F-14 pallets I've got there, but they actually look pretty good with the wing glove pylons from an F-14.  As a nifty little touch, I glued two F-15 Sidewinder rails in place of the F-14's.

I'm thinking of pivoting wing pylons for this beast, to give it two more heavy weapons stations for two more AIM-97's, or two AIM-7's, or maybe four AIM-120's on dual rails.  What about two heavy and one light pylon per wing, ala the F-111C?  With the glove pylons, I think maybe two heavy pylons would be just about right.

Then there's the question about underfuselage strakes, or ventral fins on the fuselage below the vertical stabs (ala the early F-15 artwork with what appear to be AIM-82's on the Sparrow stattions).  Then again, we are talking a McD based plane.  McD and ventral fins/strakes don't go together (none on the Phantom, Hornet, Eagle, Harrier...).


(Hey, look!  It's a boy!)


Decisions, decisions.

The bad thing about this build is I'm gonna have to build another, in the A-15N configuration.  I made the mistake of tacking on a Strike Eagle's navigation and targetting pods just to see what they'd look like, then seeing what Harpoons, SLAM's, SLAM-ER's, Harms, etc on it, just to see what they'd look like.  Haven't tried FAST packs on it yet...  Of course, FAST packs were in the original idea when I was still using the fat F-14 wings.  FAST packs were the only things that would have made the wings and wing gloves look right.

On a related note, you know those ancient Monogram F-15's with the squared off wingtips, moulded in sky blue?  I've decided I'm going to do one up as an F-15M (M for Maritime... yeah, Maritime, that's it...) for the RCN, for use off their skijump equipped CVV's.  What?  I've got pics of the CVV-skijump too!  I've put thought and stuff into this one.

Here's the carrier to show how much thought (and stuff) I've put into this:



Really, I just threw this one in because I was thinking about it.  This variant won't get built until sometime after the F-15N gets closer to completion.

 

[BlackOps]

Are you sure that's not a MiG 24 and a half?  

Looking forward to seeing more.

[rallymodeller]

Hey Anthony -- did that F-111 kit come with the "B" nose after all? Huh?

[anthonyp]

LOL!  No, this particular Revell kit didn't (it's the 1979 box, from an eBay auction Jschmus pointed me at).  I do, however, have two of the Revell F-111 TFX kits either in my posession or on the way thanks to eBay.  They've got the F-111B nose in it.  The one I've got in the stash right now is being turned into an EF-111B.  Not sure about the other one, yet.

[elmayerle]

Just a further thought for missile carriage on the swing-wing bird.  Consider a couple smaller drop tanks ahead of the main gear and carry two AIM-97s semi-submerged on the centerline or on a variation of the Tomcat AIM-54 pallet, but on the centerline.

[Archibald]

so much idea... your nickname of "productive comrade" is perfectly justified!!!
I'm waiting impatiently to see the result of this cool kitbash...  

[anthonyp]

I'll try more AIM-97 configurations later today.  I had tried a tandem configuration for two on the centerline (didn't quite clear the gear doors), but nose to tail was not something I looked at.

Mocked up some FAST packs on it last night, and I am definately going to build an all striked out A-15N!  It just looks too cool.

Anyone got an old Revell or AMT F-111A kit they don't need anymore?

   

[retro_seventies]

someone (I forget who) put up some pics on the web of a bunch of cut n' pasted plane schematics, one of which was an F-15 with F-14 wings and tails, and vice versa. That pic gave me an idea of what mine was going to look like, but I didn't like some of the details (like using F-14 tails).

sorry, my productive friend....the schematic was rough and ready alas, whereas your plane looks marvellous - i still think i was right about the tomcat tails though!              

[anthonyp]

Then build it and prove me right in my decision that Eagle tails look better  

So it was you!!!  Like I said, I couldn't remember who did it, but it just looked too much like an F-14 with Hangarcat tails on an Eagle fuselage.  The F-14 tails just ruin the F-15's lines!  Of course, there's no Hangarcat stuff on this seabird, just F-111B (ok, so they're from an A Aardvark, same difference) and F-15 parts.  F-15 tails give it character  

No real progress tonight, other than mounting the wheels and redoing the nose strut, to remedy the nose-down stance the gear gave in their original position.  

I tried the centerline mounted AIM-97's, and they're too long to fit two on there and clear the tail hook.  I still like the side-by-side AIM-97's on the belly, but they interfere with the gear doors too much.  This thing's gonna be armed to the teeth.  I'll come up with a weapons chart for it later, but suffice it to say, there's a large combo of air-to-air weapons that can be carried.

On the side note, I assembled the main subassemblies of the Monogram F-15 that's going to become the F-15M.  I'm torn on the main gear for it, though.  Should they remain F-15 struts, or should I go with the mutant F-18 struts from the ESCI kit?  I mean, it IS a smaller carrier that it's going to be flying off of, but could I beef up normal F-15 (albeit mutant Monogram) gear to make them look carrier capable?

 

[Sentinel Chicken]

I tried the centerline mounted AIM-97's, and they're too long to fit two on there and clear the tail hook.  I still like the side-by-side AIM-97's on the belly, but they interfere with the gear doors too much.  This thing's gonna be armed to the teeth.

What if you staggered the missiles on the centerline, like one missile slightly to one side to allow the other missile to overlap it? Kind of like what's done on the belly mounts for the Skyflash missile on the Tornado F.3?

[anthonyp]

And on the EAP demonstrator...  that's got possibilities...  

(muzak plays)

Something's a little goofy with that configuration now that the wheels are on.  I'll take some pics tomorrow with the various belly mounts to show the length of the missiles and how little space there is (mainly because of the F-15's wheelbase).

This project's far from done...

 

[Brian da Basher]

Nice Anthony! This is one imaginative concept and I'm gonna enjoy watching you pull it off!

Brian da Basher

[ysi_maniac]

Very good      by the time being

[anthonyp]

PROGRESS!!!  Well, not really, but I'm finally getting back to this.  Been sorta busy.

First up are the AIM-97 belly mount possibilities.  There's very little room under there for two of them, due to the main gear doors, tailhook, and nose gear.  Even staggered, ala the Tornado F.3/EAP demonstrator, there's not much clearence between the missiles and the doors.

First up, nose-to-tail mounting.  Almost works, but it overlaps the tailhook (which looks pretty nice on the Eagle).



Next up is the tandem, side-by-side mounts.  No room at all for this mount.  Even with me holding the missiles in place, there's no room.




Finally, the staggered mounting.  Would work, except for the forward missile's control surfaces.




I think I'm gonna go with an armament of four AIM-97's, four AIM-120's, and four AIM-9's, with an Eagle droptank mounted Phantom-style on the belly.

Next up are pics of the plane taking its first steps.  Ain't it cute?  In a fleet defending sorta way...





Slowly taking shape.  I gotta stop by the hobby shop tomorrow and see what they have in terms of small magnets or magnetic strips.  I want to use that idea of using magnets for the pivoting pylons on the wings for this bird.

   

[Shasper]

Comrad, I believe you would do us a great injustice if you continued w/t gear down, as it looks cooler in the "in flight" config!

(besides, it keeps the spatbrat away!   )


Shas B)