Boeing F/a-31a Banshee Ii

[anthonyp]

So, there I was staring at my Monica model, and thought "That is one ugly plane."  Then I saw some profiles of a modified F-32 in Japanese service with a lengthened nose, making the plane look less... hmmm, how can I put this?   "GAAAAHHH!!!!"  Yes, that'll do.  The profiles made the plane less "GAAAAHHH!!!!"

Then I found another CGI of what looks to me like an X-32 with a modified wing (maybe early in the design phase):



I took a look at it and thought it made the Monica almost a Prom Queen.  Then I combined the modified wing plan and tail configuration and the elongated nose, and came up with something altogether unexpected:



The Boeing F/A-31A Banshee II (sometimes referred to as the "Screaming Banshee")



The JSF competition was won by Boeing, after they'd acquired McDonnel Douglas and incorporated design elements and lessons learned from the F-23 program (which Northrup and McD won in the early 90's).



Using experience from the ATF competition (as well as personnel), Boeing redesigned most of the aircraft that would become the F/A-31.  The original X-32 designation was discarded, since Boeing produced the YF-31 prototype using company funds (the last such aircraft program to ever have that happen).



The F/A-30 went on to replace early model F/A-18's quite quickly, beginning in 2008 with VFA-15:











I used the tails from the X-32 on the wingtips (after trimming off the original wingtips from the kit).  Also, performed heavy surgery on the X-32 to remove the original cockpit, and grafted the front end of an old, destroyed (for the most part) YF-23.  It was my SF-23 paint scheme test plane originally, but I'd lost both tail surfaces and the undercarriage at some point in time.

After copious amounts of PSR, and redesigns (at one point it had canards), I think it turned out quite well.

[gooberliberation]

That's... sublime.  

[Supertom]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

[Rafael]

Sublime, and a masterpiece, Anthony!!!

Really the epitome of stealth design in whifworld!!!    :salute:

Rafa

[BlackOps]

Wow! that lengthened nose sure changes the look a bunch. I really like the rendering with the larger wing and the tail fins moved to the outside. Looks like you've done a pretty nice job of blending the ideas.    

[Spey_Phantom]

wow, if that is what you get when an -32 gets a new nose job, then i'll take 48 for belgium  
thats some real nice engineering work there m8    

[noxioux]

What a beauty!  Very well done.

[lancer]

That is an amazing bit ow work Anthony. Bloody well done mate, your alter ego will be weeping into his vodka over this one...    

[Mossie]

Nice job Anthony!  B)  So this Monica is a screamer eh???  

[Brian da Basher]

Totally sweet, Anthony! You've created a whiff of extraordinary magnitude!

Brian da Basher

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Calling that thing with the beak "Monica" is really not a good description.  Perhaps the name "Rodan" would be more appropriate as it has a real beak and it looks quite bird like in appearance.  Not that is should be starring in a "B" movie with Godzilla or anything as it does look a lot better than the original prototype that Boeing built.  

[GTX]

Nice!

Regards,

Greg

[anthonyp]

Calling that thing with the beak "Monica" is really not a good description.  Perhaps the name "Rodan" would be more appropriate as it has a real beak and it looks quite bird like in appearance.  Not that is should be starring in a "B" movie with Godzilla or anything as it does look a lot better than the original prototype that Boeing built.

Actually, I was calling the original X-32 "Monica," not that CGI I posted above.  Gotta agree, though, that does look like Rodan!

Thanks for the comments, guys, glad you like it!  I was playing with making the wings a bit more like the CGI, but decided that it'd best be completed with minimal change to the wings (seeing as how I could seriously frak them up beyond all hope of salvage).

 

[ysi_maniac]

Really top notch
       

[Archibald]

I like it very much!