F-416 Barracuda

[sotoolslinger]

I had planned on doing as my next project the F-8 with Viggen wings that JP profiled for me but the Viggen is still in Texas and I have to move to Phoenix next week . I did bring with me a project inspired by G Markat in this thread
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?topic=21881.msg320514;topicseen#new
Here is proof that I will whip out a full sized belt sander to work on a model

I needed to sand down that starboard wing
I have always thought that the F-104 was a cool looking plane but lets face it it was kinda crap in real life. The concept of the lightweight single engined fighter was really successful in stuff like the F-5 and F-16  so here is my design for the late 50's early 60's the F-104 with a much bigger engine, better,less highly loaded wings ,and forward canards (for manuverability )


Please give me your opinions on the forward canards. Should I use the tailplanes from the Viper

Or do you think that I should cut the Starfighters tailplanes in half and use them


You can see how much I shortened the tail in that last pic . I will leave the nose section like it is to make room for the gun and canards
I will also probably add a dorsal avionics hump and conformal tanks.

[Shasper]

Without the canards it resembles the CL.1300 Lancer (The ultimate Starfighter never built)

Shas

[sotoolslinger]

Yeah I read about that one last night but there was no pic I'll go look it up

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Lockheed X-27 CL-1200 Lancer images

[Sauragnmon]

The Starfighter tailplanes look better as canards, in my opinion STS.

Looks interesting, for a certainty.

[Rafael]

For a moment, I thought you wer going to use this configuration, from the CCV research airplane:


Great start, Ron!!!

Rafa

[sotoolslinger]

Cooooool images guys thanks for those .Saur I think I will use the Starfighter tails

[Sauragnmon]

She'll look wicked, STS.  Looking forward to your first project pics once you're underway.  Your Stingray was wicked, this'll do damn cool too.

[sotoolslinger]

Well Saur I hope you like it  Here is the initial assembly





By 1960 it was evident that the trend towards larger more complex fighter aircraft would not be cost effective or practical for the majority of smaller countries. The RoT military and gov't created a special  commission consisting of the leading designers and engineers in the aerospace industry.Their mission was to create a team to design a cost effective method to equip the growing number of nations joining the Combined Commonwealth with effective fighter aircraft that could be utilized by smaller nations with less trained troops. The primary goal was to create an effective, advanced fighter with a low unit cost that could be serviced and maintained easily and flown in combat with a high degree of survivability. The great coup of the commission (later named Dark Works) was to hire the brilliant designer G. Markat from Lockheed. He took his experience with the F-104 Starfighter and combined it with a huge yet simple TEW turbofan and equipped it with larger wings and foward canards to improve handling and manuverabiliy. This resulted in a very agile ,very fast short range fighter/interceptor. Client states could choose from a wide range of avionics,radar, and weapons upgrades to suit their needs .
Here is a mock up of a version with a dorsal avionics hump and conformal tanks

[Ed S]

I like!!!   You've got another great one going here.

Ed

[sotoolslinger]

Thanks ED It is actually turning out a lot better than I thought it would.

[Sauragnmon]

Damn, STS, looks real nice so far.  Don't forget to smooth your spine into the tail, or it'll just look weird with that gap.  Conformal tanks look like an interesting idea too for your project.  Going to put the viper engine on it?  I see you're going for an in-flight configuration with the sealed gear doors.

Keep it up!  I should be getting my F-14 around the 21st or so, if the shipping timeframe's decent.  I might do a little more whiffery as well with aircraft, I've got a pair of Harpoons I was considering extending into a pair of SLAMs and configuring with folded fins for an internal payload bay on my Italeri F-19.  Still not sure just what I'm going to do with my MiG-37 Ferret too, I might rig up something for it in the ordnance department as well.

[noxioux]

Looking good, looking good.  You know what opinions are worth (zero), but I think it looked better 'clean', without the bulges.

Either way, it's pretty killer.

[Captain Canada]

Cool...and getting freakier by the minute !

[Weaver]

Oh yeah - you just keep turning out the cool ones don't you? 

Some opinions to think about and/or discard at your leisure:

1. Are the canards fixed or all-moving? If the latter, then they're going to mightily screw up the airflow into the intakes when deflected. Bit late now for this suggestion, but perhaps they need to be a shade higher and have a short "LERXish" section linking them to the top of the intakes, and only the bit outboard of that is either all-moving or has flaps?


2. Bumps and bulges? Purely a matter of taste. For my twopenneth, I don't like the spine one, but the conformal tanks look good: maybe a little further back, a little lower, and blended into the wing root more?

The wings and tail look damn fine on that fuselage.....