Almost a Viper....sort of

[WeeJimmy]

Co-pilot reporting for duty, sir    

[Keith Diamond]

kick her out! I would never have her as a co pilot  

[Supertom]

kick her out! I would never have her as a co pilot 

Hey Keith, I agree with you on that.  If I have one of those ejection seats that James Bond had on his L-39 in Tomorrow Never Dies, I'd flip the plane over, 100ft above some rough mountainside, and punch her out!

[Scooterman]

Well since the cat is pretty much out of the bag on what's in it, might as well tell the whole story.

Basically what we have is the nose of a Hasey F-16D, fuselage from a Hasey F-2B, resin spine from another Hasey kit, and bird slicers and wingtip rails from the Revell F-16A MLU.

Wanted to see what could have been a full blown Viper Weasel instead of Weasel in a Can.  Used the F-2 parts to produce the once proposed "Big Wing" mod.  IIRC the Big Wing was going to be after the Block 15 to try and bring back some of the orginal lightweight fighter performance back to an ever increasing weight  airframe.  Powers to be instead chose to beef up the airframe to produce the Block 30s and heavyweight 40s and up.  (Elmayerle probably knows more than me on that.  Am I close?    )

Anyway, so this is my version of what a Big Wing Block 50 Weasel could have looked like.  Stuff to shoot and drop will be tip AIM-120, outer AIM-9, outboard mid HARM, inbd mid JSOW, inbd bags and probably a ALQ-184 jammer on the belly.  Might even throw in some LANTIRN pods since the spine will house all of the Weasel and ECM gear.  TwoBobs Mountain Home Gunfighter decals round out the project.  

Pics soon I promise!

Brad

[Keith Diamond]

Sounds like a great idea man.  I have a thing for Block 50 Vipers, so I definitely look forward to seeing this one completed.  :f16:  

[elmayerle]

Well since the cat is pretty much out of the bag on what's in it, might as well tell the whole story.

Basically what we have is the nose of a Hasey F-16D, fuselage from a Hasey F-2B, resin spine from another Hasey kit, and bird slicers and wingtip rails from the Revell F-16A MLU.

Wanted to see what could have been a full blown Viper Weasel instead of Weasel in a Can.  Used the F-2 parts to produce the once proposed "Big Wing" mod.  IIRC the Big Wing was going to be after the Block 15 to try and bring back some of the orginal lightweight fighter performance back to an ever increasing weight  airframe.  Powers to be instead chose to beef up the airframe to produce the Block 30s and heavyweight 40s and up.  (Elmayerle probably knows more than me on that.  Am I close?    )

Anyway, so this is my version of what a Big Wing Block 50 Weasel could have looked like.  Stuff to shoot and drop will be tip AIM-120, outer AIM-9, outboard mid HARM, inbd mid JSOW, inbd bags and probably a ALQ-184 jammer on the belly.  Might even throw in some LANTIRN pods since the spine will house all of the Weasel and ECM gear.  TwoBobs Mountain Home Gunfighter decals round out the project.  

The original "enlarged" proposal was "Falcon 2000" and didn't happen.  The Block 30 and subsequent blocks are sturdier, though there was an effort some ways into the Block 50/52 to simplify the structure while retaining its strength (more details are available if they won't boor you).  This same change point saw several systems improvements being incorporated and these are being backfitted to earlier Block 50/52's in USAF service and the most critical ones from a standardized cockpit perspective are being backfitted to Block 40/42's.  Earlier Block F-16's can be upgraded to the new, stronger structure and most of the ones flying in colors of European countries have had this done.

If I was doing a full-up Wild Weasel, I'd start with the 2-seat F-2, add an extended spine, pick up the internal FLIR & F110-GE-132 from the Block 60, and use the LOAN (Low Observable Axisymmetric Nozzle) that GE tested on a F-16.  *G* I'd probably use a mix of equipment from several countries, though primarily from the US and Israel.

Oh, for what it's worth, I believe that all of the non-US Block 50/52 2-seaters, as well as the Block 60 2-seaters, have the spline.

[Geoff_B]

Stuff to shoot and drop will be tip AIM-120, outer AIM-9, outboard mid HARM, inbd mid JSOW, inbd bags and probably a ALQ-184 jammer on the belly.

How about the British ALARM anti-Radiation missile as the US were impressed with its abilities as a secondary weapon to the HARM.

Looking good however what are you going to do with the left overs ?

Cheers

Thor B)  

[Scooterman]

Good idea Thorvic, but I don't have any ALARMs.  Need to find some though.  Want to do a pathfinder GR.4 Tornado.

As always, Elmayerle is a wealth of info.  Thanks dude!    

I orginally thought of just using the F-2 OOB, but I wanted a Viper canopy.  F-2s have a split windscreen/canopy.  After studying it for awhile the easiest solution was to do a full nose job.  If I was going to do it again however, I'd also section out the whole Viper rear canopy fairing.  I made my cuts just behind the 'ears' for the piviot points and tried (and failed!) to blend it all in.

And for anybody thinking of using a spine on the Hasey F-2 kits, section and stretch the spine at its widest/thickest point to make the fwd part sit normally.  I didn't and that's how I ended up with my problem mentioned in the first post of this thread.

Check Six!

Brad

[Geoff_B]

Good idea Thorvic, but I don't have any ALARMs. Need to find some though. Want to do a pathfinder GR.4 Tornado.

Hi Brad

What Scale are you doing it in, if 1/72 then the New Revell GR1 kit has a pair of Alarms, the cheaper Italeri Tornado ECR also has 3 x Alarms & mountings as well as the HARM for the German and Italian versions. Not sure about 1/48 versions but they are available somewhere.

Cheers

Geoff B B)

[Scooterman]

Cheers Geoff!   Will look for the 1/72 Revell GR1 boxing.  I already have two Revell ECRs.  Yet another Tornado project.

Brad

[Geoff_B]

Will look for the 1/72 Revell GR1 boxing

Hi Brad

Yeah that the best Tornado GR1 kit by far. I know Airfix are supposed to be doing a GR4 this summer but i expect that will just be their old kit updated. However the kit might be worth it just for the update and new weapons to use on the Revell kit !!!!, unless of course Airfix have been able to do a re-boxing.

Cheers

Geoff

[elmayerle]

As always, Elmayerle is a wealth of info.  Thanks dude!    

I orginally thought of just using the F-2 OOB, but I wanted a Viper canopy.  F-2s have a split windscreen/canopy.  After studying it for awhile the easiest solution was to do a full nose job.  If I was going to do it again however, I'd also section out the whole Viper rear canopy fairing.  I made my cuts just behind the 'ears' for the piviot points and tried (and failed!) to blend it all in.

And for anybody thinking of using a spine on the Hasey F-2 kits, section and stretch the spine at its widest/thickest point to make the fwd part sit normally.  I didn't and that's how I ended up with my problem mentioned in the first post of this thread.

You're quite welcome.  I agree about the way to stretch the spine.  *G* It's fascinating the different equipment fits in there for different countries (*G* yeah, I've helped update the equipment arrangement layouts - unfortunately, those are classified).  

I suspect that, to do it right, the canopy swap would need the immediate area around the cockpit for proper blending.

Oh, if you're going to add CFT's to the model, they'll need to be stretched, too, for proper fit.

[Scooterman]

<shudder> CFTs?  No way!  I couldn't possibly get one to turn out decent, let alone two.  Anyways the CFTs are not operational yet in my timeline.  Same with anything Block 60 (internal FLIR).  I'm trying to keep this machine in line when the Block 50s (CJs) first appeared.  And now that I think about it, my using of JSOW might not be 'legal' either.  Damn.  Might have to step down and go to JDAM.  They've been around a bit longer than JSOW.  Unless anybody else can come up with something cool to hang out there.  Hell maybe just 4 HARMs!

Brad

[elmayerle]

<shudder> CFTs?  No way!  I couldn't possibly get one to turn out decent, let alone two.  Anyways the CFTs are not operational yet in my timeline.  Same with anything Block 60 (internal FLIR).  I'm trying to keep this machine in line when the Block 50s (CJs) first appeared.  And now that I think about it, my using of JSOW might not be 'legal' either.  Damn.  Might have to step down and go to JDAM.  They've been around a bit longer than JSOW.  Unless anybody else can come up with something cool to hang out there.  Hell maybe just 4 HARMs!

Brad

Well, if you want something that could've been operational but wasn't (long story, ask me privately), use AGM-137A TSSAM's.  Google it and you'll find info and the unclassified three view.  If you decide to use it, I'll be glad to advise, privately, what you need to do to show it in carry mode rather than flgiht mode.  This should've been operational in the late 90's from both USAF and USN aircraft.

[Keith Diamond]

any update on this one? :f16: