NAA F-12E

[Orne M]

November 22, 1963: Delayed on his return from a State/DOD conference, SecDef Robert McNamara slips off the stairs of his Air Force transport and breaks his neck.  Given the news, John F. Kennedy diverts Air Force One short of its arrival in Dallas, Texas, and returns to Washington DC.  Several hours later, a man named Oswald goes on a shooting spree at the Dallas Book Repository, ranting that he was stolen of his opportunity to change history.  Three suspicious derelict men are detained in the panic that follows, and before they can be released by the Dallas PD, two are identified as CIA employees.  Robert Kennedy as Attorney General launches an independent investigation; within the next several months, Vice President Lyndon Johnson announces he will not seek further political office and resigns.   J. Edgar Hoover commits suicide amid rumors that his personal photographs are in the hands of Kennedy.  Richard Nixon goes into a Bahama Islands corporate-partnership and leaves the country.  Sen. Howard Cannon of Nevada is sworn in as Vice President in February of 1964; he convinces JFK to over-ride McNamara's more extreme defense-contract policies and pushes for a competition between Lockheed and North American Aviation for an interceptor.  Despite a maximum speed that falls short of the phenomenal Blackbird, the NAA entry is far easier to develop and maintain, and the contract goes to the latter company.   31,000 lb thrust turbofan engines, reverse-licensed US makes of the Swedish RM8 which power the Viggen, are utilized.   By 1968 the first F-12As are entering squadron service equipped with AIM-47 Falcon missiles; its huge swept-wings, engine-trunks, and cobra-like forward fuselage, lend it a marked resemblance to Star Trek's menacing Klingon warship, and pilots begin calling their mounts the "Battlecruiser".  Later variants are manufactured for Britain, Canada, Israel, Japan, Austrailia, Taiwan, and South Korea.   The original "A" versions are upgraded to F-12Es with Phoenix missiles, strengthened wings, a large conformal fuel tank between the engines, and F-110 engines.  A Russian copy, the Sukhoi T-10, flies in the late sixties and goes through a prolonged development program before reaching operational status.
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Some more What If (and maybe not): NAA F-12E.  Picking through a lot of Sixties aviation lore, this one is based on a proposed North American Aviation design that could have been in the running as an interceptor counterpart to the F-111 - and was likely the basis for the Sukhoi T-10/SU-27.  Reputedly, the panicked reaction to the Foxbat killed the NAA design, and the next attempt was the F-15 (the NAA entry was a downsized version of the earlier design).

Started with a 1/48 SU-37, reworked the wingsweep with sheet plastic, and bulked up the undersides of the engine-boxes with more plastic and Bondo glaze.  A/B cans are F-15 exhausts with collars added to stretch length.  Tailfins and strakes were scratchbuilt.  The cockpit/canopy was from Monogram F-18A kit; the resin nose was modified from my B-58C conv. set.  The conformal fuel tank between the engines, and underside launch-rails, were also scratched.  I was going to finish this up as an "A" version with AIM-47s but decided to go with an updated version with Phoenix missiles instead; the Sparrows, Sidewinders, and pylons were modified Monogram F-15 parts.   Decals from the spares-box.  Tried for an experimental grey-black multi-tonal camoflage, spray-bombed through blue-tape masks.  Detailed with acrylics, pens, pastels, and pencils.

Still working on the finish and some details....
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[ChernayaAkula]

Very, very, very cool!   Looks absolutely stunning!

[Pablo1965]

Great work! A incredible paint scheme

[ysi_maniac]

^^^^
Agreed!

[ElectrikBlue]

Nice... the resemblance to sukhoi T-10 is amazing!

Is that a CFT between the engine pods???

[Taiidantomcat]

Great work!

[Orne M]

It's a CFT; saw pictures of a Flanker modified with one, and added it pretty much after the model was completed.

[Tophe]

Congratulations! And this hard work for pannels on a so deeply what-ifed model is amazing...

[NARSES2]

Terrific stuff 

[Orne M]

The panel work on the wing-undersides, and around the top/rear engines, was the original Flanker kit; all else was laid down with .07 mechanical pencil, pens, weathered with soft charcoal pencil.  I've tried 'pre-shading', just doesn't work out well for me so went with this method (worked out how to do this with my 1/350 Starship Enterprise).

[McColm]

Great work, well done 

[chrisonord]

Now that is just so cool, I am really liking that
Cheers,
Chris.

[Fulcrum]

SWEET FLANKER!!!!!
It is definitely inspiring me to build a F-12F(CF-201) "Voodoo 2" for Canadian Forces or a F-12N for carrier use!!!
Awesome work!!!

[anthonyp]

That's sweet!  Really nice build!   

[Orne M]

Pretty much right up to the time I was finishing the model, debated whether to convert it to a carrier-fighter, would not have taken much work, so a navy version would be nice workover.