LF-18 Midget Hornet

[Weaver]

Nice one Tophe! 

A suggestion if I may: why not put some or all of the missiles on an elevating plate suspended between the tail fins?

[John Howling Mouse]

Hi Tophe.
I know you do not normally enjoy "warcraft" airplanes so are your missiles there for lift (not combat)?

[Tophe]

A suggestion if I may: why not put some or all of the missiles on an elevating plate suspended between the tail fins?

Well, normally I would have jettisoned the missiles, but I was needing somehow a reason to be asymmetric. I cannot habe both tails and all missiles on the port wing and nothing on the starboard one, that's my feeling.

I know you do not normally enjoy "warcraft" airplanes so are your missiles there for lift (not combat)?

I don't like offensive war (like the one my country is performing now), but defense against attack seems OK for me. I will call this model Defender: flying to a threatened distant city, then landing, then installing its defense missiles to protect the city, yelling on the radio "don't attack, I am here". This is OK for me. I don't like weapons but I respect anti-aircraft guns (AAG? DCA in French, Défense Contre Avions). Anyway, this is the principle of this first armed model I am making since my coming back to modelling, 2005...
Your lift idea is pleasant, thanks but I do not see an asymmetry explanation there: I should have used it on a propeller aircraft, as anti-torque. Too late, all is glued and almost finished.

[Weaver]

A suggestion if I may: why not put some or all of the missiles on an elevating plate suspended between the tail fins?

Well, normally I would have jettisoned the missiles, but I was needing somehow a reason to be asymmetric. I cannot habe both tails and all missiles on the port wing and nothing on the starboard one, that's my feeling.

Small missiles between the fins and big ones on the opposite wing maybe? It just struck me that the two fins look like the vertical arms of a missile launcher.

[Tophe]

I understand better, thanks

[Tophe]

Finished...

[Tophe]

Other angles:

[Tophe]

I wrote that for my gallery Web site http://www.kristofmeunier.fr/ThankingIgor.htm:
"LF-18 Midget Hornet Defender (from McDonnell F-18B Hornet), 2011, see http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?topic=31462.0
The front part of a F-18 has been turned into a light complete aircraft, becoming canard and biplane. This is a rocket plane without air intakes. The 'reason' to be asymmetric is that the port wing is devoted to balance flight control, while the starboard wing is used after landing as surface-to-air missile launcher, to protect a city."
PLEASE, may somebody with English as mother-language correct my bad words?Thanks a lot!

[Weaver]

I wrote that for my gallery Web site http://www.kristofmeunier.fr/ThankingIgor.htm:
"LF-18 Midget Hornet Defender (from McDonnell F-18B Hornet), 2011, see http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?topic=31462.0
The front part of a F-18 has been turned into a light complete aircraft, becoming canard and biplane. This is a rocket plane without air intakes. The 'reason' to be asymmetric is that the port wing is devoted to balance flight control, while the starboard wing is used after landing as surface-to-air missile launcher, to protect a city."
PLEASE, may somebody with English as mother-language correct my bad words?Thanks a lot!

It's not that bad Tophe - infinitely better than my French!


Try this:


"The forward fuselage of an F-18 has been turned into a complete light aircraft, of canard biplane layout, in it's own right. The aircraft is rocket powered so it doesn't need air intakes. The 'reason' for the asymmetry is that the port wing carries the fins and is devoted to flight control, while the starboard wing is used after landing as a surface-to-air missile launcher to protect a city."

[saintkatanalegacy]

"The forward fuselage of an F-18 has been turned into a complete light aircraft, of canard biplane layout, in it's own right. It is rocket powered thus no longer needs air intakes. The layout is asymmetrical because the port wing that carries the fins is devoted to flight control, while the starboard wing may be used upon landing as a surface-to-air missile launcher to protect key locations such as cities. The result is a rapid deployment point defense system that can be relocated faster than conventional SAM systems especially when geologic features hinder land transportation"

with addendum

[Tophe]

  Thanks Weaver, I will correct following your words.
Thanks Ivy, your words are even better to justify militarily such an airplane , but I am not military at all ... I felt guilty to install weapons so I tried to justify myself, saying this is just for joke to find a reason for asymmetry, and killing (for me) must be for defense, this is not at all to win a battle than attack and invade... You would be a good general, or a good engineer winning the contract, while I am just a peaceful dreamer... (by the way, my Filipina wife told me Filipinos speak tagalog, cebuano, ilongo, just the rich ones - like you ? - are speaking perfect English... )

[saintkatanalegacy]

nah, some of the middle class are also fluent in english

but I'm not really that interested in the weapon per se... just the form of the aircraft and making it feel more alive...

[Weaver]

Why not install something else other than missiles then Tophe?  Make it V/STOL, then have a fire-fighting pod full of water with spray nozzles? Or a rescue pod with a door and a ramp for getting survivors out of high buildings? Or go with the original idea, but replace the missiles with a bunch of vertical rocket pods, and claim that they're a battery of fireworks launchers for the high-speed entertainment of children.

[Tophe]

  You are full of good ideas, Weaver. Alas, I am not skillful enough to turn them into plastic...