Trainers With Teeth and COIN Group Build

[Weaver]

Ah, cheers - knew I wasn't dreaming!

That Seasprite would appear to have a modified radar though, so it still begs the question of what they were plannig to do with the Sparrows on the Stallion..... 

[kitnut617]

I've just been on the ATF forum where there is a thread going about Airfix' forgotten prop jobs and shows a list of model aircraft not very often seen or talked about.  One of the subjects is the Beagle Basset.  I remember making this kit back in the 70's and I had added a pair of Harrier rocket pods to it and it was camoflaged, I think I'll do this again for this GB and see if I make a better job of it this time around.

[Brian da Basher]

This is a killer Group Build idea and it seems there's more than enough interest to get it off the ground. Has anybody sent Comrade Anthony a request to add it to the next GB Poll?

I'm sooooo up for this one!!!

Brian da Basher

[Mossie]

I've got an Airfix 1/48 kit in the stash & I've been thinking for sometime about modding it up as Jaguar alternative, for instance if the Jag was cancelled at a late-ish stage.  Take the Hawk (which was coming on line around the same time), stick a delta on it to make it supersonic & to give it a greater range & weapons carrying ability.  Also pop a beefier engine in the rear, say a RB.199 (simply because there's a dead Tonka in the spares bin).  Of course, there'd be a T.2 version like the Jag, so it'd come full circle....

[Brian da Basher]

I sent Comrade Anthony a note about this GB idea and he felt it was still a little new to be added to the Fall GB Poll unless we see a huge uptick in interest. Apparently there are a bunch of GB ideas still in queue ahead of this one.

I'm hoping those interested in seeing the Trainers with Teeth GB take flight will make their interest known. Regardless, there have been some great ideas kicked around here so keep 'em coming!

Brian da Basher

[GTX]

Speaking of trainers with teeth, what about these EMB-314 whiffs:

Sri Lanka:



Singapore:



Angola:



The Philippines:



BTW, for anyone still not clear, the following gives a good comparison between the EMB-314 and its smaller sibling, the EMB-312 or Tucano:



Regards,

Greg

[philp]

Anyone make a kit in 72nd?

[philp]

I show 17 different posters in this thread so far.  Not sure how many are needed to get "on the list".
We do have a large list of GB ideas out there and I would really like to see the LSR GB get going so I can build that kit.

My 'munk probably won't wait for a future GB.

[kitnut617]

Anyone make a kit in 72nd?

Apparently yes!  apologies for the link length

http://209.85.171.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal6/5201-5300/gal5221_AT-29_Bonilla/00.shtm&prev=/search%3Fq%3DEMB-314%2B1/72%2Bkit%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Maybe Rafa knows where to get them.

[philp]

Thanks for the link.  I had actually seen that build.  Tried searching for them but no success.
Course, as a resin kit, probably outside my $$$ range.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Guys, when I started this I really wasn't anticipating the sort of response there's been, it's great to see it's struck a chord with so many.

BUT

This is very regular by-product of posting a new GB thread, the same happened when the first profile GB ideas hit the board and it's taken roughly 18monnths to get it started (after four separate threads). I would ask that we get our Profile(s) Build(s) out of the way first then give one or two of the other GB's that have been on the books for a while a chance to get started, then maybe come-back to "Trainers with Teeth" in the Spring - but that doesn't stop us from jumping in here with ideas, questions and comments.

So, about my idea for a De Havilland Stealth Moth......  

Ian

[philp]

So, about my idea for a De Havilland Stealth Moth......  
Ian

Painted black and toting Paveways?

[Joe C-P]

USN Goshawk painted in gray with lowviz markings and weapons. I'm adding that to my "to-do" list.

Even have a reasonable back story: F-35 carrier version is delayed, some F/A-18s are reaching the end of their service lives and there's insufficient budget to correct or replace them. Goshawks need to be "upgraded" to fill carrier decks, so half the Goshawk fleet is modified - the centerline pylon is upgraded to take a fuel tank, a simple, lightweight radar is fitted, and the avionics updated to support air-to-air (Sidewinder) and air-to-ground (dumb bombs, rockets, and self-guided missiles.)

JoeP

[Weaver]

USN Goshawk painted in gray with lowviz markings and weapons. I'm adding that to my "to-do" list.

Even have a reasonable back story: F-35 carrier version is delayed, some F/A-18s are reaching the end of their service lives and there's insufficient budget to correct or replace them. Goshawks need to be "upgraded" to fill carrier decks, so half the Goshawk fleet is modified - the centerline pylon is upgraded to take a fuel tank, a simple, lightweight radar is fitted, and the avionics updated to support air-to-air (Sidewinder) and air-to-ground (dumb bombs, rockets, and self-guided missiles.)

JoeP

Interesting idea: not strictly compliant to the GB, but I wonder how hard it would be to apply the Goshawk mods to a full-blown Hawk 200 single-seater airframe? The Gnat was proposed as a carrier aircraft,  so the Hawk seems a natural...

[Weaver]

There was a Buckeye on ebay the other day - didn't somebody (Greece?) use them for weapons training in a cammo scheme? Another interesting possibility since the kits are out there.....

Actually, here's a backstory that could apply to either the Buckeye of JoeP's Goshawk idea, depending on the timeframe: carrier COIN. Let's say the US gets involved in a COIN campaign but doesn't have extensive troops on the ground and realises, after losing a lot of aircraft on the ground, that the security of the land airbases can't guaranteed. Cost is an issue, so (1960s to early 1980s timeframe) an older/smaller carrier is dragged out of mothballs* and equipped with armed Buckeyes, their being the carrier-capable equivalent of an A-37 Dragonfly. By the time the Goshawk's around there are no small carriers to be resurrected, so in this case the rationale is that a disillusion with UCAVs arises (accidents? Blue-on-blues?), but F-35s are judged far to expensive to be cost-effectively risked in large enough quantities. The armed Goshawk is adopted in order to "flood" a large area with a large number of aircraft, it being possible to carry very large numbers of them on a CVN.


*There was a serious early '80s proposal to refit the Oriskany as an A-4M & SH-60 armed "Light Strike Carrier" which would accompany a CVN, the latter being therefore able to offload it's A-7s and SH-60s in favour of more A-6s.