Anigrand North American F-108A Rapier, long-range heavy interceptor.

[general melchett]

Hi everyone, returning to my Project Cancelled roots for a moment, I decided to finish a model that's been sitting on the Shelf of Doom for years, that being Anigrand's North American F-108 Rapier. After building the Republic XF-103, Rockwell International XFV-12A, and Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III (all as hypothetical operational aircraft), it felt impolite not to finish this one. The aircraft would have been quite a monster had it made it to production, roughly comparable in size to a B-58 Hustler, with the same total thrust but using only two engines. One of its envisaged duties was to have been fighter escort for the Mach 3 B-70 Valkyrie, another NA monster. 

 

Obligatory waffle

 

A brief history of the project for those interested....... North American Aviation proposed the North American XF-108 Rapier as a long-range, high-speed interceptor aircraft to defend the United States from supersonic Soviet strategic bombers. The aircraft would have cruised at Mach 3 (2,000 mph) with an unrefueled combat radius of over 1,000 nautical miles and was to be outfitted with an AN/ASG-18 look down/shoot down radar and missiles with engagement ranges of up to 100 miles against bomber-sized targets. Its primary weapon would have been the large Hughes GAR-9 (three fitted on an internally mounted rotary launcher within the weapons bay). When the F-108 program was cancelled in 1959, it was decided that the GAR-9 would continue to be developed. This became the AIM-47, intended for the Lockheed YF-12A, which, in its turn, was also cancelled. The missile became the basis for the AIM-54 Phoenix, originally intended for the GD F-111B (which was likewise axed) eventually finding a home with the F-14 Tomcat. 

Despite the extra money and time spent on the Rapier, its cancellation was not completely in vain; the companies North American A-5 Vigilante, retained the fuselage/weapon package and systems design ideas of the Rapier. In many ways the Vigilante could be seen as the successful application of the Rapier design in a Mach 2 supersonic aircraft. Power would be provided by the General Electric J-93-GE-3 turbojet, developed as the power plant for both the North American XB-70 Valkyrie and the Rapier. Tests were to be carried out using a Convair NB-58A aircraft and a special pod carrying the engine was designed and fitted to the underside of the Hustler. Several successful test flights were made from Edwards before the program was terminated. Interestingly due to it's high thrust of the J-93 and the B-58s clean aerodynamic configuration it wasn't necessary to run the four J-79s at full thrust during the tests. 

 

Being one of Anigrand's earlier offerings, there were unfortunately several flaws in the kit that needed addressing. Thankfully there were no air bubble issues that others seem to have had but there was noticeable warping of both wings, fixed using a hair dryer and a bowl of cold water. A bigger problem as noted by Space Ranger during Whirly's excellent build here on BM, concerned the position and angle of the main gear bays which resulted in the main undercarriage legs not being opposite each other with a 5mm discrepancy. To make it completely accurate would take major surgery so my quick solution was to cut out the offending areas, fore and aft, realign the angled portions of the bays using scrap resin and create new location points so that the main gears were at least opposite one another. At the same time the nose-gear bay was deepened as it was way too shallow and new undercarriage doors fabricated from Evergreen card as were the the underwing fins. The long-range tanks were sourced from the spares bin, unknown origin. The skinny undercarriage legs were replaced with brass parts and the GAR-9 sourced from an Italeri YF-12A kit, the missile needing modification to the fins and to fit the weapons bay. Anti-collision and nav lights were also added from the CMK set. I left the exhaust nozzles as they were just adding collars around the base of each nozzle that covered the thrust reverser system.

 

Regarding the scheme, I was drawn to Erik Simonsen's artwork on the cover and inside his book 'Project Terminated,' depicting a pair of Rapiers from the 5th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the Aerospace Defense Command, complete with long-range wing tanks, based at Minot AFB, circa 1972. Painting was done using AK Real Color's FS16473 ADC Grey and RAL 9021.F-9 NATO Black. Looking at images of contemporary F-106 aircraft, their finishes seemed immaculate with little evidence of weathering or staining, so this was applied, although a few panels were faded slightly here and there. The 5th FIS decals, national markings came from the Xtradecals set for the F-106 Delta Dart (Part 1).

 

Knowing what to expect from early Anigrand kits it was still a fun build of an unusual and powerful aircraft of striking appearance. Might just have to break a few more of these out of the stash in the future.

 

 

Scan of the book cover,

 

 

 

If you made it this far, give yourself a big pat on the back...

 

Cheers all, hope you approve

 

Melchie 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LorenSharp]

Excellent endeavor as always Herr General. I wish there was a version of this in1/48. I know someone will say Collect-Aire, but the last time I saw one available, I got a nosebleed form the height of the price. I suppose  if I want to finish out my Century series collection I'll have to build one from scratch, or print as it were.  Your build will go along way in making that a  reality.

[Mr T]

Very nice General. My, it is a big beastie. Seems to have been a bit of fad for seriously big fighters in the fifties. Vacuum tube technology and big engines presumably bring part of the reason. I remember reading an article on the XF103 in an early edition of the quarterly Air Enthusiast magazine in the late seventies/early eighties. That was big as well. 

[keefr22]

Another stunner Andy, beautiful work as always! Shame this didn't make it to production, would have been quite a sight displaying at one of the sadly missed Mildenhall Air Days....!!

 

Keith

[Spitfire31]

Magnificent model, and thank you for the interesting backgound write-up!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[binbrook87]

Wow! Now that's a very cool aircraft... had it made into service. Reminds me a little of a bent wing CF-105 Arrow. Very impressive build and interesting back story. Thanks for sharing.

Edited August 10, 2022 by binbrook87

[David H]

WOW!!!

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

A lovely rendition of a unique heavy metal interceptor 🏆

 

I shall try and commit your mods to the memory band. I have had this kit in the stash since it was released and must get around to building it one day.

 

[Maginot]

Good to see such a rare bird in these pages. Nice work!

[busnproplinerfan]

Nicely done, just as good looking as the B-58.

[Wulfman]

Ravishing Rapier, great modelling !

 

Wulfman

[Vulcanicity]

Superb model, and not a type I'd ever heard of, so thanks for the history lesson!

[Samuraiwarrior]

Very Sleek looking aeroplane! 

An excellent finish, one to be proud of. Thanks for sharing. 

Kevin 

[woody37]

Finally reset my password mate so I can login and comment!

 

Gorgeous. You can see the Vigilante resemblance, I've never seen this aircraft before, but beautifully built as always

 

[general melchett]

Many thanks chaps, as always your kind comments are very much appreciated. Thank goodness for Anigrand releasing these wonderful designs otherwise they'd be pretty well lost to history. For those brave enough and with deep pockets there's always the 1/48th Collect-Aire beast (if you can find one). With the rate of releases of weird and wonderful aircraft from companies like Avis and MikroMir/AMP who knows, we may well see a mainstream version of the Rapier at some point.

 

 

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Shame this didn't make it to production, would have been quite a sight displaying at one of the sadly missed Mildenhall Air Days....!! 

 

Cheers Keith, I agree, it would have made quite a sight and sound at the shows back then....it's climb rate after take off would have been mightily impressive.

 

 

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 I have had this kit in the stash since it was released and must get around to building it one day.

 

Thanks Ray, you really should have a go at it...not as daunting as it may first appear.

 

 

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Finally reset my password mate so I can login and comment! You can see the Vigilante resemblance.

 

About time, we need to see more of your magic.......yep, its obvious a lot of the data went on into the A-5 program.

 

 

[Russmeister 101]

There have been some fantastic looking lesser known and experimental aircraft over the years.  I'm no expert by any means, but I thought I had a reasonable knowledge of USAF birds from the end of WWII to present day...   

Just goes to show, every day is a school day!  Thanks for the history lesson and introducing me to a really cool looking aircraft.   As others have stated, can definitely see shades of Vigilante in there, and a hint of the wing plan of the venerable F-15 too.

Bravo that man!! 👏

[Tinners]

As ever, a stunning piece of work General! It has a no-nonsense look about it, but I really like the aesthetic of the F-108.
Whenever I see the cancelled aircraft from the late 50's and early 60's, I see a tanalising glimpse of the road not taken. Aircaft such as the XB-70, F-108, CF-105 and TSR.2 were on the bleeding edge of what could be done with aero design and technology. The powers that be often were looking in the short-term (3-5 years) instead of taking a longer view of the direction of aviation.
It makes me wonder just what would be flying today if politicians' actually allowed those projects to come to fruition.

[F-32]

Quality build, that looks first class

[general melchett]

Thanks again guys, glad you share my fascination of these exotic what if/might have been/should have beens,

 

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There have been some fantastic looking lesser known and experimental aircraft over the years. 

 

That's a fact Russ, many countries had under development some weird and wonderful designs some of the more prominent coming from the US, USSR, France and of course old Blighty

 

 

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It makes me wonder just what would be flying today if politicians' actually allowed those projects to come to fruition.

 

Completely agree tinners, if politics hadn't factored into these things we could have seen some truly incredible advancements in aviation (admittedly at a high financial cost). Unfortunately that wasn't to be the case. If you want to see some incredible artwork of these concepts, by Joseph Gatial, head over to the Secret Projects site and look for 'shadow on the wall'....fascinating stuff.

 

 

 

 

[BleedingBlue]

Very interesting design and a great job on the model.   Agree it would have been quite a sight to see one of these flying.   Perhaps in formation with an SR-71 and a B-70.

 

BTW, if you ever get a chance to visit the Air Force museum in Dayton, OH the XB-70 is the highlight of the visit IMO.

[John Laidlaw]

A beautiful result of a fascinating aircraft - and from an Anigrand kit. Excellent!

[SAT69]

I'm very impressed! It's interesting your build includes external fuel tanks. Adds something to the airplane, though for the life of me I can't quite explain what. 5th FIS. One of my favorite ADC squadrons.

[Fritag]

Looked hard; couldn’t find any imperfections.  But didn’t expect to tbh  immaculately built and finished as always.

[general melchett]

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BTW, if you ever get a chance to visit the Air Force museum in Dayton, OH the XB-70 is the highlight of the visit IMO.

 

It's on my bucket list, seeing the Valkyrie on film is one thing but to see it in the flesh must be something else. I built a fictitious operational SAC B-70 many years ago (below) so putting the two together in the display cabinet will be 'interesting' (as will finding the space!)

 

 

 

 

 

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It's interesting your build includes external fuel tanks. Adds something to the airplane, though for the life of me I can't quite explain what.

 

Ha, agreed, They bulk it out a bit, without them, in profile, the Rapier looks a bit 'skinny', rather like a paper dart, (same goes for the Vigilante).

 

 

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Looked hard; couldn’t find any imperfections.  But didn’t expect to tbh

 

Thanks Steve, you're too kind...oh, they're there...smoke and mirrors

 

Thanks fellas, appreciated.

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by general melchett

[Pete in Lincs]

What a monster. But a fabulous one. Beautiful build as always. I should have had a butchers at your display cabinet when I had the chance!

BTW, I hope things are back to normal now at home? No names, no pack drill eh? schtum! Say Nothing, perhaps he won't notice.