aeroplanedriver Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 (edited) Hi all- Since this seems the be the mainstream board most receptive to 'what if' subjects I thought I'd post my latest build, which I posted a few weeks ago on the what-if board. It started with the idea of turning an old (built around 1992) Fujimi 1/72 F-16 into a 1/48 UCAV. Not far into the brainstorming phase I found an old set of Rafale wings in the spare parts box, leading to: By this point I had decided that it would stay as a 1/72 manned fighter. A twin-tail seemed to go best with the new wing, so a donation from a cheap F-18 kit resulted in: The brief alternate history for the build: After losing the Lightweight Fighter Competition to Northrop's F-17 Cobra, General Dynamics modified the YF-16 design to incorporate a larger delta wing optimized for weapons carriage, rather than dogfighting, in hopes that the F-16 would still achieve export sales as a multi-role fighter. The resulting F-16A first flew in 1977, and was soon seeing orders from a number of air forces, including the Canadian Armed Forces. In Canadian service the F-16 Viper served primarily in Europe until the early 1990s. This particular CF-16 was based at CFB Baden-Soellingen in 1984. It carries a single NATO B61 tactical nuclear weapon on the left outer pylon, with a AN/ALQ-131 jamming pod on the right outboard, with external fuel tanks on the inboards and AIM-9L sidewinders on the wingtip stations. This load was carried by four CF-16s during the October 1984 nuclear scare when East German troops appeared to be beginning a large-scale assault through the Fulda Gap. Fortunately this scare was a false alarm, and with the thawing of East-West relations in the late 1980s, the CF-16 would soon relinquish its nuclear role. And the finished article... All painting was done with spray cans. Camo colours are Tamiya Haze Gray, Tamiya Olive Drab II, and MM SAC Green. Masking was done with Blu-tac (except for the straight edges obviously). ECM pod is from a Hasegawa weapons set, and the sunshine bomb is from the Testors/Italeri NATO Weapons Set. As always criticism and tips to make the next build better are always welcome. Edited December 13, 2007 by aeroplanedriver 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatchet Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 I have a book from about '83 with an artists impression of a Rockwell ATF - you very nearly built that! Great effort and quite believable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Looks great.Well done camouflage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
periklis_sale Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Looks nice my friend and a very nice idea!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybert Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 She looks great this way! The plan view reminds of the F35 JFS. Grafting a Viper style front onto a F35 would make it look decent anyway. But as the old saying goes; 'these planes are being built for going to war, not to a dance' I actually took that from Boeing , said when they were commented in the JFS program for building the ugliest aircraft ever. Another one was: 'We checked and rececked the MOD design spec's we were given for the JFS program, and never managed to find "pretty'' as a requirement.'' To be sure you understand; your's looks pretty :-) greetz skybert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Excellent what if. Really love the built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeke Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 That actually looks right doesn't it...very smooth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dswoofie Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Cool WIF! I like the scheme too! Good Work! Karl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 One of your best, Nick. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 Nice... especially the camo pattern & coloring. Buy what kind of a guy has Rafale wings in his spares box? A Whiffer, that's who! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedy Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 Is it me? does that second photo look like it could be made into the Aurora? - i'll get me coat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeroplanedriver Posted December 14, 2007 Author Share Posted December 14, 2007 Is it me? does that second photo look like it could be made into the Aurora? - i'll get me coat Now there's an idea!! Thanks for the comments guys. It's nice to find a mainstream board so open to whif projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeew Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 What a Whif! That is great work, really like the camo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 Great idea, great build, especially the camouflage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartG Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Holy thread resurrection - someone just posted the pics of your finished model on Facebook ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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