Aircraft VS super thread!

[David Hingtgen]

I always smirk whenever it's "We've narrowed it down to the 1970's design F-15, or the most modern stuff Europe has to offer". The F-15E/K's aerodynamics are identical to the F-15A's. "We don't need canards or FBW or instability nor vectoring". It's big, and has a lot of power. Which, like the Flanker, seems to solve a lot of problems and offers good performance. Big wings+big engines=good plane.

And I think there's always the potentional F-15T for Taiwan. I wonder if the F110 could be bumped up to 33,000lbs each...

Edited April 21, 2005 by David Hingtgen

[Skull Leader]

bah, if we gave them anything bigger, China would accuse us of helping them pick up a "Yankee war pirate" complex, lol....

Edited April 21, 2005 by Skull Leader

[hellohikaru]

I guess they may be some political arm twisting again since the RSAF is mostly US made or the F-15T is not some watered down Mudhen like the pathetic F-15S for the Saudis.

Should it win the F-15 would be the most expensive plane ever operated by the Singaporeans. Not sure about engine choice yet but i guess it would be the latest F100 since RSAF doesn't have any F110s.

Rafale while certainly not cheap either is of more recent vintage than the F-15 though it would end up being cheaper to run...though the French spare parts and weapons are damn expensive. I am sure Peru and other smaller Dassault delta operators would testify to that. Another thing is that almost all Rafale strike configurations include one of those large drop tanks..though the F-16 and 18 is little different.

Wished the EF2000 stayed in the running. At least it offered something different.

F-15T for Taiwan ?More like F-15F (Formosa) if they ever get interested. T from what i read stands for Timasek=Singapore.

[Mislovrit]

You know, sometimes I feel the RAF should hang signs out saying "Won't anyone buy our lovely aircraft?"... 

The royal armor guys [i forgot their official name ] already past that point quite some time ago with the Challenger 1

and 2 tanks.

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

They are still not allowing AMRAAMs to be physically brought over to the SEA theatre so an RSAF F-15 in Air to Air mode would look funny with its load of pure Sidewinders!

I wonder if the EF2000 was disqualified because they really couldn't meet the production schedules or other politics.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

mm I figured the typhooon would be chosen but kind of had a feeling the mudhen would again win.

I've got a question. Is the F-15K just as capable as the F-15C in regards to A2A? And maybe this was asked before, but in A2A configuration, is the F-15E as effective as the F-15C? They always label it as a dual role fighter.......

And also this is for the flight sims and games I play. Okay so the F-15 and F-4 are known as energy or dive and zoom fighters, their main strength is in their dives, zooms, climbs, and essentially speed. But does that mean horizontal turning is disallowed or not advised with those fighters? For example if I were in an F-15 and I was taking on a MIG-17, would a high yoyo be better than a immelman or split S?

[David Hingtgen]

F***ing morons!

http://www.flyingmule.com/Merchant2/mercha...t_Code=DM-50045

Dragon F-14A VF-111 is out. And they f***ed up royally. Wow, the most accurate GE-powered back end of any F-14 model ever! Even beats the Hasegawa 1/72 and 1/48 kits for rear fuselage fairing shape. Nice and square. Too bad that's an F-14A... Grumble grumble.

Other things---it's less accurate than it was! The samples, asides from no nose pitot, were nigh-perfect for that block of F-14A, in that era. But no, they have to remove the under-glove antennas, add the ahead of the glove antennas, add the nose gear door antenna. Now it has the details of a recent F-14D. Not good for a high-vis F-14A.

Hey, are those NACES seats I see? I think so... And it may just be a reflection, but is that a HUD?

Overall, this is REALLY an F-14D, with TF30 nozzles.

Edited April 22, 2005 by David Hingtgen

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Goodness non UNDERSIDE armnaments!! what the hell? Looks like sparrows MIGHT be able to be fitted in the future..but nonetheless..the tomcat is known for its phoenixes just like the strike eagle is recognizable for its bombladen CFT's...what is with dragon?

I like the inclusion of glove vanes...I wonder if they slide out or are just add ons....wait no they slide out GOOD!!!

Still it does look good but I understand your dissapointment David. IM gonna wait for the VF-41 bird and the VF-103 showbird to make a decision.

[David Hingtgen]

I do think the overall shape is better than the earlier ones we saw, but in doing so, they changed it from an F-14A into an F-14D.

[hellohikaru]

Maybe Dragon doesn't first concult a proper F-14 reference book before making them. They repeat the same goofs with their flight crew lineup.

[Nied]

I always smirk whenever it's "We've narrowed it down to the 1970's design F-15, or the most modern stuff Europe has to offer". The F-15E/K's aerodynamics are identical to the F-15A's. "We don't need canards or FBW or instability nor vectoring". It's big, and has a lot of power. Which, like the Flanker, seems to solve a lot of problems and offers good performance. Big wings+big engines=good plane.

And I think there's always the potentional F-15T for Taiwan. I wonder if the F110 could be bumped up to 33,000lbs each...

Screw F-15T (or rather as hellohikaru pointed out F-15F) why not F/A-22F? Other than the pissing off China factor I've never really understood the recent trend towards not wanting to sell Taiwan good equipment, the standard fear is that equipment falling into Chinese hands if or when reunification happens, but that would only happen if A) the Chinese overun Taiwan and take it by force in whice case we would probably be in a full scale war with China (possibly nuclear which would really make the point moot), or B) China and Taiwan re-unify peacfully. If it were situation B then It's extremely likely that some signifigant reforms would have taken place within the CHinese govt. which would make them signifigantly less antagonistic towards us, and situation A is less likely to happen if the Taiwanese have a sophisticated military force to repel the PLA (and like I said if it were to take place we have bigger concerns than the Chinese getting their hands on a few Raptors).

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Oh, the F-15 shortlisted for Singapore IS the T.

Edited April 23, 2005 by Retracting Head Ter Ter

[hellohikaru]

Looks like the F-2 is getting the Block 60 treatment.

[hellohikaru]

Another one.

[hellohikaru]

Super Gripen ?

[hellohikaru]

JAS39J 301 Hikotai 'Frogs'

[hellohikaru]

Something i found by chance. Believed it was selling at ebay for awhile.

[hellohikaru]

Another.

[hellohikaru]

Intakes

[GunnerX]

Something i found by chance. Believed it was selling at ebay for awhile.

Aw man! That's so cool! Is this what the re-worked YF-23 that was pulled out of storage to go against the FB-22 looks like? NEwayz, i think the lastest issue of Air International has some info on the FB-22... nothing we haven't seen before tho'

[GunnerX]

Super Gripen ?

OMG! A pregnant Gripen! Heehee.. well, the Rafale-B also has the bulges on the back... extra fuel/avionics?

[David Hingtgen]

Hmmn. Don't like the intakes on that YF-23 mod. Reminds me of the F-111. Not as bad as the "quarter" cone of the F-111, but not good IMHO. And of course, not stealthy at all. It's like most 1960's half-cone intakes, but only like .40 of a cone, and underslung.

Finally--anyone else getting an A-5 Vigilante vibe from the front end? Kinda neat like that.

Edited April 23, 2005 by David Hingtgen

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Don't like that 23 mode too. Intakes look ugly and the sticking out burner cans spoil the looks. The original YF-23 was close to perfection.

[Skull Leader]

Another one.

These pictures are quite old, actually (they've been around for a year at least), these were just concepts that Mitsubishi/L-M shot to the JASDF. The JASDF shot down the CFT idea for the primary reason of the plane already having "enough" fuel to serve in a defensive role (indeed, in a 3-wet configuration it already carries much more fuel than an American F-16 similarly configured)) and that more might present an offensive posture... it doesn't really bother me, I always thought CFT mounted F-16s were ass-ugly anyway. The model also shows the F-2A with AMRAAMS underslung. Currently F-2As have the mounting hardware for AIM-120s, but not the software. Those pylons are usually reserved for the JASDF's Anti-ship missiles. Not surprisingly that could change though. I think they are looking at getting Litening pods to mount on their F-2s (which would give it a GBU capability... but I have to wonder, wouldn't that overlap with the capability of the F-2's radar? I seem to recall that the radar on Viper Zeroes is pretty high-tech stuff.

Edited April 24, 2005 by Skull Leader

[Skull Leader]

Hmmn. Don't like the intakes on that YF-23 mod. Reminds me of the F-111. Not as bad as the "quarter" cone of the F-111, but not good IMHO. And of course, not stealthy at all. It's like most 1960's half-cone intakes, but only like .40 of a cone, and underslung.

Finally--anyone else getting an A-5 Vigilante vibe from the front end? Kinda neat like that.

I do see a resemblance to the A-5 in the nose, and that's certainly not a bad thing! In fact, I could see the YF-23 becoming the successor to the long-dormant A-5 before it was doomed to the world of Aerial Recon. (and a Naval variant would no doubt kick ass if they could make it work!)

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I like the cockpit on that resin black widow.

BTW I saw the BBI 1/18 F/A-18 that knight26 bought at a local hobby store for the first time with my own eyes. It was going for 100$. MY GOD ITS HUGE!!!! I seriuously would not know where to put that and being that it gets uber hot in my apartment, I fear the PVC on that thing would warp like crazy here. Its too big for my existing shelves too.

I also saw a yat ming 1/72 diecast F/A-18C. For 24.99 at hungates. It had retractable gear and no gear doors, so the gear kind of sticks out when retracted, looked nice but seriously underarmed for 24.99.

[Nied]

Seems like everyone is mounting FAST packs on the shoulders lately (I've even seen some concept paintings of Eurofighters with shoulder mounted packs). Best looking award goes to the Rafale (and it's pretty good looking already) and the ugliest is definetly those bricks they glued to the back of the Viper.

[hellohikaru]

I think there is interest in turning the F-2A into a effective counter-air fighter hence the AMRAAM configuration. However the Viper-Zero is rather underpowered and would be quite sluggish compared with a Block 30.

Anyway Japan will be better served by the F-15J Kai Plus since it already has the range to patrol the peninsula.

[David Hingtgen]

Flashbacks to a rather annoying AFDS mission:

http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=23796

[hellohikaru]

DH

wow..trying to land inside the Herc ?

Having never played AFDS before i have no idea what is supposed to happen ? Care to elaborate ?

[David Hingtgen]

Not far off, you've got to try to land inside a large transport while it's attempting to zoom off into space.

[Skull Leader]

I think there is interest in turning the F-2A into a effective counter-air fighter hence the AMRAAM configuration. However the Viper-Zero is rather underpowered and would be quite sluggish compared with a Block 30.

Anyway Japan will be better served by the F-15J Kai Plus since it already has the range to patrol the peninsula.

Actually, I think the Viper Zero has the same power that a standard block 30 (don't they have the same engines? Anyone know different?). The wings are much lighter yet bigger. They produce more lift with less effort. In fact, if I can think of a single benefit of a Bk.30 over a F-2A, it's the AMRAAM. It would be able to strike the F-2 from the skies before the Zero could close to engage.

A F-2A/B has comparible fuel and range to the F-15J Kai. In fact with 3 full drop tanks they could reach the Chinese mainland with little to no effort.

I agree though, the interest in an air-to-air capability is definately there. Especially with things heating up with China.

Edited April 26, 2005 by Skull Leader

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

There is an F-15J Kai? Whats the difference between that and the regular J? Also what does Kai mean in reference to japanese fighter designations?

I also wanted to know, which is more durable? Dragon or Corgi? I want something to zoom around the house/apartment, and while I love my dragons, they just seem fragile. The missles can get loose which sucks, and I do not mind molded on missles(like on the corgi's). I hear dragon has the best accuracy(which is debatable considering the bombless mudhen and the numerous mistakes David pointed out on the new sundowner cat), but at this point I want something to mess with, as long as it looks accurate enough, I am down for it. The corgi's look beautiful.

I get the impression they feel and are more solid than the dragons and flying mule once said customers usually sent the dragons to the display case and did something else with the corgi's I forget which. Not to mention corgi already has phantoms and tornadoe's...and wait am I starting to light the LIGHTNING?(good god I hope this does not get me to like the MIG-21 which I have forever thought was ugly since childhood)*darn brochure pics!*

Also are the matchbox 1/72s good for zooming around the house? Damn super sabre looks mighty nice! And anyone know whats coming in the pipeline later on? IF matchbox makes a phantom, crusader, skyhawk, or any of the teen fighters...WHOA........

Also has anyone else seen the Yatming F/A-18 1/72 diecast? I am wondering if there are more in that series. Motormax has 1/72 Super hornet, A-10 and F-16....anyone know if they got retractable gear or are just standalone with gear down? I prefer either retractable or gear up...planes need to be in flight!

[David Hingtgen]

I find some Corgi planes to be "brittle" with regards to weapons/pylons/gear doors. I would say a Dragon F-18 is much more sturdy than the F-16---no plastic intake nor ventral fins.

Anyways---yes, the same people who say Dragon is more accurate are currently praising how wonderfully perfect the new F-14A is. Dragons are more "crisp", with no screws and finer seams and nicer missiles. But that is not accuracy. As seen by their recent F-14"A" and F-15"E" releases...

Next Matchbox is a P-38. Finally, I will be getting the Dragon Langley F-15C w/diorama as soon as it comes out, and will review the heck out of it. Will be passing on the F-14, for no matter how much I love that scheme, I will not accept an F-14D with PW nozzles. Guess I better finish my Fujimi one... (Then start on a Hase one in the same scheme! )

[hellohikaru]

SL

From what i read the F-2A weights about 21,000lbs empty compared with 18,238lbs for the Block 30. That means the F-2 will have a slightly worse P:W ratio. They should have opted for later F110s.

Shin

SL can probably fill you in better in regard to JASDF aircraft but from what i read and heard the 15J Kai update provides several new items such as IRST, AAM-4 perhaps even AESA antenaa.

Kai btw means improved.

Edited April 27, 2005 by hellohikaru