F/A-16E Sea Viper

[HarryPhishnuts]

F/A-16E Sea Viper

Next up the F/A-16E Sea Viper. So that what-if is kinda obvious. I did see something interesting recently. There was an article that talked about the why the Navy didn't pick the GD/Vought 1600 proposals as part of the NACF competition. The usual reasons given was the lack of a second engine, under fuselage intake, etc... Supposedly the biggest reason, from the Navy brass perspective, was the lack of BVR capability, as well as limited air-to-ground. The Navy, unlike the USAF, was really wanting something more multi-role to supplement the F-14, and also eventually replace the A-7 and F-4. Seems what Vought kept proposing was basically a navalized version of what the USAF selected which at that time was still a light-weight, fighter-mafia inspired, dog-fighter.

So What-If GD/Vought actually proposed a true multi-role solution from the outset. In this case the F/A-16 follows basically the same timeline as the F/A-18 IRL with a few changes. The example I"m building is a USMC F/A-16E from VMAF-232 'Red Devils' circa 2003. While by the late 1990's the USN was beginning to switch over from the F/A-16C Sea Viper to the new F/A-19 Kingsnake (itself derived from the F-16XL program), the USMC decided to stick with their beloved Sea Vipers and initiated a final upgrade program, Viper-E(nhanced). These upgrades included APG-80 AESA radar, integrated IRST/FLIR, enhanced RWR/EW suite, advanced glass cockpit and conformal fuel tanks. The F/A-16E first saw action in 2003 during operation Iraqi Freedom and has participated in every theater of the GWOT.  The USMC is expected to operate the F/A-16E/F well into the 2020s.

The is part 2 of my face-swap between a 1/72 Hasagawa F-18 and a 1/72 Hasagawa F-2A (https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=53640.0). So to navalize the F-2 I'm going to try and incorporate the landing gear from the F-18. I might try and mod the wings to show them in the folded up position and maybe beef-up the arresting hook. I'm also going to be adding the CFT and other sensor bibs and bobs from a 1/72 Hasagawa F-16I. I've actually got a couple of different sets of decals for VMAF-232 so hopefully will come out nice. Stay tuned.

[kerick]

Sounds interesting!

[NARSES2]

Sounds interesting!

Indeed 

[perttime]

Any issues fitting the sturdier landing gear, especially the nose wheels?

[HarryPhishnuts]

Any issues fitting the sturdier landing gear, especially the nose wheels?

Don't know yet, just getting started. The nose gear looks like it should work but I'm expecting the main gear to require some creative modding and gluing.

[HarryPhishnuts]

So just some minor surgery so far. I forgot the F-2 had a different engine than the F-16 F-100 so I had to cut away part of the aft fuselage and take the engine and exhaust assembly from the F-16I. I also decided to give it a beefier tailhook so I sanded away the molded in one and modified one off and F-4. It looks the part well enough.

[HarryPhishnuts]

Ok so the CFTs turned out to be a bit of trouble. They were from the F-16I kit so they weren't a perfect fit for the F-2. The F-2 is a bit larger and so the fuselage contours are a bit different. I fitted them on as best I could and then tried using Tamiya Epoxy Putty to fill the gaps. Usually for something like this I'd use Miliput but I had gotten the Tamiya stuff recently and wanted to try it out. I think I'll stick with Miliput. It's messier to apply but easier to form and work with. The Tamiya is almost like gritty blue-tac. It's not as messy but requires more sanding after the fact (for me at least). It doesn't look too bad just going to have to do some rescribing which I'm not great at.

[Old Wombat]

That's the sort of job I'd use Aves Apoxy Sculpt for; easy to blend/mix, easy to apply, can be smoothed out with a damp finger/cloth/"Q-tip", no shrinkage, water clean-up.

[HarryPhishnuts]

Sounds a lot like Miliput. That's my standard for larger gaps and such but I'm a sucker for trying new and shiny stuff. One of the folks in my IPMS club had mentioned the Tamiya stuff so I thought I'd give it a try. It's more like the Green Stuff epoxy where you can form it and make things out of it like a sculpting putty but maybe just not the best gap-filler.

[Old Wombat]

Yeah, I used to use Milliput but I find Aves' product better - YMMV. 

[Thorvic]

Hasegawa did a boxing of their F-2 as the F-2 Kai, which has the conformal tanks and intake mounted pods (however if may just be theit F-16I bits in an F2 kit  !!!)

[Spino]

(however if may just be theit F-16I bits in an F2 kit  !!!)

That wouldn't surprise me at all!

[HarryPhishnuts]

Definitely not from the F-16I kit, unless it's a really crappy fit which, is always possible    . I've seen the F-2 Kai kit, but this F-2, along with the F-18 I used for the JASF Cobra-Zero were part of a guys stash I bought a while back. After a lot of sanding I got the CFT to fit and pretty well so we'll se how it goes from here.

[Gondor]

Hasegawa did a boxing of their F-2 as the F-2 Kai, which has the conformal tanks and intake mounted pods (however if may just be theit F-16I bits in an F2 kit  !!!)

From Wikipedia:
F-2A Super Kai: proposed variant with CFTs (conformal fuel tanks), based on the F-16C Block 60. It was intended to replace the F-4EJ Kai Phantom II. It was rejected when the F-35A Lightning II was chosen.

So it's a Project Cancelled and a whiff at the same time.

[HarryPhishnuts]

Ok well the scary part is done (cutting the wings) . Got a couple of ideas on how I'm going to attach them vertically. Also after a lot of sanding and rescribing the CFTs don't look too bad. About ready to start gluing the rest is the main fuselage thingys so that should be pretty straightforward. The next big mod challenge will be the adapting the F-18 landing gear into the existing bays.