Done @p.3 +++ 1:72 Rockwell A-8B ‘Destrier’, USMC VMA-311 ‘Tomcats‘, 1981

[NARSES2]

That does look good   

[HarryPhishnuts]

wow that is some wold class kit-bashing. Also love the backstory.   

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you all, too! 

[McColm]

Well done , it looks remarkably like the Breguet Alize in many ways 

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you, too, and, yes, there's also a similarity to the bigger A2D SkyShark - due to the similar layouts and necessities to locate things in certain places. But that's a good sign for plausibility! 

[su27rules]

    

[Dizzyfugu]

A late addendum: more generative AI experiments, the attempt to create a video of a realistic" version of the A-8B, taxiing at Yuma airfield. I cannot embed the vid, so that a link must suffice:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dizzyfugu/55067723975/in/dateposted/

[Old Wombat]

Short but sweet! Nice one!   

[Dizzyfugu]

Only 8 sec. snippets are possible at the moment - but it's amazing what#s possibkle, even thouigh the bot fabulates quite a lot, it took severel attempts to generate a more or less plausible film. And the underlying A.I. picture for a "more realistic" A-8B, based on the model's pic, also deviates markedly from the "original", e.g. through missing tip tanks or the tail wheel. But it's amazing and scary what you can do with this technology, for the good but also for the bad.

[Weaver]

Nice model Dizzy, and very remenicient of some of the actualy AX proposals of the late 1960s.

May I make a suggestion about the backstory? The Colt Mk.12 20mm cannon was basically an American version of the Hispano cannon of WWII fame, which proved very difficult to synchronize to fire through a prop due to it's mechanical design. It was also very unreliable. A much better and readily available option for the Destrier would be the Pontiac M-39 revolver cannon as used in the F-5 series of fighters. This had electrically primed ammo (i.e. fired by passing an electric current through the round rather by striking it with a firing pin), just like the German MG 151s used in Fw 190s, which would make it every bit as easy and reliable to synchronize to fire though a prop as they were. It's also the same 20x102mm ammo used in the M61 Vulcan, which was long established in USAF service and just coming into USN service via the F-14 at the time, whereas platforms using the Mk.12 and it's 20x110mm ammo were mostly on their way out.

Just a thought. 

[Mossie]

Quite the machine! I've missed this thread somehow, I wouldn't have guessed at the donors. Nice job!

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice model Dizzy, and very remenicient of some of the actualy AX proposals of the late 1960s.

May I make a suggestion about the backstory? The Colt Mk.12 20mm cannon was basically an American version of the Hispano cannon of WWII fame, which proved very difficult to synchronize to fire through a prop due to it's mechanical design. It was also very unreliable. A much better and readily available option for the Destrier would be the Pontiac M-39 revolver cannon as used in the F-5 series of fighters. This had electrically primed ammo (i.e. fired by passing an electric current through the round rather by striking it with a firing pin), just like the German MG 151s used in Fw 190s, which would make it every bit as easy and reliable to synchronize to fire though a prop as they were. It's also the same 20x102mm ammo used in the M61 Vulcan, which was long established in USAF service and just coming into USN service via the F-14 at the time, whereas platforms using the Mk.12 and it's 20x110mm ammo were mostly on their way out.

Just a thought. 

Good suggestion. I was aware of the Colt's lack of reliability (and its ancient heritage), but not of the potential technical synchronisation problems. I will, however, leave the backgoprudn as it is because it has been finished that way, but thanks a lot for the comment, highly appreciated. 

[Old Wombat]

I will, however, leave the backgoprudn as it is because it has been finished that way,

This wasn't written by AI, perchance? 

[Dizzyfugu]

I will, however, leave the backgoprudn as it is because it has been finished that way,

This wasn't written by AI, perchance? 

No, knottet fingers...