ijozic

I really don't care about Israeli variants as much as I don't care about Russian (post Soviet) ones, but it's rational to expect more F-16 variants from GWH. Since it's not clear what's happening with the Minibase F-16A, I am excited about GWH making F-16s as they do make pretty detailed kits.

IIRC, they started with the integration process in 1997, but they had a bunch of unexpected issues (as it was a commercial unit) which got resolved by 2003 when it finally reached operation units.

They didn't get OFP 321 upgrade in 2003 (which included the HUD) since they were transitioning to Super Hornets in 2002 from what I can read. F-14B(U) is a series of OFP upgrades so without specifying a year, it's hard to tell what should be included. https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/buIYXizvc3bA

IIRC, it was also used on the outboard wing points for AIM-9s.

Since it's an upgrade, most of the differences are internal (cockpit, radar, engines). The only external difference I'm aware of is the aforementioned IRST position (central on the regular, moved to the right side on the SM).

It comes with both the regular and SM cockpits IIRC, but it only had the windshield part designed for the SM (with a side mounted IRST) in the Su-27 box. Not sure if this was rectified in the later boxings, but you should be able to build an SM kit with it; it's the regular one that might be more problematic 🙂

Is that like an early batch problem or it's a very widespread issue? Better check mine, though I didn't jump on it at the first chance.

It's a refueling flow indicator. Why do you think it shouldn't be there since you've marked it on the actual photos (some of which clearly include the SVP-24-33)?

Yeah, the linked document mentions the OFP317 upgrade (1997) as containing the PTID unit, etc. as seen on the photo, but before the CDNU was installed.

That should be the CDNU unit, apparently installed as part of the OFP320 upgrade starting in 1999. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=489894d0f53809356019da11adb25d91c30bd431

I believe the Su-27 pilot would be a better match. That's what I used on my GWH 9-13, the 480211 kit, IIRC. But, looking at their photos, I guess the main difference is in the helmets which is not that obvious. Don't recall what's the difference from 480159, perhaps one of them is made to fit the Academy kit?

I have the AS-4 on my 1/72 Tu-22M3 and they're huge, so was hoping for something else if I do an M2 (1/144). But, I see that they never added support for the AS-6 to Tu-22M variants, unfortunately (as it was a scaled down AS-4 so it could be carried by Tu-16 and Tu-95, I guess they didn't need to). The AS-16 would have been interesting, but as you said, it was supported by the M3 variant only and they didn't bother with the M2 with it since it was problematic anyway.

A pointless discussion for sure, but couldn't help notice there might be a slight difference in contexts, given one was 80 years ago and the other is still ongoing as we type? Back to the kit, what are those missiles hung under it? I would prefer if it came with AS-6 Kingfisher missiles as I don't do post-USSR Russian stuff, but I guess a Ukrainian one might do.

From another forum..

AFAIK, Hasegawa makes pretty much the only Harrier II (i.e. AV-8B/+, Gr.5/7/9) kit worth considering in 1:48 (also reboxed by e.g. Revell), while Kinetic makes the original Harrier (I) kits (Gr. 1/3, FRS.1, AV-8A, etc.). Don't think it was announced yet, but I would be surprised if Kinetic doesn't follow up these with a line of Harrier II kits soon enough.