Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Ladies and Gentlemen! Announcing, from the twisted, psudo-psychotic mind of sv51macross and his WWIII scenario, the Israel Aircraft Industries F-161A!

Israel Aircraft Industries F-161A

Leading into the beginnings of WWIII, the Israeli government realized that thier dependency on American subsidies and weapons would be forced to a close. The recent refinment and manufacture of BioMeth cultures supplemented thier growing manufacturing base, allowing the governemnt enough money to pursue other defense options. The Mikoyan Mig-35.5 was considered thuroughly, as was the export EF-2300 Eurofighter In the end however, they went with a domestically produced fighter program that recycled and rebuilt thier existing F-16I airframes with nanotube carbon-fiber.

The F-16I, while a very capable fighter, was becoming an outdated design. Trials involving thrust vectoring to an improved Klimov RD-TR 28 thermonuclear engine were pursued, to excellent results. Warload needed to be increased, though, and to that extent a radical change to the airframe was proposed and employed. The wings and elevators were moved outboard of two engine nacells, each one held off the main fuselage by a new wing sectiona by about 1.5 meters, the nacells derived from the Mig-35.5 chassis and each containing a RD-TR 21 thermonuclear engine. To reduce drag and to make room for an export-version MHI/FHI InRADvis system sender, the vertical tail is removed, and the elevators are tilted up at 35 degrees, now functioning as ruddervators. Canards were added ahead of the wings, being small and swept-forwards, canted up like the ruddervators. Each nacell has two weapons bays for air-air missiles, either a MBDA Meteor or an AA-12 Archer with stowed fins. The landing gear were relocated to the nacells, and the now-unused space in the fuselage converted into a micro-missile launcher, holding four salvos of six missiles. The cockpit is unusual, being engineered off the concept for the Russian Sukhoi Su-37.1 Nightmare; the pilot being encapsulated in a canopy-less cocoon of hexagonal and pentagonal displays, cameras on the skin relaying the feed to the screens. The controls, like the MiG-35.5, have only a stick, throttle, and pedals, the two screens on each side of the pilot being touch-sensetive and all other instrumentation on the other displays. Integrated with the MHI/FHI InRADvis is a backfire system, having four salvos of two micro-missiles. As the nacells produce far more thrust than the central engine, a tail cone inserted into the closed nozzle and a streamline cover for the main intake reduce drag. These may be jettisoned if extra thrust is needed or the nacells are compromised.

Test pilots received the aircraft well, so much so that the U.N. placed an order for a few squadrons worth, sending thier own pilots to evaluate the aircraft. Though the jets saw litle service in comparison to the EF-2300 Eurofighter II, they proved to be popular with the pilots for thier easy handling, and were de-armed, converted back to BioMeth turbines, and sold off to civillians for recreational purpose following the war's end.

This project is only for the prototype, built from a retired Block-32 F-16C 'Netz'. Its first combat eperience was during a surprise air raid by American supersonic bombers. It was sent up after having been flown only once for twenty minutes on a shakedown by maintenenace, only to be used as a missile truck to defend against the attack. However, it was dragged into a three-versus one dogfight by escort fighters and received a trial-by-fire for the micro-missile launchers and the new airframe's limits.

After a few days away, I'm back, and posting my new project, based off an Italeri F-16C kit. I've made alot of progress, and gotten another slice in another thumb. :lol:

Here is the first salvo of photos:

The Kit to start with:

IAIF-161A003.jpg

Such a nice, clean, workbench:

IAIF-161A001.jpg

It may not be a Hasegawa, but there are alot of parts:

IAIF-161A004.jpg

Initial fuselage work, as well as the ALQ-131 and AAQ-14 The intake is horrid, it needed alor of CA for the seams:

IAIF-161A010.jpg

Final Fuseleage work before assembly. I hate that little seam that the Italeri 'turtleback' frame makes. Impossible to fix, and its noticable:

IAIF-161A009.jpg

We remeber the sacrificed, may he be honored for the blessings his body has given:

IAIF-161A005.jpg

Work on the nacells, hope to have pics of the semi-finished ones by tonight. The nozzles are gon, they will have the same nozzles as my Mig-35.5:

IAIF-161A006.jpg

Fuselage assembled. Ah, I forgot the cockpit, or did I...:

IAIF-161A002.jpg

TADAAA! The finished cockpit profile! I apologize for the sacrilige I will and have committed to all the Viper fans out there:

IAIF-161A007.jpg

But one must admit, it is a very clean, very sexy line:

IAIF-161A008.jpg

I lost one of the horizontal stabilizers (I think a certain black or red haired 80-lb four-legged person is responsible. I will not work through 15 piles of dog feces in the back yard, so we'll never know), so this may end up with forward-swept wings and normally shaped canards (enlarged Su-27M or Rafale)

Will have updates later, enjoy! -Mike

Edited by sv51macross
Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry for the lengthy delay, I finished the engine nacells and tried mounting them under the wings like drop tanks but it turned out so...well, see for yourself:

IAIF-161A011.jpg

Another view(sorry about crappy photo quality):

IAIF-161A015.jpg

Trust me, if it wasn't visible from those photos, I created the butt-ugliest aircraft I've ever seen. ;) Is just had such a clunky, tacked-on look to it...aarrgghh! :thumbsup: So now I broke the wings back off, attatched winglets, and I'm going to milliput the winglets smooth to the fuselage, to which the wings/canards/tails? will be attatched.

A mock-up of the new config w/o wings (No Y-wing jokes please!):

IAIF-161A016.jpg

And a mock-up of a possible wing configuration:

IAIF-161A017.jpg

Interesting thing, because my hand is now forced, I may not need the replacment elevator Richard has generously donated. :doh: (BTW, thanks again)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Right, this - is - awesome! :cheers:

Nice idea to dispense with the canopy. Gives it an "UCAV"-ish look. Pretty cool! :thumbsup:

I believe someone posted a rather cool photoshopped image of an F-16 without a canopy in TPC. Can't find it, though. Has anyone saved it? :nanner:

Edited by ChernayaAkula
Link to post
Share on other sites

Now that´s starting to look really intriguing!! I really like what you did to the wings....gives it som grace somehow. Are you gonna dispence with the stabs and put canards on instead?

I have a suggestion that might look cool......make 4 stabs that forms an "X" shape on the tail end and let them be swept forward! Another idea is that you cut the intake to an angle that matches the angle on the extra engines.....could interesting!

Good work there, I´m impressed by your insanity! :thumbsup:

Link to post
Share on other sites

VERY interesting aircraft you avhe there!!! I wish I had the imagination adn patience to do something like that!!!

Can't wait to see what this will look liek finished.

Sean

by the way..I think a forward swept canard , and tho it would take a lot of work, a squared off and swept back nose intake would really finish this thing off.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Right, this - is - awesome! :)

Nice idea to dispense with the canopy. Gives it an "UCAV"-ish look. Pretty cool! ;)

I believe someone posted a rather cool photoshopped image of an F-16 without a canopy in TPC. Can't find it, though. Has anyone saved it? ;)

I think that may have ben mine-

F-16dronesmallcopy.jpg

I like the lines of this build-

Pete

Link to post
Share on other sites
We will be seeing this style cockpit in the future...[Rubs hands together and smiles mischeviously]

Dude, i cant believe you started this already! i thought you were still in the planning phase and it practically looks done already. I love the new layout it looks great. Tell me you are doing this in Israeli 3 tone?

Ben

Link to post
Share on other sites
I think that may have ben mine-

<...>

Yes, that's it! :pray: Thanks for posting it again, Pete! :wacko: It looks really cool. Might attempt to build something like that one day.

Wonder if they would fair over the canopy when going for a drone? :lol: Or would that alter the flight characteristics? I've read that since the Viper is FBW-controlled it isn't all that hard to turn it into a drone.

Edited by ChernayaAkula
Link to post
Share on other sites
We will be seeing this style cockpit in the future...[Rubs hands together and smiles mischeviously]

All I meant is that it is part of a couple of future projects. Ben, relax! This is still the F-161, I havent started the F-14E/F yet-oops.... :wacko: I don't even have the donor kits yet. Take a couple deep breaths...thats it, thats it.

Anyway, the nacells are glued, but because the nacells are now at a bit of an inward angle the wings don't look right simply butted up against the nacells. Once I get them CA'd to the nacells I'll post photos. About paint, for right now, either light ghost gray underseide and light tan top with the kit decals (see habu's site; habu2.net) or I may do the three-tone camo, just not sure I can do it justice with my skill level.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The wings look fine butted to nacells. I can almost gaurantee pics by tonight, if i can get my digital camera working. :wacko: If I don't get them up, just imagine the last photo I posted without tape or any gaps, and the wings about 3-5 degrees rotated in.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Then here you go!

Final configuration:

IAIF-161A018.jpg

Woah, sorry about the awful quality of that one! Yikes, my camera must be on its way out!

IAIF-161A020.jpg

These are with GBU-24's (ala Revell Eurofighter) and fuel tanks (its a thermonuke turbine, I know, it only needs about 55 gallons of heavy water fuel...but they look cool)

And here are with the final winglets, and minus loads:

IAIF-161A021.jpg

Sorry again for the awful quality. Wil try and get some better photos when I can get batteries for the camera, current ones almost dead.

All I really need to do now is to clean it up and make the cowl for the intake. I also have to scribe some panels on the nacells; gear doors, and try and make recesses for long-range missile (the idea about the bays wouldn't have worked, not enough room)

So there you have it, final configuration with all major bits in place. Now, excuse me while I rub my hands together and anticipate my trip to Riders to pick-up a Hasegawa Hellenic AF viper kit!

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...

No, I began thinking that it got totally out of hand and barely resembled a viper anymore, and thusly, i began viemently hating it. So, its shelved until further notice.

Sorry to all who were looking forward to seeing it done,

-Mike

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...