F-28 Sparrow and A-9 Buccaneer

[PNW_Modeler]

At the beginning of the second cold war, the United States Navy realized that their "All eggs in one basket" philosophy was flawed. They could no longer ignore the deficiencies with the F/A-18 Super Hornet. The Navy needed aircraft that could perform it's functions without sacrificing performance. First and foremost, the Navy needed a fast interceptor to keep prying Chinese eyes away from their fleet. Their first attempt was to contact Grumman to see about resurrecting the old "Tomcat-21" project. However, the nearsighted actions of a former Secretary of Defense saw to it that was not an option. Exhausted, the Navy decided to call on their European allies. They struck a deal to import the Eurofighter Typhoon. Grumman was awarded the contract to work with the Eurofighter team to create a fighter that would stand up to the punishment of operations on an aircraft carrier. The result was the F-28A Sparrow. Externally, the Sparrow is very similiar to it's European brother. The main difference is the undercarriage. Now equipped with heavier duty landing gear, a tow bar on the nose strut and a heavier arrestor cable.

Next, the Navy needed a low level bomber. Something that could really pack a punch and accurately put the warheads on some foreheads. Noting the great success the Marine Corp had with the British designed Harrier, the Navy turned to England for some ideas. The A-9A Buccaneer was born. The A-9A is an updated Buccaneer S2B. This aircraft is an almost perfect replacement for the Navy's A-6. Updated fire control and advances in radar give the new Buc a large selection of arms. The changes to the aircraft are subtle externally, but a trained eye can spot the new airbrake system (no longer in the tail) and various ECM bumps and antenna.

The F-28 entered the fleet in late 2011. The A-9 entered service shortly after in Feb of 2012.

Edited December 3, 2008 by paul.nortness

[illithid00]

This should be good! Can't wait to see these.

[ChernayaAkula]

Two very cool ideas! ;)

[PNW_Modeler]

Here is some construction on the F-28A

The cockpit is a lovely decal....I hate decals in the cockpit! The kit seat is being replaced and a driver will be added to cover up a bit of the decals in the pit.

Edited December 5, 2008 by paul.nortness

[Ivan T.]

Ivan

[TaiidanTomcat]

Excellent start, great cockpit

[triumph pilot]

Nice kick off, dont like decals in the cockpit but you gotta admit its quicker!.

Im wondering if two people on the planet come up with the same idea at once half way round the globe ?

My EUROWEASEL is a navalised upgraded eurofighter, done the working folded wings with two pylons a piece, got some serious undercart (could land a jumbo on it!) working on some F-15 C engines but not sure about the sacrifice!(could always get some resin ones i suppose!) with, shrikes, harms, AIM-9XX and advanced standard anti radiation missiles, plus the standand AIM-120ST ("self thinking" missiles, they watch your six, you carry them on-board they shoot your opponent down whislt you get your weasling done!) and conformal tanks to free up a weapons station or two, in jolly rogers paint!. no pics yet, but its standing on the bench on its wheels...... also have a french F-20 on the bench too, plus about ten others in the start up stage... anyone seen the plot...think i lost it.....

ooo oo i forgot to mention the arrestor gear.....its so chunky it makes me think of a huge yorkie bar...(thats a chunky choccy bar in the uk!)

peace out people im off to play with plastic!.