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AIM-7 question


Guest Jane

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Hello again,

Do any of you guru's know the external differences between the AIM-7E and AIM-7F. I know that the cable trunking is different but how? Also, when did the F version come into US Navy service with the F-14A.

Sorry to be a pain.

Jane (Jane the pain)

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Do any of you guru's know the external differences between the AIM-7E and AIM-7F. I know that the cable trunking is different but how?

I *think* the -E and E2 versions did not have external cable ducts, that the AIM-7F had a single duct and the later AIM-7M had a duct on two sides... but I'm away from most of my resources at the moment. There are several actual (ex) USN ordinance specialistst lurking around here, I'm sure they can correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, when did the F version come into US Navy service with the F-14A.

Initial AIM-7F deliveries were made to the USAF for use on their F-15's in 1976; the Navy got theirs for Tomcat use in 1977.

Sorry to be a pain.

No need to apologize at all - asking questions (and getting answers, of course) is the entire purpose of these fora!

Cheers, and keep them coming,

Andre

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Thank you for the replies, it just that some kits have the AIM-7 with two cable runs, the Tamiya F-14 kit has three!!! Whilst other model AIM-7's have one or two but not in a consistent pattern.

Jane

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Big difference is the F has a solid state guidance unit whereas the E still had electron tubes.

The guidance unit on the E was larger than that of the F which meant the warhead was behind the wings. In the F, they were able to move the warhead in front of the wings and enlarge the rocket motor by that amount leading to a much longer range.

The solid state guidance unit actually worked so the F model has a fairly high kill ratio while the E was pretty pitiful.

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The F had the single cable tunnel, it was eventually painted gray, it had the two fuze windows on the forward section, eventually a different radome, unpainted wings and fins, and the warhead was moved forward, which means the yellow stripe moved forward too. You might find this site useful.

Regards,

Murph

Edited by Murph
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Can't argue with what everyone has stated, the AIM-7E was way before my time. I do know that the E did not have any TDD windows or a waveguide (wire conduit).

However, the differences between the F and M were that the F had two TDD windows while the M had four but both has only one wire conduit, the F's was shorter then the M's though. There are other diffences but I don't think anyone building a model needs to know what they are if you know what I mean.

Reddog :worship:

Edited by Reddog
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I recall there were two different nose cone styles as well. Ogival and Von Karman. I remember the ogival being more pointy. The Von Karman had more of a continuous curve. Murph, does that sound right?

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I recall there were two different nose cone styles as well. Ogival and Von Karman. I remember the ogival being more pointy. The Von Karman had more of a continuous curve. Murph, does that sound right?

Do you mean the very early beamriding models? If so, yes, these were noticably more pointy in the nose department.

Cheers,

Andre

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I recall there were two different nose cone styles as well. Ogival and Von Karman. I remember the ogival being more pointy. The Von Karman had more of a continuous curve. Murph, does that sound right?

AIM-7E (inert):

AIM-7Einert.jpg

and AIM-7F:

aim-7FonF-15.jpg

Regards,

Murph

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Scott,

Simply outstanding detail pictures, you ought to consider submitting them to Steve Bamford for the "Walkaround" sectionl; part of it is dedicated to weapons.

Regards,

Murph

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Scott,

Simply outstanding detail pictures, you ought to consider submitting them to Steve Bamford for the "Walkaround" sectionl; part of it is dedicated to weapons.

Regards,

Murph

Actually I have a bunch of photos on the walkaround, but scanned with a really crappy scanner I finally got rid of awhile back. I've e-mailed Steve a couple of times to ask how I could go about getting the crappy images removed and replaced with scans from my much better scanner. Steve has yet to reply to me.

Scott Wilson

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Super photos guys!

I think that the Sparrows that I have are the M version as the cable trunking runs right down one side to the outlet nozzle. They are out of the Academy F/A-18C kit. I do have some in my Tamiya F-4E kit but these have different dimensions and two separate trunking runs.

I think that perhaps I am being too pinickerty about this, as long as they look like AIM-7 Sparrows and are painted/decalled okay - that's all the matters.

Jane

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I think that the Sparrows that I have are the M version as the cable trunking runs right down one side to the outlet nozzle. They are out of the Academy F/A-18C kit. I do have some in my Tamiya F-4E kit but these have different dimensions and two separate trunking runs.

I think that perhaps I am being too pinickerty about this, as long as they look like AIM-7 Sparrows and are painted/decalled okay - that's all the matters.

Jane,

I think you'll find that if you built 5 different fighters from 5 different manufacturers with the same weapons; their weapons would all look different. That's the one advantage to having weapons sets the way Hasegawa does it, at least the weapons on all the different kits match in basic shape and dimensions. As far as your original question, I would go with the ones from the Academy kit, as the single conduit is the most obvious identifying feature; the rest (shorter radome and fuze windows) you can replicate with paint and decals.

Regards,

Murph

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  • 10 years later...
On 1/21/2009 at 12:54 PM, Andre said:

Initial AIM-7F deliveries were made to the USAF for use on their F-15's in 1976

I'm making an Air Superiority Blue F-15A from Langley, I've been having a hard time finding live missile photos from that time.

 

My question is would AIM-7s with white bodies with grey nose cones on those F-15As have had dark fins or white fins?

 

Thanks!

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  • 3 months later...
On 11/9/2019 at 9:26 AM, paulsbrown said:

I'm making an Air Superiority Blue F-15A from Langley, I've been having a hard time finding live missile photos from that time.

 

My question is would AIM-7s with white bodies with grey nose cones on those F-15As have had dark fins or white fins?

 

Thanks!

  I don't recall ever seeing any photos of Langley's First Fighter F-15As or Bs in Air Superiority Blue. I have a few photos of F-15A and B prototypes and some from Luke in the blue scheme. I don't think any F-15s were ever on QRA during that time and so photos of a blue F-15 carrying live ordnance would be extremely rare, and would probably be test aircraft carrying live missiles with an inert warhead. There's a photo on Wikipedia that is captioned that it's the first F-15A arriving at Langley in January 1976. It's in Compass Ghost Gray paint. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Fighter_Wing#/media/File:1st_Tactical_Fighter_Wing_First_F-15A_arrival_at_Langley_AFB_Jan_1976.jpg

  Contrary to what many modelers would prefer, it's quite rare to see a military airplane carrying live ordnance except while they're on alert, during combat, or during deployments to exercises with a bombing range big enough to contain the explosions and shrapnel without risk to nearby populations. If you want your model to look cool, put missiles all over it. If you want it to be realistic, one captive Sidewinder trainer would be correct in most cases, even if it's not as interesting for modelers. Your choice.

  The AIM-7F didn't come out until 1976, and by then I don't believe any F-15s were still flying in the blue scheme, so the answer to your question is "white." As always, someone somewhere may have a photo that could prove me wrong, and I'll be very interested in seeing it if such a photo exists. 

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