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F-18 E/F question - the most heavily armed superbug?


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Hello all,

I am working on an F/A-18F and was doing some research for my weapons loadout. So far, all I have decided is that I will arm it with 2x Sidewinders on the wingtips, 1x centreline fuel tank, and 1x shoulder LANTIRN pod.

Looking at the F/A-18E/F post in the research corner, I didn't really find any photos of a nicely armed aircraft. Most Hornets in the photos in that post are simply carrying wingtip sidewinders and fuel tanks. I once saw one F-18 with 2 HARMs, but that was about it. Same with Google, most photos show up with a very light loadout.

So, if you don't mind (no photos necessary), please share with me some experience you have had with the most heavily armed F/A-18E/F you have encountered! F/A-18 Legacy works too, but the E/F have 2 extra pylons.

Btw, I have plenty of missiles in my spare parts, got Sidewinders, AMRAAMs, HARMs, GBU's...

Any ideas are appreciated!

Thanks!

Jerry

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Go to the photo section of the US Navy's web site and search for F-18E & F-18F images. You should find plenty of jets with live ordanance over in SW asia.

Amusingly enough I happened to do just that yesterday evening for similar purposes and unfortunately there is very little in the way of heavily loaded Super Hornets on Navy.mil :( Most of them carry at most two Sidewinders and two GBUs, most of the time a GBU-12 and a GBU-38.

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You can always go with this "Heavy Metal" load out ...

web_040205-N-5859A-001.jpg

Naval Air Station Fallon, Nev. (Feb. 5, 2004) – An F/A-18E “Super Hornet†assigned to the “Eagles†of Strike Fighter Squadron One One Five (VFA-115) carries ten Mark 83 bombs over the Naval Air Station Fallon range. VFA-115 is conducting exercises at Naval Air Station Fallon. U.S. Navy photo by Lt. j.g. Matthew Abbot.

>>> Hi Res <<<

-Gregg

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I recall seeing a picture in a Magazine of a VFA-103 F/A-18F loaded with 2x GBU-38's, 1x GBU-12, 1x GBU-31, 1x AGM-65, 2x AIM-9x, 2x fuel tanks and the targeting pod on the fuselage cheek station. Can't remember the magazine, may have been 'Airforces Monthly' but it's what I based my last F/A-18F loadout on.

Dave

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Let me first repeat the obvious: modelling is supposed to be fun, so if heavy loads are fun, just do them!

Now that that's off my chest, here's the truth: heavy loads of ordnance on Hornets (and most other aircraft) aren't really used very often. Carrier aircraft in particular have limits on the amount of ordnance they can 'bring back' to the ship, and operations during the past few years usually don't guarantee that everything loaded will get expended. That's why most current operational shots of Hornets have modest loads of GBU-12, GBU-38, AGM-65 with one or two AAMs. That's a flexible load that can meet multiple requirements and still be brought home if necessary. (Don't forget the drop tanks!) You'll see really heavy loads during test and eval, or maybe weapons dets, but that's about it. A similar issue is the complicated load that has gobs of different weapons. You can certainly load Harpoon, SLAM, HARM, GBU-XX, and missiles all over the place (especially on a superbug), but usually any given sortie has a more specific mission than simply "carry lots of weapons/kill anything that floats, flies, or moves". Just like heavy loads, 'variety' loads are possible, just not very realistic.

Ordnance loads, especially for modern aircraft are a whole subject in themselves. I'm one of those guys who love 'realistic' models, so that inevitably means 'realistic' stuff under the wings, too. It's made my life miserable, so I thought I'd share!

Cheers,

Herb

Edited by herbarnold99
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Herb is 100% right. Most heavy loadout are rare. Some pics are only "airshow" loads that never flew but look cool on the ground in front of the public. Another consideration is that the Superhornet loadout configurations all need to be tested and validated prior to being cleared to use in the fleet. Due to changes made between the superhornet and legacy hornet, not all legacy loads have been or will be cleared for the superhornet. If you are looking for an "accurate" superhornet heavy load, there are some guys on z5 that have that information.

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Thank you Herbs and Graves for your insight. That would probably explain why it's hard finding some pictures of heavily armed birds!

I like the idea of doing testing units aircraft! Thanks for the suggestion.

Also thanks to Dave, GreyGhost, and Sebastijan for your photos! I agree, that F-18 by GreyGhost is indeed very heavy!

Thanks for the help and I'll keep looking for more photo sources.

Jerry

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Probably not heavy enough for you, but I built an F a couple of years ago with 4,000 lbs of bombs (3 BLU-111 iron and one GBU-16), an AIM-120 and 2 x AIM-9Ms. This was a real load used by VFA-115 in combat. Build thread here.

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I'm on my sixth Rhino and have also not seen large loadouts on fleet birds. All of the suggestions are correct. One thing...when ATFLIR pod is mounted, the drop tank isn't normally carried on the port wing as it blocks the FLIR line of sight at certain angles of attack. The starbooard wing usually has a tank on the inner pylon and the port inner pylon usually holds a GBU-12 or GBU-38 for even weight distribution.

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WOAH...Graves, that is one heavily armed Hornet! I notice that it is painted in VX-23 testing squadron. Darn, even though it was never real, it sure looked nice with those dozen AMRAAMs! Unforunately, the Revell kit did not come with parts to allow for 2 ordnances per pylon, so I am still limited to those 6 underwing.

Ben, that's a great looking Hornet you built there! The bombs look really nice. But personally I think that asymetric loads look somewhat odd...I personally just can't think that the airplane would be balanced side to side. Pete, thank you for the advice about the ATFLIR. I will definitely keep that in mind towards my future builds; hopefully I can get a Hasegawa Fox soon. But for the moment, the Revell kit only comes with a single centreline fuel tank.

I did come across a few interesting loadouts from Google Search:

http://www.zap16.com/zapnew/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/f18-super-hornet-taxiing-500x333.jpg

http://www.armybase.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/an-f-a-18f-super-hornet-equipped-with-the-apg-79-aesa-radar-conducts-an-operational-test-mission-to-evaluate-the-radars-ability-to-support-the-strike-coordination-and-reconnaissance-mission-scar.jpg

This one looked interesting, but where are the extra two underwing pylons?

http://www.military-today.com/aircraft/fa_18_ef_super_hornet_l2.jpg

And also found this build:

http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/galleries/fa18f48jt_1.htm

Really have much more of a sense on what to build now and how to handle my future builds.

Any more photos are appreciated!

Jerry

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Thanks alot Graves now I have to go out and shell out more money for another super bug. That VX-23 Hornet looks bada@@. I love the color scheme. The loadout is incredible. This has to be by far the best looking Hornet I have ever laid eyes on. Great job.

Glad you like it! The current Hivis bird at VX-23 is a "B". The scheme is the same other than the modex number is 323 instead of 123 and obviously the BuNo is different. I got the decals from Fightertown, highly recommended! If you are interested in VX-23 stuff Afterburner also has their Superbug 3 sheet that features the "green hornet". We tested that in 2010 using a 50/50 biofuel/petroleum mix. It still carries that scheme to this day.

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