Jump to content

1/72 Honduran Super Mystere


Recommended Posts

Hi Folks,

I started piecing together my first entry: a israeli/american modified Super mystere from Honduras:

2fah2006on2.jpg''

These aircraft were modified by israel to be better suited as attack aircraft; being re-engined with a skyhawks Pratt and Whitney J52 (which was lighter and had half the fuel consumption of the SNECMA atar) in a lengthened tailpipe to help protect against sams. The aircraft was given two extra missile stations for self-defence.

Honduras purchased the aircraft after el salvador also purchesed ex-Israeli Ouragans. the aircraft was used as an "air superiority" fighter primarily until the arrival of F-5Es. It is around this period of the late 80s that the aircraft were sent to the US to receive further upgrades to its navigation and avionics. (of an interesting note: most of the upgrades were off the shelf civilian items common to many light aircraft such as the collins DME-42 and the EHSI-74 display screen - though what it displays i wasn't able to find out...unaware of any civilian radar that would fit in the ranging aperture of the mystere, and was unable to ID the gunsight).

smb6.jpg

the aircraft were very active in this time against the Nicaraguan Sandinista's engaged in strafing and rocket attacks - it is this period my model will be based on.

DSCN4611.jpg

I'm using the airfix kit with a modified tailpipe from another attempt I made at this subject years ago, ive started creating a cockpit tub and modifying an instrument panel form the spares box to represent the modifications made. I'm assuming I'm allowed to add the shafrir's - the variety of ground attack ordinance is pretty limited: either Mk.82s or LAU-68's which I will use as it seemed more common from photos.

index.php4.jpeg

53458691.png

Edited by RaymondNZ
Link to post
Share on other sites
1472993231[/url]' post='2824982']

These aircraft were modified by israel to be better suited as attack aircraft; being re-engined with a skyhawks Pratt and Whitney J52 (which was lighter and had half the fuel consumption of the SNECMA atar) in a lengthened tailpipe to help protect against sams.

Hi Raymond, The lengthened tailpipe did indeed help to protect against IR-guided SAM, mostly by making the missile explode farther from the heart of the engine, but it was a side-effect, and not designed at first for this purpose.It was just there because J52 was longer than the original ATAR.

During 1973 october war, IAF seeing that in a similar situation, when targeted and hit by an IR missile, an SMB2 was coming back but à skyhawk was shot down, the same modification was made to the A-4.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Raymond, The lengthened tailpipe did indeed help to protect against IR-guided SAM, mostly by making the missile explode farther from the heart of the engine, but it was a side-effect, and not designed at first for this purpose.It was just there because J52 was longer than the original ATAR.

During 1973 october war, IAF seeing that in a similar situation, when targeted and hit by an IR missile, an SMB2 was coming back but à skyhawk was shot down, the same modification was made to the A-4.

Ah yes i forgot about that! I always wondered how the chage affected the aircrafts centre of gravity

Interesting to know thats how their skyhawks picked up that modification!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the kind words guys! :D/>

did bugger-all tonight, so just some photos

antoine - I had this pic up the tail pipe that might prove useful - the engine looks like it seen better days! :woot.gif:/>

smb-048.jpg

kurnass - I ended up using a skyhawk burner can and a cheap plastic funnel to get the tube shape, worked fairly well but needed a bit of putty to smooth out the surface later on!

DSCN4612.jpg

a Nice photo of the SEA scheme they previously wore:

scan0003_263.jpg

...Im not entirely sure what the pod on the wing is?

scan0003ww_145.jpg

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...