David Hingtgen

I can't help but think the whole design would look more "balanced" if it had black and yellow ventral fins... Maybe they can paint up some black and yellow-finned AMRAAMs and put them on the fuselage corners... Custom missiles are rare, but do exist. Most often see decorated AIM-9's on ANG F-16's.

1. NAVY, not Air Force. 2. That's the "factory" skull. Jolly Rogers skull has changed over the years. Boeing apparently doesn't have the stencil the Jolly Rogers currently use. It'll probably change once they get back (JFK should be in port mid-December, 103 give up their Tomcats in Jan) 3. Skull Squadron has never matched any of the Jolly Rogers skulls. Similar yes, but never identical. Obvious when placed side-by-side. Finally--Commander McBride---actually, they're rarely dropped. I don't think any Navy plane's dropped its tanks since Desert Storm, and even then, that was only 2 of them. Same for the Air Force, though quite a few F-15's did drop them---but when you KNOW you're going into combat, they have special "disposable" tanks they use in those cases. Not the "nice" tanks they carry 99% of the time. (I do not think F-14's have disposable tanks available)

F-16 CFT's are fugly as hell IMHO. I think they are supposed to be "minimal" drag for the amount of fuel carried(compared to say, adding more drop tanks under the wings), unlike the F-15's which affect the area-rule of the plane to the point that drag is reduced under many conditions. F-111 vs F-15E. Well, F-15E was brand-new and at minimal capability in Desert Storm--a lot of "priority" targets went to F-111's since they could self-designate and had much experience with low-level/night ops. F-15E wasn't even really in service yet, but they sent them because they knew it'd do well, even if not FULLY operational. One big thing for that war was bunker-busters and any BIG Paveway. So big/long/heavy even the F-111's had problems carrying them, much less F-15E's. I think it was ONE per plane, regardless. Asymmetry problems, too. F-111 can outrun an F-15 (and most anything on the planet) at low-level, and can match the F-15 at high altitude. F-111's are very, very fast planes.

E/F is a recent name change for the Block 60, which was formerly the F-16C/D Block 60. USAF has none with none on order, you're not likely to see many "official" references to it. Block 60 is currently only for the UAE. http://www.f-16.net/f-16_versions_article10.html The first Block 60's had the dorsal spine, and many people (and publications) assume and write that it is standard for the Block 60, but it is not.

F-16E and F-16F are the single-seat and dual-seat models of the Block 60, respectively. They're for the UAE. Only dual-seat ones have the avionics spine though. (Most people think they all do, since the F actually came out before the E)

Block 1 through 20 are A/B, 25 through 52+ are C/D, 60 and up are E/F. Block 25's are kind of oddballs, they look like C's but are far inferior to block 30 and later. A lot of 25's have been upgraded to mostly "late Block 30" standard, but lack the 30's engine, which is the main thing. 20's are also weird, basically being Block 52's in the "body" of an A. "Standard" A's are 1-15, and "standard" C's are 30 through 52. All the 20/25's are interims more or less. Best place for quick Block info: http://www.habu2.net/vipers/viperblocks/index.html Detailed Block info once you know what Block is what: http://www.f-16.net/f-16_versions.html

The Block 60's weigh more than Block 50's. They have an engine power increase over the 50's, but weight/drag is way up. Same as the F-16I's---they've got a lot of internal (and external) gadgets and avionics added on, and the F-16 is a very small fighter by current standards---they're getting "weighed down". Late Block 30 is still the best A2A Falcon, with Early Block 30 being 2nd best. Then Block 50. (JUST IMHO, mainly going by power/weight/drag---they all have the same weapons, radars are similar though not identical)

F-16F is almost pure air-to-ground IMHO. Big and bulky two-seater. (I Hate Block 60's BTW, I like the F-16 as a FIGHTER) I'll put a production Su-35 against most anything, for it has quite a few electronics/weapons upgrades compared to a 27---it's more than just canards.

It's a LERX, often shortened to LEX. Actually, it's shorter (but wider) on the Super Hornet than the Baby Hornet. They "re"designed it to be like the original YF-17 design. Otherwise it'd be even longer! Anyways--it'll probably look better with customized fuel tanks. Jolly Rogers have been big on that lately, and fuel tanks don't seem to be as "regulated" with regards to their paint. Either black tanks with the stripe in outline, or grey tanks with a full-color stripe. (low-vis planes get grey tanks with outline stripes) Fuel-tank decoration is a whole genre unto itself. Few squadrons do it to any great degree, usually just those with nose-stripes like Jolly Rogers or Diamondbacks. Most just put a tiny little low-vis logo, if anything. Sundowners always put sharkmouths on theirs.

1. Yes, you can quickly repaint with temporary paint. They just skip 90% of all the little warning labels and "no step" marks if they're in a hurry. EVERY British Tornado was done like this. Heck, most any desert-camo plane in Desert Storm was done like that. Also, all you'd really need to repaint are the tails, not the whole plane. 2. But the Navy doesn't/didn't. Desert Storm was full of high-vis CAG planes going to war. Notably the Freelancers and Fist of the Fleet, with full rainbow stripes. Actually, their whole wing had a "unified" CAG scheme of black-tailed with rainbow stripes. 3. Overall, they don't really care about high-vis too much for actual "combat effectiveness". Most any pilot says they prefer low-vis, but really, you can't tell much at a distance. I mean, you're not even supposed to get IN that range, unless you're a P-51. There's recent pics out there of the Black Aces CAG doing missions in full color, as well as the Red Devils's CO. (Marine planes don't do CAG, their numbers start at 1 not 0, their colorful plane is the commander's) Strangely, that was one of the few fully air-to-air configured Hornets you see on an actual mission, so they were fully prepared to take a red-tailed plane into air combat. (And the Fist of the Fleet also were on CAP for Desert Shield)

I don't think it's a *rule*, just that squadrons do think it's neat to have the modex match the squadron number. And since the rule is only 2 high-vis planes per squadron, they have to "sacrifice" a plane that normally is high-vis. And it's best not to anger the CAG by giving him low-vis, as he outranks the CO. It's rare enough that it's pretty much up to the squadron how they want to do it, if the numbers match up. The only squadrons that currently can do it are 101, 102, 103, and 211 AFAIK. (And 211's currently transitioning to Shornets). (105 is 4xx, as I explained earlier, 106--not sure, they're brand-new and currently "borrowing" 103's Shornets until they get enough of their own) As for that VFA-111 Shornet: If the modex is to be 161 (unlikely for many reasons) then the accent stripes on the tail shouldn't be yellow. That's not a VF-111 thing, that's a "because their modex was 2xx" thing. (VF-111 always followed old-school rules for colors when most every other squadron had abandoned them) Same for the grey tail leading edge--F-14 thing, not a VF-111 thing. Their F-8's and F-4's didn't have it. Sharkmouth is angled wrong. And what's with the VFA-1 having "132" yet being designated as the CAG-bird?

Try to explain as best I know: A showbird is basically any plane that is high-vis. However, 99% of the time, they are the CAG and CO, and are called the CAG-bird and CO-bird usually, even though they are "showbirds". But, when the squadron and modex can match, they usually paint that one up in high-vis instead of the CO's plane. Then, that plane is referred to as the "showbird", since it has no other name, not being the CAG's, etc. VFA-105 is currently assigned 4xx, but will transition to Super Hornets in a year or two and will probably get a 1xx or 2xx, so they might get a showbird---105 is especially colorful as sqaudrons go, you can bet they'll put as much color on every plane as possible. My fave squadron, VF-111, had "2xx" modex for DECADES, and never had a plane #111. All in all: every squadron can have 2 high-vis planes. Normally CAG and CO, CO normally not as colorful as CAG. But when the modex and squadron numbers match, that plane usually is assigned instead of the CO plane for high-vis. Or that plane might be used for the CO, with "01" being an "ordinary" plane in the squadron.

Also, the Hornet has always been primarily (almost purely) for attack. Air-to-air for a Hornet is a rare event. It's an attacker that can fight, not a fighter than can also bomb. Sure, the YF-17 was designed for the same role as the F-16, but by the time the F/A-18 came around, it was supposed to carry bombs 90% of the time. Kind of ironic, as the F-16 has been going more towards attack all the time as well, Hornet just "got there first". And the F-15E, and F-14D... Everything plane's going more towards attack, if you think about it.

Navalised YF-23 kinda sounds like that... (If you configured the front and rear missile bays like a B-1B---have a movable bulkhead---then you could easily fit some Phoenixes inside by removing the bulkhead---the YF-23 has a deep, long bay as opposed to the -22's wide, shallow bay)

Actually, that's the "Show Bird". Generally, that only happens when the modex and the squadron number match. That doesn't happen very often. See, this is plane #103 of squadron 103. It is neither the CAG, CO, nor XO plane. VFA-102 does this for plane #102 (which is normally the XO plane but has no special markings). Most squadrons cannot do this, especially any squadron that's only 1 or 2 digits. VF-103 couldn't do it until the late 90's, since they were assigned "2xx" modex numbers up til then. I think you usually see the CO plane's "high vis" sacrificed when this occurs, since I think you can only have 2 high-vis planes per squadron. Thus the CAG plane and the "number matches the squadron" Showbird, rather than the CAG and CO planes. So VFA-103 will probably have #100 and #103 in high-vis, rather than 100 and 101. :edit: Just learned that the CO might get the "number-matching" plane instead of the "01" plane, so that he gets a high-vis plane. Thus the CAG and CO planes are 00 and 03 instead of 00 and 01 like normal.

I'll start with a list of every ECM "bump" possible on an F-14. Front to back: 1. On the left nosegear door. Rather flat, but large. 2. Directly ahead of the glove vanes themselves (or where they'd be), on each side. 3. Underneath the gloves, but still near the vane itself. On each side of the plane. 4. Similar to above, but a bit more inboard, a bit more aft, and a bit larger, again on each side. #3 and #4 always go together, thus an F-14 either has all 4, or none. 5. Starboard v.stab, very tiny, on the very rear tip of the top of the fin--just below the red light. 6. Very extreme rear of the boattail/beavertail, next to the fuel dump pipe. Now, a late F-14A and all F-14B's have all of these except #5. An F-14D has all except 3 and 4. Early A's have none, mid A's have 2 and 6 or: 2,3,4, and 6. 2 and 6 are the most common, anything from 1980+ will have them. Shin however, has only 4 and 6. 2 ALWAYS occurs with 6, in every one I've ever found. He has an impossible mix, but it matches what Fujimi would have you do to their F-14D kits (asides from #2, which Shin also doesn't have). Also, Shin's plane has the same problem as the F-14's in Ace Combat 5--no gun vents. There's 3 types on the F-14, but Shin doesn't seem to have any. Finally--Shin's engine fairings are too short. (Or the burner duct is too long, but I suspect the former). It's like it has the B/D shape but is too small---it doesn't extend all the way aft to the nozzle itself. Now, B/D ones don't TOUCH the nozzle, but they get very, very close. Shin's has a noticeable gap of black between the rear of the fairing and the nozzles.

16A according to an FAQ, though I seem to recall getting it before that, and going through 16B instead...

Yeah, and it's now the VFA-143 Pukin' Dogs. And they're getting E models instead of F. (They swapped with VF(A)-211, who'll be getting F's instead of E's)

A few pics here: http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.sear...inct_entry=true Link to best picture in good but not huge size: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/717630/M/ Black US insignia and black intake triangle--nice touch. Though yellow would be even better. (Hey, VFA-105 often does bright green intake and national insignia) Apparently you can't paint the IFF box on the nose, and the rudder edges are still grey.

Which can be 100% blamed on Cheney. If he hadn't ordered the jigs destroyed, Grumman could make any part needed. No plane can last long without spares, but most planes have spare parts made for YEARS after production ceases. Same with cars. F-14 didn't have that luxury, no spares were made, even for brand-new planes. You can still order new E-2 and A-6 parts (and whole fuselages if needed), the F-14 is one of the few planes that has had its jigs destroyed.

Ingress/Egress speed is always nice. A loaded F-14B/D is MUCH faster than a loaded Hornet (baby or super). And doesn't have to refuel as many times on the mission.

IRST etc ranges are always "ideal" not "real world". 300 miles? Yeah, it can probably detect the IR signature of a nuclear blast against the absolute-zero background of space at that range. But not jet exhaust against the Arabian deserts... TCS range--depends on how big the plane is. I've heard they can tell a 747 at 70 miles, but it's only good for fighters for 10-20 miles. PS---while we're talking about F-14's, it seems VF-101 might get 1 more year to do airshow demos.

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/headlines/839672.html That's one hell of a "bug", auto-formatting all your memory cards in your PS2. This message posted because I know quite a few people here have PS2's.

But it matches the Fujimi kit so well, ECM bumps and all... All in all, same as what Nied said: An F-14B with new chinpod and ECM antenna arrangement. Still, it's missing the ALR-45 antennas, which all B's and D's and most A's have. They go together with the extreme aft one next to the fuel dump pipe (which Shin's does have). If an F-14 has the ECM bump on the boat-tail, then it has the one right ahead of the vanes as well.

Paint the canopy from the outside. Don't clear-coat it, unless you plan to use Future. Applying Future to clear parts (or any part) is its whole own category which I am not qualified to expand on.