As might have been seen at ARC, I'm putting together a build-plan for a pair of "Spare No Expense, Best of Everything" F-15 combat-capable R&D ships.
Basic airframe: F-15SE Silent Eagle back-half mated to NF-15B ACTIVE front-half--I think I've figured out a way that you could actuate the canards and keep the internal gun, by using a stub-axle with gear on the canard, then a hollow driveshaft AROUND the barrel assembly, with actuators in a small fairing on the aircraft's "shoulders". Total reconstruction with lighter, stronger and more heat-tolerant materials wherever possible.
Flight controls: Fiber-optic "fly-by-light" controlled by an onboard supercomputer built from multiple F-22 computer cores.
Power: The biggest engines that will fit up this thing's backside... thinking F100-PW-232 demonstrators with hybrid AVEN/LOAN exhausts (lifted this idea from a thread at What-If, but color me clueless on modeling it) as a minimum, ideally F135's or an F-15-optimized Reaction Engines Ltd. SABRE system.
(
http://reactionengines.co.uk/sabre_demoprog.html) To model it, if I can't figure out how to do an AVEN/LOAN, I'm thinking to "fake it" with the petaled tailfeathers of the F-15I.
Sensors and pods: ASW-55 (Have Nap/Popeye) and AXQ-14 (GBU-15/AGM-130) datalink capabilities integrated into onboard avionics, pods no longer required; aircraft can now both downlink and uplink, and should the need arise can relay PGM remote guidance from a ground station. Sniper-XR plus Tiger Eyes IRST plus LANTIRN Nav like F-15SA and SG in the usual places. (Thinking the Sniper will be a WHIF itself, an F-35 EOTS back-fitted into a Sniper pod.)
External stores: Centerline pylon from the F-15I, up-stressed for GPU-5 Pave Claw or ASAT. CFT long pylons modified to accept AIM-54 Phoenix and Standard/Aegis missile family. Stub pylons from the F-15K--possibly with upgrades to carry some guided missiles? Stations 2/8 restressed and adapted for Pave Claw, Phoenix and ASAT options. Stations 1/9 of F-15A added, with LAU-128/ADU-552 adapters as offered on SA and SE. Compatibility with all common NATO, WestPac-allied and Russian-origin air-to-air and most air-to-surface stores.
Antennas: External blade antennas replaced with embedded "smart skin" panels, reducing both drag and RCS.
The build: Revell 5511, fins and stabs replaced with Two Mikes and Quickboost resin. Tailfins to have 15-degree outboard cant. F-15K stub pylons and Tiger Eyes from Academy F-15I's unused parts, CL pylon from same kit. Sniper-XR from Hasegawa Weapons Set E.
The problems:
-Afterburner cans and exhausts... I'm NOT cannibalizing two Kitty Hawk F-35s for tailpipes, I don't know of any F-16 AVEN or LOAN cans I could adapt and I'm not sure about the F-15I tailfeathers.
-ECM "butt pimples"... if I'm going for the best ECM fitted in an existing variant, do I want to use the rear antenna blisters of the -I or -K?
-Instrument panels... Concept is for the aircraft to actually be smarter than its crew, and thus I need ideas about selecting or designing MFD-heavy instrument panels fitting that description. Also, for the SE's wide-angle HUD, does it work to fake it with the WAR HUD from an F-16C Block 40 or do I need to hold out for something better?
-NF-15B canards... these will be the hold-up--I've committed to buy several sets from Lock-On Models as soon as they're ready, but that WILL be at least a few years due to the owner's medical issues. I'm reluctant to scratchbuild, so I'm deferring this part until the rest of the aircraft is decided and underway.
-Tailfin cant... better to insert a shim under the entire fin, shave down the bottom of the entire fin, or a combination of shimming inboard and shaving outboard?
-Landing gear and tailhook... I'm tempted to try something for something to make this beast carrier-capable like the proposed F-15N Sea Eagle that was declined in favor of continuing Tomcat development.
-Stations 1/9... did the updates of the Academy Mudhen kit still have this (Captoveur at ARC thinks she saw the SUU-61 outboard pylons in the early, glitchy boxing), is there an aftermarket part for F-15A upgrading, or am I stuck having to cannibalize or "clone" from a Hasegawa -A?
Anyone have any thoughts to refine this? I'm not much of a scratchbuilder, and the less cutting or supergluing I have to do the better. (Last major bout with superglue was a resin XF-85 Goblin, and I recall having had to chip my hand out of a blob of the stuff...)