What-If Weapons - Air

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Make that 32nd AIM-54 into a 48th hypersonic "Kirov Killer" ASM and sling it under an F-18?

Far too large to fit on any F-18 stores pylon.  The 1/1 Phoenix is roughly 16.0/406mm in diameter excluding the fins and by scale-o-rama to 1/48th scale that thing is a monster.  It might fit inside of a B-One but it will be a big load for the Hornet or Eagle. 

Without the booster section it could fit into the MLRS perhaps? 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

More what-if weapons. 

This time a pair of 30mm ADEN gun pods from the 1/48th scale Airfix Harrier.  The Harrier is now long gone but the gun pods were saved and retained in the parts stash. 

As you can see in the attached images, the original ADEN pod was a bit janky right out of the box.  The squared off front and rear of the pod never looked right to me and that was one of the reasons I had ignored the things for so long.  The gun barrels inserted in the gun pods are from an ancient Monogram FW190 that offered many weapons for several variants.  The gun barrels were intended for the 30mm Mk103 gun pods that were mounted under the FW190 wings for one version that performed in the bomber interceptor role. 

I consider this to be a "rough draft" as I have several more of the ADEN pods to work with.  I am sharing the images of this pair to show what could be done with less than ideal parts from some of these ancient kits that all of us have had to deal with in the past. 

Also, I was looking for something that would fit on the 1/48th scale Academy Hawker Hunter F.6/FGA.9 to create an upgraded aircraft.  The ADEN pods fit without issue to the Hunter fuselage and that was what compelled me to modify the things to improve the appearance.  The clunky Airfix pods certainly need some TLC to make them presentable.  With the ADEN pods attached to the Hunter I can remove/cover up the gun ports on the fuselage.  This in turn provides more internal space for additional black boxes/electronics which all need space for any SLEP. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

More packaged machine guns.  This pair of podded weapons are from the 1/48th scale Monogram Models Douglas A-26 Invader kit.  The bomber version with the bomb aimer nose configuration and all-black paint scheme. 

Attached images to show how crude these things are.  I addressed some of the seam issues with 1200 grit sandpaper and some follow up wet sanding with a bit of cleaning detergent.  No decision made on what model will have the things.  The A-20/TB2D Havoc is one candidate. 

[Story]

"I'd buy (those upgrades) for a dollar!"

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Monogram and Revell both released a 1/48th scale B-17 Flying Fortress at almost the same time.  Also many of the parts were compatible between each kit.  Revell's B-17 was the F model while Monogram's was an early G model.  To suggest that there may have been some back-alley or behind the doors shenanigans going on between the two rivals is not too far fetched. 

That said, I have both kits in protective custody and recently acquired an extra pair of the Revell B-17F External Stores Racks from a nice modeler at the most recent Seattle IPMS Annual Spring Show.  It helped that I offered him $5.00 for the parts to convince him to part with the pieces in question.  Money well spent!  Now the bad news.  Somewhere between putting the individual pieces into my shirt pocket and returning home one of the sway braces escaped so my new set of racks were now incomplete.  Not a critical issue considering how comically oversized the things looked so it must have been a sign from on high to make something more presentable from what was left. 

I discarded the remaining sway brace parts and set about finding some useful bits from the parts stash.  Trying to keep it simple was the real challenge since the real external stores racks were not much more than a strong bar attached to the wing spars with a bomb release unit installed on the string bar.  I cleaned up the surface of each rack to get rid of the mold lines which helped immensely with the appearance of the racks.  Next came the gray "L or V" shaped bits that staddle the string bar length wise.  I added two sets of small dark gray plastic pieces from an unknown source but looked very much like they were something bomb racks/bomb release unit in appearance.  Two sets of tiny, very tiny T-shaped bits were added between the new release units to represent the release lock mechanism latches.  As far as replacement sway braces go, that is dependent on what I can find that will look right for the purpose.  For now this WIP is in limbo until suitable sway braces can be located. 

As far as what aircraft will receive these racks, that will be either a B-17G or a B-29.  I would really like to acquire a pair of the Navy  NBS ASM-1 Bat glide bombs and/or the USAAF GB series glide bombs to complete this concept. 

[apophenia]

Nice work so far on a good score, Jeff 

...To suggest that there may have been some back-alley or behind the doors shenanigans going on between the two rivals is not too far fetched...

I kind of like the idea that the 'rival' firms might have agreed behind the scene to produce different sub-types in order to avoid duplicating each other's efforts.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Parts of the aerodynamic fairings from Academy and Fujimi MDD/Hughes 500 attack helicopter kits intended for the BGM-71 TOW ATGM system.  If I am not mistaken the black plastic parts are the Academy kits and the green are from the Fujimi kits.  Both fairings are nearly identical in size and shape.  I glued the fairings back to back to increase the length overall. 

To these new pods I attached parts of what were supposed to be the AIM/FIM-82 Stinger AAM parts from the 1/48th scale Academy AH-64 Apache kits.  These are far too large to be 1/48th scale Stinger missiles and look nothing like the actual weapon so are ideal for conversion to what-if weapons.  The finished pods look similar to the Hawker Siddley TAILDOG SRAAM that contained two missiles in pods.  So this is my interpretation of what these SRAAM/Tail Dog weapons would look like. 

Mind you I built these about ten years ago and did not realize until today that I had not shared this effort here on the forums so I am playing catch-up on work done but not reported. 





***Edit to add additional text on what, how, why and when -- jjf