What
if......
BAC F-16 GR3 Wild Weasel
In the late 1960’s the British were seeking to develop a dedicated ground
attack platform, with successive socialist governments in France, an
isolationist policy prevailed resulting in their withdrawal from N.A.T.O. and
the Jaguar project. The American government keen to please dwindling allies
encouraged (financially) a partnership between B.A.C. and General Dynamics,
which allowed the British to build under license and develop improvements to the
F-16 Fighting Falcon officially known as the Javelin II in Britain, but
affectionately called the Angel by it’s R.A.F pilots after it’s resemblance
to the interceptor from the Captain Scarlet T.V. show. With the successes of the
Wild Weasels in Vietnam, B.A.C. developed the GR3, with a delta wing to carry a
greater payload, the heavier craft was fitted with a larger Rolls Royce RB199
engine which moved the air intake and front undercarriage forward, a development
the pilots found a lot less disorientating when on the ground and twin tails for
greater low level stability. The GR3 proved highly effective in Operation Desert
Storm scoring the highest kill rate against Iraqi S.A.M. and radar
installations. The example here is seen at a Saudi air base in 1991 loaded for a
mission sporting the new R.A.F. desert digi-angle scheme and low visibility
markings.
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The Inspiration
This model was built for a competition the theme of which was to build a
"teen" plane (F-15, F-16 etc.) in something other than the boring grey
we usually see them. The idea really came from my mate Nev’s Lightning
article on the "what if" site, at the time only being back into
modeling for a few months I’d never heard of an electronics pod on the spine
ala the A4M, when I decided to do an F-16 Weasel that was my starting point,
copy Nev make a twin seater and just stick a pod on the spine. Except a pod
wouldn’t fit between the canopy and the fin, easy just put a fin on either
side of the pod. The delta wings came out of a need for more space to hang all
the ground attack armaments
The Kit
Finding myself with a plethora of F-16s it was obvious what I was going to
build. It’s a mix of 1/72 Fujimi and AMT Thunderbirds. The pod is just half a
drop tank, doubled up the intakes and filled with styrene sheet. Wings are
laminated styrene, with brazing rod inside to stiffen them up, just used laquer
thinner to melt the layers together. The design and panel lines were based on
Kfir wings, bit bigger and not perfectly symmetrical but its hard to notice.
L.A.N.T.I.R.N, LST/SCAM, rails and some armament are from the Italeri F18 Wild
weasel kit, the rest from an AMT Eurofighter. I really don't know what the load
is and I know it’s painted "wrong" but MBM. Land Rover is die cast
1/72nd. This was also my first ever try at scratchbuilding/kitbashing and
I'm really pleased with the results and the skills and confidence gained. I also
had a blast doing it which is the most important thing, and pride from a job
well done. But I couldn't have done it without the help and warmth of alot of my
modeling comrades, especially Neil and Evan for guiding me through my ignorance.
Thanks everyone.
Leigh
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