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After losing the
Lightweight Fighter Competition to Northrop's F-17 Cobra, General Dynamics
modified the YF-16 design to incorporate a larger delta wing optimized for
weapons carriage, rather than dogfighting, in hopes that the F-16 would
still achieve export sales as a multi-role fighter.
The resulting F-16A first flew in 1977, and was soon seeing orders from a
number of air forces, including the Canadian Armed Forces.
In Canadian service the F-16 Viper served primarily in Europe until the
early 1990s. This particular CF-16 was based at CFB Baden-Soellingen in
1984. It carries a single NATO B61 tactical nuclear weapon on the left
outer pylon, with a AN/ALQ-131 jamming pod on the right outboard, with
external fuel tanks on the inboards and AIM-9L sidewinders on the wingtip
stations.
This load was carried by four CF-16s during the October 1984 nuclear scare
when East German troops appeared to be beginning a large-scale assault
through the Fulda Gap. Fortunately this scare was a false alarm, and with
the thawing of East-West relations in the late 1980s, the CF-16 would soon
relinquish its nuclear role.
Click on
images below to see larger images
This
build started with an old Fujimi F-16, built around 1992 that was at the
bottom of the old kit box. I started out thinking of turning it into
a 1/48 UCAV, but after finding a set of Rafale wings in the spare parts
box that fit very nicely I decided to keep it a 1/72 manned (or
'inhabited' to stay PC) fighter. The Rafale wings were blended in
with Milliput and Squadron Green putty. The new design was screaming
out for a twin-tail, so a cheap AMT F-18 kit donated its tail to the
cause.
The paint scheme is purely
'what if' and was painted entirely with spray cans. The camo colors
are Tamiya Haze Gray and Olive Drab II and Model Master SAC Bomber Green.
The camo was masked with Blu-Tac putty shaped with a section of sprue
shaped to a chisel-point.
Weapons fit is an ECM pod
from a Hasegawa Weapons Set and a B-61 nuke from the Testors NATO Weapons
Set. The CAF markings came from Hasegawa and Italeri F-18 kits.
The other markings are from the spare stash.
Nick
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