Hopefully some of you viper experts can offer advice on my current build.
I’m making an F-16C of the 388th FW, Gulf War era. My first question is did all Block 40 vipers have the stiffener plates (as seen below) in 1991?
My research has not yet turned up any photos with high enough resolution
to tell if they had them or not.
The second question is less vital, but maybe someone has the answer.
It is in regards to the Sidewinder models carried by the F-16s during the
Gulf War. Most F-16s were configured with 4 sidewinder missiles during
the early part of the conflict. After air superiority was acheived, they
started just carrying 2. Both the AIM-9L and AIM-9M were in service by
1991, but can anyone tell me which version the F-16C was most likely to carry?
Based on information I’ve gathered from ARC and f-16.net, no F-16’s had the plates in 1991. Apparently they didn’t begin to appear until 95 or so (give or take a year).
As an ordnanceman in the Marine Corps (currently active) I can state matter of factly that the differences between the AIM-9L and M are 100% irrelevant in any modeling scale. I know this doesn’t specifically answer your question. However, if you’re concerned about the model being accurate, you need not worry about this particular detail.
As the owner and operator of Orion Models, can you tell me how you liked my product?
The best reference image I have seen is this one below (it’s a 388th FW / 4th TFS
bird about to roll out for a DS sortie). Although the image is slightly bit blurry, I
think the stiffeners would still be visible if they were indeed there.
(click to enlarge)
Wow! I just shot an email to you a couple hours ago about your product.
It’s a nice coincidence that you posted in this thread.
Actually I haven’t used your product yet. That image in my first post was
hyperlinked from the review page. Now that you’ve answered my question,
I won’t be needing them, it seems [:P]. But I’m sure to build another viper
in the future, and I will keep you in mind.
