In the promod. instructions, it says if you use the centerlne drop tank, don’t use the forward 2 sparrow missles. If i don’t use them, are the spaces they went in supposed to be filled with putty? The instructions don’t say. I doubt that that’s how the realy locators loooked on the real thing.
Thanks, Tankmaster
All you have to do is make sure there are no holes into the fuselage. That’s all.
its up to you but on the F-4E you would have to install the missiles since in combat all the drop tanks were released prior to any air engagement so it would be dumb to have half your missile load during a air battle.
The forward missiles are locked out and can not be tuned or fired if any thing is on the centerline station. If launched they would hit anything on the centerline if ejected. Any aircraft on a air to ground mission, that carried any thing on the centerline did not have the forward stations loaded, only the aft stations. Aircraft on air to air or MIG cap missions would have them loaded on the forward station and would have to jettison the centerline tank before tuning or launching the missiles. The centerline tank would only be loaded for long range strike escort, BUFF escort or deep MIG cap.
Post Vietnam Phantoms did not have the centerline tank loaded if they were standing alert. Very few F-4 carried the centerline tank, unless they had a long flight which required it.
If you are building a VN Phantom and showing it loaded for a MIG cap mission, it would also have ECM pods loaded on the inboard pylons. Usually one ALQ 87 and one ALQ 101 pod, three tanks, four AIM-7’s and four AIM-9’s. The centerline tank would be fed out first, after a tanker hook up, and then jettisoned so the crew could tune and have the fwd missiles ready if needed.
Thanks guys. I appreciate help
One more thing… If I wanted to make it a MiG killer, would it be better to leave the centerline drop tank on or off? And the instructions say not to put both on, but was it accurate in some cases to have both forward sparrows and a centrerline gas bag?
Actually I think I’ll just leave the drop tank off. I want it to have a large armamnet load.