What I do really depends on what I’m after in the final look of the plane. I try for realistic loadouts that won’t detract from the lines of the aircraft itself.
The F-111 is another one of those aircraft that doesn’t look right with empty pylons. I built a Hasegawa F-111 once and the only things Hasegawa put in the kit for stores that were appropriate to the version I was building were four drop tanks. I didn’t have anything in the spares at the time that would work on the plane and I refuse to play Hasegawa’s little game of buying their weapon sets separately so the tanks went on. They look perfectly in place and the shape of them actually compliments the overall shape of the aircraft.
I don’t care for a cluttered looked under the wings of my aircraft, I’m really more of a “less is more” type when it comes to that; I want to see the PLANE through all of that.
I haven’t built an F-16 in years but the last time I did, I found a photo of a Viper (can’t remember the nationality) loaded for some air defence mission profile. It had four AIM-9s , two on the tips and two on the most outboard wing pylons. The other four wing pylons were removed and the only other thing it had on was the centreline tank. I quite liked the look of it; it looked suitably aggressive without looking like a dog’s breakfast with wings.
I take a similar view to the F-5. She looks so much better with less upon her.
Of course, as mentioned before, certain aircraft do just beg to be loaded to the hilt so I make exceptions for things like the A-37, Harrier, Panavia Tornado and such mud movers.
I think the f-5 got lines to die for, but in “Top Gun” in black and two sidewinders, I still think it rocks, it just breaths menace like a fully laden aircraft cant.
As for the the mudmovers, yes load 'em up, they are going out to use them.
No flames from me. The F-5 line is the sexiest family of fighters to come of a post war American drawing board IMHO. From a design aesthetic standpoint she’s perfect in a clean state, hanging stuff off of her just detracts from her.
I like to build aircraft I’ve taken photos of at airshows, & most of the time, they are pretty clean, maybe just external tanks & a travel pod.
Most of my planned builds center around the markings the aircraft carry, ie OIF, Last Cruise… , so the decals are more important to me than the ordnance.
I don’t have a lot of time to model during the course of the year, so I have to keep it simple, so most of the time, its empty pylons for me.