Talos

Craig, that is one beautiful bird you're building. Great work, she's going to be a blast to fly. Hmm, as far as names go, maybe Swift?

Based on his WiP building shot on this page, he is going to have wingtip rails. http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showt...27669&st=40

No matter what she ends up being named, she's looking great! Good job on the plane so far.

I think triple racks for AMRAAMs on the wings would be a good idea for the armament, leaving most of the fuselage hardpoints open from ground attack munitions. Four triple racks of AIM-120s was a possible loadout on the VF-0 Phoenix after all.

She's looking good, I'm liking what you're doing with it. I'm definitely going to have to draw my own interpretation of the design since you've inspired me. Anyway, this was the nozzle I was talking about, actually. http://www.jsf.mil/images/gallery/sdd/f135/sdd_f135_001.jpg Hmm, EF-111....

That plane's looking sierra-hotel. Keep it up! Have you considering using LOAN nozzles like on the F-35?

Glad I could help with the cockpit. I'll keep looking through my lineart archives and see what else I can find. I have some of the second seat installation as well if you want to do a version with that installed too. Most of the missiles used with the YF-19 are shown on this page. http://www.mahq.net/mecha/macross/plus/yf-19.htm What's not shown on that page is the pallets in the leg missiles bays that can carry different missiles instead of the mini-missile installation. Here are the missiles that the VF-19 Custom carried in that lineart I posted earlier. http://www.new-un-spacy.com/macross7/vf-19...tom-missile.gif

Those are the weapons for the VF-1 Valkyrie, actually. The YF-19 used a GU-15 gunpod and different missiles. Where is that from? I've never seen that diagram before. @Grinch I found this lineart diagram in my archives, it shows where the pilot's head should be in relation to the cockpit. It also shows how the two canopy parts hinge and how the aft canopy and seat can be ejected separately. The center-right image shows the interior of the cockpit and how deep it is below the seat, as well as the angle the seat is tilted back.

I checked the numbers in a couple of canon sources and Isamu Dyson's height is listed as 183 cm or just about 6' even. The YF-19 is officially supposed to be 18.62m long, 14.87m wide, and 3.94m tall. From the picture you posted, what is visible of the pilot from the outside looks nearly right, though the pilot looks a bit too big in comparison to the plane. The cockpit in the YF-19 had a very low floor because of the view system in the floor, the pilot's feet rested on the rudder pedals. I'll try to get some screenshots and lineart later to help check things out. You're not kidding about the underestimates of space needed, FastCargo. In the final episodes of Macross Plus they install a second seat in that space behind the pilot with a full ejection seat and panel. EDIT: Looking superb so far!

Yeah, I agree, weapons can wait until you get it running in game on some level. It might be as simple a matter as a typo that's preventing the plane from showing up ingame. I can take a look at the data files if you still can't get it to work. I've been experimenting with laser-guided rockets (I've almost finished the .ini's for the APKWS, but I don't have a model for it), and that might be a possibility. I'll have to mess with IIR guidance and offset launch angles, see if I can get a real Itano Circus going.

Well, you got me watching Macross Plus again for the first time in months since this model is so excellent. I checked and you were right, the large missile was launched from the FAST packs. I scanned a lineart of the mini-missile bays from Basara's custom VF-19 Fire Valkyrie from Macross 7, but they should be the same on the YF-19. They'd be angled downwards in this case, but a decent Itano circus with them would be awesome to see. I'll have to experiment with that later this afternoon. The only problem with an IRST like that (even though it looks pretty cool), is that the cockpit on the YF-19 tilts forward there, so it'd get in the way. Sounds like a good plan with the pylons, that's a sensible setup.

Landing gear is looking awesome! Are you going to install the missile bays above the landing gear areas that the original had? The YF-19 carried one large missile in each one (perhaps AIM-54C could work), and the VF-19s carried multiple small missiles (a custom model would probably be needed, I could work out the weapondata.ini work for it). Hmm, I wonder if it would be possible to replicate being able to see through the floor and lower walls of the YF-19's cockpit in Macross Plus and 7. That would be a great effect. @dast54 Thanks, dast. I haven't worked on it in awhile, but I had started a top view of the F-27C. The fuselage is a modified F-15E, as is the horizontal tail. The new engines and vertical tail are based on the F-22's and the forward fuselage, canards, and wings are sourced and modded from the VF-11B. I'm going to put in LOAN nozzles based on the F-35's soon, likely.

You're mostly right on the composition of the real-world X-29s except for a small quibble about the source of the forward fuselages. The first X-29A (82-0003) used an ex-Air Force F-5A forward fuselage, 63-8372. The second (82-0049) used an ex-Norwegian Air Force F-5A, 65-10573 (the fuselage of this plane was later mated with the nose of an ex-NASA T-38 and used as a civilian aircraft, N38NX). The main landing gear from the F-16A differed only that it had slightly thinner tires since the X-29A didn't have a rough-field requirement. A production F-29A would have the normal F-16 tires though, I would imagine. Great idea on using a -402 for the engine.

I had originally gone with Peregrine for the F-31A I drew, but I changed my mind based on someone's suggestion and have decided to use "F-31A Sparrowhawk" with my drawing. Kestrel was used by the XV-6A Kestrels used in the Tripartite squadron the US participated in.

You're welcome, dude. Let me know if there's anything else you need.

Here you go: Cockpit references Landing Gear references And, just because I can, some of my plane drawings that incorporate a lot of Macross elements and components.

Looking good, Grinch. I've always loved the Alpha One. I guess I should finish up my UN forces (Spacey, AF, Navy, Marines) decals and post them. I'll look in my copy of Kawamori's Design Works book. It should have cockpit design drawings for the YF-19 and I'll get some scans for you.

I don't know if this will help, but I scanned these two pictures out of my copy of the S-S F-4C/F-4D/RF-4C in Detail and Scale book. It shows the AN/ALR-69(V)2 antennas mounted on the housing under the F-4D's radome and should help figure the dimensions and proportions better. I absolutely love mods like this for these aircraft, keep up the awesome work!

There was a Meteor released with the JAS-39C, I think. I used it's weapondata to make a second Meteor with this model named "Meteor II" just to tell them apart. In the SSOTM thread I posted a test pic that showed the two models side-by-side on the Gripen.

I love hearing stories like this, they are extremely interesting. There's a retired 2-star who attends the church I go to and I talk with him a lot about being an F-105 pilot with the 92nd in Vietnam. I've been fascinated with this thread and hearing the voice of a real-life Phantom Phlyer. Something I've always wondered was how the different models compared overall in terms of flight performance and characteristics, especially between the Air Force models and Navy models overall.

The first one I played was a friend's copy of Jane's US Navy Fighters '97, and then I played Jane's ATF frequently when I lived with my grandparents after getting evacuated from Saudi Arabia. The first one I owned was Jane's ATF Gold, and I still have it, as well as IAF.

Hmm, good point, Gunrunner. Though I still like Lynx (and will keep using it for my F-29 profiles and designs), how about something like Ocelot? Doubly agree with you about Razor. It doesn't fit USAF naming conventions at all and does sound pretty lame.

That is true that Lynx is used by an allied helicopter too, but so is Tiger (as in F-5E Tiger II and the Eurocopter Tiger). Both are in service in allied nations at the same time, so there is a precedent for it.

Thanks a bunch, Dels, I'll more then likely go with something like this on mine. You have almost the exact pylon arrangement that I was thinking about, nice to see that it'll fit under the wing. Keep up the awesome work!

I'm definitely voting for Lynx, since it's what I'm using for my own F-29 project. After all, Tiger is a helicopter too.