That will not be an issue when Mark remakes them. They will most likely use the same system of having all external loads available for all models as he did with the Mirage III/5 series (except those not historically correct -- I'll push hard on that). Or he could just give them all wings tanks and inner pylons and be done with it -- that's certainly historically accurate. Not very interesting though. Along side the Mirage, the F-4 is my favorite so I'll make all 40 years of research materials I have available to help get it right.
:ernae:
As I said I don't mean to bitch about it, the man clearly has more talent than I at producing FS models!
I was at Wattisham between 1989 and 1993, and as you rightly point out, the standard day to day FGR.2 loadout was two fletcher tanks and the AIM-9 pylons/rails. This is a good loadout for FS as it's a non-combat sim anyway!
The F-4J(UK) standard loadout was different though, carrying just a centreline tank along with the usual inner wing pylons/rails. The fletchers were generally only carried for detachments to Cyprus, Deci etc, though very occasionally they were carried at other times. The F-4J(UK) stencils will need looking at too as they were non-standard markings applied at San Diego in 1984, and were the same colour as the undersides. The only exceptions were Q, O, and R which by 1988 had all gone through major overhaul at RAF St Athans, so along with standard RAF Barley grey paint, they had standard FGR.2 stencilling applied too.
As I remember, UK QRA loadouts rarely saw the gun attached. As the Phantom was a fuel hog, the centreline tanks were often fitted instead. I'm sure Dave H can correct me if I'm wrong!
The Falklands FGR.2's nearly always operated with a full live weapons fit (yellow banding on the missiles) including the Suu-23 cannon pod.
You're pretty safe going for the standard day to day fit, full weapons with gun, full weapons with centre tank, and an APC loadout of inner pylons/rails and the gun. I think those would cover all the bases.
The other item that needs addressing is the HUD. The Phantom had a steam driven cockpit, so the HUD was extremely basic. Cloud 9 got this absolutely spot on, as it's nothing more than a simple "pipper". Our pilots would've dreamed of having the complex spread of information seen on the Alpha FGR.2/F-4J(UK) HUD!
The overall model looks great though, and seems to be slightly more accurate than the IRIS version, so if these issues could be addressed then I'll definately have one, especially as there's a nice Phantom era Wattisham scenery coming along in the future, and Akrotiri too!
Here the corrected 1988 Tiger Meet jet, the standard squadron markings on the fwd fuselage have been applied, and the ejection warning triangles etc are the proper grey colour rather than red/white. The aircraft flew out to Cameri in Italy in 1988 for the annual Tiger Meet, and the immulsion paint for the tiger artwork on the nose and tail was obtained locally and painted on in Italy by 74's ground crews. Sadly the artwork never made it back to the UK as it was washed off in a rain storm on the way home.
