Relieved there is a naval big-nosed Phantom in the mix.
That said, I'd say indexing expected unit sales based solely upon how widely exported the real world model is simplistic and naïve. The following that American naval aircraft have in flight sims, for who knows what reason, a following far out of proportion to national boundaries. May sound a bit ethno-centric, and I'm a fiercely patriotic ex-Canadian Forces man - so this is not merely some Yankee waving the stars and stripes (no disrespect to my US friends).
It's a fact that post-war naval aviation is a very interesting sim experience, and the US's naval air arm was clearly the major global player during this period, and that's where a good percentage of the naval air interest lies, and with it, the repaint interest. The facts are borne out when looking at how Virtavia's A-4, Razbam's A-7s have been repainted - to say nothing of the repaint focus for the original Alphasim FS9 payware F-4.
Looking at it a different way, and focusing away from the naval variants - compare the C9 and the aforementioned Alphasim F-4s. Clearly, the C9 was more finely modeled, better textured, and just an all-round nicer model than the AS F-4. Yet I guarantee the latter outsold the C9 by at least 4:1. Why? the breadth of models, and the repaint potential that tapped into some pretty committed sim preferences.
I know - modeling, XML coding is complex - I get that. That said, I'll bet you'll get more bang for buck with more models than just a couple with full TacPac. TacPac'ers are gonna hate me, but that's ok. Even, as is planned, if the VCs are shared between the models, MV has an opportunity to do in 2014 with the Phantom what AS did in 2005 with their Phantom. Forgoing the C/D and RF models will leave money on the table far out of proportion to the modeling effort for those exterior models.
Glad the S appears to be in the mix. Even then, I'll only consider buying once it's fully available - none of this "buy now, maybe get it later" nonsense. The decision to buy unreservedly is a matter of at least some of those additional models. If my buyer's regret over the MV F-86 is anything to go by, (assuaged only by Gradyhappy's Fury repaints ) I'll proceed with caution. A Fury, or a D or K would have guaranteed it'd get flown 10 times more than it does, notwithstanding how lovely a model it is ... see a pattern, btw??)
Meanwhile, while MV wrings its hands over the obvious, I'm enjoying the current Iris, AS, and C9 models. Big bonus: it's good motorcycling weather ...
dl