F/A-18C Loadout + Kinetic kit angst

Started by Wes Pennest · 2 · 6 years ago · amraam, f/a-18c, gbu-12, gbu-38, hornet, loadout, navy, sidewinder
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    Wes Pennest said 6 years, 9 months ago:

    So I'm working through the Kinetic F/A-18C and it's time for the loadout. Their instructions for this matter are, well, terrible. You get a bunch of sprues with a bunch of stuff that goes boom, but very little in the way of assembly instructions. You get a Dual Ejector Rack (DER) but no indication about how it's supposed to be mounted. You get all sorts of pods, but they're labeled wrong, and the Sniper XR pod is only used on Canadian Hornets. The instructions tell you that you can mount AMRAAMs and Sidewinders on the DERs, but pictures [1][2] clearly show a different type of DER for missiles. You get rails for the missiles, but no indication as to which rail goes to which missile. You get a sprue with Sparrows and their own separate pylons, but again, no instructions on how to use them.

    So, what I'd like to hang from my USN Hornet looks like this:
    Station 1: Sidewinder
    Station 2: DER x 2 GBU-38
    Station 3: GBU-12
    Station 4: empty
    Station 5: Fuel Tank
    Station 6: AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR (erroneously labeled AN/AAS-38)
    Station 7: GBU-12
    Station 8: DER x 2 AMRAAM
    Station 9: Sidewinder

    I don't think I can do this with the kit supplied parts because I don't see anything that can be used for the AMRAAM DER. So my questions to you are thus:
    -Can AMRAAMs be carried on DERs without rails?
    -Are there parts in the Kinetic F/A-18C kit for railed DERs?
    -Is this loadout more-or-less realistic?

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Boris Rakic said 6 years, 9 months ago:

    Wes,

    to answer your question at least in part: no, AMRAAM's cannot be launched from DER's. There is a specific pylon/rail combination needed for your planned loadout, consisting of a LAU-115 pylon with two LAU-127 rails, to which the missiles are attached. I cannot tell you wether these parts are included in the Kinetic kit, as I don't have it (note to self: increase stash once again...) - I attached an image of a resin aftermarket set, you might want to check if your kit includes any parts resmbling what you see here.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.