Shipbucket

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay, just had a lot of work, but I will get started on the 3D models this weekend. Given there were only two, I will also include nighthunter entry. It will be a fun challenge to try to extrapolate from the side view only, though I'm sure there will be significant differences between my interpretation and the intended version.

Thanks everyone for your entries!

I've been working on a shipborne fighter-interceptor from the mid 1970s for one of my AUs for a while, and this seems like a pretty good place to put it for now. So far I've completed a three-view for her without camo and carrying a basic long-duration patrol armament, though I plan on drawing more versions with various camo schemes and loadouts and adding them to my entry at some point (if that's allowed).

The fighter is based the V-507 and F-14, with the profile of the former downscaled to the size of the latter, and is meant to perform fleet air defence against enemy maritime strike aircraft, with a major focus on long-range interception thanks to her very powerful nose-mounted radar array and complement of four to six Type 50 LRAAMs. In addition to that she also has a high top speed, good thrust-to weight ratio, and surprisingly manoeuvrable airframe which allows her to effectively combat aircraft that slip though at shorter ranges as well. Some later versions were also upgraded strike-eagle style with larger fuel tanks and advanced sensors and avionics to let her perform ground strike and SEAD missions, though for obvious reasons I won't be posting those here.


Specifications (F-37A1):

Name: Shinden [Magnificent Lightning]
Role: Shipborne air-defence fighter-interceptor
National origin: United States of Akitsukuni
First flight: 16th of June 1971
Introduction: 29th of August 1975
Retired: 1st of May 2029
Produced: 1970 to 1995
Number built: 874

Crew: 2 (Pilot and Weapon Systems Officer)
Length: 18.01 meters overall
Wingspan: 16.57 meters with wings fully extended, 9.05 meters with wings fully swept back
Height: 4.35 meters with gear up, 5.34 meters with gear down
Weight: 17,200 kilograms while empty, 23,600 kilograms at gross weight, 28,600 kilograms at maximum take-off capacity
Powerplant: 2 x Type 115A3 afterburning turbofan engines, each producing 74 kilonewtons of thrust dry to 132 kilonewtons of thrust wet

Max speed: 2,550 kilometres per hour (Mach 2.4) at altitude
Max range: 2,750 kilometres
Combat range: 850 kilometres
Service ceiling: 18 kilometres
G-force limits: 9.5 gee for brief periods
Climb rate: 250 meters per second
Thrust-weight: 0.64 at gross weight while burning dry, 1.14 at gross weight while burning wet

Guns: 1 x 20 millimetre Type 61A2 rotary cannon
Hardpoints: 11 total with a maximum capacity of 6,800 kilograms (1 centreline, 4 under-fuselage (obscured by centreline), 4 under nacelles, and 2 under wing-gloves)
- Missiles: Type 1 AAM, Type 42 AAM, Type 50 LRAAM, Type 99 SOCM
- Bombs: Type 70 unguided iron bombs, Standard series remote-targeted munitions (using other aircraft for guidance), Type 65 and Type 66 special weapons

Even though I never posted about it (yet), I have a personal AU that I have been working on for some time. I decided to take the opportunity this challenge gave me to improve my skills at drawing jet aircrafts, which I did little so far. So I present you with Sweden’s most famous carrier fighter, the FFVS J 36 Näcken.

Background
In 1954, just as Saab’s new Draken fighter was taking off, the Royal Swedish Navy was starting to look for a modern interceptor to replace its navalized Lansens and protect the two new carriers they were planning to build. Early on in the process, Saab proposed the navy a heavily modified version of the J 35, but because of all the extra equipment required by a carrier-borne fighter, the adapted design lacked the key features of the original Draken. Just on paper, it was overweight and it lacked the Draken’s most attractive feature, namely its manoeuvrability.

Unsatisfied, the Swedish navy started looking for a foreign design. But before a choice could be made, FFVS approached the navy with an idea of its own, based around an abandoned design they had previously drafted for a light bomber. The firm had not built a homegrown design since its World War Two great success, the J 22. Instead, FFVS had survived thanks to maintenance contracts and the production of licensed aircrafts like the J 28 (de Havilland Vampire and Sea Vampire) and the T 20 (English Electric Canberra). Nevertheless, their proposition to the navy was deemed interesting and a prototype was ordered. The J 36 Nacken flew for the first time on 2 May 1957 and after a series a successful trials, was ordered into production. Because the new 33,000 tons carriers of the Riksnyckeln-class were yet to be completed, the first deck landing trials took place aboard the 20,000 tons Dristigheten and Gotland until October 1958 when an aircraft was destroyed after a failed landing on Gotland. The crew escaped unscathed, but the trials were suspended until March 1960 when HSwMS Riksnyckeln was ready to receive the aircrafts. At this point, a full squadron of J 36-A was operational.

In 1961 the new B model was introduced, it featured new avionics and was the first variant of the J 36 to accommodate the AIM-9 Sidewinder, known in Swedish service as the Rb 24. With 228 units built, plus 22 conversions from the A model, the J 36-B would be the most-produced version of the Nacken. The aircraft was designed around a pair of Roll Royce Avon turbojet and featured a characteristic high swept-wing. It was manned by a crew of two: the pilot and the radar operator. The latter was in charge of the sophisticated weapon system designed in order to require minimal ground instruction when in flight. The armament consisted of two IR-guided Rb 24 mounted on pylons under the wings and of four SARH Rb 28 (AIM-4F Falcon) in the missiles bay under the fuselage that could also accommodate extra fuel inside of it. When loaded with four missiles, each falcon was mounted on top of each other, separated by a rotary door with two missiles inside and two out. In 1966, the more performant Rb 27 (AIM-26B) was introduced and was adapted to the Nacken.

Designed as an interceptor, and used as a fighter for most of its career, the J 36 would turn out to be a good multirole aircraft. Better in fact in this role than Saab's Draken. The Nacken was manoeuvrable enough, although of course not as much as the Draken, and was supersonic at sea level. At altitude, it could reach Mach 1.8. Swedish Nackens were never fitted with built-in guns but the export variant sold to the Ducth Navy had four ADEN cannons mounted in the missiles bay. Throughout the years, the Nacken acquired a reputation as a reliable and safe aircraft, and although it might not have been cutting-edge, everywhere it went, it always represented a valuable asset.

In the end, 495 Nackens were produced between 1957 and 1971. They served both the Royal Swedish Navy and Air Force (albeit in smaller numbers). J 36 were exported to the Netherlands in 1963 – who later sold 50 of their aircrafts to New Holland – and Spain in 1965. A number of captured former Dutch airframes were also used by the newly-formed Congolese Air Force in the late 1980s. In the Swedish navy, Nackens started to be replaced in the late 1970s and in 1984 the last operational unit was stood down.



General characteristics
Crew: 2
Lenght: 15.07 m (49 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 8.37 m (27 ft 5 in)
Height: 4.13 m (13 ft 8 in)
Empty weight: 29,600 lb
Gross weight: 41,200 lb
Max Takeoff weight: 50,000 lb
Powerplant: two Svenska Flygmotor RM6C (license-build Rolls Royce Avon); 12,700 lbf dry – 17,600 lbf wet

Performance
Max speed: Mach 1.8 at 35,000 ft
Ferry range: 1,782 NM
Combat range: 594 NM
Ceiling: 60,000 ft
Rate of climb: 30,000 ft/min
Thrust-to-weight ratio: 0.85 at gross weight

Armament
Missiles: 2x Rb 24 and 4x Rb 27 AAM or 4x Rb 28
Bombs: up to 12,000 lb

I love it! Thank you Nestor, its a great looking 3d render of my Näcken. The F-37 is also very nice.

Now I guess I'll need to find a way to animate it!

I am unable to draw top views, but here is a poor man's submission: