It’s a military jet trainer and it looks beautiful!

If someone makes a good quality F-16 for MSFS that'll be my ultimate VFP/sightseeing plane. The view from the its cockpit is just spectacularly open and clean. 

Edited September 17, 20205 yr by FlyIce

Awesome. I do prefer a bit slower...hoping for the bubble canopy view from the OV10

Trouble is, MS won't allow any aeroplanes on the sim's built-in marketplace with weaponry depicted on them. I presume this would exclude the F-16 since it has an internal cannon, the OV-10 did originally have weaponry but it was operated by several civilian organisations as well with the weaponry removed, so I guess that would be more feasible since there are real ones with no weapons on board.

Nothing to stop anyone selling MSFS-compatible models with weaponry via their own website or other stores of course, or even doing (where possible) two variants, one armed and the other unarmed for sale at the different outlets, but it is easier from a development point of view to just make something which is unarmed and take advantage of the exposure the MS store confers. Not sure how that rule works for Steam though; it might potentially make Steam a good place to sell add-ons if the rule about armed stuff for MSFS doesn't apply there.

All of this is certainly one of the reasons why the developer went for modeling the Aermacchi M-346 Master instead of the Yakovlev Yak-130, both aeroplanes having initially been part of a joint development programme before splitting off into separate projects, which accounts for why they look very similar despite the Yak doubling as a light attack aeroplane, as well as a trainer whereas the M-346 has no combat capability except - at a push - possibly for unarmed reconnaissance missions since it does have a pretty good range and it can shift a bit at low level.

4 minutes ago, Chock said:

Trouble is, MS won't allow any aeroplanes on the sim's built-in marketplace with weaponry depicted on them. I presume this would exclude the F-16 since it has an internal cannon

You could technically have an F-16. Although they can be made combat-ready in 72 hours, the Thunderbird display team's aircraft have their cannon replaced with a smoke generator, so a Thunderbirds-liveried F-16 wouldn't be breaking the rule. Technically. Presumably the same would apply for most fighting aircraft used by display teams around the world.

 

Just now, 109Sqn said:

You could technically have an F-16. Although they can be made combat-ready in 72 hours, the Thunderbird display team's aircraft have their cannon replaced with a smoke generator, so a Thunderbirds-liveried F-16 wouldn't be breaking the rule. Technically. Presumably the same would apply for most fighting aircraft used by display teams around the world.

 

Yeah, that's true. But then you'd probably only be able to include one livery - or several virtually identical ones if you include the whole lot of individual Thunderbirds airframe lol - which is a minus point from a sales standpoint - albeit one which repainters could solve fairly quickly - even though the TB's livery is admittedly fantastic and certainly the best display team livery of all.

3 minutes ago, Chock said:

Yeah, that's true. But then you'd probably only be able to include one livery - or several virtually identical ones if you include the whole lot of individual Thunderbirds airframe lol - which is a minus point from a sales standpoint - albeit one which repainters could solve fairly quickly - even though the TB's livery is admittedly fantastic and certainly the best display team livery of all.

Perhaps NASA has finally replaced their Talons with F-16's?  Wishful thinking on my part maybe.

I guess an F-16 dev could conceivably "plate over" the internal cannon port(s) on their model.

That Aermacchi looks like the result of an Alpha Jet getting jiggy with an F-18... 

BTW it's not a bad looking jet IMO!

20 hours ago, Chock said:

Trouble is, MS won't allow any aeroplanes on the sim's built-in marketplace with weaponry depicted on them.

Maybe not...but I know in my default 172, they managed to get my trusty Glock in the seat next to me.

I feel much safer knowing I'm not gonna' get plane-jacked at 3000 feet. 🙂

 

Is that a 17 with a tactical rail under the barrel?  Looks a little long to be a 19...