Defense of the Republic of the Philippines

Built 2018.

Used a Chinese f-16 kit (gray) I got on a going out of business sale years ago and an academy mcp T-50 kit (white). I'm pretty sure that a hasegawa kit will also work. looking at the picture below, side by side, the chinese kit looks exactly the same as  the hasegawa F-16 kit.



Started by cutting out the viper’s wheel well and dry fitting them on the geagle, it did require some adjustment but the alignment was pretty good.



Next was taking out the wheel doors on the geagle, modifying the vertical stab by adding the top with rwr and light from the viper. Cut out and swapped the wing tip rails, carved a gun port, put slots on the wings to insert rwr antennas.
 




Mix everything together and…







On the more serious side, there were some challenges and compromises made. A) The paint job was hard to match. The pictures tend to change shade or hue depending on the dominant background. finally settled on a light gray + blue + black mix which I’ll have a hard time duplicating. B) The wheel wells from the viper will fit but are not accurate. C) The pylon / rails for the underwing hardpoints also require modification. This was needed to clear the flaps on the real thing. D) The f-16 undercarriage parts were also used but with modifications. The main wheel actuator on the fa-50 is different from the -16. I used a paperclip with a white plastic sheathing to simulate it. Cut to desired length the paper clip,  then trim down the sheathing and now you have a scaled down actuator. 



E) The -16 decals (from an Italeri kit) were scanned, modified and printed out. In general, they are the same but require repositioning. Tried different printers to match the different shades of gray but kept getting a red / brown tint. Finally settled on a somewhat dark shade of a bluish color. F)  Don’t forget the antennas on the nose wheel door.
Btw, this model is only about 90% done.

The President of the Philippines, in public, threatened to end the vfa in one month if the visa for Dela Rosa is not reinstated. As far as I can tell, the visa was for personal use and therefore has no connection with the senator’s official function. I heard over the radio that the visa was originally given to allow dela rosa to watch paquiao in las vegas. Is the president using his power/ office and therefore, undue influence, for the private benefit of an ally, a friend? Does this fall within article Xl of the Philippine constitution?

if official, it should have been an "A" visa.

From https://uk.usembassy.gov/visas/diplomats-international-organization-nato-employees/:
"Government officials traveling to the United States to perform non-governmental functions of a commercial nature or traveling as tourists require the appropriate H, L or B visa, or if qualified, travel visa free under the Visa Waiver Program; they do not qualify for diplomatic or official visas."

ARTICLE XI
ACCOUNTABILITY OF PUBLIC OFFICERS
Section 2. The President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and the Ombudsman may be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust. All other public officers and employees may be removed from office as provided by law, but not by impeachment.

(please note impeachment is political in nature and i am neutral on this matter. my interest is solely on the legal interpretation)

I may be reading too much between the lines but:

augment - transitive verb: to make greater, more numerous, larger, or more intense.

semantics or are the -50s to remain the prime weapon system for the air force?

Never had the urge to get out of a fully functioning aircraft but for those who do, this might make a for a good training video:
https://theaviationist.com/2019/03/09/really-bad-african-paratroops-demonstrate-every-jump-ramp-error-in-one-jump/

Surprised to see a pic of what looks like a mock up Apollo capsule on the site below. It’s the sixth picture down. Can someone share the story on this one? Thanks!

http://frenzfries.blogspot.com/2014/10/philippine-air-force-aerospace-museum.html

From the same article:

“Korea Aerospace Industries, a South Korean defense firm, developed the Marineon with technological support from Airbus Helicopters, formerly the Eurocopter, which has a contract with Aubert & Duval.

The findings ease the burden on KAI, which seeks to export the Surion.

KAI said it "humbly accepts" the outcome of the probe and promised every effort to prevent such an accident via thorough quality management of its product.”

That the burden is eased somewhat does not fly. As an AS9100 company (as noted on its website http://www.koreaaero.com/english/company/production_capability.asp ), KAI should be well aware of the requirements of controlling their suppliers and, unless directed by the customer / end user, are responsible for ensuring conformance of materials being procured.  My opinion is, there may have been a failure in the quality management system.

(Tied to another topic) I said before that I think the afp still has virtual control of the cms on the frigs being built in korea and this is the area where that control comes from. While the afp cannot dictate what system, Hyundai is contractually obligated to fulfill what was ordered...

btw, the cert on KAIs website has expired.

so why doesn’t the grp go fishing on its own? using the possible purchase of -60s as bait, it would help if the us gov could “lend” a few old h-60 being decomm’d by the us army (these could be from japan or korea), to use as trainers and short term stop gap measure until the new hawks are delivered. when the new ones are all in country, then the grp can, if the us wants, return the old helos. or, to save them the cost of transport and disposal, just let the paf keep them.