Chinese stealth bomber?

a reply to: cavtrooper7

IIRC, of the two Testors "stealth" models, wasn't the "russian" one the one that caused the biggest uproar in the world of classified aviation because it had so many similarities to existing black world stealth craft of the late 80's?

I mean, it has flat surfaces, elements of faceting, and fuselage chines with hidden intake fans, a YF-23 style empennage and a tacit blue-style engine exhaust.

In a model kit that was sold before even the F-117 went public.

a reply to: Barnalby

There were 3 of them actually.

a reply to: cavtrooper7

The helicopter doesn't count, that one always felt like more of a piece of GI Joe-style military fantasy compared to the "Have/Tacit Blue and Senior Trend described through a game of telephone" grounded realism of the fixed-wing models.

originally posted by: Forensick
The air intakes look too small for a twin engine.

You have to imagine no matter what they steal, your just never going to produce engines like rolls Royce, ge or Pratt and Whitney with over 100 years experience of building hi spec, uber tolerance machines.

If it's anything like the F-35, the front engine fan is actually mounted vertically, so it could hover:

www.defenseindustrydaily.com...

a reply to: Forensick

Look at the B-2 intakes. A bomber doesn't need the larger intakes that fighters do. Their power applications are slower so they have time to spool up.

originally posted by: Forensick
The air intakes look too small for a twin engine.

You have to imagine no matter what they steal, your just never going to produce engines like rolls Royce, ge or Pratt and Whitney with over 100 years experience of building hi spec, uber tolerance machines.

I'm sure there are former employees/people with access to designs from RR, P&W, GE, etc. A lot of the important technology is public domain anyway and it wouldn't take much to reverse engineer this stuff in one of the world's most industrialized nations. Not to mention, there's no trade embargo with China and therefore nothing stopping them from using any of these engines in a production model.
Really that concept doesn't look too impressive to me, looks like a poorly designed B2 replica and as previously stated outboard bombs would make it useless as a stealth bomber. IMO, they had a better design on it's face in the 70's with the Xian H8.

a reply to: NargileEye

There's a lot more to mass producing precision parts with exotic materials than copying the blue prints.

The patent for Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 is no longer protected by law. I have understood for some years now that China was copying the YF-23.

Where does Testor get the info for their models? It seems they always have had some kind of insider source for "close" designs.

a reply to: MystikMushroom



if you knew your life work would never see the light of day(in a public way) you might be so inclined to drop a few hints to model makers.

not saying thats what i would do. but i could see how someone might do this esp, if there is a cash benefit

a reply to: stormbringer1701

a reply to: Barnalby

I wasn't including the "Sting bat" there are 3 models of stealth fighters, 2 are labeled as "F19" The Mig is the FERRET

a reply to: penroc3

I think about that when I look at the old Testors "aurora" model with the carrier plane and the parasite spyplane. At a time when Aurora speculation was focused on something self-contained that resembled the X-30 NASP more than anything else, it seemed a little out of left field for the Testors folks to suddenly make a model of a carrier/parasite aircraft.

Makes me wonder if that was based off of something from one of their sources, especially given all the later rumblings about secret TSTO's and supersonic carrier aircraft launching ISR craft.

originally posted by: cavtrooper7
Kinda looks like a cross that TESTOR'S fake Russian plane and the YF-23
wedmodelfactory.com...

Wouldn't it be something if the fabled F-117 companion craft was actually this design and the model kit identifying it as of Russian origin was deliberately planted disinformation?..

That would be something..

a reply to: clay2 baraka

I'd believe it, wasn't the companion aircraft supposed to be a Northrop product? The "Soviet" Testors plane almost resembles a halfway point between Tacit Blue and the YF-23, with some XST-style slab-sided basic faceting as well.

I could see this craft being based off of leaks from Northrop folks and being the F-117-companion-by-way-of-a-game-of-telephone the same way that the "F-19" design was basically the Have Blue's head-on profile with guesswork to design the rest of the planform.

If I was a betting man I'd go with fan art for this one. It does remind of a YF-23 based proposal for the RAF's defunct FOAS requirement that was floating about around the turn of the century.

I look at this and think. F-111.

It's a really nice looking plane.