F-28 Raven (Revamp) — 4th-gen multirole fighter: VR cockpit, heavy payload, custom weapons, built over 6 years. Imperfect, but my best work. Warranty void if exposed to air.

Hey y'all,

It's been a minute or two (four years, actually).

A lot of things have changed since then, but with simpleplanes 1 seemingly drawing to an end, I figured now's a good time to get this plane out there. It’s far from perfect, but it’s the most complete plane I’ve ever built and I’m proud of it.

Overview

This is my remake of my F-28 Raven.
It is a 4th generation multirole fighter, falling into a similar category to the F-15X (not EX), Su-27/35, and a few others. It’s built for heavy, flexible loadouts and high speed. Although capable of speeds well above Mach 2 in clean condition, typical mission loads (munitions + tanks) usually cap it around Mach ~1.8.
Current loadout (example):
- 8 × AGM-65H
- 6 × GBU-38
- 4 × GBU-12
- 4 × AIM-9X
- 8 × AIM-120D
- 1 × 20 mm M163 rotary cannon
- 3 x External drop tanks
This is intentionally a massive arsenal, maybe excessive, but fun to play with.

What’s improved (vs. the 2019 version)
- Complete revamp of weapons and loadout options
- Functional, detailed VR cockpit
- Higher fidelity flight behavior in many regimes
- Brand new custom landing gear
- Completely reworking fuselage design
- Better wing shaping

Since the original upload in 2019(?), I have looked back on that plane with embarrassment. It was buggy, unrealistic, the custom weapons were bad, and the wings were so, so ungodly huge. So after a small bit of bullying from one of my best buds, @Subneridca, I decided to revamp the aircraft.

I'm being honest here, this isn't a flawless SP build compared to modern crafts. The fuselage work is clunky, it has random mystery control quirks, the G limiter is... sub-optimal, the landing gear doors really don't line up, the rear landing gear bay is nonexistent, and you can sometimes hear random thuds during maneuvers. I’ve spent a lot of time on this over six years, but I don’t currently have the time or motivation to rework these remaining problems. Still, it’s my best work and very playable.

Instructions

AG-1: Jettison air to ground weaponry
AG-2: Tailhook (This is not a carrier based plane, be careful!)
AG-3: Landing parachute
AG-5: Lights
AG-6: Canopy
AG-8: Master Arm
Ignore the boom 50s in the air to ground section

Gallery

A gif showing the Raven from start to finish:

I will be releasing a quest 2(reduced part count), and mobile friendly(Even less parts) version eventually, no ETA on that. 2 seater, maybe. I always thought it would be cool, but another cockpit will be hard. I will be releasing all the custom weapons, though maybe not the paveways, I don't remember how they work.

Credits & Thanks:

• @Subneridca, for the push to revamp this.
• And to everyone else who's helped over the years, it's been a long project, and a lot of people contributed feedback or advice along the way (even if I can't remember every name anymore). This thing has a lot of borrowed systems, XML, and little doo-dads, so if you were involved or spy something you made, please let me know. Thank you all, so much.