I prefer to build them with all that extra baggage because it just makes the subject that much more interesting in my opinion.

Well they don't land armed, so there's no reason to arm them until they are ready to go.

That's how I do it too, looks cool and I hate not using parts I paid for...

Generally an aircraft would have just tanks mounted for regular flight training missions.  Most bases are not close to operating ranges where they can drop ordnance so the units have to go TDY to be able to practice with simulated or live stuff.  It costs alot of money to drop stuff now a days so they only do it during training exercises like Red Flag and Red Flag-Alaska.

Most times I decide by how I'm going to display it.  I started out building them ready to go, but I have slowly built less and less ordinance.  

Answer snipped out via edit

I mixed up "street words" with actual military terms,,,,,,so, I treated "bombed up" as "ready to go" instead of "loaded with every nook and cranny shoved full of bombs on a model"

I am going back to the old answer on forums,,,,,,,"It is your model, so build it the way you want",,,,,,,it is faster to type than giving info about "alert five" and "range to target", etc

Rex, who is going to save a lot of time by not typing out answers to forum posts

It boils down to a matter of personal preference.  What do YOU like?  Combat capable aircraft can be totally clean of external ordnance, have just tanks or a full load of things that go bang.  All are equally "realistic".

Darwin

I like mine looking like they are ready to take off and put some hurt on the enemy... Ordnance onboard, and either a pilot in the seat, it the cockpit ready for him/them. I prefer building wartime birds anyways. That's when most of the history is made.

For what its worth, I've been told that fighters rarely fly with the maximum load of weapons.

Examples:

1. The F-14 almost never went aloft with 6 Phoenix because of weight restrictions. The Turkey could only land on with four Phoenix. The F-14 with six would have to drop two into the drink or divert to a land base.

2. The usual C.A.P. load out for a F-14 was 2 AIM-54, 2 AIM-7, and 2 AIM-9.

3. Many fighters are a bit short of internal fuel. Most fly with drop tanks.

4. With the introduction of JDAMS and smart munitions the number of bombs on aircraft has shrunk.  

I agree with most in saying it is builder's choice.  It is similar to the question of whether to weather or not.

My personal preference is to go the realistic route.  Was at a contest last week where there was a B-17 with a long string of mission "bombs" displayed.  Yet the plane was pristine finish.  Personally I would either have not included the mission marks or else weathered the plane extensively.

Other genres face the same question.  Many of the wooden (expensive) sailing ship models give you attractive fancy wood for the planking. If it were an eighteenth or nineteenth century ship it would have been, in reality painted over most of the hull.  But many modelers do not paint the kits, they finish them in gloss varnish to show off the woods.  So it is a question of art versus accuracy.

With the availability of Aftermarket weapons in most of the main aircraft model scales, it becomes fun to research loadouts and build the subject accordingly. At least for me it is. Gong online and thru books sifting thru photos to see a particular aircraft, occasionally in the markings of choice, and seeing how she was loaded up. I have built more than a few by that route.

Stationed at Cherry Point back in the mid-80s to mid-90s, the A-4Ms & Harriers never had ordnance loaded unless they were getting ready to go on a training sortie, and even then they were usually the blue 25lb training bombs. Fuel tanks, on the other hand, seemed to be almost always present on the wings, and sometimes the 30mm cannon were in place on the bellies of the Harriers. But, as has been said in the previous replies on this thread, it's your model. Build it how you wanna!

Dunno, they just look cooler all loaded up though so I generally hang something off them even if just a drop tank or three.

As SP said you might check on what type of loadout you're aiming for- aka ground attack or air to air and equip accordingly instead of just going with a horge-porge  of different ordinance.

I haven't decided yet

It really depends on the look you are going for, and how accurate you want to be.  If you don't care about accuracy (I don't always) then make it look how you want it to look.

Most modern aircraft do not carry ordnance on training missions.  Keep in mind that once you reach a certain point, weight you add in ordnance means a decrease in fuel, so there's a tradeoff there.  

If you are doing a base, that is also important.  On land, you are unlikely to see a max ordnance load on a Navy aircraft, even for a training mission.  At sea, the Navy doesn't arm aircraft until right before they launch (this is a result of the Forrestal fire during Vietnam).  Also, Navy aircraft may have to jettison ordnance to get their overall weight down to a certain point for the "crash" landing at the end.  

Your best bet is to make friends with someone who flew the aircraft and has an idea what the loadouts would be, I've actually used my dad (retired A-7/F/A-18C pilot) for a few models, I've also used buddies of mine in the service to ask about their aircraft and airwing complements.  

If all else fails, find a picture online of a loadout you like and copy it!

Groot

When I built modern jets kits, I like to build them packing heat... lots of heat with different armaments.

TarnShip

Answer snipped out via edit

I mixed up "street words" with actual military terms,,,,,,so, I treated "bombed up" as "ready to go" instead of "loaded with every nook and cranny shoved full of bombs on a model"

I am going back to the old answer on forums,,,,,,,"It is your model, so build it the way you want",,,,,,,it is faster to type than giving info about "alert five" and "range to target", etc

Rex, who is going to save a lot of time by not typing out answers to forum posts

As far as that is concerned, I've done that a few times with 1/32 scale and 1/48 but not with anything smaller. A plane ready for a walk around is a nice topic. If I did it again I'd make all the pull tabs from the ground crew from some sort of thin vinyl rather than decal strips because they always fell apart after a year or so.

Ordnances are one of the neglected parts in a model aircraft. Most come in halves that do not even match (the lines of a half do not match the other side) some manufacturers do not even bother to include decals.

Depends,sometimes I want to see the clean lines of the A/C while sometimes I want to add more interest

Go grab a Hasagawa bomb set if you want some bombs for your planes, they come with all the decals and markings.  I haven't seen ordinance kits for non-US aircraft very often. Many of the Hasagawa sets include weapons for JASDF, but I've only seen two DML spare bomb and missile kits for the USSR ever and I think Italeri has a bomb set for ww2 luftwaffe.  That's it.

there are a couple dozen different sets in all in 1/72 scale

www.scalemates.com/search.php

note, you have to scroll through to pick out the sets from the packs of one type, but, everything from US, UK, French, USSR, NATO, JMSDF,,,etc, etc is available,,,,,,,note that there are more sets than what is on that list

the 1:48 list

www.scalemates.com/search.php

I have no idea how complete this listing is, I only accumulate 1/72 in my stash

Rex

@TarnShip

BZ perfect.

one warning I forgot to add

some of that stuff is OOP, but, up until 3 years ago you could still get things like the Heller injected and photo etched weapons sets at their outlet store in Illinois

Certain kits also come with lots of extra ordnance as well. Academy's new 1/48 Phantoms come with most of the Sidewinder family: AIM -9B, 9D, 9J, & 9L... Eduard's 1/48 Mig-21s come with enough bombs and missiles for several Mig-21s. Do some research before you buy a kit and you can fill out your spares bin ;-)

I'm a bit boring, so I prefer naked.......

Whatever I feel like, though a fighter with a full air to air load always catches my eye! Much sexier than rearranging the dirt!

I must admit- I like to have jets loaded for bear.  Building the old Monogram A-10 Warthog at the moment- so I am knee deep in ordnance.

Modern fighters and tactical aircraft almost always have drop tanks installed.  They're always used so, they're always there.  You will rarely to never see live weapons on the ramp.

I like building my planes "in-flight" so naturally most of them will have drop tanks and bombs. The exception to this was my Italeri Eurofighter in 1/72. The model was of on of the pre-production models and thus i did not feel right putting missiles on it which came in the kit.