One of the reasons for creating a new model would be to remap the textures so as to use fewer tiles.
Long ago, when the current model was conceived, we were still limited to texture sizes of 256x256. To increase the detail available to artists, the model was mapped across 12 tiles. Presently, mapping across so many tiles causes inefficiencies in rendering. In addition, the model was created using BSP (binary space partitioning) as F4 did not support z-buffering at the time. BSP tree structure can (and did) wreak havoc with the model tree and also introduces inefficiencies in rendering.
What likely will result is that you may be able to use large areas (wings, tails) of the current textures, but they will have to be “stitched” together onto one tile.
I hope that made sense.
@ZELEGEND:
One humble request:
If you introduce a new F-16 model (from scratch) can you please make sure that the texture mapping is identical to the existing one so we can reuse skins.
