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Hasegawa F-16C Fighting Falcon


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Danny check Wellzy's build - he was trying to build an F-16N Aggressor and that had the GE engine (of a Block 30) and the small intake (of a Block 32). So a GE engine/small intake may be the right combination

Hi Danny

Have a look at Peter W builds he put me right .

wellzy :headphones:

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Cheers Wellzy, will check it out. :)

Got a bit more done of the weekend as my solution turned up Saturday morning, unfortunately haven't got any pics with me at work but will try to get some up later. Spent most of my time though correcting and filling the new intake, nothing to horrific just really bad fit. I'm fast learning that with hasegawa kits it seems to be that 90% of it will fall together with no real effort or correction needed but then there will always be that 1 area that is shocking and a real pain to get right. Well, with the kit I'm using these is that area. <_<

I think this weeks efforts will go towards painting and building the engine. :)

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  • 5 weeks later...

I now realise I've been really bad at keeping this thread up to date :sorry:

This is how we stand after an amount of work last night.

2012-06-26234841.jpg

The next major job on the list is sorting out the undercarriage and getting paint on plastic, then the decal work! :banghead:

I might manage to get this finished by the deadline but it certainly feels like a bit of a climb left.

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Starting to get back on track! Have got a load of painting done today and feel like it's really starting to take shape. :)

But, I'll get to that in a minute, looking back over this thread I thought I better update it to how I actually got to today!

The big issue I had was that the kit was for a small mouth F-16 and the aircraft I wanted to replicate was a wide mouth. After much searching came up with a solution.

Here's my solution!

SAM_1207.jpg

It's the hasegawa boxing of the F-16C thunderbirds :D

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Comes with all the parts needed for the wider intakes but doesn't use them, 2 birds with 1 stone, get another complete kit to add to the stash and the intake bits need for to finish this one.

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Even the eduard FOD covers fits perfectly.

Next up was tinting the canopy and after consulting all the reference photos on the excellent cd that comes with the 2bobs decals I decided on using tamiya's d26 clear orange.

SAM_1210.jpg

My first go was to mix the clear orange with klear which work 'ok' but couldn't get the finish right with a brush and after trying with the airbrush I had to clear it all off and start again. The next go with just clear orange and the finish was much better! Haven't got any pictures of this but you'll see once I take the masks off.

So. fast forward to today and firstly I got the pre-shading complete on the top after getting the underneath and lighter grey areas finished earlier this week.

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Went quite heavy with it to try and get it to show through the darker grey.

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Darker grey areas all sprayed, tried building it up with several thin layers and I'm overall happy with the result apart from possibly going 1 or 2 layer too many as it's wiped out most of the pre-shading!

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Mask's all off and it's starting to look like an ANG F-16.

Next up is work on the undercarriage and getting her standing on her own.

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Cheers mate, really feels like it's coming together now.

Here's a sneak peek from tonight's work.

SAM_1271.jpg

Made a start on the tiger stripe decals, think I'm going to need another bottle of microsol by the end of this, there's over 40 of these and that's without the stencils!

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Aha, looking good bud! I've got a tiger striped Tornado in the stash, in two minds over the decalling process!

Edited by Parabat
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Cheer guys, the smaller and medium size ones are going pretty well but the big ones that stretch across the airframe are really tricky! I cut a couple last night as they just wouldn't sit right, though I'm sure this is more to do with me than the decals!

This is the first time I've used twobobs decals and they are cracking, nice and thin yet will take some pushing and pulling around without snapping, and once microsol has done it's magic they really settle down well in to the fine hasegawa panel lines. :D

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I'm gonna finish this one within the deadline, if it kills me!

Have now finally finished all 50 of the tiger strip decals :hypnotised: and I have to be honest my initial praise of twobobs was possibly a little premature!

I don't doubt for a second that recreating the decals for a scheme like this is an incredibly hard job and the overall look is very good. Initially it was all going well, but once I got to the rear end the fit was found wanting in some places and others just wrong, even when compared to their own decaling guide and even that was wrong when compared to reference pictures. Not miles out but out enough to effect the arrangement of others, personally if I was to do it again I think I would probably have a crack at masking it all out and spraying the stripes on, lol would probably use less paint then I'm gonna need repairing and touching up the decals. :lol:

Anyway, here are the first pictures.

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Next up is fixing the black decals, another coat of klear then the rest of the stencils and trying to get some weathering in. Oh yeah and sort out the undercarriage and stores. This *might* get done in just over a week :bangin:

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This is one of my favorites, since I used to live close to Buckley AFB. It was my first exposure to the A-7D and later, F-16C. I almost became a full time Air National Gaurdsman at Buckley in 98, but ended up staying full time AF.

Nice work, can't wait to see it when done. It's going to stand out in your collection!

I built this one a while back for a friend who retired form Buckley in 2005.

If there's a GE-110 engine in the box and noted in the instructions, the inlet should be the 'big mouth' variant, as, i think i'm right in saying, the small mouth intakes are found on the the jets which have a P&W engine fitted. (i'm no expert though!!)

Those decals are very rare indeed!

Dave

The first few lots of USAF F-16C Block 30 (GE powered) F-16Cs has the NSI (Small mouth) Intake. All USAF F-16C Block 30s from 86-0262 (and 86-0044 for F-16Ds) on up, have the large(MCID) intake. All Pratt powered F-16s (with the Exception of VISTA when it has the Pratt-229), have the NSI/Cmall Mouth Intake.

The Colorado Block 30s are mostly 87 models, which means "Big Mouth" Intake for this particular subject. The Eduard FOD/Intake plugs pictured, are designed for the MCID/Big Mouth Intakes.

I remeber helping Bob out with that sheet and a couple of other F-16 decal sheets he had going around the same time period. A special decal sheet for me, since I lived a couple miles from Buckley AFB when I was in High School.

Danny check Wellzy's build - he was trying to build an F-16N Aggressor and that had the GE engine (of a Block 30) and the small intake (of a Block 32). So a GE engine/small intake may be the right combination

Not for this Colorado "TMOTA" Block 30; see my reply above this one.

Mike V

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Can't wait to see this one finished either! Am holding back another build to get this one complete before the deadline! :lol:

Thanks for comments Mike, coming from you I'm really honoured as if there is anyone that knows F-16 it's yourself! :)

The only thing I'm missing is the 'beer cans' on the leading edge of each wing, the thunderbird boxing does have them but they are needed as seeing as I plan to build it one day I left them there.

Here's the latest picture. Finally on her own 3 wheels.

IMAG0012.jpg

Started the stencil decals last night, just have to paint the nose gear door, finish the single ordnance and the fuel tanks, then weather and finish with a matt coat. The list is getting smaller lol :lol:

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Cheers guys, finally finished the marathon job that is the decaling on this one!

Here's 3 pictures from tonight.

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This is after a coat of klear so looking a bit on the shiny side! Plan tomorrow is to get the weathering done using a flory wash once the klear has dried and add a matt coat. Then it's just get the last of the bits attached, take mask off the canopy praying that no paint has run, and then call it under the wire.

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Cheers Nimrod, yeah the decals are pretty thin but nothing that's unmanageable. This is only my 3rd model and as such I would count myself as a novice, and I handled these OK, the placement was probably the trickiest thing and once I got the stencils on it became apparent how far out I was in place. As long as I kept them nice and wet then I could move them around as much as I needed to.

Well, I'm now calling this finished! Though it wasn't without it's last minute disasters. My initial plan was to display this with the canopy down as per most of the reference pictures I've got but after finally taking the masking tape off the canopy that became apparent that wasn't gonna happen!

Took the tape off and I was met with this.

SAM_1290.jpg

Not sure what's happened but before it went down the canopy was lovely and clear. I had used a polish to get the last of the sanding marks out and I wonder if there was a reaction between the that and the zap. I had put a very light coat of klear on there before polishing but after klear had reacted on my previous F-16 I was reluctant to use to much. :(

So change of plan and grab the canopy stay. I have rebuffed the canopy and it has taken out some of the marks but it's not as good as it was. But, at least now with the canopy up you can see the great cockpit detail from the eduard zoom set!

All finished off with a coat of humbrol matt cote and with everything in place.

SAM_1314.jpg

Overall I'm really pleased with this one and next to the f-14 I did at the start of the year my techniques have come a long way! :)

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Cheers mate, now it's finished I'm actually quite happy with the finish :lol:

Yeah only my 3rd model but to be honest I consider it a bit more 'standing on the shoulders of giants' than skills I've learnt and taught myself. I follow as many builds as I can and pick up those great tips and tricks that others use to far greater affect than I ever could!

Before I started I never knew you could get aftermarket decals and didn't have a glue what photo-etch or resins extras were, let alone what can be done with different washes and I'm still learning every time I log on to this place! :lol:

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