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Reclaiming a 30 year old F-16 kit 1/72 as a Boneyard relic


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I recently got a craze to reclaim some of my old kits. Thinking they were nice once upon a time and now maybe just touch them up a bit to make them better after 30 years of dust collecting. However I realized quite fast that buying a new kit is the easier way to go. But I decided to continue with at least one old kit just for the complete experience for maybe sometime in the future when I would have to get a 2nd hand kit like the special hobby U-2S in 1/72 (Which I REALLY want! hint hint )

 

I started cleaning up a Heller S32 Lansen, Airfix Mosquito NF.IV, ESCI F-4E and a Italeri F-16A . The details were all crap and it wasn't really worth the effort. So trying to come up with something to do with them I got the idea to make them in AMARG relics, aka the boneyard in Arizona. There are plenty of F-16A pictures online to choose from, many very interesting IMO. I think I enjoyed researching about the subject much more than the actual hands on  work.

 

I will try to write a better post in the future on how aircraft's are prepared, stored, parts reclaimed and how all that effects us as model builders. As an example the protective spraylat that covers the aircraft's would be more and more removed and ripped the longer an aircraft stays in storage..

This is similar to what I want to do. My F-16 will have wings and canopy, most of the top covered in spraylat, engine and elevators missing, standing on its wheels, no wingdroptanks, maybe centerline droptank (haven't decided yet),:

ads.jpg?m=1371895059 
Photo from http://www.f-16.net/g3/f-16-photos/album38/album128/ads  [Photo by Phillip Kovaric]

 

\\Dan

Edited by Zippo the Zipdrive
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Subject at hand 1/72 Italeri F-16A finished 30 years ago as FSD article no 5 (?) if memory serves me correct.

Before:

Top

Falcon_X_03.jpg

underside

Falcon_X_02.jpg

 

Edited by Zippo the Zipdrive
photobucket problems. switched to postimg.org
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I let it soak in Isopropyl alcohol for 24 hours and the old paint was easily sanded. It's rather messy, but the kit turns out smooth. I forgot to photograph it. To show you what it looked like here is my 35 year old Lansen kit:

Lansen_05.jpg

 

Lansen_05.jpg

 

Cleaned and filler added:

Falcon_Z_14.jpg
Falcon_Z_14.jpg

Falcon_Z_18.jpg

Falcon_Z_18.jpg

 

Edited by Zippo the Zipdrive
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Pretty bad fit for the exhaust even with filler so I decided to remove it since some boneyard F-16s are missing their engines. I also wanted to keep the Block 10 elevators for kitbashing so I removed the aswell.

Falcon_Z_13.jpg

Falcon_Z_13.jpg

Edited by Zippo the Zipdrive
photobucket problems. switched to postimg.org
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Rescribed the panel lines that would not be covered with spraylat and added some detail to the wheelwells. The nose gear strut was at an incorrect angle so I gently but firmly applied force to it until the old crappy glue let go.

Falcon_Z_19.jpg

Falcon_Z_19.jpg

 

Right now I am trying to figure out how and what to do with the wheels and struts...

Edited by Zippo the Zipdrive
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Interesting idea!  It looks like the legs are off the example in the heading photo, with the carcass supported on stands at either end.  It also looks like some of the fuselage skins have been removed around the intake, but every example in the boneyard will be different as they are robbed of parts to keep others flying.

 

I have the incredibly horrible Merlin Models kit of the TSR 2 lurking malevolently in the loft which I've always considered fit only to be used as the subject of a "Project Cancelled" diorama (or a source of "plastic soup"); you might just have prompted a resurrection of the idea!

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9 hours ago, stever219 said:

Interesting idea!  It looks like the legs are off the example in the heading photo, with the carcass supported on stands at either end.  It also looks like some of the fuselage skins have been removed around the intake, but every example in the boneyard will be different as they are robbed of parts to keep others flying.

 

I have the incredibly horrible Merlin Models kit of the TSR 2 lurking malevolently in the loft which I've always considered fit only to be used as the subject of a "Project Cancelled" diorama (or a source of "plastic soup"); you might just have prompted a resurrection of the idea!

Good to hear! keep me updated when you start the work ;)

 

At AMARG the aircrafts are classified in four different ways depending on what they want to do with them. Long term storage, kept in flyable condition, cannibalized or scrapping. I have figured out that there is a general rule of how an aircraft would look like and then like always there are variations. Offcourse the more parts are reclaimed the less of the aircraft is left. Gear taken off and standing on wooden support etc. work in progress making some spraylat schemes and tryin to explain the process...

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