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Tamiya 1/32 F-16 - advice wanted!


Telboy1999

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Folkds,

 

I've recently started building this monster of a kit and am very impressed so far. I've completed the engine and the dolly, which are kits in their own right really. However I'm looking for some advice for later in the build.

 

Those of you who know this kit will know that the fuselage is split horizontally, with upper and lower fuselage halves (including the wings). Now it seems to me that, in order to save masking etc later on, it might be possible to paint the upper and lower halves separately, before building. Is this possible, and more to the point if it's possible, is it advisable? I do bear in mind the need to ensure that mating surfaces aren't painted as I've discovered that tolerances on this kit are very tight!

 

Any advice greatly appreciated/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Telboy

 

I built the kit a couple of years ago. I painted the fuselage post assembly. Firstly the instructions show the wrong camouflage, there are only two colours needed FS36270 covers all the lower surfaces, nose area and tail, with FS36118 covering the dark gray upper wings and horizontal stabilizers.

 

taken from - https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f-16/f-16c_profile02.shtml

 

f-16c_profile2.png

 

 

 

I only seem to remember masking of the area around the horizontal stabilizers as there is a hard edge there, as the front around the canopy its a soft feathered edge and you can leave the vertical and horizontal stabilizers off until after painting. If you check your spraying angle the rest of the airframe won't need masking.

 

The only thing I would say (if you haven't built this section already) is to paint the grey area around the air intake before you assemble it fully. Getting paint in to that tight area was really tough once it was assembled. 

 

I hope this helps, I did mine with an airbrush and plenty of paint cup refills!  

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Markus

 

Many thanks for the advice, much appreciated:) On reading the instructions, and knowing the layout of the F-16, I had figured that that area around the air intake would be fiddly and had planned to paint it they way that you've suggested, so thanks for confirming that my plan will work!

 

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