Marlin

Hi. Tomorrow January 20 is the 50th anniversary of the F-16's first flight. And earlier this week the Slovak Airforce took delivery of their first F-16C/D Block 70 Since the start has more that 4.600 F-16 been built and it's operative in more than 25 countries I don't think it's a secret that I like the F-16 the same way others likes the Spitfire, Bf109, P-51 etc. And I plan to build at least one from every user/country. For 2024 I've planned to enter as many F-16 I can in the GB's I'll take part in. If my plan works out I'm looking on adding 6-7 new user to my collection. So far I've build 12, 13 if you also count the Japanese F-2. 10 different Israeli version, one Norwegian and one Taiwanese, and the Japanese F-2. 20240118_195406 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And my stash is well stocked for this years various GB's. At home I've got 15 unbuilt, and I've just this morning ordered 2 more. And I think I've got 3-5 more in the stash that still are at my cottage. 20240118_191038 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr So how does your F-16 collection and stash looks like? Please post some pictures here and lets all of us celebrate this 50 year old. Did I say that I really like the F-16. /Bosse

Me too, me too I also got the Minibase Su-27K in the stash. I think I counted the nose gear assembly to 46 parts. I'm glad I also bought the 3D printed upgrade kit to it so I'll not be going nuts from just the landing gears. /Bosse

Very good news to me. I'll be building F-16's for many years to come. /Bosse

Thanks @WarhoffModels It's a really nice kit, with very small parts. My son has ordered in 1/72, but he's just 20 years old so I guess his eyesight is a bit better than mine. I think I can promise to at least have it primed by Mondays update. /Bosse

Hi again. Yesterday evening I got the second wing in place. Not the best wing to fuselage seam, so I guess I have that to take care of tonight. I'll not glue the tail booms in place until the wing seam is fixed. 027 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And I've got the clear part glued to the optical sensor. AK's Real Color Clear Blue really came out BLUE I missed to buy the mask set for this kit and it's to late to order it now. So I guess I'll have some tape cutting to look forward to. 028 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The scissor link on the nose gear is fixed. The parts for that are around 2x3mm, so I had to use my highest magnifier on my glasses to even see the parts. And they took some work to get in place. 029 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The plan forward is to fix the wing seam tonight and then glue the tailparts to the fuselage. If I can get that fixed I can prime this tomorrow Friday, and perhaps start painting during the weekend. To be continued..... /Bosse

Merci Rémi /Bosse

Hi. I've done some more small bits on my Ukrainian drone. Three very small parts for the nose gear has been glued to the wheel bay. 020 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr I've also added some nose weight in form of an old coin and half a lead fishing weight. The instructions says add 1g, this is 3g so I think I'm on the safe side. 021 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The three bladed propeller has also been glued. Here is some difference between the Air Force version and the Navy version. The Navy version has a three bladed propeller, but the Air Force version has a two blade propeller. So I guess I can build another one in the future. 022 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr I've also glued the fuselage together. And of course I got a nasty glue mark on the topside. 023 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And I've started to glue the five part optical sensor together. 024 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr One wing is also in place, I'll do the other one this evening. The instructions has a diagram which shows at what angle the wings are to be attached. I got a clean seem on the underside, but the top one has a small gap. But nothing serious, I'll put some PPP over it when all is set and dry. 025 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr I also made a start on the nose gear. But my eyes was to tired to start glue minute small parts to it yesterday, but I'll do them this evening. 026 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr To be continued..... /Bosse

Lovely looking VIking. I remember getting the Airfix version as Christmas present in the end of the Seventies and boy was I a happy kid that day. That kit is long gone by now, but I've always had a soft spot for the S-3 Viking since. /Bosse

Hi. Not much to show from this weekend. On Friday evening I painted the inside of the optical sensor Clear Blue. 015 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And I glued the engine nacelle to the fuselage. 016 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr On Saturday we could finally celebrate New Years. The whole family was done with flu, most likely Covid, during New Years so all plans was postponed. But Saturday my flown fledglings returned to the nest and we could all sit down for a traditional family dinner. The entré was a lobster and prawn sallad, topped with whitefish roe which was downed with a glass of champagne. 017 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The main course was Filet de Boeuf with a potato gratin served with my wife's fantastic Red Wine sauce. 018 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And for dessert a slice of carrot cake with frosting and a small glass of Port. 019 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And I don't think I'll have to say that no one went to bed Saturday hungry. To be continued..... /Bosse

Great News. One more for my growing F-16 collection. But I agree abut the boring colours. /Bosse

Hi. @Starspell I like AK's Xtreme Metal. Here I've used it on my ongoing build of a SweAF Sk60 419 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 420 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr On this build I've used Matt Aluminium on the fuselage, Polished Aluminium on the flying surfaces, Duraluminium on some panel on the back and chrome on the fair on top of the rudder. And all has been gloss coated using Mr Paint Gloss varnish. A bit more information can be found in my WIP thread. /Bosse

Thanks a lot Werner, please prepare for being pixelated by the next parts of the project. /Bosse

Hi. I've done some more subassemblies. Firstly a plate on the engine nacelle. I've seen online pictures that this panel differs a bit from various versions and users. So I guess that's why Clear Prop did this a separate panel. 013 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And I've started to glue the engine nacelle, the V-shape rudders and the tail booms. 014 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr My plan is to continue doing the subassemblies this evening, and perhaps prime the inside black as per the instructions. And then I hope that I can glue all subassemblies together during Saturday, and prime it all on Sunday. To be continued..... /Bosse

Lovely build @Fuad I've just started my kit, same one, but in the Ukrainian Navy's livery. If mine turns out half as good as yours I'll be pleased. /Bosse

Hi. I'd like to show you Part #1 of my theme project Slava Ukraini. During last year I've accumulated in 1/48 scale an Su-27P Flanker, a MiG-29 Fulcrum, a Su-25 Frogfoot and a TB.2 Bayraktar, all will be built in the colours of the Ukraine Defence Forces. My first part of this theme build will be Clear Props TB.2 Bayraktar in the colours of the Ukraine Navy. Information regarding the TB.2 can be found here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayraktar_TB2 The kit come in a small box around 20x25cm and the box art show an Ukrainian TB.2 flying in the twilight. And it contains three sprues in grey plastic, and one small in clear for the optics. 001 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The TB.2 is quite small. I guess the wingspan is around 25cm in 1/48. 002 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 003 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And the fuselage is around 6-7cm's long. 004 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 005 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr One sprue contains the ordnance, pylons and the propeller. 008 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr You get full ordnance in form of two types of the MAM glide bombs. The larger one MAM-L has a range of 15km, length 1m and weighs 22kg according to Wikipedia. 006 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The smaller MAM-C has a range of 8km, a length of 97cm and weighs 6,5kg according to Wikipedia. 007 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The clear sprue contains the optic sensor and some navigation lights. 009 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr Decal for the Ukrainian Navy's TB.2's I really fell for the Cormorant nose art. 010 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And I've started the build with gluing the wing halves together. 011 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And I've put the nose wheel bay together. 012 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The instructions says the interior should be painted all black, and a nose weight of at least 1g should be placed on the optic sensor mounting, a guess a pair of washers will be sufficient for that. I hadn't time for more yesterday evening, but I'll come back to this one later today. My Flanker has to have some time for the paints to harden enough for me to continue with the masking of the engine nacelles. To be continued..... /Bosse

Thanks for the review Mike. Looks like Airfix has another winner with this kit. I'll be buying at least two of them. I can't resist something carrying anti ship missiles, and I also like the Op. Granby version in lovely desert pink. /Bosse

Hi. We've had a very beautiful winters day here in my neck of the woods. 424 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr But a bit on the cold side for my taste. 425 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr What better way than to spend a whole day doing decals on my Sk60. 426 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And some moments later it's Crown Marked. 427 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And then it took me about an hour per side to get it done. 428 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 429 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 430 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 431 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr But the Christmas Holidays are over now, and tomorrow I'll return to work. But I hope I can steal an hour here and there during the evenings. And perhaps I'll can have this Sk60 in the display cabinet in a week or two. To be continued..... /Bosse

Hi again. I was a bit bothered by the paint pots on my bench. So out with the multi tool and a coarse sanding roll. 422 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And about 30 minutes later order was back. 423 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr /Bosse

Hi. I've de-masked the Sk60. 419 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 420 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 421 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr I'll spray some clear coat on it during the afternoon, and perhaps do the decals tomorrow. To be continued..... /Bosse

Nothing wrong with "only" four when they are this stunning and fantastic builds. And that F-35... /Bosse

Hi. Today is the last day of my vacation for this time. And I've started the metal works on my Flanker. After eyeing lots of pictures online I settled on Pale Burnt Metal for the lighter shade. 170 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr The inspection hatches on the topside got the same colour. 171 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr I'll lay a second coat later this evening, and seal it with a gloss coat tomorrow. To be continued..... /Bosse

Thanks for your kind words @Sky Keg Mike /Bosse

Well, Sweden is qulified for the Gold Medal Game in the World Junior Championship in Ice Hockey And I got my Flanker masked. It took some time to get the masking right, but I founds some great online pictures that helped me out a lot where the instructions was a bit unclear. 166 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 167 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr And I've put a first thin coat of Xtreme Metal Black Base to it. 168 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 169 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr I'll give a second coat tomorrow. And now I'm off rooting for Finland against USA in the second semifinal. To be continued..... /Bosse

Thank you for your kind words @bigbadbadge Chris. /Bosse

Thanks a lot @Bertie McBoatface /Bosse