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1/72 NSAWC F-16A out in the cold


arnobiz

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Hello!

This will be my entry for the GB: NSAWC F-16A "Blue 50" out in the cold at NAS Fallon. There is another picture of the other side this aircraft (for which I could not find a wikicommons version) showing the other side of it, with part of the wing and fuselage covered in snow, this will be interesting to replicate :)

I also quite like the way the wing edge covers bring some colours and the fact that I will not need to mask the canopy or smoothen out the intake ;)

640px-900942_50_F-16A_NSAWC_%28314334493

Wikicommons

I will use Revell's fantastic F-16 kit (The F-16C "Tigermeet 2003" boxing which has all the bits for an F-16A) with this TwoBobs decal sheet.

For the base an IKEA frame will do :)

The ground unit in the background will be scratch-built.

Looking forward to this GB!

Arnaud

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As agreed by Rob I started worling on the base before the GB start (The base was deemed not to count in hte 25% rule). Thanks Rob :)

The inspiration (The ground is barely visible on the "blue 50" picture posted above)

640px-920460_06_F-16B_NSAWC_%28335613789

Wikicommons

The starting material:

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The nice things about it are

1/ It's quite cheap (About 7€ if I remember correctly)

2/ The glass is actually plastic very similar to styrene, which makes it ideal for engraving/drilling.

The lines were engraved with a standard Tamiya engraving tool, the same one I use for panel line engraving. The tie-down holes were half-drilled with a 4mm drill bit, taking care not to go too deep. After a couple of coats of grey primer I varied the shades using grey mixed with beige and/or dark grey.

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Finally I painted the lines and ground power holes (using a circle template) and after a couple of coats of Future I applied oil washes to simulate the dirt and oil.

9377054379_475f7c4253_c.jpg

This is still a work in progress as I still need to

1/ Improve the dirt streaks

2/ build the ground unit

3/ make the snow :)

All comments and critics are welcome,

Arnaud

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Thanks Orjan! Some more progress on the base: Some snow has been applied. Still needs some work but it starts looking OK.

9381874107_f06939518f_c.jpg

After countless hours trying to find references for the ground unit I started building it today. I hope the rough measurements I made will give an acceptable result.. I used plasticard (1.5mm for the base and 0.3mm for the boxes) and 1.6mm styrene rod for the poles.

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The face detail still has to be added of course, but I'll wait for the cement to cure in order to have a strong basis to work on :)

All comments welcome,

Arnaud

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Nice subject and the winter setting is nice and different for an aircraft diorama. Great job on the base, esepcially the melting snow; what are you using for the snow?

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Thanks. I started using this product, which I bought especially for this diorama, but unfortunately the flakes are out of scale for 1/72, they would be great for 1/35nd though. I switched to baking powder as I ran out of sodium bicarbonate. I'll get some more tomorrow :)

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In the meantime I reinforced the boxes the crude way, i.e. pouring epoxy resin into them :)

9382067319_c73b78bb43_z.jpg

Arnaud

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Thanks for the "snow" report. The baking soda looks like it is working. If you have problems with it one the aircraft, you can check the model railroad section of your LHS. Here in the USA Woodland Scenices has snow for dioramas in HO scale and I would guess Faller or one of the other European manufacturers would have something similar. Keep up the great work.

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Ah, 06, one of my old friends ;)

Looking forward to seeing your project. I'll have to go back and reread how you're doing your base - I just did a base myself, but yours looks like a nice step-up from mine!

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Thanks Rob,Dermot and Les. Base is not finished though and I'll have to take a couple of weeks break from modeling unfortunately :(

I'll be back ;)

Arnaud

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello,

I have made some progress but did not have internet for a while so I will post it now :)

First, the intake/exhaust covers. The intake cover was made from Milliput (White Superfine) while kitchen aluminium foil was used for the exhaust.

The Milliput was rolled as thin as possible, cling film added on top and bottom and the sandwich was formed onto the kit intake. The cling film allows for easy removal of the cover if a problem occurs (Which did happen!). It also prevents the Milliput from sticking on sculpting tools and fingers.

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The aluminium foil was wrapped around the exhaust with a small ball at the bottom to create the right shape.

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Both covers were painted with successive layers of red/brown mix until the right shade was achieved. The paint was then sealed with a mix of Future and Vallejo matt varnish. Finally thin strips of Tamiya masking tape were painted black and added (No picture of this I'm afraid).

9579321877_89c883aa1d_z.jpg

More soon,

Arnaud

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Looking good!

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Thanks!

There is a big gap between the fuselage and the intake. This is easily corrected with some milliput. First, wrap the intake with cling film. Second, apply milliput around the faulty part. Finally, press the intake onto the fuselage and let cure.

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Thanks for looking,

Arnaud

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Pitot was replaced by a needle last week, pretty standard procedure. The needle was first profiled using the minidrill as a lathe. The needle was faired in with the nose cose using epoxy resin.

9643604926_e90a7780fb_z.jpg

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Cheers,

Arnaud

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Thanks :) To be honest I am not an F-16 fan either but the Revell kit is excellent, a nice break from the more complicated Hasegawa kits I usually use. And these NSAWC schemes are a good change from grey schemes too ;)

Arnaud

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Final assembly completed and first coats of Dark Ghost Grey (Vallejo Model Air 47 mixed with 50% Future and a couple of drops of white) have now been sprayed:

9641332049_cfd9cc4309_z.jpg

Note that the airbrakes have been cut off and the inside detailed with 0.2mm plasticard (Pictures of this later!)

Cheers,

Arnaud

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