Danish F-16A (Italeri 1/72)

[Rob G]

Because I can't keep a promise to myself, I've decided to do a quick and nasty build of an Italeri F-16 for this GB. Not my favourite type, but certainly a popular choice in the 1:1 world. My interest in Fighting Falcons is purely in their use as canvases for Tiger Meet markings - as most will be aware, there have been some truly fantastic bits of artwork done over the years.

This won't be one of them.

I'm doing Italeri's F-16C/D 'Night Falcon' kit in the plain old 3-tone grey camo that was the F-16's dowdy delivery feathers , with nowt but small red and white roundels, serials and a teeny tiny Danish flag on the tail to break up the boring grey expanse - no show ponies here, tyvm.

Hang on, the title says 'F-16A'. Yes indeedy it do - Italeri made maximum use of their moulds and basically supplied all the bits needed to do all the early Falcons in one box, all stemming from kit #130 (I think). Not very well done mind you, but done.

In my stash raiding, I also found a different version (F-16A/B 'Nato Falcon') of the same kit that I'd started as a Dutch twin seater, and for some weird reason (I can only blame youth and ignorance, because it was started many years ago), I'd cut off the leading edge of the wings, with the obvious intention of making them drooped. It didn't work. None of the slots I cut line up, and it's... not nice. As a consequence, I'm going to use a set of wings from yet another Italeri F-16 on the 2 holer and finish it while I do the single seat Danish bird, seeing as I'll have all the boring greys out anyway. At least the Dutch bird will be prettier to look at, with a decorative motif applied to her tail. I may post tiny updates on her, but I won't be entering the Dutch one in the GB, wrong era (1998, and not very well built, either ). At the very least she'll be sometimes visible in the background, no doubt.

Now follow along carefully, this might get confusering (move your lips if you need to...) I'm going to use the markings from the Danish aircraft in the 'Nato Falcon' box on the 'Night Falcon' kit, along with the instruction sheet. The stencils &c will have to come from the 'Night Falcon' kit, because the 'Nato Falcon' ones will be going onto the Dutchy. The Danish aircraft I'm (badly) (mis-)representing will be E-198, specified on the instructions as being with Esk723. Which, according to F-16.net, she was, between Jan 84 and Sept 88. I think that fits the timeframe nicely.

As an aside, has anyone here ever looked at F-16.net? Amazing piece of work, if not a little obsessive. Useful though, for thems of us as know nothing about lawn darts.

Next post, the thing will start, all proper-like.

[Rob G]

So, on we go. I actually started this kit a few days ago then had a crisis of faith, but decided to go ahead and make a thread anyway - worst that can happen is that I once again fail to finish, right?

Box.

Yes, $14.99 down to $7.99. Even at $7.99, it's a bit steep. But oh well.

Sprues

Boring grey already.

And instructions mit decals. As supplied, and as used.

As I said, I started this a few days ago, so here's where things stand.

Driver's cab. Fully detailed, right from the box. Not.

Sadly, all my excellent artwork washed away when I started cleaning up the sanding debris from joining the fuselage - used water-based pens, didn't I? Numpty. No matter, I'll stick the pens back in there and wiggle them around a bit before the canopy goes on. Ain't no-one going to be looking at THIS cockpit anyway. Italeri specify 10g of weight in the nose cone - I could barely manage 4g. Hence the 15g weight epoxied behind the driver's seat. Trials thus far suggest that it'll be enough... You can clearly see the No. 130 stamped into the fuselage - all of the Italeri Falcons that I've seen have this same number, whatever the box may say.

Because of getting excited, I forgot to take pix as I went, but here's the fuselage all joined up. The intake is tricky, but nothing that some careful fitting of plastic sheet can't fix. Then some filling - thankfully, Perfect Plastic Putty is easy to remove from the areas it's not needed that are hard to sand. You may be able to see the white bit there. The strake edge as supplied by Italeri is somewhat reminiscent of a railway sleeper, so I attacked it with 400 grit and managed to almost replicate the knife edge that General Dynamics specified. It's since been smoothed off and made all pretty. The Tamiya tape was there to preserve what little detail there is in the cannon muzzle.

More shortly.

[Rob G]

So yeah... blah blah here's some words.

And now some more words, to explain photos.

Here's the old 2 seater.

Here it is with dry fitted wings.

Because F-16s have 0 degrees of dihedral, I wanted to make sure that that was so in both cases. Hence, I dug out my old Lego stash and made a jig. That's a BA file in the background, btw.

An Iron Maiden for F-16s, complete with stretchy straps.

And it worked, too. On both of them.

That's all, until I do more and inflict this rubbish build upon you again.

[Skids]

Nice Jig Rob, you wont fail again. I was like that in my first hmmmmmfew GBs but eventually I cracked it. Keep up the good work

Edited May 16, 2016 by Skids

[Rob G]

I like building, hate painting. Which is why I seldom finish anything.

I absolutely despise painting.

[Skids]

I am the other way round, sometimes I get bored with the building but love painting.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Skids

[Rob G]

Tell ya what, you buy them and send them to me, I'll build them and send them back. Then you can paint them and keep them.

[Rob G]

And here's stuff I forgot yesterday. After this, I won't darken your door until I start painting, I think. I'm going to use smaller photos, to save using up your bandwidth (and to hide the ugly.)

The 'modified' wing from many years ago (I did it while I was married, and that ended 15 years ago, so... We were young once, and foolish.)

Both birds together, the single seater sans nose cone. I might leave it like that, see if anyone notices.

And the missile rail that I broke, repaired. Caught it in my shirt, didn't I. Since it's such a small piece in such an exposed location, I couldn't just glue it and hope for the best, neither could I drill and pin it. Instead, I cut a slot and stuck in a bit of plastic sheet, secured by Tamiya Extra Thin, then capped with superglue. Should work (and if it doesn't, I have spare wings to cut the whole rail from).

That is now definitely it until something happens that needs to be reported to fulfill the GB terms.

Laterrrzzz.

[mirageiv]

Nice! Its hard to build just one F-16 isn't it? I like that you sharpened the LERX, should make a nice difference in the end

[Col.]

That's a smart technique for reinforcing the broken missile rail Rob.

[Rob G]

Nice! Its hard to build just one F-16 isn't it? I like that you sharpened the LERX, should make a nice difference in the end

Well, one's from the Corner of Doom in the stash, and the other is meant to be a quick build, just to be able to participate. Quick build, yeah right... And I had to do something about the LERX, it was hideous as supplied; even I noticed, and F-16s really aren't my bag (baby). (Sorry, I can never stop at just 'bag', always have to add the extra - darn you to heck, Austin Powers.)

That's a smart technique for reinforcing the broken missile rail Rob.

Smart is as smart does Col - shame that it didn't work Well, it did, until I managed to snag it again(!) and break it again, this time beyond repair. 'Twas a simple matter to cut the whole broken rail off and replace it with the rail from the butchered wing ^--- up there. I almost got the angle of the dangle right, too. I think that if I'd used a bit of ABS Plastruct instead of the PS Evergreen that I used, it would have worked more betterer. Oh well.

Anyone got the port side wing for an Italeri F-16 kit that they don't want? I have one that's kinda in need. (Joking - I'll hit the local club guys up at some point in case any of them have a bomb they no longer want.)

Update as and when.

[Rob G]

Update: Those of you who have been following my other current build will know that I've been laid up for a week or so. Cabin fever makes one do odd things.

I've added some cheap and nasty printed copies of Eduard cockpit interiors to both aircraft, added belts and the ejection handle thingummy to the single seater (the twin will be done soon) AND added a scratched HUD to the single seater as well; not sure if I can stand doing it to the twin, but it looks odd without it. I've also added the spotlight that Danish airframes have - drilled a hole, painted the end of a bit of clear sprue silver and glued it in place, then polished the outside - easy!

As I said, cabin fever makes one do odd things.

Photomathingies.

Cockpit interior (not a recommended way to do it, but the kit wasn't worth spending money on).

Seat (ordinary, but oh well - it'll look ok under the pants canopy.)

HUD (don't ask. Seriously, DO NOT ask!)

Two bits of bent heavy gauge foil and yes, that other bit is clear. Now shut up. I told you, cabin fever makes you do crazy stuff... Oh, and I drilled out the gun muzzle, sort of.

Spotlight. (I'm actually kinda chuffed about this bit. I'll mask it with a small dot of tape and it'll be the best bit of the whole durn thing.)

That's it for now - next task is to stick on the canopy, mask it up (somehow) and give the whole shebang a white undercoat. And then go about fixing all the ugly bits that'll show up before I can get the grey onto it.

More later.

[mirageiv]

Nice work Rob and the spot light looks great too! Only a little point and maybe you already know but worth a mention that Danish F-16s were painted differently to the standard USAF and Euro jet scheme, the exact colours etc..can be found on this website run by fellow BM member Jens: http://www.amarc.dk/index.php/feature-articles-mainmenu-28/24-jet-modelling/26-building-an-f-16-mlu

I think RLM 75 is quoted as being a good match for the upper dark grey (well its what I used on my danish f-16) and the lower is similar to light ghost grey but with no blue-gray hue, somewhat similar to lightened RAF light aircraft grey.

Though in quite a few photos the difference is not that obvious, stood next to other USAF camo birds however it is there.

cheers,

David.

[Rob G]

Thanks for that, David. I was aware of the different colours, because while I was chasing around trying to work out exactly which of the colours listed on the paint chart went were (Italeri's instructions being, shall we say, bloody confusing) I happened upon a website listing all the colours used by all the countries that fly the thing. However, it's great to have a second source to cross reference against! Thank you.

This one is being built pre-MLU, so hopefully the colours still match... I've got some photos of her in service and I'll be using them to finish off, but I'm not going to stress about exactness - the kit really isn't worth too much trouble when there's much better available. Should still look presentable when done though.

[mirageiv]

Pre MLU the colours are still the same, I think some later replacement jets maybe were in the more standard USAF colours however.

A good pic to show the difference between the colours is this one ( shows also the different interpretations/place of manufacture of Gunship grey uppers too I guess):http://www.airliners.net/photo/Norway---Air/General-Dynamics-(Fokker)/0170213/L/&sid=d9b73402549995259b4157f80a16761b

look forward to the paint!

Edited June 5, 2016 by mirageiv

[Jens]

Pre MLU the colours are still the same, I think some later replacement jets maybe were in the more standard USAF colours however.

A good pic to show the difference between the colours is this one ( shows also the different interpretations/place of manufacture of Gunship grey uppers too I guess):http://www.airliners.net/photo/Norway---Air/General-Dynamics-(Fokker)/0170213/L/&sid=d9b73402549995259b4157f80a16761b

look forward to the paint!

Correct, a couple of ex-ANG F-16s retained their US colours (two-colour scheme) until their first major overhaul/repaint.

Jens

[Skids]

Tell ya what, you buy them and send them to me, I'll build them and send them back. Then you can paint them and keep them.

What a great the idea (not sure Mr Postie will be that careful though!).

[CliffB]

I somehow missed this one Rob, but I'm better late than never I suppose!

Cliff

[Rob G]

Topic for today's exam: Research is the enemy of progress. In a 1000 word essay, discuss, giving reasons for and against the premise and a final conclusion based on your reasoning. Essays will be marked out of 100 and count for 75% of this term's final score. You have 5 minutes.

AKA 'Going backwards to go forwards'.

Sigh. In an effort to make this at least believably accurate, I decided to look at some photos of this bird to see what varied protuberances were fitted and when. Now, I knew when I started that this was delivered as an early Block 10 airframe. Which fact I then promptly forgot about/ignored/didn't pay attention to (delete as appropriate). The first photo I looked at today was taken in 2001, after she'd had her MLU. Aaaand.... immediate issues with what I've built thus far. She has the early small stabilators, just as she should have, hanging out there at the back end, loud and proud. Italeri conveniently forgot that detail in the instructions, didn't they? They also forgot to provide a small stabilator, didn't they?(And I, apparently, didn't remember to remember to work it out as well mumble mumble etc durn clodhoppers...) So what I have is an F-16 with a large stabilator securely glued in place, when it should be a small one. And finding references online to do a conversion is somewhat like a lottery.

Dilemma.

I dug into the stash (all praise the stash!) and extracted a Revell F-16 to use as reference, hoping that it had a small stabilator in the box. Wonder of wonders, it did (I also found YET ANOTHER Italeri F-16 - are they breeding in there?). It also had a supplementary sprue in the box with the large set on it, making the small ones surplus to the boxed markings. Saved! Except that the Italeri one is glued securely in place...

Do I attempt to modify the parts already installed, or do I pull them off and use the Revell ones instead?

Revell parts underneath, with a sticky note cut out of what needs to be changed.

While I ponder the options, here's a bit of glamour.

Cockpit (shame about the naff goldfish bowl effect canopy, but eh.)

And all in all, not looking too bad! (except for the wrong bits...)

Now, what to do with the aft end...

Research. Just say no! (It poisons your brain and destroys your fun - you've been warned, kids. It's worse than drugs.)

EDIT: Yes, I know it's missing a wingtip missile rail - the durn thing popped off again, and it can blinkin' well stay off until just before paint. Or possibly forever.

[Rob G]

Thanks for popping in Col. No worries about the late arrival, stuff all is happening. Beer might be more rewarding than popcorn though.

[Rob G]

Small update, just because it may save someone a lot of typing.

I had a look at the stabs, and decided that there was no harm in attempting an in situ modification program. Thankfully, I'd modified them to line up where they should be if they were large versions, and that put them in the exact right place for having bits cut off and still lining up where they should. Amazing. In the process of cutting, the port side came adrift, so I managed to persuade the stbd side to do the same, which made it a lot easier to finish. (So much for 'secure' gluing.)

Basic shape correct, I applied a large file for general airfoil shape, then fine tuned with 400 grit. The rear outer corners were left with a small angle on them, which has been filed out and a chunk of Evergeen glued in place. Once that sets up, it'll be finished to shape and et voila, small stabilators from large.

They look ok.

Easy as. And I still have the Revell ones as spares.

[Rob G]

And to prove that it's so easy that even a numpty like me can do it, here they are, with the set from the twin seater to show what's been done. Because this stuff is important doncha know.

The outside trailing corners were square, but the micromeshing has rounded them a little - a touch of sanding should set them to rights again. By the time you read this, they'll have a coat of Tamiya white primer on them (I know this because they already have; hahaha aren't I clever!) and when they're dry (in the AM) I'll be giving them a quick micromeshing to check that the new corners are tickety-boo, then they can go back on and I can keep on building this 'quick and nasty build' - like the Great Wall, it keeps on getting bigger.

[Rob G]

Not much has happened here due to illness and work, but I've been researching as much as I can manage. I've been looking for photos/drawings/text on how Denmark would have armed their F-16As for an air defence mission (I don't want to load the little thing down with mud moving ordnance). Given the time frame (mid-80s), that means AIM-9 Sidewinders, no ASRAAMs or AMRAAMs to be seen. I'm thinking central and inner pylons with fuel tanks, then wing stations 1-3 and 7-9 (ie the wingtip plus outer 2 stations on each wing) with AIM-9s. If I could squeeze in a double 'winder carrier for 3 and 7 I'd be happy. I can't find any information about any of it, anywhere - even photos of armed early Danish F-16s seem to be hard to find. If you know of a reference, please let me know where to find it, or just tell me what I can hang where (and which pylons to use. )

Thanks.

The search will continue...

[Jens]

Danish F-16s have never carried ASRAAMS. AMRAAMs are limited to block 15 airframes.

There are no such thing as a dual launcher for AIM-9s on the F-16.

There are plenty os pictures showing Danish F-16s with four AIM-9J/P Sidewinders.

Jens

[Rob G]

Jens, thanks for that. I haven't been able to find any photos from the 80s of Danish F-16As with AIM-9s anywhere but on the wingtips, but I'll retune my Google-fu and keep looking. I did find a twin launcher on an F-16 at China Lake though; obviously it didn't enter service. And of course this airframe received the MLU that improved her capabilities, but I'm modelling her before that happened.

This is on hold for a week while I do a run of 6 night shifts away from home. Thanks again.