Giorgio N Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 (edited) Finally, here's my entry for this STGB: the Academy kit of the KF-16. The KF-16 is an improved Block 52 license built in Korea. These aircrafts are the only F-16 to carry an F-15 inspired scheme of dark and light ghost grey, a scheme that was tested on one of the preproduction aircrafts. (I've seen references to the same scheme being carried by the first aircrafts for Thailand but have yet to see a picture). As I like this scheme, a Korean F-16 had been in my plans for quite a while. The Academy kit is very modern, however suffers from a few inaccuracies. Why did I buy it ? Well, the box already includes the Korean decals... and it was on sale for €10 including delivery at an Italian Ebay shop... Last but not least, I'm struggling to find time to build models these days, this should be a quick, easy build. Hopefully.. Pictures to follow soon... Edited April 8, 2017 by Giorgio N 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted February 16, 2017 Author Share Posted February 16, 2017 Pictures ! The box, with a picture of a real ROKAF F-16 taking off Inside the box are several sprues in light grey plastic and one in clear for the canopy and other parts. The sprues are bagged but not individually The parts have recessed panel lines but the plastic is not as smooth as other kits from the same company. A first test fit of a couple of bits showed that fit may not be as good as I was expecting... oh well, hopefully will not be too bad. There are several parts that will not be used, they'll help other F-16 kits in the stash. The weapons sprue looks quite interesting, again there will be several parts left for other kits The decal sheet is printed by Cartograf. Fortunately ! Academy's own decals are not the best, the Cartograf ones on the other hand are very very good. The sheet allows practically every KF-16 to be built. Which one will I build ? Not sure, I'll look around for pictures... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 I'll be following this one with interest, as I have an Academy F-16C in the stash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 I was about to say, good job the decals are Cartograf - Academy own are quite hit and miss. Look forward to the build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 welcome aboard Giorgio, and that's an interesting model you've brought along! She's the first of one of those in the build so it'll be interesting to follow. The decals look nice and very thorough, plus I see you get lots of nice weapons to play with as well! Hopefully it'll be a nice simple build for you seeing time isn't your best friend at the moment, and good luck with the build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 Thanks everyone ! Yes, time is not really my friend these days, but I've managed to do something. As we often read in magazines, I started with the cockpit. Academy offers some very nice detail, however the cockpit is not really accurate when compared to pictures. If I had to build another of these kits, I may decide to add a resin copy of the Revell cockpit, however what comes in the box will do for this build. The seat on the other hand looks very nice, I still have to pick a few details (and add a couple of small decals) but it already looks the part. While the paint was drying on the cockpit I also started to assemble the air intake. Academy offers a very complicated solution, with a total of 7 parts. I'm not sure that this solution is the best to be honest... and the intake is not really accurate for any of the 2 styles used on the F-16C. Here's the intake during construction. One nice thing is that Academy offers the blade splitter inside the intake, actually 2 of them (they are on the weapons sprues that are duplicate). Problem is that both broke while I was trying to remove them from the sprues so I had to replace the part with an old Aeroclub profile. The part representing the intake lip is still missing 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted February 28, 2017 Author Share Posted February 28, 2017 Some big progress over the weekend: the cockpit was completed and glued to the lower fuselage. The side panels were also glued, this time to the top fuselage... and at that point it was time to start putting some bigger pieces together ! I realize that I should have taken a few more pictures showing some of the issues I've had with this kit, in any case here's a summary: The fit of the gun muzzle panel is terrible ! I'm sure it's not my fault here, the pictures of the assembled model on the kit box show the same problem. I hope that filler will sort this The intake is poorly shaped and lacks the small auxiliary intakes close to the fuselage bottom. Fit isn't great either but with filler and some serious sanding I almost managed to make it look good (inaccurate shape aside). I tried to recreate the auxiliary intakes, the final result is not great but will do. The AOA probes on the radome are very nice but Academy moulded on some diamond shaped plates that don't exist on the real aircraft. Best thing would be remove them, sand the plates and replace with steel pins... but i was too lazy for this. In any case, I now have something that starts looking like an F-16... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Nice work Giorgio, I look forward to the painting. At least the kit IIRC has some nice surface details to it! Cheers David. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 nice work there, I'm looking forward to seeing her colour scheme! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Hi Giorgio. The model.looks nice. I read on the internet (so probably not true) that the academy kit has a funny nose shape. In the shots you posted it looks fine. Does it look strange in profile? I ask because I would like to get the Thunderbird version of this kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) On 2/3/2017 at 5:58 AM, SoftScience said: Hi Giorgio. The model.looks nice. I read on the internet (so probably not true) that the academy kit has a funny nose shape. In the shots you posted it looks fine. Does it look strange in profile? I ask because I would like to get the Thunderbird version of this kit. Not sure if the nose looks strange in profile, from above however I'd say that the whole front area is a bit too tapered, reminds a bit of the smaller YF-16 with its pointier nose. If you want an accurate F-16 then the Revell kit is IMHO way better, with the Hasegawa one not bad either. This Academy kit is nice but there are some areas I don't like. Speaking of shapes, I finally managed to do some modelling ! The model is now ready for a coat of primer As often happens, things didn't go as planned and for some reason one of the wings detached... brilliant ! So it was back to the glue/fill/sand/fill routine we all know and "love". Hopefully the joint is now stronger... Edited March 13, 2017 by Giorgio N 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Neu- Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Hey Giorgio yeah... the academy kit has been criticized for the nose area. I actually ditched mine in a trade a few years after getting it for this very issue. The pebbly surface also turned me off as well. Nevertheless yours seems like its moving forward... Looking forward to more. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 (edited) On 20/3/2017 at 6:42 AM, -Neu- said: Hey Giorgio yeah... the academy kit has been criticized for the nose area. I actually ditched mine in a trade a few years after getting it for this very issue. The pebbly surface also turned me off as well. Nevertheless yours seems like its moving forward... Looking forward to more. I guess that all F-16 enthusiasts had high hopes for this kit after seeing the F-18 from the same company. Unfortunately this kit is quite disappointing in several respects, some features are nice but others are less so. In any case my model is slowly moving forward. After a good coat of primer it was time to start painting. Gunze's FS 36375 went on first. I generally manage to achieve a good finish with Gunze paints however this time it tool me several coats. Maybe the paint is old and this had some impact, don't know. Visible in the picture is the lack of a pitot tube, This snapped while handling the model and of course I have no idea of its current location... This meant having to sort this area, something I did using my supply of trusted Albion Alloys tubes. I like replacing pitot tubes with proper tubing anyway, I should have done this from the start. With the 36375 properly dry, it was time to mask and prepare to spray the darker FS 36320 (in this case Lifecolor) The masks were cut from vynil using my Silhouette Portrait cutter. It took me a lot of time to draw the masks and more time was spent trying to arrange the size... let's say that I've yet to learn all the tricks properly. The darker grey was painted in two separate sessions, one with the masks shown here and a second with the only front area maskes. Visible in the picture is the new Pitot tube... And here's what I found when I removed all masking: Not too bad ! Unfortunately a couple of small spots of the lighter grey lifted, fortunately they are in areas where it will be very easy to touch them up. The contrast between the two greys is very subtle, something that is also visible in pictures of the real aircrafts, I quite like it. The finish of the paint is not the best everywhere but I'll live with it. Let's say that I've accepted that this will not be my best model Next steps will be painting the radome (in grey FS 36231) and the area before the engine nozzle (in some metallic paint). I've already prepared the nozzle but this will be glued only after the various gloss and matt coats Edited March 27, 2017 by Giorgio N 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 I think your masks came out quite well. As you say there is very little difference between the two greys!. can say from being up here in Korea that that colour scheme is called "Smog!" So I can perfectly understand it, on some days she'd disappear at around 1km!!! With time running out you should have plenty of time to complete her. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 (edited) I like the name Smog ! Hope to have enough time to complete this one, at the moment I've started one important step with every modern jet: applying the stencils ! F-16s are covered in a myriad of stencils, it will take several sessions to apply them all. Fortunately the decals look very good, the first few went on without any problem and the film completely disappeared using the Microscale liquids. Of course they are being applied on a gloss coat. I had little fear about the decals as they are printed by Cartograf. This name is a guarantee of quality, no surprise that many kit manufactuters and aftermarket companies have them print their decals. Til now these decals are living up to the expectations raised by their name Edited March 29, 2017 by Giorgio N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fewr9fkr9595 Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 This is true of the decals. Just put them on my KF-16. Not added any pics on my build thread of it as too busy with the lonestar. They are very good quality and settled down well into the rivets. I agree about the contrast being very slight. I went free hand and couldn't see the difference so made the contrast stronger by lightning and darkening the colours respectively. 👍🏿 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fewr9fkr9595 Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 On 21 February 2017 at 09:02, Giorgio N said: While the paint was drying on the cockpit I also started to assemble the air intake. Academy offers a very complicated solution, with a total of 7 parts. I'm not sure that this solution is the best to be honest... and the intake is not really accurate for any of the 2 styles used on the F-16C. Here's the intake during construction. One nice thing is that Academy offers the blade splitter inside the intake, actually 2 of them (they are on the weapons sprues that are duplicate). Problem is that both broke while I was trying to remove them from the sprues so I had to replace the part with an old Aeroclub profile. The part representing the intake lip is still missing I found the intake (shape aside) to be well engineered design wise and fit well. Too late now obviously but to help others - The inner white trunking needs to be recessed in a touch (yours looks flush with the outer shell) to allow the rigde on back of the intake lip to fit in it. Perhaps thats what led to problems? I found the kit overall (shapes aside) to be well detailed and some clever solutions to joins. Worst bit as you say is the gun muzzle part. Hole is too deep and part too thin. So i shimmed it so it sits more level with surrounding surface and thus less to fill 👍🏿 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 (edited) Thanks for the tip Tony, it's very likely that I made the mistake you mention. In the end I sorted anyway and the final result is not bad at all now, on my next Academy F-16 however I'll follow your advice. Yes, I really have another in the stash... I'm tempted by a Chilean Block 52 ! Speaking of the kit, I've also started adding parts to the landing gear and here Academy seems to have done a very good job, the level of detail is really nice. Edited March 29, 2017 by Giorgio N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 2, 2017 Author Share Posted April 2, 2017 The model is progressing pretty fast now. Decaling is now complete and I have coated the model with the final satin varnish (Vallejo is my favourite). Unfortunately some kind of reaction occurred with the gunze/lifecolor/future/micro-sol and set combination and some areas ended with a somwhat pebbly finish. Not much I can do now but accept the model as it is. The effect is not everywhere and fortunately can only be seen from short distance, let's say this is one of those 6-footers that look good beyond a certain distance... The decals allow every ROKAF F-16 to be reproduced in model form. I decided to go for an aircraft with the original markings rather than the ones used from 2005 on, mainly because most of these have an added patch of grey under the tail codes and I didn't want to add more paint. The aircraft chosen is the one for which the numbers were already supplied all together, I had no will for putting together the numbers from individual figures. One day I may make a model of an aircraft in the later markings 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 2, 2017 Author Share Posted April 2, 2017 (edited) Forgot to mention about the panel lines: I run a wash on the panel lines using my method of adding Vallejo's glaze medium to a suitable grey, using a lighter shade on the 36375 and a slightly darker on the 36320. The control surfaces were highlighted using oil payne's grey. Unfortunately a small accident hit the model and one of the sensors just behind the radome broke... I'll have to replace it somehow Edited April 2, 2017 by Giorgio N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fewr9fkr9595 Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 Looking good and fast progress as you say! At least we will have some variety between us as I went for the later style numbers with the repainted patch on the tail... Plus I went for a made up number of 83. (My favourite) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 Tony, I did indeed consider that you were doing a KF-16 with the later markings, it was one furher good reason to build an earlier machine. This way we can have two different Korean aircrafts in the GB Today I managed to find some time to start adding the many bits and pieces still needed to complete the model. Among them particularly complex is the landing gear, that Academy reproduced pretty well. Anothe part that had been previously prepared was the engine nozzle, painted with a vallejo mix on the outside and white on the inside. Academy supplies decals for the warning signs on the nozzle, these really become little visible after some use and I may do something for this, as they are now they look a bit too new. Not sure that the pictures show these things well, however I was very happy with the decals (absolutely no trace of the carrier film) and also with the wash, that is quite subtle as I like it. Actually I still have a couple of decals left to be applied, as I've yet to complete decalling on the canopy. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted April 6, 2017 Share Posted April 6, 2017 Sorry I missed a couple of updates....boy she is looking nice, well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 7, 2017 Author Share Posted April 7, 2017 Thanks, glad you like it ! Very close to be finished now, the F-16 is on her wheels and most bits like navigation lights, well doors and so on have been added. While adding the wheels I noticed something very annoying: the model was not sitting right but was one wing was higher than the other. What had happened was that the bulkhead to which the landing gear attaches was very slightly misaligned. This wasn't visible when I assembled the part but resulted in one wingtip being a couple millimeter higher than the other. Fortunately I managed to solve the problem by slightly reducing the thickness of the wheel axle on one side so that one wheel sits slightly higher. The solution is practically invisible to the naked eye but aligns the wingtips nicely and the model now sits correctly. Decals were also applied to the canopy and selaed with a coat of satin varnish. I'll leave the canopy closed, in any case it's not glued so that I can pose it open in the future. At this point the model only lacks the outer wing pylons, that I had left behind to be able to better paint some parts of the wings. Once these are glued in place, I'll decide what to do with the load. I have painted and decalled the two underwing fuel tanks and have glued together 4 AIM-9L Sidewinders (2 from this box and 2 from another Academy box). My plan is to add all these as I've seen several pictures of these aircrafts with this load. If however I'll not be able to complete the Sidewinders in time for the end of the GB, I'll add the outer pylons and the tanks only and call it finished 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted April 7, 2017 Share Posted April 7, 2017 sounds good, looking forward to seeing her in the gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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