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PK-122 Thunderbirds F-16 **Finished**


Black Knight

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A long winded title on the label for this one;

General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon 'Thunderbirds' USAF Display Team

 

Can be built as a single seater for the Thunderbirds or a 2-seater for the Dutch;

 

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2001s-M.jpg

 

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I fancy doing this wheels-up as the Thunderbirds version. I've not built a display aeroplane since I built an Airfix 111 sqd Black Arrows Hunter everso long ago

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2004s-M.jpg

 

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2005s-M.jpg

Reading my teabags I see a lot of Micro-Sol & Set in the future of this build

 

 

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:popcorn: and :drink:at the ready!

 

I remember building this one way back when, when it was first released in 1978???? Oh dear That means that I am :clif::crying::raincloud:

 

Christian, geriatric exiled to africa

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After weapons loads and u/c parts are put into the spares boxes there aren't many parts to this

 

So far this evening;

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2006s-M.jpg

The single seat fuselage insert isn't a great fit; it'll need sanding a bit to tidy it

 

These trenches in the wings will need some filling;

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2007s-S.jpg

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Point to note, Matchbox give you the two part nosewheel door from the prototype, not the single part production type.

It is an easy fix as the bay shape didn't change, just glue the parts together and dab  a little filler, or make a new one from card.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got some modelling time through the night and this morning and got on with four of my MB builds

 

Lots of fillers round the fuselage insert joint, all rubbed smooth now

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2008s-M.jpg

 

This is the inner engine exhaust part. I'm going to mount this F16 almost vertically on a clear acrylic rod, to show off the Thunderbird markings on the top & bottom better. The exhaust part has been drilled and a length of capped plastic tube added, the acrylic rod will slide up into this

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2009s-S.jpg

 

My pilot. Has to be installed before the fuselage halves are joined.

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2010s-S.jpg

 

I just couldn't get a neat tidy fuselage joint. I got plenty of gaps, so its a slathering of filler's again. Thats all been smoothed now and soon its on with the wings

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2011s-M.jpg

 

Any suggestions for the base for this? I can't decide

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Could you make a baseplate cut out in the outline of the Thunderbirds logo?

 

Also built this a very very long time ago - 2 seat cockpit parts still in the spares box.

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I used a Halfords rattle can of white plastic primer which doesn't have fine control of where the paint goes. Thus when I sprayed in around the engine intake the fuselage got too much, which resulted in thick paint and a few very minor 'runs' there which I've sanded back once the paint had hardened

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  • 3 weeks later...

I reckoned that after 3 weeks the white primer should be dry so the other day I got spraying this gloss white and unmasked it yesterday evening.

Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll start on the decaling

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C16s-M.jpg

I need to paint the jet exhaust yet

 

a 'grrrr' - there is a bit of plastic swarf caught in the very rear of the canopy. I've been shaking it like Elvis to try and move it but it ain't going anywheres yet

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Decaling is taking longer than I thought it would. Some of the decals are bigger than they need to be, some just don't fit and I'm using a lot of Micro-whosit to get them to conform to the shape.

May have a photo later

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A few days of decaling and about half a bottle of Micro Sol later. I cut away the most of the white portions in the decals as I knew there would be a mismatch between the paint white and the decal white. I couldn't do the the fine outline and didn't do the fin; which I should have done, but I don't have tiny blue stars to replace the ones there. I replaced the kit's Star'n'Bars as they were printed out of register

 

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2017s-M.jpg

 

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2018s-M.jpg

 

Some of the decals fitted ok, some were too big and some were too small. I need to touch in the dark blue in places and also do the red

This is how the nose design fits; a gap on each side to paint in

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2019s-S.jpg

 

I should be able to get the touch-in painting done this evening

 

 

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I shall declare this one finished - for now

 

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The support rod is just pushed into a temporary block of wood but this is how it'll be mounted

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2025s-L.jpg

 

F-16%20Thunderbirds%2C%2023s-L.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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That Matchbox 16 has turned out wonderfully well BK and a great way to display any Aerobatic aircraft.

Nice to see your many builds being finished and displayed in the gallery.

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

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