(Hopefully) A multitude of F-16s

[Costar1198]

And for my first post I give you something you've all probably seen a million times over 

 

A bit of background, I got the modelling bug when I was about 8, received my first kits, an F-5 and an ME262, both Airfix, back then I produced some pretty nasty pieces of work, although it's to be expected at that age. I then stopped for a bit after the age of 11, dabbled with certain kits at certain times as and when I felt like it, and the bug came back to me when I was 16, just over a year ago. The particular kit I am about to show you is one which I have had for most of this time, and I'm thankful that I did. because I don't think I could look back on such a model, but enough drivel about the past, lets get on with the kit, and the project:

 

I am intending to create a lineup of at least 3 F-16 models, I only have one for the moment, however I will get more when the time comes, hopefully the gap between each build isn't too long, however I suppose you never know until it happens...

The first of the models is this one:

It's Revell's boxing of the F-16AM, in Tigermeet 09 livery, which I've always been too scared to touch because I want it to be perfect, however it seemed the perfect model to practice airbrushing with as the paintjob itself is pretty simple, the rest is just decals. 

The boxart is quite nice...

 

Obligatory sprue shot, note the bent decal sheet as they didn't actually fit in the box...

(You're going to have to excuse the sideways shot there)

Unfortunately it had some loose parts too:

 

I started building with the tail, seems like a good place to start, What got me was how where the small pointy bits were (If anyone could shed some light as to what they are that would be wonderful), there were, what appeared to be scratches which looked slightly like lightning... Only on one side however...

The instructions stated to put this bit in where the L shape is inside the chute pit (I'm really bad with the whole terminology thing you're going to have to excuse me here), however I found that putting it above the L shape made it more accurate, otherwise it would seem too low:

And the final picture for today, the main gear well has been constructed, fun times.

(The flash exposed the ejector pin marks, I shall clean them up in just a bit)

 

That's all for today, hopefully I've got everything right with regards to forum standards and everything 

Any comments, criticisms, advice, you name it, is welcome, and I look forward to getting involved with this forum. Thanks for reading.

[f111guru]

Welcome to the hobby and the forum. Always set for a F-16 build. Have quite a number myself, but not that kit. Just take your time and have lots of patience and research material. That scheme has been photographed many time. All the best.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[amblypygid]

Nice start on a nice scheme. And welcome to the BM madhouse!

 

58 minutes ago, Costar1198 said:

What got me was how where the small pointy bits were (If anyone could shed some light as to what they are that would be wonderful)

 

I believe they'd be static dischargers. Massively over-scale...

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

 from Chicago. You've nothing to lose from trying, just build them and learn from them. Do yourself a favor as we are all our worst critics. Build only to make yourself happy, don't build to try and please the forum. I say If you can look at it in a week, month, or a year and say yes im still happy with it. Then you've been successful. 

 

Dennis

 

PS : sorry if i was a bit preachy.

Edited February 15, 2019 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Costar1198]

22 hours ago, f111guru said:

Welcome to the hobby and the forum. Always set for a F-16 build. Have quite a number myself, but not that kit. Just take your time and have lots of patience and research material. That scheme has been photographed many time. All the best.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

Thank you very much, I shall keep note of that!

22 hours ago, amblypygid said:

Nice start on a nice scheme. And welcome to the BM madhouse!

 

 

I believe they'd be static dischargers. Massively over-scale...

Ah static dischargers, sounds familiar now 🤔, Cheers 😄

15 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

 from Chicago. You've nothing to lose from trying, just build them and learn from them. Do yourself a favor as we are all our worst critics. Build only to make yourself happy, don't build to try and please the forum. I say If you can look at it in a week, month, or a year and say yes im still happy with it. Then you've been successful. 

 

Dennis

 

PS : sorry if i was a bit preachy.

Oh no don't worry about it, your point is very much valid, in fact I'm very much of the mindset of "every mistake you make can help you improve", even if I do want this to look the part it isn't the end of the world if it doesn't, but thanks 😄

 

In fact that brings me onto my latest progress update...

Got the main gear bay and wings attached to the main fuselage, however that damned extra thin decided to flow under my finger... And well:

Nothing a bit of filler can't fix right?

I then decided to attempt to spray on a base coat of Tamiya X-1 to the wheel wells, cockpit area, intake etc, thinned with Vallejo airbrush cleaner (I think I remember someone using it on a video build somewhere however I feel like it may have been a different paint brand in the end, but I was willing to try it), turns out it did so much as thicken the paint to the point it all started clogging and spluttering out, a rather lengthy cleaning process ensued... One thing I must say about this paint is it's very... black... not really any other way to describe it really, the results are as follows:

Feel like a clean up on certain parts of the model is in order, think I'm going to stick to Revell black as their blue seemed to work rather well on a Sea Harrier testbed, Hopefully I can fix this soon, and hopefully the tamiya black doesn't ruin the finish, should be fine after one or two coats of the revell in theory.

All the best, 

Con

[Nikolay Polyakov]

Welcome, Con! 🤝

 

You can use an enamel thinner to remove the paint from the model. And start again! There’s nothing bad to perform a step backwards, sometimes.

 

On my Voodoo build I removed the paint about the four or five times before an airbrush was purchased:

 

You can use a drop of a gray color to make a black not so black.

 

Cheers! 😎

[f111guru]

We have all been there, done that, a time or two or three, etc. No one kit goes together as another. As you progress you'll learn things some good some great and as someone told me (probably my father) your your own worst enemy.

 

Doing a great jobe

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[Costar1198]

On 15/02/2019 at 21:49, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Welcome, Con! 🤝

 

You can use an enamel thinner to remove the paint from the model. And start again! There’s nothing bad to perform a step backwards, sometimes.

You can use a drop of a gray color to make a black not so black.

 

Cheers! 😎

Thank you very much, I have already cleaned off the black from the cockpit (it looks agricultural but it seems fine when I put the light grey on, assuming the oils from moulding?) 

And yeah I might take a trip down and get some grey to improve that, however given hobbycraft's policy for under 18's and solvents I can't see that happening soon! (Presuming I can't get tamiya because it's laquer based, haven't tried it as yet but I'm sure the warning labels will give them enough excuses )

On 16/02/2019 at 00:13, f111guru said:

We have all been there, done that, a time or two or three, etc. No one kit goes together as another. As you progress you'll learn things some good some great and as someone told me (probably my father) your your own worst enemy.

 

Doing a great jobe

 

Ron VanDerwarker

Thankyou, slowly but surely this is coming together, not expecting this one to be wonderful however as the line of F-16s develops, hopefully I learn from each one.

And this brings me on to my next progress update, a lot hasn't been happening of late, I'm just trying to get to grips with the consistency of revell paints in airbrushes (often spending more time cleaning out the thing than actually using it )

One time I did get it too thin (by god it shoots out fast) and had to wipe it all off, however I did manage to get it right, typically the time that ended up clogging it... 

Meanwhile attempting to put the cockpit decals on... really aren't producing the best result so I'm tempted to take them off and use paint:

 

Cheers all, and happy modelling 🙂

[f111guru]

My first experience with an airbrush was similar. Did not have lots of money for one of those expensive ones, just a basic badger 350. Had to adjust the nozzle to get the amount of paint. And of course spitter spatter until the correct thinnest and flow. That was mid 1975.

 

Your doing a great job. Hope your having fun in the process. We all learn as we go. I'm still learning.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[Nikolay Polyakov]

9 hours ago, Costar1198 said:

And this brings me on to my next progress update, a lot hasn't been happening of late, I'm just trying to get to grips with the consistency of revell paints in airbrushes (often spending more time cleaning out the thing than actually using it )

Don’t worry, Con! It’s all about the practice - you’ll find that you can easily mix the paint and airbrush it as you wish, soon.

 

Good job! 👍 And you have a great company here!

 

8 hours ago, f111guru said:

We all learn as we go.

Absolutely right, Ron! 🤝

 

Cheers! 🙂

Edited February 21, 2019 by Nikolay Polyakov

[f111guru]

Way back when, around 1993 just after I retired from our USAF with the F-111, it was decided to to retire the Vark also and bring in the F-16. Those that I knew were still out there were wondering what the jets would be painted like. This was my impression of what it may be

I still have this kit in my cabinet. I think I finished this kit Feb 1994. It's a 1/48th scale Hasegawa F-16C. The roundell and name City Of Clovis is from the F-111D Superscale sheet

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[Costar1198]

On 20/02/2019 at 23:03, f111guru said:

My first experience with an airbrush was similar. Did not have lots of money for one of those expensive ones, just a basic badger 350. Had to adjust the nozzle to get the amount of paint. And of course spitter spatter until the correct thinnest and flow. That was mid 1975.

 

Your doing a great job. Hope your having fun in the process. We all learn as we go. I'm still learning.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

Ouch that sounds painful, makes my Iwata look like childs play 😅. 

On 21/02/2019 at 07:59, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Don’t worry, Con! It’s all about the practice - you’ll find that you can easily mix the paint and airbrush it as you wish, soon.

 

Good job! 👍 And you have a great company here!

 

Absolutely right, Ron! 🤝

 

Cheers! 🙂

Thank you very much, hopefully I can get grips on it soon, got lots of trash models to practice on which is always nice in a way 🤣

On 22/02/2019 at 03:35, f111guru said:

Way back when, around 1993 just after I retired from our USAF with the F-111, it was decided to to retire the Vark also and bring in the F-16. Those that I knew were still out there were wondering what the jets would be painted like. This was my impression of what it may be

 

I still have this kit in my cabinet. I think I finished this kit Feb 1994. It's a 1/48th scale Hasegawa F-16C. The roundell and name City Of Clovis is from the F-111D Superscale sheet

 

Ron VanDerwarker

Oooh she's a stunner! Held up quite nicely over the years too by the looks of it (not sure how long they usually last before they cripple themselves to death, if at all)

 

And update time... Oh I've been spending this last bit of holiday as wisely as possible:

First off, the cockpit got painted as opposed to a decal due to the decal being quite a bit of effort on these surfaces, it is admittedly, quite a crude paintjob, done with the unsteadiest of hands, however it works for being as hidden as it is...

Doesn't look too bad from a distance... 

I also put that into the front moulding, however I can't help but think the chair is a bit too high

The scary part is this is touching the floor...

Did manage to fill in my errors however, which is a bonus:

That's all for today, safe building people 😎

[f111guru]

Coming along quite nicely. Great recovery on the hiccup. Not to worry about the cockpit. We all have had those days where your hands are not the most steady. We do grow with patience and steadiness. Then as with me, That steadiness departs with age. Then we have encountered the circle of life. Press on young man. Your doing a great job.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[Costar1198]

On 23/02/2019 at 21:57, f111guru said:

Coming along quite nicely. Great recovery on the hiccup. Not to worry about the cockpit. We all have had those days where your hands are not the most steady. We do grow with patience and steadiness. Then as with me, That steadiness departs with age. Then we have encountered the circle of life. Press on young man. Your doing a great job.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

Thank you very much, hopefully I can get the hang of it fairly quick, doesn't matter too much here as it isn't too visible from the outside thankfully.

And yes I'm back, certainly doesn't feel like my last post was over a week ago... wow 🤣

Anyways, progress is as follows:

You'll notice that I've attempted to preshade the aircraft, which didn't go too badly for a first attempt I think, also managed to attach most parts:

You'll also note that Mr. Jim's (just a random name I'll give the pilot) seat position has been corrected, which means the cockpit can be closed now (not that it mattered, was going to have it open anyways 😂)

I then sprayed the white parts white... however I was stupid enough to leave the viper in the spray box while I was spraying the sprue parts, not that it matters, can always go over it and re-pre-shade once the gear covers are on (anyone know of any temporary glues I could use to close the gear doors? Was planning to use them as a mask and then have them extended in the final build)

Here's the result of the snowy viper 😳:

Oh and also, meet distraction #1

Yeah... Oh well not a big issue...

Anyways, cheers for viewing 🙂