Enjoy the View- 1/72 Hasegawa Twin Stick VISTA Viper

[Troffa]

I've had this one in the stash for a while, I stumbled across it whilst looking for some other Viper kits for a forthcoming project, but I decided to bring this one to the front of the queue.

 

It's the 1/72 Hasegawa limited edition boxing of the F-16D "VISTA" Test bird released in 2002. ( 😬 Gulp!) 

 

 

A really nice tooling in my view, and packaged with resin extra parts for the Spine, Brake Parachute housing and what I assume are Spin Recovery Parachute attachment points on the rear fuselage. It has a nice set of decals and a bespoke instruction sheet. With plenty of unused parts for the spares box It's a lovely package.

 

 

 

Stay tuned!

 

Troffa

 

 

 

[billn53]

This should be interesting!

[Troffa]

In the beginning, there was an Olfa P cutter, and it was good.

 

The P cutter was deployed in order to remove the cockpit fairing to make room for the resin spine. 

 

 

 

And while I was flashing blades, I also removed the Tail Fin Fairing, also displaced by the Spine fairing.  This was a relatively easy task as the lower fairing was without it's final half and the cutter was supported on the edge of the cut line. 

 

 

Having a read about the F-16 VISTA  (Variable stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft) it seems that the Israeli Air Force were very interested in the pre-cursor program to VISTA- MATV   (Multi-Axis Thrust-Vectoring) and had agreed to a joint venture with GD and GE , so an Israeli spec. Block 30 was selected for MATV, and when that program closed, the same airframe was selected for VISTA.

 

Oh, and a centre (center) control stick was installed.  If you want a detailed background to the whole program have a look here:  NF-16 VISTA

 

So with the rear cockpit fairing removed I did a test fit of the spine with the canopy installed to ensure I got their relative positions correct.

 

 

 

 

That potential butt joint between fin and spine looks a little fragile, especially with the rest of the build, 

 

 

So I decided to drill the tail and install a styrene peg, this will be installed in a corresponding hole in the spine at a later juncture.

 

 

 

I got the spine installed, primed the upper fuselage and progressed the cockpit.  Some FS36375 Gray from Gunze and  just decals for the instrument panels, but I'm going to bang some Quick boost ACES Seats into the tubs to draw the eye. 

 

Ooh yeah, that centre stick. I might have a think about that. 🙂 

 

I was concerned about the effect of the spine on the model's centre of gravity, so I added some lead shot and white glue to the nose to reduce the chances of tail sitting. 

 

A bit of masking and some Citadel Chaos Black from a rattle can completed the cockpit sills.  Overspray, what overspray? 🙂  

 

 

 

 

I'm really enjoying this build, thanks for tagging along!

 

Troffa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Troffa]

Wings on, and for the first time ever I have dropped the flaps on a Viper.  Well they are drooping on the box lid. 

I have filled the ensuing gap and will see how this ends up looking. I have other Viper's in the planning stages and I will see if this is to become a regular thing on my F-16's. 

 

 

 

I'm going to let this set overnight and will wipe off the black overspray and excess filler when I get to this bad boy tomorrow.  The hole I drilled to take my Tail fin pin is apparent in the resin spine.

Loving a bit of Hasegawa 1/72 action. 🙂 

 

Good night to you all, from a balmy evening in Somerset, England. 

 

I hope that you are all well. 

 

Troffa

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stevehnz]

I'm liking the look of this, the Hasegawa extra bits don't look a heap different to the Airwaves spine set, which I have, so keen to see how this goes.

Steve.

[darthspud]

think i might just do this on a spare 1/48 F16 B/D i have in the stash.

got 2 Airwave spines nice and cheap from Hannants,

the decals i got direct from TwoBobs (they had a $5 sale)

Most of the visible differences looks eminently do-able , even to my limited skills.

 

[Troffa]

Well I've just put the finishing touches to this little beauty- I have really enjoyed the build- decals are pretty good, kit went together well and it's an interesting addition to the Grey on Grey modern flight line. The VISTA, now a fully fledged X-Plane as the X-62A, is a superb bit of aerospace engineering and I'd love to see her in the flesh one day. 

 

The cockpit before I closed her up:

 

 

 

And some general views of the finished article- white was Tamiya acrylic with a gloss from Mr Hobby, Blue is Humbrol enamel No.15, Red is kit decals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I missed the forward RWR blisters with the red stripe, on the real deal the blisters are wholly red, so a lesson for next time. 

 

I will be doing a 1/48 scale version at some point in the future, but for now this excellent Viper will suffice.

 

I may get the SLR out and take some half decent shots of her for RFI, but that might be a day or so away. 

 

I cannot recommend the 1/72 Hasegawa F-16 enough, it's a lovely little kit to put together, and this special edition was a joy to work on.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Troffa

 

 

 

 

[billn53]

Very nice. Not your run-of-the-mill F-16.

[Natter]

Very nice Mark. It's good to see you are back to building to your usual high standard.

[Troffa]

10 hours ago, Natter said:

Very nice Mark. It's good to see you are back to building to your usual high standard.

That's very kind of you Natter, but I can see many glaring errors and bits I wish I'd finished with a little more finesse, but I really enjoyed the build and she looks great on the shelf from 3 feet. In actual fact I enjoyed the build so much I've decided to start one of my "Premier" builds. Thread to follow shortly. 🙂 

[amos brierley]

😃