Oh No! More Vipers... 86048 NF-16D - VISTA (X-62)

[Serkan Sen]

In this topic I will share my drawings, decal artworks and the VISTA builds in 1:72 and 1:48 scales both completed and ongoing projects. As always I started the project with the 3 view drawings. The VISTA aircraft has mainly three different painting schemes.

 

The first painting scheme had several markings/labels depending on the program test phase (VISTA, MATV, AVEN...) : 

 

Serkan

 

 

 

 

[Serkan Sen]

The second paint scheme was applied in 2014:

 

 

[Serkan Sen]

And the latest paint scheme since 2019:

 

[darthspud]

That looks like 2 different aircraft, one with a standard short tail, the other with a ''European'' long/Parachute drogue tail.

With the kits i have i can do either/both, but not the latest version as i don't have the tail art.

 

Good new thread btw. sorry for taking over the other one.

[Serkan Sen]

38 minutes ago, darthspud said:

That looks like 2 different aircraft, one with a standard short tail, the other with a ''European'' long/Parachute drogue tail.

I didn't get what you refer. Are you comparing VISTA and AFTI or two VISTA paint schemes?

[darthspud]

the earliest Vista and the latest Vista look like different aircraft.

 

[Serkan Sen]

Oh I see, you are referring to MATV. Due to spin recovery chute installation the drouge tail was shortened (I am not sure if a standard C/CG tail was used)

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Serkan Sen

[Serkan Sen]

Here are some pictures of my first VISTA build in 2005. I used a scrapped model from my junkyard:

 

First the old paints have been removed and the spine has been shaped using a hard foam piece:

 

To get a smooth surface and fill all the tiny holes of hard foam the spine has been coated with filler/primer and sanded several times:

 

During that build I didn't care the intake shape and simply used the kit's NSI intake...

 

Once the spine shape and surface quality were fine the model has been painted to base color white:

 

In parallel I have made the decal artwork:

 

The deep blue areas have been painted and the red stripes were from decal sheet:

 

The model was coated with gloss coat and the decals were placed:

 

After applying the decals a next layer of gloss coat was applied to seal them.

 

[Serkan Sen]

As the last step the model was coated with satin coat and the payloads have been glued:

 

In overall I enjoyed this build at that time and she looks still very eye catching although having many known issues. Since that time I have improved my skills, build methods and materials. Therefore I am expecting to build much better and accurate VISTA models in this project.

 

Serkan

Edited August 24, 2021 by Serkan Sen

[Hook]

Excellent stuff, thanks! I still have the 1/72nd Hasegawa boxing in the stash. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Neffan]

17 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

Here are some pictures of my first VISTA build in 2005. I used a scrapped model from my junkyard:

 

First the old paints have been removed and the spine has been shaped using a hard foam piece:

 

To get a smooth surface and fill all the tiny holes of hard foam the spine has been coated with filler/primer and sanded several times:

 

During that build I didn't care the intake shape and simply used the kit's NSI intake...

 

Once the spine shape and surface quality were fine the model has been painted to base color white:

 

In parallel I have made the decal artwork:

 

The deep blue areas have been painted and the red stripes were from decal sheet:

 

The model was coated with gloss coat and the decals were placed:

 

After applying the decals a next layer of gloss coat was applied to seal them.

 

Your decals are really perfect. it's a professional job ... 😉 

[Serkan Sen]

Thanks Neffan,

This was an old artwork I did more than 15 years ago and was designed for an inkjet printer. The new decal artworks will be made for ALPS printer with multilayer color separation...

Serkan

[Serkan Sen]

Recently I started building a 1:48 VISTA using an Italeri 848 F-16B/D "Viper". Here are the box art and part sprues:

 

The major modification on this kit was to replace NSI intake with MCID (big mouth) one.

I have assembled a Hasegawa F-16CJ MCID intake and filled all the seam lines to make a master form for cloning. Here is the cloned intake fitted to kit with a litte effort:

 

Another modification was necessary on spine at drag chute area. The kit spine was too shallow than the real aircraft. The drag chute housing was adopted from Kinetic Viper:

 

Next step is to finish cockpit area and glue the fuselage halves together.

 

Serkan

[Space Ranger]

Years ago the folks at IPMS Dayton (Ohio) developed and sold a 1/72 conversion kit for the AFTI F-16. I had one, but it has long since disappeared in one of my many cross-country moves.