Hunting in the East China Sea - Kinetic F-16B & Hasegawa F-2A - 1/48

[Marlin]

Hi. Let's go fishing in the East China Sea.  

This will be my contribution in this GB. 
I'll be doing a double build as usual. 
First we go to Taiwan.

I'll be building a Taiwanese F-16B loaded for Anti Shipping warfare, using the for me now familiar Kinetic F-16A/B block 20.
001 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

This is the third Kinetic F-16 in a row that I'm building and the fifth in my collection. 
So I guess one can say I know my way around this kit by now.

002 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
Mine will be an F-16B, since the B-version is missing in my growing collection of F-16's
And I'll be using the kit decals doing it in the livery with Shark mouth and the Flying Tiger on the side from the Flying Tigers 70th Anniversary. The kit comes with decal option for just about every F-16A/B that the Taiwanese Air Force have flown.

I've got some aftermarket goodies for this build.
003 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 
Harpoon missiles from Eduard.
Quinta cockpit decals, the eagle eyed observer can see that these are for F-16D block 30-52.
And this is just right for this build. 
Taiwans F-16A/B Block 20 was new built to F-16A/B MLU specs and have a similar cockpit layout as the F-16C/D.
I've also got resin wheels from Eduard and the obligatory pitot tube and AoA probes from Masters. 
I'll use the kit decals for this build since Kinetic decals are usually OK to use. 

I'll load my F-16B with
2 x AIM-120C on the wingtips.
2 x AIM-9M Sidewinders.
2 x AGM-84 Harpoons
2 X 370 gallon drop tanks. 
1 x ALQ-184(V)7 ECM pod, this is Taiwan's own version of this jamming pod and it's included in the kit so I'll use it. 
I might also use the included Sharpshooter/Pathfinder nav pods since they are in the kit.

For my 2nd build let's go some north of Taiwan and to Japan.
Here I'll give you a Mitsubishi F-2A, also loaded with Anti Ship missiles.
I'll be using Hasegawa's F-2 with ASM-3 missiles.
004 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
The kit comes with the anti ship missiles and the newer AAM-4 air-to-air missiles.

I've also got some aftermarket goodies for this one.
005 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
Decals from DXM, since I try not to use Hasegawa decals when I can.
Resin wheels and exhaust from Reskit.
Quinta decals for the cockpit; these are for a Hasegawa F-16D that I bought by mistake, but I think I can use them with some cutting and pasting to represent the cockpit of an F-2 since they are very similar in layout. 
And of course a pitot tube from Masters, once again this is for the F-16, but i think no one will see the difference.

I think I'll do the white Grim Reaper for my F-2.
006 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

This will be my last project for 2022.
In June we'll have to evacuate our apartment for a total renovation of the building for some months, and I'll have to pack up everything in the apartment. So I've set my own deadline of April 30 for this build so I'll have a month for packing.

To be continued.....
/Bosse.....

[Col.]

This will make for an interesting comparison of the two subjects Bosse and not only do you have cool markings on each but they're carrying a set of FBMs as well

[Marlin]

Thanks Col.  

I think this will be a fun project. 

/Bosse

[Wings unlevel]

Great subjects! They may be quite topical in the not too distant future…

[Marlin]

12 minutes ago, Wings unlevel said:

Great subjects! They may be quite topical in the not too distant future…

Thanks, that's just what I'm afraid of..... 

/Bosse

[desert falcon]

Good subjects and a very nice collection of AM stuff you got there, so go for it Bosse 👍 

 

… and keep us updated on your weekends at the „stuga“  

[Marlin]

Thanks @desert falcon.  

 

Rest assured, updates on the "stuga" and my BBQ's will follow.   

/Bosse

 

[Marlin]

Hi., Well the game is a foot as Sherlock Holmes would have said.   
Yesterday made an early start of the GB.
I ripped the plastic bags of the F-2 when I came home from work. 

The first thing i noticed was eight punch marks in the air intake.
So out with the putty.
007 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
008 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

When that was done I built up 4 AAM-5's my F-2 will carry.
009 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

And that was all I had time for before yesterdays ice hockey match between my team Väsby against Huddinge, a team from the south suburbs of Stockholm. Unfortunately Väsby lost 5-4, but it was a fun and good game to watch.

To be continued.....
/Bosse

[Bertie McBoatface]

First away! Good luck with your deadline. 

[Marlin]

Thanks Bertie.  

I don't think the deadline will be a problem for this GB. 

I got a fortnights vacation time coming up during the Winter Olympics in  Beijing. 

Then I'll be watching sports on the Telly; routing for 🇸🇪 and building my kits for at least 10 hour/day.  

 

/Bosse 

[Marlin]

Hi.  

Well, the first weekend of this GB has come and gone. 
And I've been gluing sub assemblies all Saturday after work, and all Sunday. 
The drop tanks are done. 
010 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
The F-2 uses the larger 600 gallon tanks, instead of the 370 gallon tanks seen on most F-16's

I've also built the humongous ASM-3 Anti ship missiles.
011 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 
They are 125mm long in 1/48, which translates to 6 meters in real life.  

All sub assemblies made a rather dense forest.  
013 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

On Saturday we experimented a bit in the kitchen. 
I'd found a Spanish wine in my Facebook stream I wanted to test, but what do you eat with a Spanish wine?
014 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
Well Paella of course, with chicken and chorizo, grilled bell peppers and some suger snaps.  

The wine is called Les Sorts from Catalonia fitted as hand in glove to the meal.  
015 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
I'll be buying some more bottles of this one.

On Sunday I looked to see if I can use the Quinta cockpit decals for Hasegawas F-16D can be used for an F-2?
016 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
017 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
I think I can with some cut n paste do a reasonable look of them. 

All sub assemblies I'd built up so far got some primer on Sunday afternoon. 
018 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
019 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

Sunday afternoon means this time of the year an Ice hockey Match. 
This time my Väsby had a match against Hanviken, which is also a Stockholm team from the southern suburbs. 
In the intervalls I glued up the fuselage for my Taiwanese F-16B.
020 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
The match was exciting and in the end my Väsby won the game with 4-1.  

I also got the ECM pod together. 
021 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

And I got the Sidewinder rails for station 2 & 8 and a pair of AIM-120C's for the wingtip rails done.
022 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

This week will see more sub assemblies done and primed and lots of white painting in all the intakes. 
To be continued.....
/Bosse

[Col.]

You have had a good weekend Bosse

Must say that at six meters long those are a set of seriously FBMs

[Marlin]

Hi.  

After successfully managing to aviod Covid-19 for two years, it has now caught up with us.
80% of the family are now sick with Covid since Monday evening, My daughter and wife are real sick with fever and everything. 
Myself and the youngest son are just sick with coughing ad runny noses. And the eldest son are still not infected.

I'm not worse than I can sit at the building table glueing and painting the days away.
And when you don't have to go to work, things at the building table happens real fast.

I've done the cockpit for the F-16
023 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
024 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

As well as the Harpoons.
025 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
026 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
027 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

And since the Kinetic kit comes with a bomb adapter that fits in the pylon I glued it to the missiles.
028 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

The air intake on this kit looked a lot better than the last two I've built.
url=https://www.flickr.com/gp/156426495@N05/39C8x6][/url]029 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
Just two ejection pin marks that were easy sanded down.

I'll be adding some sensor pods to the F-16, the kit comes with the older Pathfinder/Sharpshooter pods so I might as well use them.
030 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

And to keep me busy during the days I've been glueing, priming, painting and even gloss coating lots o fsubassemblies.
031 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
032 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
033 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
034 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
035 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
036 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

The main gear bay on the F-2 has been painted fully so I've also glued in place in the bottom fuselage.
037 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

And thank God for home delivery pizza when you're sick.  
038 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

To be continued.....
/Bosse

[Col.]

Sorry to learn that Covid has hit some of your family so hard Bosse. Hopefully they will make a full and quick recovery.

[Marlin]

Thanks Col.

A week or two in bed and we can put this thing behind us.

 

/Bosse

[helios16v]

On 1/22/2022 at 12:33 AM, Marlin said:

 

I got a fortnights vacation time coming up during the Winter Olympics in  Beijing. 

Then I'll be watching sports on the Telly; routing for 🇸🇪 and building my kits for at least 10 hour/day.  

 

 

Sounds like a proper way to spend a vacation.  

 

Sorry to hear about the illness going around the fam.  You certainly seem to be making the best of the time though.  Wishing a speedy recovery to you guys.

 

Certainly seems to be a bit of anti-ship action going on.  The 2 leading builds I'm considering also fall down that route (as is the F-4EJ I'm still building from the STGB).  

[desert falcon]

Sorry to hear you are almost all down with corona, GWS !! (my two teenage kids just finished their isolation, so I know the feeling).

 

Nice work on the kits! 

[Marlin]

Thanks Gents.

We'll survive this Covid thing, I'm sure of that, and at least this Omicron variant isn't as nasty as the previous ones.  

As long as I can build my kits I'm happy. 

/Bosse  😷

[81-er]

I hope you all make a speedy recovery

 

James

[Marlin]

Thanks James. 

/Bosse 

[Marlin]

Hi here's an update from Camp Covid here in Upplands Väsby Sweden.  
I've come so far with the F-2 that it's time to make the cockpit.

First the ejection seat.
And remember that I'm using Quinta decals for a Hasegawa F-16D, so it isn't 100% correct for a F-2.
040 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
041 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

I'll try and get the IP looking some like this.

So I've cut up the decals like this.
042 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

And I'm rather please with the outcome.
043 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
044 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

The air intake is ready to be glued to the airframe.
045 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

The aft part of the intake channel has already been glued to the fuselage.
046 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

Then I glued the intake part to the fuselage.
047 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

When that had set I glued the cockpit to the lower fuselage.
048 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
I've not built an F-2 earlier so I also glued in some nose weights just to be sure I don't end up with a tail sitter.

And the it just rolled on and I could close up the fuselage and glue the wings to the airframe.
051 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
049 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr
050 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

I got a hairline gap at the wing root, but noting that a little PPP wouldn't fix.
052 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

When glue and putty had set I glued the fin and ventral strakes to it, and put some primer to everything.
053 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

And with that done it's time to get the Reskit resin exhaust together. 
054 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr

We're still down with Covid in the family so I guess I'll be home from work this week as well, and from Friday I got a fortnights vaccation coming up for the winter Olympics. Which means that I now have three weeks of time for my kits.
To be continued.....
/Bosse

 

[Col.]

Good progress Bosse but now you're making want an F-2 as well  

[Marlin]

Thanks Col.

I can relate to that feeling since I plan to get a second kit and build it with the smaller ASM-2 missiles.

/Bosse 

[helios16v]

14 hours ago, Col. said:

Good progress Bosse but now you're making want an F-2 as well  

 

You know you want one.  Stop denying yourself.  

[Col.]

6 hours ago, helios16v said:

You know you want one.  Stop denying yourself.  

You know I know I want at least one but Stash Swell is becoming a major issue due to my slow building pace. Yet here I am on eBay and various model shop websites...