Gonna Get Cranked (up in here)!

[Thom216]

Alright, going to be starting this in a few days. 

 

 

Monogram's venerable(questionable?) take on the proposed F-16XL. It's an okay kit, with raised panel lines () and make-believe surface detail. And size discrepency, as I believe the kit is a few scale feet short? Anyway, going to start (trying to) rescribing the surface, and I have some PE to go along with it. Even see about adding a bit of detail into the wheel bays. 

We'll see what happens!

 

Thom

Edited February 17 by Thom216

[Col.]

It's nice to see an older kit getting some attention. Good choice Thom.

[Thom216]

7 hours ago, Col. said:

It's nice to see an older kit getting some attention. Good choice Thom.

Thanks!

And it falls under the catagory of what's available. If a new-tool of the XL was made in 1/72, I would have jumped all over that. Hear that Kinetic!!

[Thom216]

So, a start is made!

And with the panel lines (and if anyone is expecting a tutorial on panel-lining, disabuse yourselves right now!)

I started by using the raised detail as a guide.

 

And I am doo-doo...

 

Those look horrible, and faced with the prospect of filling them in and redoing them, as well as even remotely with the correct shapes (seeing as the ones on the kit are just barely representative), I said fudge it!

 

 

 

And I bought Tamiya's 1/72 F-16CJ! Woot, woot!!

 

Now, this does not mean the Tamiya kit will be made stock. What was once a 'quickie' build with a few added on details has now become much, much, much more involved as this build will still live up the Cranked title!

 

Now I just need to know where to start cutting...🤔

(...always got to get messy up in here...)

Thom

 

(Addendum...)

Been thinking about how to do this, and I think I am going the Chuck Holte way. Cut out the nose and central section from the Mono kit and splice in the Tam, leaving enough material for the extension and thus keeping most of the upper details. Two birds, one stone.

https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/builds/rm/build_rm_5206.shtml

 

Now to glue that damn wing back on...

Edited February 12 by Thom216

[Col.]

Oh wow! This project has certainly taken a new path 

[Thom216]

On 2/12/2025 at 2:15 AM, Col. said:

Oh wow! This project has certainly taken a new path 

Thanks. A little more complicated than I had intended. Part of the reason for doing it this way is also as a dry-run before doing a tandem-seater later on, probably not for this GB. But now I think I have chosen the wrong kit for the bash. It looks like Tamiya has not done a B-version with the tandem arrangement. I do have the Hasegawa two-seater, but the details are not up there with Tamiya's fine standard. It is fine but also noticeable, esp as they would be sitting side-by-side. A small quibble to be sure and something I can live with, but still...

I wouldn't be surprised if Tamiya suddenly came out with a B-version - or a whole new-tool XL! I'd be grinning, but also starring at the destruction on my workbench in dismay.😅

 

 

Edited February 13 by Thom216

[Col.]

4 hours ago, Thom216 said:

I wouldn't be surprised if Tamiya suddenly came out with a B-version - or a whole new-tool XL! I'd be grinning, but also starring at the destruction on my workbench in dismay.😅

..and we'd all be eternally grateful to you for your sacrifice

[Thom216]

And now I've bought a Hase CJ... I'm making a Parts Canon to shoot at the wall!

[Thom216]

So, I will be moving onto the two-seater for the time being. I have another Monogram XL in the stash as well as the Hasegawa F-16D. Once the Hase CJ shows up I'll see about restarting the single-seater. Which leaves me with a brand new Tamiya F-16CJ that has been sliced and diced into a very expensive parts kit🤪But, it has a nice cockpit and wheel well as well as intake trunking that may benefit one or the other of the XLs, so hopefully not too much of it will go to waste...

 

But as they say, you can't bash a model without breaking a few kits!

 

 

 

Edited February 15 by Thom216

[Wings unlevel]

Oh wow, a few plot twists here! Looking forward to the next instalments. 

[Thom216]

Trying for fewer plot twists this time around!

 

As stated above, moving onto the two-seater for the moment.*

I already have a second Monogram XL and the Hasegawa F-16D tandem seater, so no need to wait.

 

A comparison of the fuselages of both kits.

 

The XL is longer than the standard Falcon, so when making the cuts to splice in the Hasegawa's nose, intake, belly and exhaust I'll have to leave some plastic for added length.

And unlike the previous build, I'm going about this a bit more scientificallicious. On the first, I just cut straight through the plastic with nice straight lines. No. That left gaps that I will have to fill when I get back to it. What I should have done was traced out the newer kit's profile onto the Monogram plastic, like thus...

 

That will give me the first curve and I'll narrow up and retrace the Hase upper half to get the straight lines back to just behind the gear well area.

 

And the first trace lines for the bottom of the Mono kit.

 

Can't see them too well for the glare, but they are there.

A little more refining to do, double-checking 'measurements' before the first cut, but there's the new start.

 

Wish me better luck this time around!

Thom

 

*a 'moment' can be a little longer than momentarily...

 

 

https://imgur.com/a/f-16xl-2-1-72-kitbash-VaZSJI4

Edited February 23 by Thom216

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Im a wee bit jealous, I’ve been looking for a Monogram F-16XL for 11 years and here you are chopping up two to use as bits. 

[Thom216]

13 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Im a wee bit jealous, I’ve been looking for a Monogram F-16XL for 11 years and here you are chopping up two to use as bits. 

Sorry dude. I do know the feeling, though. I've been looking for them for a while (maybe not 11years...) and finally found one and then other at some good prices. One came as a 'plus-one' from another purchase and I forget about the other.

Oh hey! I was looking around for shats and gaggles, and.... PM sent.

 

Thom

 

[Thom216]

Alright, using some thick tape and a scriber, I scoured along the line, following up with a hobby knife and razor saw to speed things along, and detached both cockpit sections and spines. After a little clean-up, the Hasegawa section was offered up to the Monogram wing and happily the fit was pretty good. Not perfect, obviously, there will be some clean up for me to do but I am not too worried about that seeing as the Hase does not have the Tamiya's depth of fine details to lose. I used CA for a quick bind and ran some TET along the upper join to help mix the plastic. Just at the shoulders it is being left 'open' until after I have done the same to the bottom of the fuselage and I can see how I need to 'work' things when the top and bottom are brought together.

 

As she sits...

 

I'll still need(want) to replace the rear including the speed brakes, and then there will be a lot of cutting and rearranging done on the bottom piece, but so far this is affirming.

 

Thom

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 16 by Thom216

[Col.]

Nice splicing Thom.

[Thom216]

Thank you @Col.! Just my amateurish foray. Somethings to handle still, including repositioning the gun. I forgot it is too far forward at the moment, and should be pushed back to be in-line with the rear of the canopy frame. The Hasegawa plastic is thick enough that I can mostly sand it off and probably just fill a divot where the muzzle is. I considered cutting it out and grafting it into the correct position, but I can make less work for myself by using the part from the Tamiya kit, part G4. It inserts from inside so all I'll have to do is carefully cut out a corresponding hole for it.

 

Thom

[Thom216]

Progress made today! Quite a bit of cutting and hacking, studying, planning and gluing, and then more study, some prying, a little more sanding, test fitting, some gluing and studying, a little more planning and pondering, slicing, dicing and tenderizing, a teeny bit of backtracking because that just wouldn't work and a happy coincidence or one.

 

First I decided to cut off the Monogram tail/air breaks in favor of the slightly more refined Hasegawa versions.

 

There are some height differences, but those will be dealt with.

 

I will have to pull some of the 'meat' out of that but I tested the Tamiya burner can that I will be using with this and the fit still looks good after that was thinned down.

 

Now, there are length differences between the standard Falcon and the XL, and I thought all I was going to have to do was graft the bottom of Hasegawa nose at a more forward location. But looking at a picture of Scamp 2 I suddenly realized that the air inlet needs to be set further back as well as the gear well needing to come slightly forward. So, three adjustments in spacing and length from one piece of plastic. Thankfully though, I am not going for exact so I can fudge some distances. The gear well will be forward of the original part but not by so much and the lip will be moved back, if not maybe as much as it should. But, I figure, piecing one plane together from three different manufacturers, I can give myself some leeway.

 

In this following pic you ca see the black X on the left which is plastic to be removed, which doing so will move the mounting point for the inlet back wile still leaving the main gear well that bit forward. And you can see a bit of pencil marking showing where the nose piece will be cut off.

 

Test fit.

 

With all the parts where I think they are supposed to be, I then traced out the Hasegawa insert piece on the Monogram plastic and proceeded to cut out the area. A bit of snipping and sanding later...

 

Most of the fit is pretty good, but you'll note the Monogram section of the fuselage is slightly wider than the Hase part grafted in, so that will have to be re-profiled.

Also, the front edge of the Hase part is at a sharper angle then the Monogram part it's grafted into so that had to be bent to shape with some smooth pliers.

 

And as she looks right about now,

 

And a happy bonus, the Tamiya main gear well just sits neatly inside the Hase part! There are flanges to wither side that just naturally sit on the inner contour and looks to be at the right height too!

 

Lovely!

 

Enough for now.

 

Thom

 

 

[Col.]

A lot of work going on here Thom but all heading in the correct direction 

[Wings unlevel]

10 hours ago, Thom216 said:

But, I figure, piecing one plane together from three different manufacturers, I can give myself some leeway.

I reckon so! 

 

10 hours ago, Thom216 said:

And as she looks right about now,

I reckon so, too! 
 

Am enjoying following this one. 👍

[Thom216]

And I have settled on a scheme! I could go with the blue/gray with the F-16XL logo on the tail, the black NASA livery, a conjectural 'what if,' or....

(drum roooooool!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is before the left wing was changed out for aerdynamic testing, (which will save me some more work...)

Now there's no decal sheet for it, but Caracal does a similar livery for the F-18, and all I need from it is the NASA logo and the number on the tail, which can be pieced together from it.

https://www.caracalmodels.com/cd48229.html

Some pics show General Dynamics at the base of the lower fin, but enough other ones show it removed/painted over/absent, so I won't worry about that. What I will need to do is source/make the red F-16XL logo for either side of the intake.

If I do her right, she should be a sweet looking little Falcon!

 

Thom

 

 

 

Edited February 20 by Thom216

[Col.]

That is a smart scheme

 

[Thom216]

22 hours ago, Col. said:

That is a smart scheme

 

I was looking for something that was a little more 'stand out.'

 

And after a little work on it, I think I have the Tamiya intake almost mated to the inside of the Hasegawa cowl. Required a bit of shortening of parts (with some I will have to add back) and some generous saneding of interior curves, but that will mean I can use it and the nose gear bay.

[Lex77]

Interesting build and nice choice on scheme!

[Thom216]

Thank you guys!

 

I got stuck into the intake last night (not literally cause that looks like it would be a nightmare...) and was hacking and cutting and sanding... and well... you know. I sanded down the wide front end off of the Tamiya trunking as it would not fit within the confines of the Hasegawa housing, cut too much off from the Hasegawa inlet and had to add it back (see the white material in the middle) and then glued them together.

 

The fit on the interior was not perfect (obvs) two manufacturer's two dimensions, so I lined up the top side and after that was glued added strips of styrene along the curved bottom to cover the gap and step.

Those are in the process of being sanded smooth.

 

And the Hasegawa panels (after a lot of sanding along the interior) around the Tamiya trunking and gear bay. Fit is almost perfect there.

 

Okay, update done, time to get back to plastic and glue!

 

Thom

 

 

 

Edited February 22 by Thom216

[Thom216]

And smoothed out! Took a bit with metal curved and round files, some CA to fill divots and progressively finer grit sanding sticks, but it looks and feel (to the toothpic used to feel for roughness) a lot better.

 

I can't get a pic of it straight down the throat, and if I could you could see the blank wall further back there, but it is a lot deeper than it was with the just the Hasegawa part alone. If there is one thing I wish I had thought of doing before closing up the Tamiya trunk would have been to build up a 'slope' at the far end, to continue the effect that the intake is traveling deeper into the fuselage. Oh well, next time.

 

Thom