A Stripy Viper

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Next project is this.

 

 

"Hang on!", I hear you say.  "Haven't I seem that somewhere before?"

 

You have indeed, in the chat thread in a post from my friend @JOCKNEY.  

 

In response I said 

Quote

This is A Kit I Could Have Built As A Kid But Didn't And Am Now Regretting It.

 

I think I have mentioned before that as a young lad we used to go on family holidays to Fleetwood.  I used to love those holidays.  Fleetwood had trams!  And you could travel to Blackpool on 'em!    There was a boating lake, which was just for model boats! And a funfair!  At the south end of the town there was the Sea Scouts HQ which had a real Hawker Sea Hawk on display.  Holidays didn't get any better than that!!!   

 

Fleetwood also had a model shop.  I can't tell you what it was called - that memory is lost to time - but I can remember exacty where it was situated.  Head east past the Pharos lighthouse until the tramways split into wide double tracks.  The model shop was on the southern parade of shops.  One holiday I visited there regularly and noticed this Revell F-16 kit.  I planned to buy it at the end of the holiday.  But then on the last day, I went into the shop and was immediately thrust onto the horns of a dilemma.  On the shelf, right next to the Revell F-16 was a Matchbox Phantom!!!!  I didn't have the funds for both.  What was a young lad to do?!?!?    In the end I opted for the Matchbox Phantom but have always thought about the Revell F-16, a teenage what if?  

 

So, in the spirit of nostalgia and a little bit of envy, I will enjoy your build vicariously.   

 

Pat had a better idea.  He kindly donated the kit to me so that I can scratch a forty-nine year old itch!   I am very grateful indeed.    

 

@Wings unlevel said that it has to be built with all those stores, the tug and the engine stand.  Who am I to argue.    

 

In deference to the pure nostalgia of this kit it will be a heritage build with no improvements to the kit whatsoever, althugh I may source some modern decals.

[JOCKNEY]

Good evening your Magnificence 

 

Delighted to see this one joining the GB, I got this many years ago as a started kit and I'm so pleased to see it getting built after all these years, I look forward to seeing this one come to life 

 

Cheers Pat 

[Col.]

This will be interesting. If you do document the construction it'll allow many of us to join you on this nostalgia trip

[Enzo the Magnificent]

1 hour ago, Col. said:

If you document the construction in a timely manner it'll allow many of us to join you on this nostalgia trip

 

Fixed that for you... 

 

[Wings unlevel]

15 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

@Wings unlevel said that it has to be built with all those stores, the tug and the engine stand.  Who am I to argue. 

We would expect nothing less of you than to build it all! 😂

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The sprues.    The cockpit has been started by the person who owned it before Pat.  The intake parts had been assembled without glue so I know that they fit well.    

 

 

 

 

 

There are a couple of missing parts, including the jet engine halves, but I can live with that. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

First step was to clean up the cockpit parts.  The instrument panel and console decals were already flaking off so I sanded them away with a fine sanding stick and then primed the cockpit parts and the interior of the fuselage nose before spraying with Lifecolor UA-033.   I added some spare decals to the consoles and instrument panel.

 

 

The great thing about F-16s is that there is always plenty of room for ballast behind the cockpit. 

 

 

Having assembled the fuselage, I turned my attention to the jet exhaust area and found a ring section to be missing.   Not a problem.  I crudely cut out a circle piece and a washer from 20thou plastic card.  

 

 

... and glued them in place with the afterburner part.

 

 

I then tacked a long strip of 5thou plastic card into the gap between the circle and the washer with superglue.  I wrapped it around a few times and secured it in place with liquid cement.  It will need filling and sanding.

 

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Main assembly complete.

 

 

 

Fin sitted and the model was primed using my usual technique of a coat of clear lacquer from a rattle can followed by grey plastic primer, also from a rattle can.

 

 

Having turned it grey, I then proceded to turn it back to white!     White plastic primer from a rattle can.  

 

 

Then came a lot of faffing around.   The masking is easy!  The red is Tamiya X-7 while the blue is Tamiya X-4.  However, whatever I did, the sprayed paint managed to creep under the masking tape, even with mist coats.  I then had the big idea of sealing the masking tape with clear lacquer.  If the clear lacquer crept under the edge it wouldn't matter as the following colour woudn't be able to.  Great idea!  Except that when the masking tape was lifted the laquer clug to it and stripped off portions of the paint.    I've never used the Tamiya gloss paints before so this is a lesson earned.  Maybe next time I should run a sharp blade along the edge of the masking tape.  

 

However, I persevered.   It's not perfect but any imperfections can be touched in with a hairy stick.

 

 

 

And yes, I've lost the forward part of the starboard missile rail.  It was always on the cards...  Not a problem as I've managed to conserve the broken part which will be restored when I fit the wingtip missile. 

 

 

[Col.]

Nice progress boss but that paintscheme reads like an ongoing nightmare. Hope you've got it to a point you're happy with now.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

20 minutes ago, Col. said:

Hope you've got it to a point you're happy with now.

 

Not quite.  But it's getting there.

[JOCKNEY]

Looks the business Boss, my apologies about the missing parts 

 

Cheers Pat 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

24 minutes ago, JOCKNEY said:

Looks the business Boss, my apologies about the missing parts 

 

You should see it now!      And the missing parts were not your problem.  Certainly not now the problem is fixed.  

[Col.]

14 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

You should see it now!   

We would if you posted updates more regularly