rossm Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 (edited) This is my first build thread and I'm not sure if a non-British subject really should be on here but the decals were provided by a fellow Britmodeller and he deserves to see they're being used so here it is. As the kit is still on its way from Hannants this is just a reference and planning post : Decals - Two Bobs 1/72 F-16C Arctic Bandits. The wing commander's aircraft was the option I was given. Kit - the Hasegawa 1/72 F-16CJ. The decal subject is a plain F-16C Block 30 so I can nick the wheels and doors associated with the later model to turn an F-16D kit into a DJ. I plan to build SFTB apart from (maybe) a Quickboost seat. This photo shows the aircraft before(?) it became the wing leaders a/c but is a good reference for the walkway stencilling. This photo shows the aircraft prety much as on the Two Bobs sheet Here is a colour photo of the ACES II seat. And here the hyperscale ACES II page. I have also ordered an AN/ALQ188 jamming pod from Wolfpack Designs This link (thanks Habu12) gives pretty much everything to model vipers and tells me 86-314 has the MCID (big mouth) intake so a good job I ordered an F-16CJ ! If the kit arrives today the weather forecast for tomorrow is poor so I hope to make a start then. To be continued (I always do like to state the obvious!), Ross Edited June 4, 2009 by rossm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habu12 Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 There's plenty of non-brit subjects on here Keep it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 There's plenty of non-Brit subjects on here Keep it up! He's right you know. Now get on with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 I've edited my first post to add some more references but I've also been building. I started with all the parts from my F-16D kit that were relevant to the single seater - all bar the upper fuselage and the 'big-mouth' were there. The F-16CJ finally arrived today and you can see I'm just about ready for it. Sorry it's not the best photo but it's modelling time, not photographic studio time ! That's a Quickboost seat, not the awful kit item. Good weather today/tomorrow so not a lot of progress to be expected but maybe more on Monday when the forecast is dodgy ! Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 I've been making progress but just to show it's not all plain sailing here's a shot of my build a few minutes ago. Note the clothespegs to clamp the nose - in fact joining the fuselage had to be done in several stages to get best fit, also my attempt to get the 'big mouth' seam-free and the white plastic strip on the base of the fin (to the right of the peg) to fill in a 'setp' in the moulding. Finally there's filler in the holes in the lower wing as the reference photos do not show pylons and some Krystal Klear filling the join between cockpit tub and rear bulkhead. What I'm not sure about is how much of the area around the cockpit shout be black - the binnacle for sure but how about behind the pilot ? Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habu12 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Yes, the area behind the cockpit is also black. Into the canopy hinge area, and towards the back, wjhere the rear canopy is. Binnacle? Is that brit for instrument panel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 (edited) Yes, the area behind the cockpit is also black. Into the canopy hinge area, and towards the back, wjhere the rear canopy is. Binnacle? Is that brit for instrument panel? Thanks for the info on the black. Binnacle is a nautical term from the days of sail for the bit that holds/shelters the ships compass but it seemed to describe the huge cover for the instruments better than anything else I could think of ! I've just taken off the tape around the nose and there's going to be a tiny bit of filler needed, not a disaster but I was trying to avoid it. Just couldn't get everything to line up and stay lined up. Ross Edited April 13, 2009 by rossm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Binnacle is a nautical term from the days of sail for the bit that holds/shelters the ships compass but it seemed to describe the huge cover for the instruments better than anything else I could think of ! Try Instrument of cockpit "Coaming" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habu12 Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Your definition actually does make sense, Ross. But in aeronautical terms, instruments are covered by a 'bezel', and instrument panels are covered, as was mentioned, by a coaming, or cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 I don't want to hijack my own thread but coaming is also a nautical term (17th century according to my dictionary) for the raised bit around a hatch to keep the water out. Binnacle still seems to represent the huge lump in front of an F-16 pilot better to me. Believe it or not, although I knew there were lots of nautical terms in aviation I hadn't made the aeronautical connection before ! Anyway, to brass tacks.... Lousy weather today so reasonable progress. Various shims and a sprue 'strut' across the back got an OK fit on the 'big mouth' and a little attention from the Flexifile meant I have avoided using filler around it. Just a touch of filler on the nose and some Krystal Klear on one underwing seam so far. That's the Wolfpack Designs AN/ALQ-188 pod between the Liquid Poly and the Green Stuff. It doesn't quite match photos but should be OK. Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habu12 Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 Any progress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 15, 2009 Author Share Posted May 15, 2009 (edited) Any progress? After work and vacation trips I'm just getting going again - does anyone have pictures of the wingtip nav lights with the later (AIM-120?) missile rails fitted. As far as I can tell what Hasegawa provide is way oversize but I haven't yet found a clear pic on Airliners.net or the F-16 pages. PS - I only just decided I should use the new rails and I just love the way Hasegawa (1/72 kits) tell you to cut off the old rails and butt joint the new ones. Chances of me lining them up right ? You cannot be serious, man ! Edited May 15, 2009 by rossm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habu12 Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 The nav lights don't change. In fact the LAU-129 rails have the cutout for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Now masked and ready to spray the primer - not sure it's worth a photo but it's a milestone worth noting as it's the first of my models to get there this year ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofjim Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 .....seems to represent the huge lump in front of an F-16 pilot !...Ross this is what makes F-15 pilots feel inferior ... seriously though, this looks excellent super clean build so far Ross i havnt ever built 1/72 scale (1/48th iddly enough for me ) and the more i see the stunning work being displayed here by gents of you calibre makes me admire you even more looks like you had your trials with this one but its lookin great keep up the good work jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 (edited) Well, I've sprayed the primer and almost wish I hadn't. My LHS only had Alclad grey primer/filler so I went with that. The first airbrush clogged almost immediately - to be fair to Alclad it has a habit of doing that - so I went for the cheapy double action reserve and got a coat that was ok in places, one run due to me not handling the unfamiliar double action well and some places where I could have been spraying sand off the beach ! A polishing cloth has just about recovered the situation but a whole afternoon has gone on spraying, cleaning the airbrushes (Alclad airbrush cleaner will strip paint as soon as look you at it) and polishing. Next time I might just put the first colour coat straight on which is my usual habit but having had trouble with adhesion of Xtracrylix I decided to be (too) clever this time. Luckily the primer shows that all my joint lines are good enough as far as I'm concerned. One bonus is that the main airbrush got a very good cleanup so might be cured of that clogging habit ? Hopefully tomorrow I'll put some colour on and find out. Edited May 23, 2009 by rossm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted May 25, 2009 Author Share Posted May 25, 2009 Now ready to do the final masking for the 'camouflage' colours. Note I departed form my normal sequence and put the undercarriage in before painting as it looked a bit flimsy and I thought this way would mean I got good solvent joints without problems due to paint on the parts I was trying to join. I then masked the airframe to spray the white and hand painting the tyres wasn't too difficult. Not quite sure how I'll mask it for spraying the airframe- wet tissue seems worth a try but I've never used it before. I'm going to try it on something else first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted June 4, 2009 Author Share Posted June 4, 2009 (edited) The cow being, of course, a Friesian (Black and white patches). I wasn't brave enough to mask the wraparound camouflage so I'm brush painting it - as I did my Harrier quite succesfully. It's early days and it'll need at least two coats but at least it's progress. The light grey (FS36628) is Xtracolour X260 - RAL7035 - given as an equivalent by David H Klaus IPMS Colour Cross Reference. The otherwise excellent instructions missed this possibility. Edited June 4, 2009 by rossm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habu12 Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Ah, so no airbrush now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Ah, so no airbrush now? I used it on another model that's happening in parallel and couldn't even get air throught it after I'd cleaned up. I just don't trust it. It's a problem that will have to be solved but the 1/8" flat brush works well with Xtracrylix and the finish is more than ok once the proverbial flat varnish top coat is on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted July 9, 2009 Author Share Posted July 9, 2009 So I finished the first (patchy) coat of black and did one of Neutral Grey which brushed on a bit better. Difference ? The black is Xtracrylix thinned with water, the Neutral Grey is Xtracrylix which hadn't been thinned. So I decided to get out the airbrushes again for the second coat of black. Many blockages, splatters, runs and swearwords later I'm going to have to strip the black and Neutral Grey, luckily the base pale grey is Xtracolour so I can use IPA which in theory will take off the acrylic but not touch the enamel (just tried a small section and it seems to work like that). Seems like Xtracrylix doesn't like our summer temperatures (20C/68F today) as I used a colour cup (not the usual jar) and it skinned over in very few minutes. Same must be happening on the needle as I used two airbrushes (Badger 200 and Clarke double action) which both spray water ok. It's costing a fortune in airbrush cleaner as well ! This is going to take a lot of motivation to finish even though I can just about see how good it will look in that 'cow' scheme, Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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