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Hello fellow modelers, let me introduce you myself. My name is Thanos, I am a mechanics student from Athens, Greece. One of my passions are airplanes. I spend the most of my day in home, due to the corona virus outbreak. So, I started scrolling in YouTube and I found lots of aircraft modeling videos. I didn’t waste any time and I bought my first kits, (2 Eduard Spitfires (1/72) and a Kinetic F 16 Block 52+ HAF (1/48), which are actually my favorite aircrafts), paints and an H&S Ultra 2 in 1 airbrush. I had almost no experience in scale modeling (only a Revell A320 and a Revell Leopard 2A6, almost 5 years ago), but I have a lot of experience in general manufacturing, as I used to spend the most of my day in my university’s laboratories, prior to virus outbreak. I made this thread in order to share some photos of the Kinetic’s F 16 and also to ask about advices from people who have built this kit. Also, I would like to ask if someone knows a correct mixture for the Aegean Ghost paint scheme (Correct me if I am wrong, I think that’s also an Aggressors scheme). For the Spitfires I will make another thread.

Hellow fellow models!!! My name is Thanos, I am a mechanics student from Athens, Greece. One of my passions are airplanes. I spend the most of my day in home, due to the corona virus outbreak. So, I started scrolling in YouTube and I found lots of aircraft modeling videos. I didn’t waste any time and I bought my first kits, (2 Eduard Spitfires (1/72) and a Kinetic F 16 Block 52+ HAF (1/48), which are actually my favorite aircrafts), paints and an H&S Ultra 2 in 1 airbrush. I had almost no experience in scale modeling (only a Revell A320 and a Revell Leopard 2A6, almost 5 years ago), but I have a lot of experience in general manufacturing, as I used to spend the most of my day in my university’s laboratories, prior to virus outbreak. I had already made a thread about this project in jet modeling sector, but I decide to post also some pictures here. Anfortunately I don't have many pictures from the first stages of the manufacturing. For this project I am using the following Kinetic 48028 F-16C Block 52+ Hellenic Air Force Eduard 648013 F-16 seat for KINETIC Eduard 648011 F-16 late wheels for KINETIC I started with the cockpit, its construction was very easy. I used reference photos from a book called "Vipers under the skin". I used AK's 3rd gen acrylics for as base colors (Intense black as priming and then I sprayed 80% sky gray + 20% england grey as base color). For the details I also used some AKs 3rd gen, some TAMIYA acrylics and Humbrol Enamels. For the airbrushing I used the 0.2mm nozzle and for the detailing I used DaVinci NOVA 10/0 and Winsor and Newton 111 3/0 synthetic brushes. Then I worked with the inlet and the exhaust. Inlet I made some fitting testing und I painted it inside. I used white with very little sky gray, also I used Mr.Surfacer 1200 in order to fill some gaps. The overall fitting of the outer part was good but I used some puty to fill the gaps. Afterburner chamber and middle part: As you can see in the pictures I tried to fill some flaws caused by the mould. At first I painted with AK's 3rd gen Intense White mixed with only a little of Sky Grey. Then I sprayed some smoke lines (following my referense pictures and my experience with the engine) with Intense Black, in the end I further weathered it with a mix (using again the refernce pictures) of Winsor & Newton Wintor Ivory Black and Abteilung Dark Rust oil paints (I used a No 8 Synthetic Flat Brush). I didn't thin the mix prior to the application (as this oils have relatively low viscosity), but I only used AK's odorless enamel thinner to remove the excess paint. I used the same processes for the afterburner chamber and the exhaust nozzle connector but I tried to make a heavier weathering, using two tones of the weathering mix (a blacker and a browner one). Exhaust nozzle: For the inside part of the exhaust nozzle I used a mix of White and Medium Grey mix, trying to replicate the ceramic material. And I weathered it using different tones of the weathering mixture. The most difficult part was the exterior painting. As a base I painted it black and then with natural steel metalic color. I made a mix using black and medium grey to paint the smoke and then I tried to shade every fin using the previous weathering mix (Ivory Black and Dark rust). Wheel Bay: The assembly of the main wheel bay was relatively easy, also I made some parts of the electrical harness using copper cables. I made preshadowing using black colour and then I painted white. I used AK's paneliner for grey camo and Winsor & Newton Wintor Ivory Black & Raw Umber oil colours. Fuselage and CFTs There weren't many fitting issues, but before the final assembly, I made lots of dry fittings. The biggest issue I had was with the gun cover, which had a slightly smaller curvature, after extensive use of putty and sanding, I think that I manage to fix it. The CFTs dry fitting was also really good, I didn't open holes and I positioned them using their silhouette. For the side nose parts I used some blu tack in order to adjust them, I haven't glued them since I am not sure if I must fix the nose first. (just to be sure I will add some bolts as counter-weight). The only major problems where those marked on the picture but I managed to repair them. Since I am new to the hobby, I would like to hear your opinion about my project.

Hi there, I'm currently building Revell's 1/32 F-4E to Hellenic Air Force AUP standard and have a question regarding the AMRAAM's that are used on the front underside stations. On the kit, the stations are shorter in length than the rear stations and as such the AIM-120's supplied in the kit do not fit in there (the supplied AIM-7 Sparrows fit fine). Typically the Hellenic Air Force AUP Phantoms have AIM-120's on the two front underside stations (although they do also have them on the back two occasionally). See this <<LINK>> So my questions are: 1) Is the Revell kit wrong and the stations are longer than represented on their kit? or 2) Are the stations modified on the AUP to be able to take the longer AIM-120s? or 3) Are the Revell AIM-120's too long scale wise? or 4) Are different (shorter) AIM-120's used on these stations (i don't even know if shorter AIM-120's exist)? or 5) Something else? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Quick question; are the IFF probes on Hellenic Air Force AUP Phantoms the same in size compared to the ones that are on their F-16's?