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Academy F-16C in 1/72 scale!


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Hi guys! My first WIP here, although it's not my first kit haha! I'm tackling Academy's 1/72 F-16C, this will be an OOB build as usual. . Anyway, more pics and details can be seen here

The boxart

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Nice, pretty and sexy decals. Markings for this kit will be the same as the boxart, the one with the wolf head

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Canopy had a line running through the center, removed by sanding 400 -> 600 -> 1000 grit. Next I polished it using some metal polish I found around the house, cannot compare with rubbing compound as it left a slight hazy surface :worship: . Dip into Future and looks like this: Nice and clear

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Next, cockpit and ejection seat done too! Simple dry brushing brought out the details :banana:

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Thanks for looking, comments and critiques welcomed!!!!!!!!!!!

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More work done... The intake lips, mine had a large seam running all around the bottom, I think it's just me. After rounds and rounds of putty and sanding, still cannot get a smooth surface

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And after joining the intake to the fuselage... some putty work needed, otherwise it can be a perfect fit...

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Starting to look like a F-16! I plan to arm it with these... is this correct? Does it carry this mixture of weapons?

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First off, it's looking great so far! :rolleyes:

For the stores loadout, I'm not too sure on the CJ/CG AIM-9X clearance, but either way the AMRAAMs go on the wingtips, heatseekers are underwing. Also, according to the side of the box, your decal choice would be for a CG, and unless they upgraded to the CX standard, it would be LANTIRN and GBU-31 for your model.

Edited by sv51macross
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Since you're going for a Block 40 build, it's OK for you to load it with AIM-9Xs. But since the 8th FW's mission is primarily Strike, not SEAD, you should arm it with the JDAMs instead. As for LANTIRN pods, I think it'll be better if you load the plane carrying just the targeting pod as the nav pod is hardly used by the USAF F-16s nowadays.

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well today I painted the landing gears and pre-shaded the bird.

as for the weapon load, I'll be switching the AGM-88 HARM to GBU. Why? Because one of the missile flew out of the window and got lost forever.... :bandhead2::woot.gif:

Anyway, more pics and details can be seen here

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As usual, comments and critiques welcomed! :crying2:

Edited by limyc
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Thanks for all the replies!!!!

More progress.... finally on to the painting stage. Colors used were according to the instruction manual. High-lighted some of the panels on the topside by adding some white to the dark gray. Not quite obvious from the photos unless you look closer, but in person, it's more obvious.

The underside, I hate masking the intakes.....

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The topside. And now after looking at the pictures, I noticed a mistake. LOL

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As usual, comments and critiques welcomed!!! :thumbsup::woot.gif:

Edited by limyc
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Some more work done... Decals from Cartograf were FANTASTIC :rolleyes: :P , although Academy decided that it would be funny to torture us modellers with those itsy bitsy teeny weeny decals! :soapbox: :soapbox: (some even smaller than 1mm!!)

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And brush on Future to seal the decals and wash...

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Will let it dry and cure for a day or two before the final flat coat.

Comments and critiques welcomed!!! :whistle:

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Weapons done, except the JDAMs (I have no idea how to paint this thing, looks too complicated to mask)

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Btw, anyone knows what pods go underneath? I know the center is the ECM pod, for the area under the intake, the kit provides AN/AAQ-13, AN/AAQ-14 and HTS pod.

Thanks in advance!

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Oh wow, those weapons look sharp! For the JDAM's what I did when I painted them is first spray the bomb and tail section the colors you want them to be, very carefully mask off the guidance harness and either handpaint or spray it. Shouldnt be too hard, but I know I sure dont like panting JDAM's. HTH!

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Hey limyc! Nice progress so far! For the targeting pod, I think the model will look fine with just the AN/AAQ-14 targeting pod. Don't mount the AN/AAQ-13 pod as USAF F-16s don't carry them nowadays.

And yes.. I sure dislike painting JDAMs. But I'll give you a brief guide on how to deal with painting JDAMs. First you paint all the olive drab parts. Once that has dried, carefully brush paint the light ghost grey on the grey parts using a small brush. I've done this kit before and I know how hard it is to paint them. :worship: Once that has dried, you might wanna touch up any excess grey paints with some olive drab. It takes plenty of patience and time to obtain an acceptable result. But nonetheless, I still dislike painting JDAMs though it's a cool weapon. :P

HTH! ;)

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