Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 (edited) Some years ago i bought a few f-16s built them and then let them be. They were grossly inaccurately painted, and hardly represented any variant being used today in real life. several GBs later and years of modelling experience after, i decided to give a new shot last year. Ladies and gentlemen i present my latest 1 man GB, the F-16 every nationality operator GB. Every air force is represented, and several doubles and thriples will exist. i will be using Zotz vivacious vipers 1 and 2 for many of them, but also OOB kit decals and special edition boxings, and other brands. Resin and PE included the isracast 1/72 sufa spine+cfts, my recasts of that set, eduard PE sets, aires exhaust cans.. this is one very expensive GB. most of the photos and construction started last year but was delayed repeatedly for other projects. Now i have gone back to finish what i've started, and this is the story so far. the list breaks down as follows. 1/72 italeri/tamiya x 3 - 2 dutch and venezulan kitech c x 4 - portuguese, italian, dutch kitech d x 3 - polish, chilean, moroccan revell c x 1 dutch revell b convert sufa - rsaf 'what if' acadmey x 4 korean, turkish, greek, YF-16 fujimi x 2 - thai, indonesian hasegawa x 2 - Belgium tiger meet 2006 2 schemes hasegawa x 2 - RSAF f-16Cs kinetic - rsaf f-16d blk52+ esci x 1 belgium matchbox x 1 - denmark hobbyboss - norway 1/48 hasegawa C/D - bahrain, singapore hasegawa, kinetic sufa - singapore, israel hasegawa F-2 - japanese hasegawa f-16f UAE italeri x 3 - pakistan, oman, taiwan academy - egypt, korean revell - jordan tamiya - uae the sufas will be done seperately in my comparison thread. Edited July 22, 2011 by Tomcat RIO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 (edited) in early 2008, after pouring through 15,000 photos on f-16.net, i decided to do all the 1/72 european falcons with special markings/tails, whether i have the decals or not. the kits i had was the matchbox and old academy f-16. my matchbox ex-indonesian B was reputtied, and the small tail enlarged for a block 10 MLU. it is getting the turkish markings tigermeet scheme. preshade was given followed by the top dark grey, and added pizza box antenna for block 10 danish MLU, and the turkish 6%20gb/f16twinunder.jpg[/img] i went so far to hand draw tigermeet artowrk on the fin of the B, not knowing that the real aircraft was a D and had a different tail and the tail of the turkish viper, for tiger meet. was hand drawn. no kidding. 1st white coat given then pencil outline deepen the outline paint black using fine brush and tamiya enamel finished pic of the real plane Edited October 26, 2009 by Tomcat RIO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 (edited) without losing a breath, i started on 3 other f-16s, an esci, a kitech and a italeri. all of these are very poor quality kits, the esci is at least 20 years old, with recess lines however, and growing rust on some areas of the plastic. the kitech a]is essentially a photocopy of the hasegawa, but is like how unlicensed photocopies tend to be. the italeri is not the one on the market nowadays, it is the original 1980s old school, without the fancy stores and crisp detail of the new italeri/tamiya reboxing. no sweat. putty party! esci f-16 still on sprue upsized the tail to a block 10 mlu. kitech still on sprue and then followed by the italeri, building together has its benefits, here i am switching the tails of the esci and kitech kit, in order to build a short base para housing of the norwegian f-16B, and the long base short tail of the greek block 30 C/D. the italeri kit was going to be done in Portugal ADF, which fortunately does not require me to do much mods as they have not recieved the side bulges on their tails.(told u i was going to AMS a bit more than usual) Edited October 26, 2009 by Tomcat RIO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 this was followed by a lull of almost 2 months, and during that time i had stocked many kits, including a rare Fujimi F-16ADF -which gave me the accrurate ADF tails i needed. without delay i moulded my ADF tail from the fujimi kit's.. using epoxy putty. not very pretty like those of wolfpack or aires or blackbox, but hey, it saves me alot of money, and there are no conversions on the market in 1/72 . some touching up with tamiya grey putty, and still some work needed before it looks decent to paint and assemble i casted 3 pieces. here u can see. the top piece is the raw from the mould. the 2nd and 3rd pieces are after some retouch of the top pictures. sand and use knife to trim. the stash at the end of 2008. after that i did not touch the f-16s regularly, instead building other GBs. however, in august i restarted the campaign, and the story follows from there. have assembled the fuselages and cockpits of a dozen f-16s from various brandsMost of them are lacking in details, but i won't be concerned as the partially tinted canopies will hide them. i will probably do some detailing on the seats and side panel coamings, as all canopy closed and no point looking. (some of them are atrocious anyway.) well how do i keep track of which plane is which country? you guys might ask. the answer lies in the exhaust plug. i write down the assigned country on tamiya masking tape and then stick it there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 here we go here we go!! hobbyboss 1/72 A. the one with the nice norwegian tigermeet tail that got me suckered. kit is SIMPLE to build. 2 halfs top and bottom. fits quite well and removes need for sanding down wing root seams. however. there is an austere lack of details everywhere! and considering it is the same price as a academy kit.. i would get the second if not for the decals. cockpit is bare! no detail in the wheel well the design of the intake reduces puttying and seams. horriboss provides the long tail seperate, allowing us to build the european and longtail A version. but don't be happy yet, the shape and size of the extended tail is 150% wrong. and as for stores? 2 nugget shaped fuel tanks! the pylons were attched to the wings and this is the worst part about horriboss. the instruction asks to slide and fit the landing gear struts AFTER you assemble. very difficult to slide in and twist, and espeically after painting, there is bound to be some scratch marks. well now you know. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 and moving on to the vintage but decent Fujimi kits. Here i have a B and the ADF, one of the only true ADFs that provide the right shape tail. but no spotlight on the chin. still, there was no competition in sight until the tamiya/italeri half hearted extra piece many years later. cockpit detail is as usual, bare. with gaping caves behind the ejection seats . the side panels are way too small, something reminiscent of prehistoric airfix kits. i didnt bother to fill up the back, as i didn't know there would be gaps. (gasp!) oh well, hope the smoked canopies can do their best to hide. the easy moulding process, where there is a standard fuselage, and extra cockpit area for 1 or 2 seater, is evident here. and associated with it, is the puttying and filling of seam lines! landing gear bays. are typically, empty of details. the front of the bay was empty. this, i had to do something. i made a template using paper, and then transfered it to placard, and then filled up the gap. the unique intake design was meant to reduce puttying, but at the expense of a wrong curve on the triangle-main intake joint area. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 here is the esci, putty the wings, and fill up the underwing pylon holes.. this will be done in the Belgium airforce 'spitfire' markings and here is the notorious tamiya/italeri kit. the staple of many new modellers into the hobby, i've seen many young kids carry this kit around at airshows, toy departments, because its one of the most easily available kit then. well, this kit sucks! if i may say it plainly, age is surely caught up, and it can't be made into the newer version of the f-16 without some serious work. fuselage assembled first the spine require heavy filling bcos of the optional 1/2 seat coaming piece landing gear detail is sparse that notoriously horrible A tail of the italeri kit. filling is required, and sanding too. now multiply that by 5 wings have been attached, and i tried fitting the tailplanes but they are inaccurate! the tailplane end does not flush with the airbrak tips, there is about 15cm more of tail on the real thing, so i modded the stub. simple stuff. left unmodded, right modded. the stub was cut shorter. [ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 (edited) also finished assembling the pile of kitech. and casted with rubber mould a block 50 'big mouth' intake for the Chilean A.F. version to the temporary shelf! 1 of the special kitech, italian ADF filled up the pylon holes. here's my worktable! i have no place to put but on the floor at times too! in the background you can see another storm rising, the 1/48s.. the spine backed kitech were fitted with casted epoxy CFTs and spines. Edited October 26, 2009 by Tomcat RIO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 (edited) initiate Operation Falcon Fury - the multi tone grey paint on all the kits. first i preshaded most of the kits, the Dirty Dianas, European Tigers, Asian vipers etc.. this is followed by the nose cone grey. which was sprayed and masked. after that i sprayed the front fuselage grey (middle grey according to myself) following that, spray the wings and top side (dark grey) for the wing root joint at the flaps and elevator area, i masked out the dark grey after it was sprayed, and then delivered carefully aimed shot of the middle grey. and multiply by a few times also i sanded the the acadmey canopy which have a seam line running down the center. i bought a emery nail buffer from a cosmetics shop a long time back.(my girlfriend was shopping for hairclips, and i looked around for modelling suitable tools.:D) the simple straightforward process, from 1-3. and lastly with tamiya polish compound and cotton bud to polish. before and after! Edited October 26, 2009 by Tomcat RIO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 painted exhuast pipes gun metal then masked them like so mount them on the kits, glue and putty and sand the resulting seams. spray the grey. and remove start painting the spinebacks masking spray with paper template the venezulean camo camo schemed f-16s done! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 and this is how most of my 1/72s look today, 26th October 2009, almost 2 years since the GB started. 15 f-16s on standby for more action. Southeast asia - thai, south korea and indonesia european airforces - very grey and dull i will attempt to lighten the colours and in the background the 4 are for dirty diana GB south american f-16 i shall post the story of the 1/48s soon.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Qian Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 GOODNESS GRACIOUS MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LoganTLR Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 HI You're a brave man! Although I plan to do the same in 1/48, I am not crazy enough to do them all at once !! LOL Look forward to seeing this completed. T Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I've come to the conclusion that you're an expert masker ... Nice work on the Viper Collection as well as your Hornets ... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
richter111 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Very nice, it will be an impressive collection once completed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jester292 Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I didn't see the USA on your list of operators, but nice idea! Very ambitious. Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 I didn't see the USA on your list of operators, but nice idea! Very ambitious.Aaron oops, yea! i forgot about it! i had a Navy top gun adversary f-16N built way long ago. it's too crappy to be seen.. i have a thunderbirds and a minutemen decals at the moment, but no plastic kit for me to use it on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 masked and sprayed the landing gear bays of 15 jets. with their associated landing gear struts and covers, wheels, etc.. painted the flat black cockpit gloss coat for all in preparation of decals got tails? a enamel wash was also given Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 long time no update. pver the past 2 weeks i have been decalling the whole swarm.. here is revell's spitfire belgium. the decal sheet was bigger than my water tray! i have never done a decal sheet as big as a 1/72 spitfire.. so i had extra care and lots of mark softerner to let it conform to panel lines. i also handpainted a portugal roundel as i didn't have decals in the right scale, and i was not in the right mind either. i also handpainted jaguar spots for the tail. [ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat RIO Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 finally after 2 weeks of pasting decals, stencils.. i see the ligth at the end of the tunnel! here is a pair from thailand and indonesia, both using Zotz decals. south american vipers from venezula and chile, decal from italeri and Zotz european twin tubs Poland and Denmark, ancient italeri and kagero european tigers norway and portugal - horriboss and custom korea and belgium and last but not least, my favourite of the lot, the Dirty Diana mini GB. image blurred because of nudity.. hehehe i knew you guys would take a closer look! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
4scourge7 Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 This is simply incredible, I love it I thought I had a job with doing four Euro Typhoons, this trumps that ever so slightly. :) And each job is top-notch, love the contrasting camos, very cool work! Cheers, Ian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 (edited) WOW!! Being ble to MASK expertly as you do makes it look so effortless and easy... LOVE your collection of VIPERS{ One of MY FAVORITES} and HORNETS .... BRILLIANT..... Edited August 21, 2010 by HOLMES Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Philp Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 This is impressive. I also would like to do a collection of just 72nd scale kits representing every country but only have 3-4 kits so far. Lots of decals though. I will be watching this for ideas (no pressure). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Your collection is moving along really well ! Love the Spitfire scheme ... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sietse Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Unbelievable. <_< You probably don't get out a lot. ;) Great job on the Dutch Vipers. :wub: and every other F-16 ofcourse. Sietse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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