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1/32 F-16A out of the Tamiya "thunderbirds"F-16C?


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Along with what Vince said, the horizontal stabs are smaller on F-16A I believe. Antenna arrangement would be different. Probably different instrument panel too and no reinforcing plates. Front landing gear doors have different light arrangement and I think the main wheels are different.

I think there is a site somewhere that lists the differences as I was thinking of doing this in 1/48 using the Tamiya kit. I think I gave up and will probably use one of my many Hasegawa F-16A versions.

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If you start with the Tamiya Thunderbirds kit, you already have the small intake and the lighter weight landing gear. The instrument panel is significantly different for the F-16A compared to the F-16C. You will need the smaller vertical fin base that the F-16As and Bs used. There are also some panel differences on the top of the fuselage around the vertical fin base that you will need to re-scribe. The F-16A used different main wheels from the ones that are in the T-Birds box. Sierra Hotel Models has some early style F-16 wheels in the works but they are not available yet. Dr Pepper resins has a set of early wheels but he is ceasing trading very soon. There are also some differences with the ECS exhaust duct on the lower fuselage in front of the left wheel well. The horizontal stabs were NOT smaller on the later F-16As that the Thunderbirds used. The ones in the Tamiya kit are fine. I am not sure which Isracast set you have, but if it has a different instrument panel and vertical fin base, you are on your way to an F-16A. I think you will have a better building experience using the Tamiya F-16C Thunderbird kit as a basis.

Kirk Taylor

Edited by Kirk Taylor
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Just saying "F-16A" doesn't nail it down much - you need to specify a Block variant.

All F-16As had the smaller vertical tail base, but not all F-16As had the smaller horizontal tails.

The cockpits of Block 20 F-16As and all MLU-updated F-16As are virtually identical to those in the F-16C.

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Eli, as you know, my Diana was made from Thunderbirs kit.

I used Cutting Edge short ADF tail and rescribed the saddle tanks panels around it.

For the IP I used one by True Details. Mind to put the camera in front of the HUD not in the back of it as in F-16C. Then remove the beer cans from slats and the GPS dome from the top of the fuselage. Add IFF as needed (I can provide drawings), search light and sniffere plates.

Then, depending on time frame and constrution block, there may be several more modifications:

original F-16A had a different gun nozzle and different main tyres but these has been changed on most if not all the F-16 still operational in the last 15 years or so. All F-16 upgraded to carry chin mounted pods had different landing lights moved from main gear legs to front gear door.

As other wrote you must identify block number at first, then check time period to know if you need to add sniffers plates and/other other modifications to your kit.

To say somenthing new: F-16AM made by Fokker in NL (like Dutch Diana) has full sniffer plates while F-16AM built by SABCA in Belgium has none!

Edited by Paolo Maglio
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I want to build Aggressors F-16 in 1/32.

The problem is I cant find 1/32 F-16 Thunderbird kit from which I will need some parts to mate with F-16CJ kit. Is the Thunderbird kit available anywhere?

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I want to build Aggressors F-16 in 1/32.

The problem is I cant find 1/32 F-16 Thunderbird kit from which I will need some parts to mate with F-16CJ kit. Is the Thunderbird kit available anywhere?

There are some on ebay.

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Pier

I want to make an Israeli Netz besides your Italian Diana

I want to build Aggressors F-16 in 1/32.

You guys need to be a bit more specific when referring to the F-16, although they seem to be difficult to figure out, they really are not, but with a blanket description as Netz and Aggressor, that is really an open book and you will get a flood of recommendations that will not give you specifics as to the exact A/C you want to build.

The Netz as with any IDF A/C evolves over time, so an early IDF variant is quite different from the latest arrival mods, so a time period (Baka Valley) or mission name (Operation Opera) would be much easier to lay out for you.

An F-16 Aggressor... what mark A,B,C,D? Navy, Air Force ? Time period? these are things we need to know.

Also I think you can still buy the Intake and gear trees from Tamiya, so you won't need to find other kits to pillage.

Hope this helps.

Curt

Edited by Netz
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You guys need to be a bit more specific when referring to the F-16, although they seem to be difficult to figure out, they really are not, but with a blanket description as Netz and Aggressor, that is really an open book and you will get a flood of recommendations that will not give you specifics as to the exact A/C you want to build.

The Netz as with any IDF A/C evolves over time, so an early IDF variant is quite different from the latest arrival mods, so a time period (Baka Valley) or mission name (Operation Opera) would be much easier to lay out for you.

An F-16 Aggressor... what mark A,B,C,D? Navy, Air Force ? Time period? these are things we need to know.

Also I think you can still buy the Intake and gear trees from Tamiya, so you won't need to find other kits to pillage.

Hope this helps.

Curt

I want to build F-16C blk 30 Aggressors in 1/32. This is covered by TwoBobs 32-051.

Which parts trees will be needed from Thunderbird kit for that conversion?

If the kit has discontinued, I wonder how can I order specific part trees from Tamiya.

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I want to build F-16C blk 30 Aggressors in 1/32. This is covered by TwoBobs 32-051.

Both jets depicted on that sheet have GE engines and MCID "big mouth" inlets.

The Tamiya Thunderbirds kit OOB is a Block 32 with PW engine and NSI "small mouth" inlet.

Someone else may know the specific trees you need to get the GE/MCID parts for your build.

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I want to build F-16C blk 30 Aggressors in 1/32. This is covered by TwoBobs 32-051.

Which parts trees will be needed from Thunderbird kit for that conversion?

If the kit has discontinued, I wonder how can I order specific part trees from Tamiya.

You just need the light weight gear, Main gear doors and fuselage bulge (or lack there of).

Not sure what trees these are, but you can search here on arc as it was a common question asked, and Tamiya did offer the parts.

Check you references on the landing light position as they might be on the nose gear door, if so you should be good with the CJ kit.

Curt

Edited by Netz
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Eli, as you know, my Diana was made from Thunderbirs kit.

I used Cutting Edge short ADF tail and rescribed the saddle tanks panels around it.

For the IP I used one by True Details. Mind to put the camera in front of the HUD not in the back of it as in F-16C. Then remove the beer cans from slats and the GPS dome from the top of the fuselage. Add IFF as needed (I can provide drawings), search light and sniffere plates.

Then, depending on time frame and constrution block, there may be several more modifications:

original F-16A had a different gun nozzle and different main tyres but these has been changed on most if not all the F-16 still operational in the last 15 years or so. All F-16 upgraded to carry chin mounted pods had different landing lights moved from main gear legs to front gear door.

As other wrote you must identify block number at first, then check time period to know if you need to add sniffers plates and/other other modifications to your kit.

To say somenthing new: F-16AM made by Fokker in NL (like Dutch Diana) has full sniffer plates while F-16AM built by SABCA in Belgium has none!

Your last statement isn,t really true. SABCA built F16's for belgium and denmark, fokker built them for holland and norway. There is no difference in quality or maintenance on the epaf f16's!

All off them have the full stiffeners exept belgian f16's. This because belgium replaced the internal components that were cracking , the other countries took the cheaper option.

Belgian f16,s (54 active) all have around 5000hrs flown, comparable to the other epaf countries

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You just need the light weight gear, Main gear doors and fuselage bulge (or lack there of).

Not sure what trees these are, but you can search here on arc as it was a common question asked, and Tamiya did offer the parts.

Check you references on the landing light position as they might be on the nose gear door, if so you should be good with the CJ kit.

Curt

http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9547&sid=12c69a14b8ca76613ef2da83b738981f

This thread seem to confirm that I will need undercarriage of the Thunderbirds kit to build the accurate Block 30 I m after.

Read this together with the following to know from which serial numbers of Block 30 F-16s, changes start to take effect

http://zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=231

So these parts will be needed for this conversion

"L" parts 9116019

"P" parts 9116024

"R" parts 0006452 x 2

parts 0116031 Tire(Main Landing Gear x 2, Nose Landing Gear x 1)

http://www.model-making.eu/products/F-16C-Thunderbirds.html

Edited by stalal
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Both jets depicted on that sheet have GE engines and MCID "big mouth" inlets.

You just need the light weight gear, Main gear doors and fuselage bulge (or lack there of).

:huh:

OP's first post implies he is beginning with the Thunderbirds kit.

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Eli,

Have nearly finished the main construction phase of the conversion of the Tamiya 1/32 F-16 to the F-16A Netz.

I went slightly different route than you as already had the Block 50, so to backdate to the Netz from the Thunderbirds kit is not so difficult.

Forgo the Isracast set as most of it is not useful, as it was designed for the Academy kit.

The Thunderbirds F-16 supplies correct intake, exhaust, wingtip AIM-9 rails, non-bulged main gear doors and lightweight landing gear. I used a tail and instrument panel from a Hasegawa kit, but this could be a little trickier to source. Then you need to rescribe the fuselage panels around the tail end.

Get the Quickboost Netz set which gives you the chaff/flare dispensers (there seem to be some serious shape issues with the Isaracast C/F dispensers), GPS brick, antenna and early style RWR antenna under the intake. The current Netz uses the F-16C style gun vent, and larger Block 15+ tailplanes, so no need to change those.

The Thunderbirds kit also supplies the two large wing strengthening plates which are now current on the Netz. Let me know if you need any more detail of panels to fill/add/modify as I've done some very comprehensive research on the subject.

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You guys need to be a bit more specific when referring to the F-16, although they seem to be difficult to figure out, they really are not, but with a blanket description as Netz and Aggressor, that is really an open book and you will get a flood of recommendations that will not give you specifics as to the exact A/C you want to build.

The Netz as with any IDF A/C evolves over time, so an early IDF variant is quite different from the latest arrival mods, so a time period (Baka Valley) or mission name (Operation Opera) would be much easier to lay out for you.

An F-16 Aggressor... what mark A,B,C,D? Navy, Air Force ? Time period? these are things we need to know.

Also I think you can still buy the Intake and gear trees from Tamiya, so you won't need to find other kits to pillage.

Hope this helps.

Curt

Curt,

I'd like to do the ones with victory mkgs included the Opera mission marker.

Thanks

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  • 3 months later...

Hi Folks,

I´m planning a similar conversion (Tamiya "T´Birds" kit into an "Operation Opera" IAF Netz (which were all block 5-10A acfts).

I already got most of version/mission specifics covered, but would like to have more info on which panels I would have to fill/add/modify. EliRaphael, CraigSargent, could you please share your discoverings?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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