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Tamiya 1/32 F-16 MLU BAF Tiger Meet 2002


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Ahhh... A fresh workbench after a successfully completed project.

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A fresh start? A fresh project perhaps? What have we here? :woot.gif:

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That's right! Tamiya's 1/32 F-16C Thunderbirds kit. Yummy. I began this GB with a 1/72 A-7, then a 1/48 Rafale, so it makes sense that the next step is a 1/32 model, And what better way to end this GB than with Tamiya's excellent 1/32 Viper. Bring it!

For this build I will be back dating the C to make it an MLU from the Belgian Air Force's famous 31 Tigers Squadron that participated at the 2002 NATO Tiger Meet in Portugal. I will need to use some aftermarket to help me get this, namely:

* PMWP Belgian F-16 MLU Conversion Set (in transit)

* DACO Vinyl Reinforcing Plates (in transit)

* DACO Belgian F-16 Stencil Data (in transit)

* Zotz 31 Tigers decals

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I'll be posing this bird in flight for two reasons. 1) I'm giving it to my 5 y.o. nephew so need to put it on a stand as he'll demolish landing gear for sure (even though it's metal). The kit comes with a really nice stand so I'll use this. 2) I don't think I'll have time to finish this if I need to take care of LG.

So I started with the intake/engine bay assembly:

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As the kit is in white plastic and the fit is "like a glove", there are no evidently visible seam lines once the intake is assembled...winning! :thumbsup:

Intake fan done:

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Engine bay area painted in Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green then weathered and back area with Mr Metal MC-213 Stainless:

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Back of intake/engine area assembled, again, no visible seam lines:

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Mmmm...screw down goodness:

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Edited by Crazy Snap Captain
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Landing gear bays and front intake done and assembled. You got to give props to Tamiya; the fit on these kits is spot on. Hardly a gap to be seen. They literally just fall together. There was only a tiny amount of Mr Surfacer required on this whole area:

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While all that was drying up I put together the fuel tanks. Again, fit was to die for and only a minimal amount of Mr Surfacer was used. I dirtied them up a bit with Tamiya's panel line wash before painting:

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More to come! Thanks for looking.

Edited by Crazy Snap Captain
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Wow, you go big now!? 1/32...you rent an additional garage in Sydney? Ahhh.... :stupid: ..I forgot Australia is a BIG country! ;-) Not like japan where the modellers prefer 1/144 or such tiny stuff.

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Back from Singers and back on the bench. Go the pit and the pilot sorted. Gave the pilot a nice little Tiger helmet. OOB cockpit from Tamiya is really nice.

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Also cut the Belgian flag off the Thunderbirds decal sheet as it made for a nice little shoulder patch for the pilot:

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Really get confused with the ACES bang seats. Each reference pic is different so I just followed the Tamiya instructions. Looks to be accurate (ish) compared to some refs I have of Belgian Vipers.

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More to come! Time is running out. Not sure if I'll get this done in time :pray:

Edited by Crazy Snap Captain
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Thanks lads. Thadeus, I highly recommend the Tamiya kit. It's brilliant OOB!

Small update today. I just finished up with the seat putting all the last details on. Then I screwed on the tub to the lower fuselage. I dry fitted the fuselage halves together...no problems at all. Also blacked out the cockpit area around the top fuselage.

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Thanks guys. We've had some really crazy weather here lately and work has been nuts busy so haven't had much time on the bench. I converted the leading edges to MLU standards by removing the "beer cans". Filed them down and the rescribed the panel lines. Used Dymo tape to guide my unsteady hand...

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I used Mr Metal Aluminium MC218 for the exhaust petals as the instructions called for that. These paints go on matt and then after some polishing come up with a great metallic finish. The petals on the left are pre-polished and the on the right the finished, polished result. I think the colour is too bright when comparing to ref pics so I might go a few shades darker.

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Hopefully things go my way so that I can get some much needed time on the bench!!!

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A21-29, thanks for your very kind words!

Work is really tough right now and my time has been limited. It will be tight if I get this done on time. Here are some updates. The two halves have been joined and as usual, the fit was spot on. If this were any other kit there would be no way it would be done on time. The fit makes life so much easier. No gaps, no filling, no sanding.

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The PMWP MLU Conversion resin set came through. I can't say I'm super happy with it. There are a number of small imperfections, but I must say the shapes are right on and the fit is great. Here is the top of the fin attached to the kit part. It always scares the crap out of me cutting up perfectly good kit parts. I chopped of both the bottom and top of the fin.

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This is the CARAPACE bit that goes under the intake. This will pose a bit of a problem as the ref pics show it following the intakes contours but the piece is flat. May have to warm it up and bend it a bit

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This is the base of the fin. This part was severely warped when I got it. A bath in a bit of hot water and some weights straightened it out ok. I've since etched a hole in the top of this piece with a corresponding strut on the tail fin for some extra support. The fit onto the Tamiya kit is great.

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Seat and pilot installed into the office...

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Next...seam line removal from the canopy. First I scrap off the seam line with a #11 Xacto:

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This is where I raid my wife's emery board stash. These 4 part filers are great. I go from Step 2 to 4. I use a bit of Tamiya's Fine Polishing compound to get step 4 nice an smooth...

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Finally Tamiya Finishing Compound to get that nice shine back. Will give it a future bath later on as well.

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More to come. Work seems to be tapering off a bit so might get some more time on the bench...if the kids let me!

Edited by Crazy Snap Captain
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks John! Progress is very slow. Work has been very busy lately and the rest of teh time is spent with the kids and wife. Anyway. Here is a small update. Finished teh cockpit. Here is the IP & HUD.

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Finally got the PMWP tail to fit. The warping issue re-emerged and try as I might I could not get it to stay in place once it had cooled from the hot water bath. I'd leave it for a few days then it would go back to its warped state. So I decided to force it. I started by gluing the front section first and waited till it had cured for a few days. Then I just dolloped a lashing of CE and accelerator onto the back and held it in place for another day or two. It worked, but it was painful. Then the usual filling, sanding painting repeat till it looked acceptable. Here is the result. Painted the main topside colour and added the nose cone. Canopy masked.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Was making some nice progress. Finally got the tail transplanted onto the AM resin...

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Paint job went on pretty damn nice...

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The CARAPACE bits were all integrated...

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Then this happened...

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My extraordinary skills of ham fistidness came to the fore. I got up to get some warm water ready to tackle the main tail decals when my hand flicked up against the nose of the viper and sent it flying in the air before crashing and bouncing on my tiled floor. My heart literally sank. It's beyond repair. I can't bring myself to try and salvage it. I spent literally days if not weeks.transplanting the resin tail that I actually began losing mojo.

The Tiger is dead... There's no way I can get another tiger done in time... :crying2:

Edited by Crazy Snap Captain
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Oh no, I am sorry to read about your accident. Perhaps, little time off this kit will do good for you and in due time you will find courage again to tackle it and try fixing it.

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Hi Andrew man that sucks. Having seen your skills here I have no doubt you can repair and and only you will know where the damage is. You mentioned you were building for your nephew I'm sure he will love it when you do get back to it. Don't loose your mojo for this one

Gordon

Edited by SARguy
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Thanks for the encouragement guys but I think this one is DoA. On further inspection I found some more damage. The exhaust is basically cactus as some of the feathers are dented and snapped, the resin tail is missing some bits (which are lost on my floor somewhere), the radome has some real bad stress marks on it which would be difficult to repair, the back section of the fuselage is dust and the damage to the wings is more substantial than first thought.

I did the deed last night and binned it after scavenging some parts that may be of use on future builds. Much like it's larger name sake (FA-122) this bird's time is over. R.I.P. Tiger.

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Sorry to hear about the accident. Something similar happened to my 1/72 Prowler a while ago - I can still remember how angry I was at myself. I keep telling myself, that while the model is a goner, the experience stays (plus, some parts for the spares box).

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