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1/48 scale Tamiya F-16C Block 52+


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The drop tanks and underwing pylons are finished in 36375 Lt Compass Grey, the leading edges appear to be darker and I used 36270 Neutral Grey. The LAU129 launch rails found on the wing tips and under the wings are 36270 Neutral Grey.

No ALE-50 on Hellenic jets.

Edited by scotthldr
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The drop tanks and underwing pylons are finished in 36375 Lt Compass Grey, the leading edges appear to be darker and I used 36270 Neutral Grey. The LAU129 launch rails found on the wing tips and under the wings are 36270 Neutral Grey.

No ALE-50 on Hellenic jets.

Thanks Scott! I appreciate it!

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Hey Everyone! I have a short update today.

The HAF F-16s, like a lot of FMS Vipers, have the para-brake tail housing. The plan was to use the Wolfpack Para-Brake Tail conversion to create the correct tail. The set comes with the end of the tail base and is supposed to be installed in place of the aft halves of the Tamiya tail base. It also has some extra antennas that are used depending on which FMS viper you decide to use.

Post_HAF_3_1.jpg

Well, its all supposed to go together that way anyway. Once I tried to add the Wolfpack part to the Tamiya part, it turns out the resin piece is too small, both not wide enough and not tall enough. Hopefully the picture shows it.

Post_HAF_3_2.jpg

After a little bit of cussing and resisting the urge to thow stuff around the man cave, I thought I might give the Kinetic F-16 MLU kit in my stash a try. Turns out there is an extra para-brake base end in that kit, and it’s the correct size to graft onto the Tamiya forward tail base. I did use the extra tail sensor from the Wolfpack set, so its not a total loss! Here is the assembled base of the tail.

Post_HAF_3_3.jpg

And the completed tail

Post_HAF_3_4.jpg

That’s all for today. Sure felt like I spent more time then this at the bench this week, wonder where all that time went?

Thanks for looking!

Mike

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Great job on the tail. That's the same route I went with my Tamiya HAF Viper, a lot of people slag off the Kinetic kit but it built up into a nice F-16 and the extra bits have bailed me out time after time.

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Great job on the tail. That's the same route I went with my Tamiya HAF Viper, a lot of people slag off the Kinetic kit but it built up into a nice F-16 and the extra bits have bailed me out time after time.

Thanks Scott.

Totally agree with you on the Kinetic F-16s. sure there are a few issues, but show me a kit that is perfect. Another thing I have found is that their customer service is amazing! way better then a lot of companies and I appreciate that as well.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi guys! Been a while since my last update, just have had a lot going on lately. But I am back working on the viper and should have an update for you this weekend. I will warn you, there have continued to be some aftermarket struggles!

I do have a couple of questions for our resident greek viper gurus though. I assume that the greek use the standard chaff/flare setups on their F-16s and which of the canopies included in the Tamiya kit (clear or the yellow tint) are appropriate for the Block 52+ birds?

Thanks in advance! Be back soon

Mike

Edited by Skinny_Mike
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Looking forward to seeing the progress...........

To answer your questions, the Chaff/Flare dispensers on the underside of the rear fuselage are located in 3 positions on the Port(Left)side and a single position on the Starboard(Right)side. The rear most on the Port side is directly inline with the one on the Starboard.

The canopy should be Clear

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Looking forward to seeing the progress...........

To answer your questions, the Chaff/Flare dispensers on the underside of the rear fuselage are located in 3 positions on the Port(Left)side and a single position on the Starboard(Right)side. The rear most on the Port side is directly inline with the one on the Starboard.

The canopy should be Clear

Thanks Scott! Appreciate the help!

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys, well I have a bit of an update here today, as with every other group build I enter, I never quite get done on time. I was hoping to take this to the local show this weekend too, but just not going to get there. Truthfully, I would rather have a well-done model on the shelf then a rushed build on a competition table anyway. :crying2:

This has been a fairly challenging build, and lately it really seems like it’s a few steps forward followed by a step backwards, especially with the aftermarket. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the kit parts. It’s a Tamiya F-16, the fit is good and everything goes where its supposed to with limited fuss. I have found myself referring back to the instructions from my Block 50 build, just to make sure that I have the right parts installed where they are supposed to go since this kit is technically for every block but a block 52! One modification I did however was to modify the part of the lower fuselage that goes over the MLG bay to allow me to add it later. One thing I dislike about the Tamiya F-16, really the only thing, is having to add the MLG before assembly is complete, just makes it hard to paint and there is the risk of damage. I saw this technique somewhere else and thought I would give it a try. So I modified the attachment ring so I can slide it all together at the end.

Post_HAF_4_1.jpg

Lets talk about the modifications. First off the engine. My intent was to use the Eduard PW motor. Its actually not too bad looking. My resin had a few bubbles but nothing a little CA glue wouldn’t clean up.

Post_HAF_4_2.jpg

Now here’s the issue, well issues really, first of all the casting is wrong. The portion that is supposed to attach to the fuselage and contains the end of the burner can (the part that the tail feathers attach to) is actually correct for the Block 50 GE motors not the PW motors. In Eduard’s defense, the kit part of the donut is actually also incorrect, its for the GE motors as well. Truthfully I could have lived with this, if that was the only issue. Generally I’m the only one looking at my models when they are on the shelf and no one else that might has any idea what I am even talking about. Which brings us to problem #2, the diameter of the ring, where it mates to the fuselage is also incorrect. It is two small and its not the same shape. Ugg. After spending some time thinking about the problem, I thought about trying out an Aires PW motor for the Tamiya kit, oddly enough the donut fight perfectly and its all the correct type for the PW motors. So much for the shrinking Aires resin! Here is a comparison of the three with the aires parts in the background.

Post_HAF_4_3.jpg

Wolfpack is on the left with the Aires on the right and the kit part in the middle.

I installed the ring and cleaned up my crooked sanding lines. Sorry forgot to take a picture of that part installed. Once all that was cleaned up, I painted the underside of the tail and the top of the engine donut in MM FS35237 because it will be much harder to paint those when assembled. Then I installed the tail and puttied the few little gaps at the join.

Next up was the nose. I used a Royale resin nose, which is one piece. This allows you to keep the zipper on the top of the nose as opposed to the two piece nose in the kit. I added a metal pitot tube from Hobby Decal. I always break off the plastic pitot tubes, so I am going metal wherever I can. There were some gaps between the radome and the fuselage (I was a little heavy handed with the sanding sticks) which I am currently waiting on the milliput to dry before sanding it down.

Post_HAF_4_4.jpg

The next challenge was the conformal fuel tanks. My intent here was to take the set of conformals from my Kinetic F-16I, do a little bit of doctoring then cast a set in resin. First step was to fill in the hollowed out backs of the kit tanks. For this is used some Tamiya Putty I had laying around. Well this was a mistake. The ensuing chemical reaction turned the tanks into a melted mess. :bandhead2:

Post_HAF_4_5.jpg

I should have known better, its totally my fault. But on the bright side, I sent an email off to Kinetic models and asked if they would sell me a couple of sets of the tanks. They responded the next day and asked me to send $7 to cover shipping them to the states. They sent them to me effectively for free. I even explained how I had screwed them up. Honestly, can’t beat that. A lot of people knock on Kinetic but this is the second time they have saved a project for me, can’t beat good customer service!

Once the arrived I cleaned up some of the larger rivets on the tanks.

Post_HAF_4_6.jpg

I thought they were way to big but my references showed that in fact the fasteners on the front and the back are in fact larger then the others. The kinetic rivets however need some help. They are not round and in some cases at an angle to the surface. I filled them in and then added new rivets. Probably a little tough to see in the photo.

Post_HAF_4_7.jpg

Next was the installation. The Kinetic tanks are pretty close to the contour of the Tamiya hull, but not exact. I had to spend some time sanding down the tanks until I got a good fit. There are two real problem areas, the rounded part at the front and a smaller area on top, once those are sorted out, the fit was really pretty good. Once they were attached I puttied the gaps. First one on was the right side. You can see where I had to add the putty.

Post_HAF_4_8.jpg

Then the left side tank was sanded and attached.

Post_HAF_4_9.jpg

In the end the fit is not perfect, and I goofed a little on placement relative to each other but I definitely captured the look I was going for.

And here is where we are to day.

Post_HAF_4_10.jpg

I have a few more bits and pieces to add to the fuselage and then I should have it in the paint barn some time this week. Then to get the detail parts finished up. Still a lot to do, but getting closer to the finish line.

Thanks for watching folks, and thanks Scott for all the help, I really appreciate it.

Mike

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Looking good Mike :thumbsup: I've used both the GE and PW exhausts from Aires on Tamiya, Hasegawa and Kinetic kits and have never had a problem. If I remember correctly I had to use the Hasegawa version on the Kinetic kit and the fit was prefect.

Good score on the CFT's, again I cannot fault Kinetic/Luckymodel/Raymond, customer service over and above what should be expected.

Never seen the Royale Resin nose before, will have to check that out for the future.

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So far you did a great job! Meanwhile my opinion about the Tam Viper is: it is no shake n bake! It is not the first time I read/hear that Eduard Brassin resin is too small (shrinking!?).

Alternative for the nose comes from KASL hobby: there are noses for Hasegawa, Tamiya and Kinetic F-16, some are complete with "bird slicers".

Main landing gear procedure is the same aas I did with my Kinetic F-16D and my actual Tamiya build I do the same: cut off the middle plastic to allow to glue the MLG later after decaling and washing.

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Looking good Mike :thumbsup:/> I've used both the GE and PW exhausts from Aires on Tamiya, Hasegawa and Kinetic kits and have never had a problem. If I remember correctly I had to use the Hasegawa version on the Kinetic kit and the fit was prefect.

Good score on the CFT's, again I cannot fault Kinetic/Luckymodel/Raymond, customer service over and above what should be expected.

Never seen the Royale Resin nose before, will have to check that out for the future.

Thanks Scott! Its moving right along. I am actually really happy with the customer service from Kinetic. I admit there kits have been a work in progress, but they are still pretty new to this game, I'm sure the Hasegawa empire wasn't built in a day! And you can not beat their prices, nor the armory that every kit seems to come with! I'm very interested in their new F-18 kit. Supposed to be pretty nice.

I've used a lot of Royale Resin's products. They mostly do resin wheels and I have heard that basically they are just cleaning up the kit parts and casting those, but I really don't know, and frankly I still think they look better then the kit parts. Works for me, I do recommend them.

So far you did a great job! Meanwhile my opinion about the Tam Viper is: it is no shake n bake! It is not the first time I read/hear that Eduard Brassin resin is too small (shrinking!?).

Alternative for the nose comes from KASL hobby: there are noses for Hasegawa, Tamiya and Kinetic F-16, some are complete with "bird slicers".

Main landing gear procedure is the same aas I did with my Kinetic F-16D and my actual Tamiya build I do the same: cut off the middle plastic to allow to glue the MLG later after decaling and washing.

Thanks for the kind words Tobi! yes - this eduard part sure is too small. Their Brassin line seems to be pretty hit or miss. I actually have a KASL nose for my Itialian F-16 that I was going to build as a companion to this one. It looks very nice, I'll report back once I get it installed. I also have their Fuselage conversion for the Tamiya F-16 to backdate it from a C model to an A model, and they A/B tail for the Tamiya kit. I did see that little trick for the gear bay here on ARC, so if it was use - thank you very much for the tip. That's one of the things I like about these forums, I get lots of tips and tricks to go try.

Well, I actually feel pretty dumb. I honestly thought this group build ended on May 31st, Looks like I have an extra month! :woot.gif: I might actually make that!

Thanks for looking guys, I should be back with some progress much sooner then last time.

Mike

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You never go wrong with RR wheels. A bit bulged but not so flat like the old true details wheels (such tires must urge the maintainace crew to switch on the the air compressor and fill the tires! haha).

I also know the KASL F-16A/B set but for an italian Viper you need the ADF rudder base. (But you will find that in almost every Kinetic F-16 kit). When it comes to italian birds, Paolo Maglio here is the best consultant for that topic.

And hey, Mike, open the throttle! We the mods want to pamper you guys with the prices! I already think how to stuff the fellow HAF GB members, hehe...but I admit that I still feel that we can not hand out all we have.

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You never go wrong with RR wheels. A bit bulged but not so flat like the old true details wheels (such tires must urge the maintainace crew to switch on the the air compressor and fill the tires! haha).

I also know the KASL F-16A/B set but for an italian Viper you need the ADF rudder base. (But you will find that in almost every Kinetic F-16 kit). When it comes to italian birds, Paolo Maglio here is the best consultant for that topic.

And hey, Mike, open the throttle! We the mods want to pamper you guys with the prices! I already think how to stuff the fellow HAF GB members, hehe...but I admit that I still feel that we can not hand out all we have.

Those old TD wheels were just so exaggerated! But I kinda love them at the same time - its the nostalgia! :coolio:

I actually have an ADF base from a different company (I forgot whose), and I am going to try to graft the top of the KASL tail to that base. The tail bases in the Kinetic kits are the large bases appropriate for the Block 25 and later F-16C's. Its to big for a F-16A model. Lots of conversion work for that build, but I am kind of looking forward to it, it's my first real attempt at so much in one place.

Paolo is a great source, he was guiding me along on my original attempt at the build, I'm hoping he looks in on my current attempt.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi folks! I am still plodding along on this build. Unfortunately I lost a week while I was out of town for work and finishing by the deadline is looking less and less likely, especially as I want to take my time and now is the point where I have a habit of rushing the finish, must fight the temptation!

Enough rambling, onto the progress! The last little bits needed to be worked before I moved onto paint. The Greek F-16s have a unique antenna located on the sides of the intakes where the navigation lights are located, as shown in the photo below. I borrowed this from a Google search, its not my photo. The antenna is highlighted in the cut out.

Post_HAF_5_1.jpg

Fortunately the Wolfpack para-brake tail included these unique antennas, as well as a couple others that are used on other FMS customer F-16s. I painted the back of the kit position lights chrome silver, and the fronts in a transparent green and red using MIGs crystal colors. Once dry, I attached them to the resin antennas while they were still on the pour stub. This made working with the sub assembly much easier.

Post_HAF_5_2.jpg

Once everything was cured I cleanup the assemblies and masked the lights with Bare Metal Foil, cut the antennas off and mounted them to the airframe.

Post_HAF_5_3.jpg

Here I found that I made a bit of a mistake. The method I used for painting the position lights works fine for most versions of the F-16. But I happened to check my reference material trying to make sure I placed the antennas correctly and I discovered that on the Block52+ and the Block52M variants, these lights are not a bulb behind a colored cover, they are colored LEDs behind a clear cover. Most people won’t know, but I do and all I can say is Oops! Remember, especially when doing any modifications to a basic kit – always check your reference material!

Moving on! I cleaned up the seam between the radome and the fuselage. I used miliput for the seam, sanded smooth and re-scribed the panel line. I also cleaned up the blending of the pitot tube on the nose.

Post_HAF_5_4.jpg

And here is our Viper, ready for paint.

Post_HAF_5_5.jpg

First step was to put down a good primer coat, using Alclad Gray Primer. I cleaned up any gaps or other issues I found, then re-primed those areas. Once the primer had dried, I ran some 1500 grit sand paper over it to lightly remove any imperfections. In all of the pictures I have seen of Greek F-16s, they are absolutely filthy, with the exception of the Block52M which are immaculately clean, although those photos could been from very early in their service life, I don’t know. To replicate the dirtiness I started with a pre-shade, using flat black on all the seams and the panel lines.

Post_HAF_5_6.jpg

Continued in the next post...

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Next up the camouflage. I used Model Master Paints for the main colors, thinned with the model master thinner in a nearly 1:1 ratio. The compressor was set to about 12psi and sprayed the pattern freehand, using the following picture as a guide. I matched the FS color codes for the paints, I’m not sure they exactly match a brand new Greek F-16, but they do convey an older faded machine IMHO.

Post_HAF_5_6_5.jpg

First color on was FS36307, Light Sea Gray. The radome was also painted, but I used Lifecolor FS36173, Neutral Gray.

Post_HAF_5_7.jpg

Post_HAF_5_8.jpg

Next color was FS36251, Navy Aggressor Gray

Post_HAF_5_9.jpg

And lastly was FS35237 Medium Gray.

Post_HAF_5_10.jpg

Post_HAF_5_11.jpg

Its not perfect, but I think it came out pretty well, and I am pleased with what was my first successful attempt at a freehanded camo pattern.

Next steps are to touch up some areas, paint all the antennas and some other details then on to the gloss coat.

Thanks for watching!

Mike

Edited by Skinny_Mike
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Looking very nice, the colours look spot on just remember not to over do the weathering on this one as the F-16M don't get as patchy looking as the other Blks.

Regards the Nav lights you can save them, paint over what you have coloured Red/Green and leave the bare metal foil on or remove it if you can. The lights only show Red/Green when the a/c is powered up.

030.jpg?m=1371899231

Edited by scotthldr
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What a nice Viper! Freehand camo spraying is challenging but every time you do it you will get better results and less corrections to do. But for your first try it looks really goooooddd!!!!

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Looking very nice, the colours look spot on just remember not to over do the weathering on this one as the F-16M don't get as patchy looking as the other Blks.

Regards the Nav lights you can save them, paint over what you have coloured Red/Green and leave the bare metal foil on or remove it if you can. The lights only show Red/Green when the a/c is powered up.

030.jpg?m=1371899231

Thanks Scott, I'm actually doing a Block52+ which really seem to get pretty dirty and patchy looking as opposed to the Block 52M which seems to stay pretty clean. But the plan is more for just a heavy wash and not so much fading and "beating" of the paint work. Any idea why the Block52Ms stay so clean?

Still on the fence over fixing the nav lights. I have an idea, just not sure its worth the effort.

Mike,

Looking good mate! Getting there nicely.

Thanks Captain! This will be a good addition to the cabinet!

What a nice Viper! Freehand camo spraying is challenging but every time you do it you will get better results and less corrections to do. But for your first try it looks really goooooddd!!!!

Thanks Tobi, I am going to admit, this wasn't my first attempt at free handing the camo, it was my first success! LOL - an important difference! I think the fact that the grays are all fairly close to each other helps hide any overspray issues, but I think I have found a happy starting place to start refining my technique.

Going to be a great Viper Nice Camo

Martin H

Thanks Martin! Appreciate the kind words.

Well folks, I finished up the detail painting of the antennas and things as well as paint touch ups last night. If all goes well she'll be in a Future coat tonight and have her markings on this weekend. Pretty sure I'm not going to make the end of the month, and I would hate to rush the finish, but I am going to keep plodding along, let's see how close we get.

Thanks for watching!

Mike

Edited by Skinny_Mike
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Guys,

I think we may have to unofficially extend this build by a few weeks! When the end day comes, the super mods usually leave the thread in the Current Group Builds section for a cocuple of weeks and Then move it to the Completed GB section. You can still post to these so I say we extend till the end of July. Too many nice builds near the end to stop it now and as Tobik mentions, too many nice prizes to distribute!

Edited by Crazy Snap Captain
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