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1/48 F-16XL Skunkmodels workshop


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1 hour ago, Gary F said:

Been trying to order a couple all day but the payment gateway won't load so can't pay. Anyone one else having this problem?

 

Make sure its not being blocked by any popup blockers, ad blockers, or anti-virus software. If I remember correctly, the payment gateway opens a popup like window (unless they changed it, been a few months since I purchased from LM).

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  • 2 weeks later...

To anyone that's done one of the XL's, the instructions show 2 bomb shackles per each small pylon under the wings but these parts don't seem to be on the sprues anywhere ... am I missing something?

Also the 2-seater doesn't come with the weapons stencil decal sheet.  I've got spares from Kinetic F-16 kits but it would have been nice to have that stencil sheet in this kit. 

Otherwise, happy with this kit!

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On 4/1/2019 at 12:23 AM, Gary F said:

To anyone that's done one of the XL's, the instructions show 2 bomb shackles per each small pylon under the wings but these parts don't seem to be on the sprues anywhere ... am I missing something?

Also the 2-seater doesn't come with the weapons stencil decal sheet.  I've got spares from Kinetic F-16 kits but it would have been nice to have that stencil sheet in this kit. 

Otherwise, happy with this kit!

 

They are on the sprue with the Mk 82's - part #5s.

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Camus,  thanks for the response.  However those 2 sprues with the snake eyes and MERs are not in the 2 seater. Those sprues are common with the Kinetic Kfir and Intruder kits and the sway brace parts are for the MERs. 

I did find a build of the single seater in which one of the XL flight crew mentioned the XL pylons didn't have the sway braces and pads that snugged the stores. He said those pylons had t-crutches to secure the stores, that there was basically nothing visible along the side of the pylons, and they were developed from stuff used on the F-111.  There were pics in the build but not visible (lost in the Photobucket snafu).  I've been looking but can't seem to find a good pic of the XL pylon.  

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No good pics but there is a small drawing of the bomb pylon in the 1984 IPMS article.  I have a NASA document that identifies them as LODE-14 vertical ejector bomb racks, but I haven' t found any info on those.

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Yeah I saw that designation also ... believe it means Low Drag Ejector unit.  I haven't had anything pop up while searching it either.  From the description in the build I saw, it sounds like just filling the pylon slots in the kit parts is appropriate but it would be nice to see a pic. 

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A bit of history, mainly concerning configuration changes and dates, in case anyone is modeling the "real XL2 (vs WHIFs)

 

XL-2  75-0747  (FSD #3)

·         originally a single seat airframe, damaged in landing incident 05 October 1980

·         repaired and modified into a two-seat XL airframe

 

First Flight 29 October 1982 @ GDFW, overall light gray (same as XL1 fwd fuselage) w blue spine & RWB tail

·         F101-GE (DFE) engine w std NSI small mouth inlet

·         Standard (lightweight) landing gear

·         Standard F-16B (Block 01?) cockpit

·         parabrake tail extension

·         exceeded M1.0 on first flight

 

11 November 1982 Flt 5 formation  ferried w/ XL1 to EAFB

 

07 December 1982 Flt 27 ferried to GDFW

·         HWLG installed

·         Note HW wheels not installed until February 1983

 

Mid February 1983 “Heatley-Ferris” paint scheme applied

 

04 June 1984 Flt 272 ferried to GDFW

·         F110-GE-100 “Slimline”engine installed w/NSI small mouth inlet

 

18 July 1984 Flt 273, FCF w/F110-GE-100 engine

 

28 January 1985 Flt 310 ferried to GDFW

·         LNSI installed (9% larger area than std NSI), many structural changes

 

26 June 1985 Flt 311, FCF w/LNSI & F110-GE-100

 

01 October 1985 Flt 361, ferried to GDFW for storage

 

12 February 1991, ferried to NASA Dryden, #848

·         F110-GE-129 engine installed w/LNSI

 

13 October 1995, first SLFC flight

 

26 November 1996, last (45th) SLFC flight

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12 hours ago, Gary F said:

Camus,  thanks for the response.  However those 2 sprues with the snake eyes and MERs are not in the 2 seater. Those sprues are common with the Kinetic Kfir and Intruder kits and the sway brace parts are for the MERs. 

I did find a build of the single seater in which one of the XL flight crew mentioned the XL pylons didn't have the sway braces and pads that snugged the stores. He said those pylons had t-crutches to secure the stores, that there was basically nothing visible along the side of the pylons, and they were developed from stuff used on the F-111.  There were pics in the build but not visible (lost in the Photobucket snafu).  I've been looking but can't seem to find a good pic of the XL pylon.  

 

Pretty good one here:

 

Keith Svedsen's Photo

 

Best I've ever seen, he's got a bunch of other ones on his photo stream as well. Do a search by the aircraft serial number and they'll pop up.

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Hoops,  that got me some good results. Thanks a bunch. 

 

Habu2,  I came across a NASA report on the XL program (~350 pages) and it mentioned several other pylons that were tested including heavy stores stations for 2000 lb stores, ones for the 370 gal fuel tanks, and another for 600 gal tanks. One pic I found today had what looked like the pylon used on the F-22 for the large tanks and carrying 600 gal tanks.  A second photo appeared to have 2 of those large pylons back to back, front one with beveled end fwd and the back one reversed. Maybe that’s how they were carrying the large CBU stores?

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