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1/72 Academy F-16C / Singapore AF


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I'm going to put up this entry for my second, and probably final, build for the GB. This is the new 1/72 Academy F-16C snap kit, and I'm going to use some Miliverse decals to make it as one of the RSAF Black Knights aerobatic team jets.

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The kit is shown below. First impressions are good, it's basically a very simplified version of their standard F-16C with several parts already joined together à la Hobbyboss. The panel lines and external details are almost the same as their standard kit (with a couple of antenna and other things missing), but cockpit and ejection seat details are non-existent. Looks like a good kit for the kids or someone who wants a very quick build of a desktop model (i.e. my goal for this build).

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Decals are by Miliverse for the 2014 season. They give some of the red and white stripes as decals, but because I want the red and white paint to match, I'm going to mask and paint the whole scheme.

I also have a copy of the Modern Viper guide for reference if needed.

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Edited by White Wolf
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While looking through the spares box, I found several bits from other kits that could be used to improve the build a little.

The cockpit tub is a complete blank (no decals) so I applied some panels from an Academy F/A-18D. Not accurate, but still better than having nothing there at all. The control stick and throttle are spares from the Tamiya F-16CJ. I will also add a Hasegawa pilot later.

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The HUD frame comes from a used PE fret that was meant for a Hasegawa F-16.

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Painting the intake. The center piece is a spare from the Academy F-16CJ.

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The ejection seat is as bare as the cockpit tub so I added some styrene sheet and rod for some added detail as well as to cover the exposed area at the back of the seat. The rail for the ejection rocket tube (I think it's called that) is another PE part from the previously mentioned fret.

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The completed sub-assemblies so far. Fit has overall been quite good, with the intake and fuel tank being the bigger trouble spots. One thing to take note is that the sprue gates are very, very small. If you use a side cutter like usual, you're bound to damage the part. It's best if you use a knife with a fresh blade to separate the parts from the sprue.

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Here's how the build is at the moment. A few more touch ups and it'll be ready for priming tomorrow. The fit is really good for a snap kit but be careful about applying too much pressure when pushing the parts together, especially on the tail and canopy. I ended up cutting off the peg on the tail because it was too tight to go in. I also cut the pegs off the canopy so I could fit it later after painting.

I covered some empty spaces and gaps with styrene sheet and there was a small step on the nose that I took care of using putty.

The nose blisters were spares from the Hasegawa kit and the intake navigation lights are leftovers from a Revell F-16C. The Black Knights aircraft use the older wingtip missile rails instead of the newer ones, but I didn't have any spares lying around so I just applied some artistic license and kept them.

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Edited by White Wolf
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Thought I should give an update since it's been a long while since the last one. I finished painting the main colors last night when I noticed that a small piece of black gunk had gotten onto the vertical stabilizer, messing up the paint job. Up till now, I still have no idea where it came from, but it wouldn't be one of my builds if nothing went wrong somewhere.

I scraped it off and tonight I'm going to try to repair and repaint the affected area as best as I can.

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Welp, some pics, I guess.

For the first step of painting, I primed the model with Mr. Surfacer White, one of my favourite whites.

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To mask off the white areas, I used a technique I picked up here on ARC. First, I scanned the decal sheet and printed it out in its actual size.

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Then I laid down a strip of clear tape on the part I want and then laid down Tamiya tape on top of it.

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Cut out the shape from the paper and then remove the Tamiya tape, and you have a mask to put on the model. If the outline of the shape is too difficult to see through the tape, you can do it another way: cut the shape out after laying the clear tape on top of it, then paste the side with the clear tape to the Tamiya tape and cut the perimeter from the reverse side.

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10 hours of masking and 1 hour of painting later, it now looks like this. If you see the right side base of the vertical stabilizer, you'll see an area that's slightly darker and more glossy. That's the area that I screwed up on. I tried my best but it's still noticeable.

Paints used were Tamiya Italian Red for the nose and Pure Red for the rest.

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The mistake is really disappointing, but I'm just going to go ahead and finish it anyway since I'm so close to the end.

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Calling this done. The modelling gods thought it would be funny to troll me one last time, and so my bottle of cement toppled over and spilled its contents all over the canopy after it was unmasked. I salvaged a replacement from the standard Academy F-16 kit, to my surprise the newer one is actually slightly smaller towards the rear. Added the pilot and also a HUD from the Hasegawa kit.

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