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1/48 Tamiya F-16C Block 25 in "Blizzard" aggressor scheme


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Building this striking scheme, just recently re-released by TwoBobs. Thanks to CF104, habu2, and Ken Middleton on the jet modeling forums for more info on the jet.

27603772953_60aa7f2111_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

I can't reach further than halfway down this seam without sanding it in the blind. Anyone know a good way?

27938760500_c06990ddb2_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

The instructions in the aggressor boxing dont call for under wing fuel tanks, but there's lots of reference pictures out there with them. I glued the wing halves together before realizing I wanted this, so now I don't know there the pylon holes are supposed to be drilled. Can someone annotate this picture with the correct placement?

28141383961_04f16927e2_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

And how long are the static dissipators supposed to be in 1/48? I'm going to use toothbrush bristles.

That's all the questions I have for now, here are some progress pics.

27316440343_85c7bf60e1_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

28141519091_457c23a698_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

28141553621_e16130694d_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

28141522161_7d8ee4ffc8_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

Thanks for looking!

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that was the tip I would have given, hold the model in front of a light, and you should see where you would need to drill..

with regards to the sanding of the inletopening, can't you attach some sandpaper to the end of a brush, and tackle it from the backside instead of the frontside?

static dischargers, are some 3-4mm in that scale I think

Nice work so far...

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about the inlet seam, got a semi or full round file? otherwise as Silenoz sez, find a sturdy but small enough of handle ie stick of q-tip, a shish, don't bbq the plastic! :D, etc. use double sided tape and attach a sandpaper to it and work your way slowly.

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Some more progress, issues, and comments on this build. This is the first time I'm doing the Tamiya 1/48 F-16, so I'll be making notes to myself for future F-16 builds I might do.

First off, the nose cone is just a hair's off on the contour, which will require some careful sanding. Ideally it would be nice to just putty it up, but there's detail there that can't be easily replicated after a reshaping.

28380284851_25c8d2d043_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

Second, the gap between the tail fin and its stump is quite noticeable. Shaving it off for a better fit seemed to just waste plastic without any change. Had to add plastic card shims to save it, though it will still need putty to finish it off.

28380284671_61b6c1eb43_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

I found out later that I might have glued the main gear bays a little too forward, as a result I had to shave off almost 1mm of material off the inlet sub assembly, which I was not happy with. I tried getting that pointy part of the diverter to sink in with the V shaped groove it was supposed to be in, and it took a bunch of grinding to get there. Still needs a little putty. Ugh!

27842193124_f0c94a006d_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

Another discrepancy I found on the particular bird I am doing is that pics of 84-301 (a block 25) show that the leading edges of the inlet are gray, so I painted and masked like so. I tried using thin strips of tape to contour the edge but it wouldn't stick. I ended up taping a big piece and cutting it with a knife on the model, which wasn't what I really wanted to do because it's a hair's off due to my shaky cutting.

28380284511_994541fbc3_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

Speaking of shakiness, I didn't fair well with brush painting the tiny black bolts on this wheel. Guess I'll have to reverse wash it or whatever you call it, doing the recesses in thinned out white.

28380284181_791fe72f68_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

At this point I am getting a little bogged down by the fact that there is still some basics left to do and a lot to get it to come together. I didn't even cut off the remaining tiny bits that need to be attached later. I went ahead and bought one of those cheap Japanese dollar store plastic organizer bins so I could cut them all out once and for all and just to see it all together off the sprues makes me feel like I am progressing.

27842194394_116ee34065_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

Hataka Hobby actually has a specific acrylic paint set for this scheme and the other Flanker schemes for this aggressor squadron's F-15's and F-16's. Never heard of them? Me neither. I hope it works though, I will try it on a scrapped F-15 model I have sitting around once I get to it. Also tried acrylic retarder and tamiya lacquer thinner for the first time, both are great stuff for painting! Just ordered some 40mm tamiya tape and a swivel blade craft knife from amazon so I can get to doing the intricate blizzard scheme.

27842193864_fdb346050b_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

Also following some good tips from Gary Wickham's F-16C aggressor build (on scalespot.com) regarding the photoetch detail-up set. He suggests gluing the photoetch parts to sheet styrene first, then use regular plastic cement to allow time for corrections if need be. I don't know what is better, superglue or 10 minute epoxy that I have here, though I imagine I'll get similar results either way. Anyone have some wisdom on that?

28380283941_19a5c5641b_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

Also, I screwed up the little yellow decal that's supposed to go on the blue box in the gear bay. I hadn't decaled in a while so I forgot to not use a super pointy toothpick to try to nudge it around. Needless to say, it ripped up pretty good and I had to abort the decal. I just saw a really good picture of the underside of a blizzard bird on instagram that shows this placard should really be there. I'm probably just going to try painting a little yellow square over it and squiggle an ink line for the text. Or not, I dunno if it's that important to me.

Oh and thanks for the replies. And thanks for looking!

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The only thing I can help with is the un-drilled holes.

I've done this before, and I've had luck holding the wings up to a strong light. Usually you can see the spot where the drill guides are because the plastic is thinner. Just locates those and you can drill from the outside.

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  • 1 month later...

Update!

29069734281_a66b4e072c_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

29147282545_103c17fb91_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

29147281985_52502e1529_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

29147281615_4870128329_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

29114335386_77a162254f_b.jpgimage by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

I used a combination of flexible vinyl tape cut to 1/32 inch width and regular tamiya tape to mask this job. I still need some touch ups since the white grey did not stick well in some places. After shooting the aggressor blue from hataka, it looked a little too flat and muted greyish green to me. I changed the hue a little by shooting very thinned tamiya clear blue over it and was much happier.

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  • 5 months later...

I got around to the panel wash stage.  Here it is being force dried in a food dehydrator.

 

I did the panel wash with water soluble oil paint thinned way down with a drop of dish detergent.  I tested it on the underside and it was still too strong, and some of the rougher spots were stained for good.  Guess I'll have to touch that up later.  When I wiped off the excess, I rubbed off a couple stencils.  Oh well.  For the top side I thinned the wash even more, and also worked more carefully.

 

32081453244_d66c5e8859_c.jpgIMG_20170215_143012 by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

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4 hours ago, DanW said:

Great job on the Viper. What is your experience with the Hataka acrylics? Did they spray well?

Thanks!  Hataka colors sprays fine, I did 1:1 distilled water to thin it.  Only issue is that vinyl masking tape pulled off a few flakes when I thought it was dry enough.  Next time I will clean the parts of fingerprint oil more thoroughly with alcohol and give it a clear coat seal between each color, and use only tamiya tape.

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  • 1 month later...
On 2/15/2017 at 4:15 PM, Jessirelli said:

I got around to the panel wash stage.  Here it is being force dried in a food dehydrator.

 

I did the panel wash with water soluble oil paint thinned way down with a drop of dish detergent.  I tested it on the underside and it was still too strong, and some of the rougher spots were stained for good.  Guess I'll have to touch that up later.  When I wiped off the excess, I rubbed off a couple stencils.  Oh well.  For the top side I thinned the wash even more, and also worked more carefully.

 

32081453244_d66c5e8859_c.jpgIMG_20170215_143012 by Jesse Flauta, on Flickr

 

Now that is funny. First time i've seen model being dried like this. As long as it works and wife don't get upset is good to go.😋

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 months later...

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