paulsbrown Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 (edited) After reading Robert Coram's book 'Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War' I was ready to dig out my 1979 Monogram F-16 kit and make what Boyd referred to as a pure fighter. The YF-16 at that point was more like his vision, not a multirole aircraft but light, fast and maneuverable. This project got the F-18 prototype kit out too, another Monogram kit from 1980 and both in striking paint schemes (well documented as auto paint) of the time I wanted on my shelf. The F-16 kit is pretty close to the YF-16, it needs nose reshaping, cockpit/seat changes and some other little things but comparing my changes to profile photos it worked well. The F-18 too needs some small changes, it has the open LEX slots but needs dog tooth on the elevators and revised on the wings, changes in the cockpit plus I added seamless intakes and a vac canopy as the original was too small and not the more rounded omega shape. In both kits I used the original landing gear struts, they are of the day's molding capabilities but despite some chunky areas are well detailed and even have the brake lines included. Decals were from the original kits, Caracal and Vingtor. Paints were mixes of Testors enamels blues (they make the brightest gold paint), Tamiya red all over white lacquer Mr Color. Edited November 18, 2021 by paulsbrown Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Badmofo Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Very very nice looking planes!! Nice work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jenshb Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Excellent work! Goes to show that old Monogram kits still make into goodlooking models. Love the theme as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ST0RM Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Great display of two instrumental aircraft. I enjoy seeing the old Monogram kits built up so well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
paulsbrown Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 Thanks y'all. Apologies for sticking it in the wrong part of the forum...😬 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mario krijan Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Great idea and fantastic work!!! Thanks for sharing!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gator52 Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 Terrific! Chris Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matthew83128 Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 Awesome work on both!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thadeus Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 Very nice project! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ikon Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Nice bit of work you did on them. They look great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 Nice. What did you use for instrument panels and seats? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
paulsbrown Posted November 27, 2021 Author Share Posted November 27, 2021 Thanks! The F-18 used the Monogram console that had a few changes to the lower MFD display to match the photo I had of the prototype, it's seat was....actually I can't remember whose it is. The kit's cockpit/console/seat were very good even though I replaced some of them. The cockpit tub and instrument 'hell hole' was Black Box. The F-16 console was an Eduard F-16A with dials added to where the left MFD was and the large altitude indicator added to the center one. Tub was Hasegawa. Seat was replaced with an ESCAPAC that the prototype had. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BastianD Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Absolutely stunning! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Very nice pair ..! -Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Very nice , colourful! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 Beautiful models! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Texan Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 Very very NICE!!!! Great job!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 Both are fine builds but that Hornet is absolutely gorgeous! Great paint scheme and finished to perfection. LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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