admiralcag Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 I bought this kit a few months ago from a friend. I am going to do it OOB and in the NASA livery. Cockpit tub and ejection seat are assembled. I filled the seams with Vallejo Plastic Putty. I've also base coated them with Mr Color Dark Gull Gray, but haven't taken the pictures yet. I like the Kinetic kit includes the throttle. I assembled the two sections of the intake trunk and filled the seams. I'm going to do the pour method to paint these. One thing I love about Kinetic kits is the amount of extras. I tried to make my load lighter by leaving the extra sprues at home when I went to the CoMMiES in-person build & bull. However, I did outsmart myself and left a sprue for the vertical stabilizer at home O_o. I got it together when I got home. Still need to fill seams and rescribe. A question for the hive mind... I am not happy with the recommended colors for the P&W exhaust. Any suggestions out there? Vern Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kurt H. Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Nice Start. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thadeus Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 Nice project. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
admiralcag Posted February 11, 2022 Author Share Posted February 11, 2022 I painted the cockpit tub, but forgot to take a picture. The seat is going well, except... I managed to lose the ejection handle. Freakin' little parts for my sausage fingers. I have the Eduard set on order. Here's the seat. The landing gear wells are base coated, with the main gear well coming along nicely. I did the paint pour tonight. Crap, did that make a mess! No building until maybe Sunday. Visiting the daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter this weekend! Vern Quote Link to post Share on other sites
admiralcag Posted June 18, 2022 Author Share Posted June 18, 2022 Finally back to this build after 3 contests (CoMMiESFest, ModelFest at Starfest, and Wonderfest) and one very difficult model. I had to replace the pitot tube assembly on the ejection seat. I broke it during drybrushing. I'm not using any aftermarket on the kit except on the seat. I tried something new on the cockpit and used a toothpick to paint the knobs and switches. Not entirely happy with how it turned out, but I learned. Fuselage has been painted and glossed for the wash. Still need to flat coat and drybrush. I have been working on the exhaust, but haven't taken any pictures. Stay tuned! Vern Quote Link to post Share on other sites
admiralcag Posted August 13, 2022 Author Share Posted August 13, 2022 I have been working on many parts of the build, just not posting photos. Let's start with the exhaust. I found a YouTuber who was building a Tamiya F-16 Aggressor and showed how he painted the exhaust and followed his example. I was very pleased with how mine turned out, so I put a coat of AquaGloss on it, let it dry overnight (I think. It may have been longer.), and decaled. I weathered with a Tamiya Panel Line Wash and sealed it with Alclad Light Sheen. I thought the decals were well protected, so I masked them off and hit the inside with Alclad Flat. Boy, I was mistaken about the decals being protected... I scanned the decal sheet for a Kinetic F-16AM to get the replacement decals and printed them on decal paper. This was the first time I applied them and it gave acceptable results. I found out I jumped the gun on the undercarriage. It wouldn't fit being fully built up, so I had to pull it apart, install, and put it back together. I am building this in the NASA livery, so I filled all the holes for the pylons and the AMRAAMs with rod. I then glued the fuselage halves together. I had to replace the intake de-icer because I broke the kit part and lost half of it 😞 I used strip styrene. I painted the intake lip and assembled the whole intake. I puttied with Vallejo Plastic Putty and cleaned it up with water. I've primed it and will paint at least the top of it before installing. More to come! Vern Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kurt H. Posted August 14, 2022 Share Posted August 14, 2022 The exhaust looks great, and that is strange how you still lost the decal under a coat of aqua gloss. Lots of setbacks, but you are doing a great job overcoming them. Looks great so far. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
admiralcag Posted November 5, 2022 Author Share Posted November 5, 2022 I took too much time off from this build to finish other projects. I am back at it. I did a stupid thing a while back and decided to cut off the exhaust fairing from the top and bottom halves of the fuselage and use the one piece fairing. Well, the XL has a different contour than the A. So, I have been fixing that mistake. I started by filling the gap with 0.010" strip. Next, I laminated the fairing to the correct diameter. You can see where I goofed and cut on the wrong side of my scribing tape. Next, sand, sand, sand... The gaps required extra filling and I fixed my oops. The bottom contour wasn't quite right, either. I'm also working on the canopy so I can close up the cockpit and prime. I had to remove a nasty seam line. Future and Brasso to the rescue! I was hoping to have it done for High Plains Con 31, which is today, but life got in the way. Vern Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 Nice build of a really interesting aircraft (I wish I'd gotten a kit when they were available!), sorry that you had to re-do the exhaust fairing but it seems well on its way 👍 If you'd like to add the spin chute (assembled or only the brackets) they're available here by the way 😉 - I believe at lease the brackets were always on the XL, not sure why Kinetic skipped them. Looking forward to seeing it completed, Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Happy Posted November 6, 2022 Share Posted November 6, 2022 Nice progress. M.Happy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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