1/48th Hasegawa F-16DM, 89-2178, Blk 40, 510th FS, circa 2022

[A-10 LOADER]

Work continues on the Viper,

The GBU-12's, GBU-38's and, the fuel tanks and their pylons are all completed.

The arming wire was added using 38 gauge wire. It's heavy for this scale but, it's the smallest I had.

 

The TER is not glued, I wanted to see how it looked with the bomb.

 

 

 

I got the intake glued to the lower fuselage with no gaps, dry-fitting pays off.

 

The front and rear cockpit tubs were glued in place. Getting closer to adding the upper fuselage.

[lgl007]

Holy crap the detail on this build is just out of this world... DUDE!!!

 

-Greg

[ST0RM]

The weathering and detail you've added the bombs alone, just really lends so much to the overall project. 
Keep it rolling, Steve. 
-Jeff

[A-10 LOADER]

Thanks very much Greg and Jeff, much appreciated.

 

Productive week on the Viper. I was able to get the upper fuselage glued on as well as the wings, radome and tail. The wings and the wing area required some sanding and dry-fitting prior to gluing on the wings to give a much better fit and alignment. Doing it this way I was able to avoid the details on the wings with sandpaper. The seams up by the nose required very minimal sanding then I added the RHAW blisters.

We have a "model meeting" at a friends house on Saturday so I wanted to show some progress and not just a bunch of parts.

Steve

 

 

The DACO re-inforcement plates were added and two small seams that shouldn't be there, were filled with some Tamiya putty.

[jgrease]

Great job so far - I really enjoyed reading up on your build!

 

John

[A-10 LOADER]

Just now, jgrease said:

Great job so far - I really enjoyed reading up on your build!

 

John

Thanks John, much appreciated.

Steve

[lgl007]

Steve, your builds are always so detailed.  Thanks for sharing the progress... I really learn a lot reading your build process...  Looks really great!!!

 

-Greg

[A-10 LOADER]

6 minutes ago, lgl007 said:

Steve, your builds are always so detailed.  Thanks for sharing the progress... I really learn a lot reading your build process...  Looks really great!!!

 

-Greg

Thanks Greg, I try my best. I appreciate the kind words.

Steve

[ST0RM]

Probably missed it, but where did you get the strengthening plates? Awesome progress. 
-Jeff

[A-10 LOADER]

22 minutes ago, ST0RM said:

Probably missed it, but where did you get the strengthening plates? Awesome progress. 
-Jeff

Thanks STORM, they are from DACO Products.

Steve

 

[A-10 LOADER]

Viper update, the canopy details.

In order to add the Phase Hanger Resin JHMCS sensor to the inside canopy rail I needed a flat surface. Using my reference pics, I marked the outside of the canopy as to where the sensor should be when viewed from the outside.

 

Using some Evergreen 90 degree angle pieces I made the four canopy rails. I used some .010" plastic to cap the ends of the angle pieces for more rigidity. The JHMCS sensor, along with it's power cable, were added to the port side rails. I used UMM-USA 0.2mm round lead wire for the cable.

 

 

Canopy rails glued in place. They do not interfere with the cockpit sill which is what I was hoping for.

 

A little touch-up with some black paint and trimming the lead wire is still needed.

[ST0RM]

[lgl007]

Holy small details - Batman!

 

-Greg

[A-10 LOADER]

😆 Thanks guys.

 

A few other items were accomplished which gets me closer to the primer / paint stage.

The .040" brass rods that I added to the horizontal stabs will allow me to paint these separately and install them at the end of the build. 

 

The plastic "blocks" that I installed, before gluing the fuselage halves together, for the horizontal stabs rods to go into were drilled.

 

Now the horizontal stabs can just be pushed into their holes at the end of the build and, there's no worry of them breaking off.

 

Exhaust nozzle parts painted because I wanted to get paint on certain areas before gluing this to the fuselage, much easier this way without the speed brakes and the tail in the way. I'll mask this off before attaching it to the jet. I will need to do some sanding where it meets the fuselage to blend everything together.

 

Some weathering was added to the inside of the nozzle, not that you'll see that much of it once the acrylic rod goes in but, it's there.

[Geoff M]

Great work.  Love seeing the cool things you do. 😀

[A-10 LOADER]

17 hours ago, Geoff M said:

Great work.  Love seeing the cool things you do. 😀

Thanks Geoff.

Steve

[Thadeus]

Some sweet stuff going on in here. Love all the detail You're adding.

[A-10 LOADER]

On 3/23/2025 at 5:24 PM, Thadeus said:

Some sweet stuff going on in here. Love all the detail You're adding.

Thank you Thadeus.

 

Getting the Viper closer to the primer stage.

The Master Model pitot tube was  installed after gluing on the kit part and cutting off everything except for the small cone shape. This area will need more attention after some primer.

 

Masked off the canopy and sprayed the black.

 

I then masked off the framing that will remain black before sticking the canopy onto the poster putty.

 

Some Elmer's poster putty to seal and hold the canopy in place.

 

Sprayed some color on the bottom of the tail and, the insides of the speed brakes before gluing on the exhaust nozzle.

 

Some minor sanding is needed to blend the exhaust nozzle area into the fuselage then I still need to mask off the missile rails, the formation lights at the base of the tail and, the strobe light on top of the tail before I shoot primer.

[A-10 LOADER]

My decal for the base arrived today as well.

Steve

 

[Niels]

16 hours ago, A-10 LOADER said:

 

 

Some minor sanding is needed to blend the exhaust nozzle area into the fuselage then I still need to mask off the missile rails, the formation lights at the base of the tail and, the strobe light on top of the tail before I shoot primer.

This is an excellent build, but you would want to double check the placement of the stiffener plates in front of the tailfinn. Looks like you have used the type intended for the A/B model which has a shorter tailbase than the C/D, and that it is too far back. If I'm right you should still have the C/D stiffener plates should the current ones prove difficult to lift and shift, so you should have all you need. 

I would hate it if something so easy to correct would steal away from an otherwise fabulous build 🙂

Edited March 29, 2025 by Niels

[Red Dog]

A pleasure to follow this one Steve, you're doing great job !!

[A-10 LOADER]

4 hours ago, Niels said:

This is an excellent build, but you would want to double check the placement of the stiffener plates in front of the tailfinn. Looks like you have used the type intended for the A/B model which has a shorter tailbase than the C/D, and that it is too far back. If I'm right you should still have the C/D stiffener plates should the current ones prove difficult to lift and shift, so you should have all you need. 

I would hate it if something so easy to correct would steal away from an otherwise fabulous build 🙂

Niels, thanks for the heads up.

So my first question is, should I have only used parts U1 ONLY instead of using both U1 and U2 ?? The instructions say that the plates in this area are double thick and to use both ? 

Secondly, If I only use the the smaller plate U1 should it be moved further forward, @ 2mm, to the next panel line ?

Steve

 

 

 

[Niels]

I am a bit surprised the instructions here, as I haven't noticed any extra thickness on those plates from the photos I've seen? What I do know is that U2 are the longer type only used on the A/B and not the C/D, and vice-versa with U1. I cannot rule out that for the A/B you should use both, but I doubt this is correct for the C/D judging by reference photos I have checked. 

For 89-2178, these photos shows quite well that it is equipped only with the short (U1) as for any C/D, with no indications of extra thickness for the tailbase stiffners compared to the other stiffner plates on the back; 

89-2178 | 1D-53 | General Dynamics F-16D Fighting Falcon | USA Air Force | Claudio Tramontin | AIRFIGHTERS.COM

89-2178 | 1D-53 | General Dynamics F-16D Fighting Falcon | USA Air Force | Marcello Cosolo | AIRFIGHTERS.COM
89-2178 | 1D-53 | General Dynamics F-16D Fighting Falcon | USA Air Force | Claudio Tramontin | AIRFIGHTERS.COM

My recommendation is hence to just use U1 and skip U2. 

Edited March 29, 2025 by Niels

[A-10 LOADER]

5 minutes ago, Niels said:

I am a bit surprised the instructions here, as I haven't noticed any extra thickness on those plates from the photos I've seen? What I do know is that U2 are the longer type only used on the A/B and not the C/D, and vice-versa with U1. I cannot rule out that for the A/B you should use both, but I doubt this is correct for the C/D judging by reference photos I have checked. 

For 89-2178, these photos shows quite well that it is equipped only with the short (U1) as for any C/D, with no indications of extra thickness for the tailbase stiffners compared to the other stiffner plates on the back; 

89-2178 | 1D-53 | General Dynamics F-16D Fighting Falcon | USA Air Force | Claudio Tramontin | AIRFIGHTERS.COM

89-2178 | 1D-53 | General Dynamics F-16D Fighting Falcon | USA Air Force | Marcello Cosolo | AIRFIGHTERS.COM
89-2178 | 1D-53 | General Dynamics F-16D Fighting Falcon | USA Air Force | Claudio Tramontin | AIRFIGHTERS.COM

My recommendation is hence to just use U1 and skip U2. 

Very good then, thanks again for the heads up on this.

Daco gives you two small sheets of the plates so, I'll remove the ones on the jet and use the smaller ones from the other sheet. Do I need to move the smaller ones further forward than where they are sitting currently ? I know the Daco set is "universal" but, I am building the Hasegawa kit, not Tamiya or Kinetic so, maybe the panel lines are different on the other kits for aligning the plates, I don't know ?

Thanks for those pics, I don't have those in my reference folder.

Steve

[Niels]

The Daco instructions are otherwise good, so you follow it for the rest of the applications.