1/48 Hasegawa F-16N
This is a Hasegawa F-16N (cobbled from an older mold F-16C) that I had sitting for some time awaiting the base light grey camouflage...
Around February break, I decided to finally get moving on it. The complicated splinter scheme put me off moving ahead with this kit- I thought it would take too long.
Once I got the base coat on, I had to enlarge the Two Bobs instructions on a copier to fit the outline of the kit, then worked on cutting out each green shape and tracing around them with a pencil on the kit. I downloaded a number of pictures, and as far as I can determine, the TwoBobs decals are based on the first incarnation of the painted scheme- there were other repaints where ejection seat triangles were added, and the shapes of the green patches changed over time.
I cut peices of blue painter's tape to mask the grey, and even though I pressed each peice firmly, I ended up with bleed from the green coat. I figure on the full sized plane, there was sure to be overspray and bleed somewhere!
After the green was painted, I noticed that the kit probes supplied for the sides of the intake were too short. I lengthened them to make them accurate with a section of plastic tube. I am quite proud of hand painting the dark gunmetal grey slide marks on the afterburner petals. I had to make the vent and probe under the leading edge chine that is found on F-16N's.
I was going to add the centerline tank in the base grey cam, but in all the pictures, it never seemed to be carrying a tank. In the end I thought the F-16 looks faster on the ground without it- so left it off. I brushed Tamiya smoke on the canopy as the pictures of the earliest paint scheme showed a fairly dark canopy. I used euro 1 grey on the main gear hubs as I think it comes closest to the colour I have seen on the F-16N hubs.
I used the F-16N kit probe for one wing tip, and a sidewinder from the Hasegawa A-7E kit on the other. I can't beleive that I got this done during the reporting and exams time period at work!
Beautiful job(s) on your jets, Dan..the paint scheme on your Viper is extraordinary. And the Tomcat is pleasingly clean (if that makes any sense). Nice work.
thanks for your comments on both kits!
Dan,
Great job. Glad you re-did the paintings and markings as you have made a beautiful F-14
Sorry Dan,
My first comment as you can see should have been on the other article.
This paint job would have driven me nuts. I can see your artistry exemplified here with this F-16. I really like what you have done with this scheme. As a former Marine I love anything USMC
thanks Frank- I like anything USN/USMC- although I find USMC air underrepresented generally, I have quite a bit in the pipe for USMC that are the type of subjects that are out there but not often built.
love the paint job great work if I may offer some advice to help eliminate paint bleed under your mask just spray some future over your kit after masking to seal the tape edge works great
I was planning to coat the base coat with future after drawing all the pencil lines, that way i could use a brush with thinner to clean away the overspray that might be left. In the end I liked the minor flaws in the paint for this build- I will be more exacting on my F-5- I will do the future seal.
a lot of masking...looks great
glad I finally pushed through!
Excellent model!
thanks tom!
Another good job, excellent attention to the details, and great paintwork.
thanks for the comment!
Nicely done Dan, being around the squadron, I know there were many imperfections around the airframe including spot jobs. Can't believe the amount of dings and dents were on our Hornets, Tomcats and Seahawks. I'm like you when planning a scheme, and usually talk myself out of it at first then oh what the heck lets do this. It's for me anyway I'm not going to a contest with it. And usually we realize we can do this. Now your ready for a much more complicated splinter scheme on a Saab Viggen or a Marpat on a Marine Super Hornet.
Thanks Chuck- coming from someone who was around these jets all the time, it means a lot!
I hope to add to my adversary built kit list in the next few months, depending on what time will be available.