Spangdahlem F-16C
Hey folks, back again:
It’s odd but until recently I’d not built an F-16 in any scale for over twenty years, now there’s two in my cabinet ! – the other is an Italeri ‘B’
This is Tamiya’s 1:48 F-16C-50, not quite a ‘shake’n bake’ as some thought and attention to the construction sequence is definitely needed. That said all fits very well as we’ve come to expect… well except the decals – mine shattered into atom-sized pieces as soon as they hit the water, but I was only ever going to use the stencils for the drop tanks. I found some spare in the stash so just got on with it. Eduard Zoom set was a delight to fit and makes a shed-load of difference in my opinion. The decals are a mixture of old Superscale and Afterburner – never used them before, they’re bl**dy superb !
Faded and battered paint is not typical for a ‘Wing King’ but I’ve chosen to show this aircraft soon after it’s operational deployment to Iraq & Afghanistan, not sure about the historical provenance but I really like the way it looks – hope folks here do too.
Next I’ll be finishing an IL2, then… who knows… Feel free to hurl abuse, comment or ask a question.
Best from NZ.
Ian.
11 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Craig Abrahamson said on July 29, 2019
Outstanding work, Ian…(both of ’em) – nice job !
John Healy said on July 29, 2019
Nice work, Ian.
Robert Royes said on July 29, 2019
Beautifully done! The two seater is interesting, never saw one in that wrap around scheme.
IAN JACKSON said on July 29, 2019
GD’s attempt in the very early 80’s to persuade the USAF to develop the F-16 into a CAS platform instead of the ‘unviable’ A-10 (their description back then). In those years the F-16 had only sold in to Europe so GD were getting a bit twitchy as to the return on their investment.
To make the F-16 more CAS looking a very biased competition was held over a couple of years, and competing F-16’s were painted in the Euro 1 scheme.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Tom Bebout said on July 29, 2019
Nicely done Ian, as I usually state when it comes to weathering, they all had to be new at one time or another. Good looking Falcons.
IAN JACKSON said on July 29, 2019
Agreed 100%, the IL2 I mentioned is not going to look like a flying tank, just lightly faded and weathered…. hopefully looking like it flew 5 missions, not 50 !
George R Blair Jr said on July 30, 2019
Great job on both planes. I think the green camouflage really looks good on an F-16, and it is something you don’t see modeled very much.
Jeff Carle said on July 30, 2019
I built the Wing King out of my Tamiya F-16 from Spangdahlem last year, and never even got a photo of it….turns out my letter carrier was in the squadron when he was still in the service and saw the kit as I was coming in from the garage. It went home with him! Your model looks great!
He had a huge grin and it made me happy as well.
Tom Cleaver said on July 30, 2019
Nice lawn dart. Does it stick when you throw it? 🙂
Seriously, nice work on this, you made a “grey jet” interesting.
IAN JACKSON said on July 30, 2019
Thanks everyone, really appreciate the good / positive feedback and anecdotes. The aforementioned IL2 got its’ first colour today – a very bright underside blue (it hopefully will calm down after a wash or two). You’ll see that in about three weeks…
Best from Middle Earth.
Greg Kittinger said on July 30, 2019
Looks great! Nice break-up of the typical grey scheme.