Hi Louis (@lgardner): We are supposed to finally warm above freezing today, but Friday another cold front comes through. We are supposed to get a ton of rain over the weekend. It never seems to stop. The drivers and road in El Paso were creative, but aren't the same level with the ones here. I also don't know much about modern planes, but I wanted to do one for the F-16 group.

Hi Chuck @uscusn: I just got a 1/72 Hasegawa F-16CJ that seems to have everything I need in it. I have some specific decals that I want to use, so I need to research and find what date they were on the plane, which should tell me what configuration I need. I wanted to build the plane fully loaded. It looks like the model comes with AGM-88s, Sidewinders, and AMRAAMS. The kit also looks like it has a centerline tank and two wing tanks. It also looks like it has an HTS pod. I think there should also be an ECM pod. I also found a resin one online that looks really good, so it should be coming in over the weekend. I was disappointed the Tamiya F-16CJ didn't come with any of the loadout I needed to build a fully loaded plane. It looks like a really nice kit. I may build the Tamiya kit and add the Hasegawa loadout to it. I appreciate your kind offer for the missiles, but I think I finally have it covered. During the first 2 years I was in the Air Force, I was a radar intercept officer (the Air Force called us Weapons Directors) in a mobile radar site. This was in 1973. They used to tell us that our life expectancy was measured in minutes once we turned our radar on and an anti-radar missile locked on. The missiles were all fire-and-forget, so they would lock on to the radar and continue home in even if the radar was turned off. After 18 months of being a Weapons Director, I got orders to do something safer: being a pilot. Yeah! When I graduated from pilot training, there were still assignments for F-105 Wild Weasels coming down. One of my classmates eventually got into the SEAD mission in the F-4. He really like it. I also have a really nice 1/48 model of an F-18G Growler that I want to do somewhere down the line. I have seen some really interesting documentaries about Growlers. Thanks again for the kind offer, but I think I have it covered. I have been working on my model train layout while I was gathering all of the stuff for the F-16, so I just need to wrap up a couple of scenery things on the layout, clear the workbench, and then dive into the model. Cheers.

Hi John (@johnb): I have the same diagram in mine. I think you have the F-16A Plus kit by Hasegawa. I think mine is based on the exact same kit, just with some extra stuff in it. According to Scalemates, the Hasegawa F-16 kit comes from molds that date back to 1985. They start with an F-16A, and then add parts and decals to keep giving us new versions. I am considering taking the weapons and pods from the Hasegawa and use them on the Tamiya. I hope to get started on the build tomorrow.

I finally got going on my F-16CJ today. Before I got started, I had to do a little research. I was curious what the difference was between an F-16"C" and an F-16"CJ". This is a long story, but here is the abridged version. The Air Force was looking for a plane to take up the SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Defences) mission after the Cold War Weasels, such as the F-4G, were retired. The F-16C was a good candidate, but it was not capable of firing the AGM-88, which is the primary anti-radar weapon of the Weasel. The capability for the F-16 to fire the AGM-88 HARM missile was provided with addition of an AN/ASQ-213 HARM targeting system carried in a small pod carried on the lower side of the intake. Cool. I want my model loaded for bear and I think I finally have all the pods and weapons I need. Yeah. The loadout does change over time, so I plan to use what I think is the early configuration.

I started painting the parts and prepping them for assembly. I want to build in sub-assemblies, and I actually want to try to be neat in my painting and assembly. I have the Eduard set for this kit and I was amazed at how small many of the PE parts really are. I also discovered that the resin seat that I have does not fit between the two sides of the cockpit tub. I think it will be easy to fix with a little sanding. The tiny ejection handles didn't survive the removal of the resin casting block, but the PE set has replacements. I also found a 3D print file online for a really nice 1/72 F-16 ejection seat. I should be able to print it tomorrow and see how it looks. I also have files to print the HTS pod and the ECM pod. More fun coming. :o)

More tomorrow. Cheers everyone.

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Excellent research and ditto job so far, my friend @gblair! The resin seat might fit with some judicious sanding? Looking forward to the 3D printed seat!

Gonna be great with a full load!

Nice start, George. Following. I’ve got a plan to do a Minnesota ANG D model with the AN/ASQ-213 HARM pod on the left side of the intake. Most photos show them on the left side with a SNIPER pod on the right. I need to get another SNIPER pod. I assume the ECM pod goes on the centerline?

I am working on the cockpit, which always seems to go slowly. I printed a couple of the seats that I found the files for online. They came out surprisingly well, they have the seat rails that the purchased seat doesn't have, and they fit without modification in the cockpit tub, so I am going with the ones I printed. The Eduard PE is going pretty well, but I have lost a couple of tiny parts, as usual.

My daughter and son-in-law are blowing some insulation into their attic today, so I will be helping with that. Probably not much time for modeling, so hopefully I can finish the cockpit tomorrow. Cheers.

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great progress and that painted seat looks awesome, my friend @gblair!