Thanks, guys. I have decided to build both - side by side - but starting with the Tamiya to have a standard to raise the Academy kit up to - for fit, detailing and finish, mainly. The exercise has me reviewing my sources on F-16 intakes and the work I will have to do on the Academy Sufa to get it looking correct in that area. Tamiya's F-16 CJ Block 50 has the GE engine and the so-called "big mouth" intake intake and the F-16i Sufa has a Pratt and Whitney turbofan with the more rounded "small mouth" or NSI intake. In that way I can't use the Tamiya to eyeball how to fix the Academy. Even so, I want my scratch-building to look smooth in the joint of the intake to the fuselage so it will be good to have Tamiya's perfectly-molded F-16 around to compare the two side-by-side. I found good pics and commentary on the internet how to fix the shape. Basically, it is too close to the underside of the fuselage. So, a plastic sheet insert and careful sanding is in order. This is NOT my work but someone else's I will use as a partial reference.
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This will get it to look more like the real thing.
Or I could just get very lazy and buy a Zacto Models resin piece with the intake trunking.
Not likely, though. Too expensive.
As for the F-16CJ, I just bought some decals for F-16s over Kosovo. I would like to do a machine involved in air-to-air combat against MiG-29s and these fit the bill.
So that's it for now. I will do all cockpit ejection seat detail (Aces II) as far as possible with stuff on hand. No big expensive resin stuff there. Hopefully it will all work. Looking forward to it. Should be fun.
