Italeri 1/48 F-16 Fighting Falcon - In the AMI 1000 hours scheme

Started by Anthony Ricco · 36 · 6 months ago · Aeronautica Militare, am100, F-16, Fighting Falcon, green lightning, ITAF100 AMI, Italian air force, Viper
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    Anthony Ricco said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Thanks guys - Well this is the easiest paint job I've done in a while, compared to the complex camos and intricate bike paintwork, but man I like NATO black what a nice tone it's given the F-16. The display place is pretty clean so I didn't do any mottling on it, the decals are next so will be an interesting one coming up.

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Very nice paintwork, Anthony @anthonyricco
    This shade does indeed look great on it.
    Looking forward to those colorful decals.

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    Bernard Bedeur said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    F-16 entry . Very good !

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Looks really great my friend @anthonyricco!

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    Anthony Ricco said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Hey everyone - so the decals have begun. Really nice decals - nice and thin and go into the panel lines beautifully. The decals are not from this kit so some are a bit oversized, not sure why, but had to make some adjustments to them.

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Erik Gjørup said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Nice plain paintjob Anthony. Decaled plane look great, even with the adjustments!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Those decals do lay down perfectly indeed, Anthony @anthonyricco
    Very nice contrast between the green and black.

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    Anthony Ricco said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Thanks Erik @airbum and John @johnb. these decals are really nice, even the very long thin once are going down without any issues at all.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Decals look nice on, my friend @anthonyricco!

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    Anthony Ricco said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Decals all done and a flat coat added. Now onto the tough task of trying to make the black look less like just a black flat object, Really tough making black look interesting and still new, I tried a few different things, but it kept looking too weathered and dirty and as a show bird it needs to look clean still.

    The advice from experienced modelers... - Don't paint black planes hahahaha

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Anthony Ricco said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    So after many failed attempts at weathing, I thought let me lightly highlight the panels and some details with the old school, but always awesome method of dry brushing. This gave me a subtle finish I was looking for but very subtle and then someone suggested playing with the shine on some panels, having some glossy and some satin, I think this was a great idea, the first attempt at me playing around with this Idea are in the photo below, just needs to be lightly glossed over the whole plane now so it's now so stark, but I like the result.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    This definitely looks great, Anthony @anthonyricco
    Great idea to use gloss and satin coat to achieve this effect.

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    Erik Gjørup said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Indeed a few coats of clear here and there makes it look a lot better Anthony.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Looking great to me, too, my friend @anthonyricco!

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    Anthony Ricco said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Thanks so much everyone. Yeah need to just finish it off now.