A
couple of months ago I came up with the idea of building multiple kits at one time.
I had four F-16 kits at that time and after finishing some other kits that were on
the list I started on them. Just before the start of my one man group build, my
stash of F-16’s grew with another bird. So now I had five F-16's waiting to be
built. Here is a list of the kits:
-
Revell 1:72 F-16 Mlu, F-16B Twin Seater and F-16C BLock 50/52 kit (All three are
versions of the Revell kit)
-
Hasegawa 1:72 F-16C and F-16D
I
started of deleting all the unnecessary parts that were not used and
replacing other parts with better detailed parts like the weapon pylons off the
Hasegawa kits with the Revell ones.
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I also had to decide
which markings I was gonna' use. I had a huge poster of a F-16BM from the RNLAF
on my room from 313 Sqn and that was the one I wanted to build, J-650, which I used the
Revell F-16B kit for. I had some Dutch Decals lying around and so the idea of
the 316 Sqn 40 years Anniversary bird was born, F-16 Mlu kit was used.
And I also wanted to do a bird that was a test bird for the MLu program, and so
the Belgian Air Force FA-93 was born with the Check six markings, using the Hasegawa
C kit. For the Hasegawa F-16D kit, I had no idea what to use, but I found the MJ
decals in the box quite nice, so I used those. The last kit, the F-16 Block 50/52
kit was actually bought after the decals. In a trade, I got Astra Aviano Decals and so the idea of a Aviano F-16C
was born. Now I know which markings I would, I could
start the build.
The build was not straight out of
the box. For the Belgian F-16AM, I had to do major surgery. I had a spare
instrument panel and coaming from the Revell F-16B kit that I managed to get
onto the Hasegawa fuselage and also some IFF antennas. The tail had to be
replaced and along came a spare one from the spare parts box. I also added the
Carpace ECM system to it. On the Aviano bird I had to replace the WAC HUD with a
WAR HUD, and luckily the Eduard PE set has one and I used that one. More parts
were used from that Eduard set like Scab plates (For the Aviano bird) and
Missile Fins (To make my own smokewinders). The 3 other F-16's were build mostly
with parts from their own box.
Then came the time for
painting. I used Humbrol 125, 126 and 127 for the F-16 schemes. The Colour of the burnercans
is my own mix of Iron and Rust. The Blue ring on the PW engines are a mix of Chrome
Silver and Clear Blue, two colours from Tamiya. I also did some canopy tinting
on the F-16BM. That F-16 required a gold tint, so I mixed up some Future with
Smoke and Clear Yellow, after 3 coats of the paint I stopped cause the tinting
looked really great for a first attempt.
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For the markings, I used decals
from the sheets supplied in the kits and also decals from aftermarket companies
like Dutch Decal, Astra Decals and Two Bobs (Service decals that weren't present
anymore on the Astra sheet). The serial for J-650 was not present as one decal
on the sheets, so I used sliced up parts for the serial with the use of the
Revell MLu and F-16B sheet.
The Final coat is from Revell 2
Matt. The Aviano F-16 has a dead flat coat the other ones a more glossy matt
coat. This happened because the paintj ar that I used on the four birds with the
glossy matt coat was empty and I grabbed a new one for the Aviano bird. I added
a bit too much thinner to it I think and he got another finish than the other
four.
Weapon ideas came from pictures
on the web and out of books. J-650 has almost the same load out as the RNLAF
F-16BM that is testing the JDAM's, only the ECM pod is on it. Weapons came from
the kits and from the Hasegawa weapons kits.
I'm very happy with the end
result. My favorite? Well that is the RNLAF F-16BM J-650, I really like the look
of it with the JDAM's and open canopy.
References I used was the Daco
F-16 book, the Dutch book Called "F-16, 25 jaar in dienst van de KLu",
pics from the web and my big poster on my room from J-650.
Michel
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