1/72 Hasegawa F-16C Blk30 

Wisconsin ANG

by Phil Hastie

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This was going to be a quick out of the box build until I discovered that it does not contain the MSID intake that is required, or the LAU-128 launcher rails as shown on the box top, or the LE RHAW receivers.  Luckily all the missing bits were available in that modeller must have, the spare parts bin.  The LE RHAWs and the LAU-128s came from the moulds that I had made of the bits from another Hasegawa model just for this purpose.  In progress pictures can be seen at http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=46396&st=0.  This build has taken two years due to work pressure and a death in the family in 2005.  

While these kits are reasonably easy to build, there were a few areas of concern around the intake and near the finish the rear turbine part decided to dislocate itself from the rest of the exhaust part, necessitating removal of the exhaust and some remedial action then gluing the exhaust back on to the aircraft without leaving too much of a gap to fill, especially as all the paintwork was finished and it would result in different tonings.  

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I have used Gunze paints for all except the exhaust metallics, which are Model Master’s Metal range.  The tail was sprayed flat white then the red was layered on to get the rich red colouring required.  I used the second set of decals in the kit that provided only the markings and not the complete red tail with markings.

This is the first model I have used what is commonly referred to as a GSD (Green Suited D*&K) in the RAAF by the groundies, or Pilot for the politically correct people out there. He is painted in Gunze using Radome Tan for the skin colouring, Metallic Blue for the steely eyed killer look and a few different shades of green for his zoom suit.  The seat belts, which I now believe are a bit too wide is made from painted Tamiya masking tape.

I hope you all enjoy the model, I’m quite happy about how it has turned out. Now I need to finish the Montana ANG F-16B that I started about two weeks after this one.

Phil 

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Photos and text © by Phil Hastie