1/48 Academy F-16A  

RSAF 143 Squadron - Night Phoenix 

by Jojo B Cruz

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This is the Academy 1/48 F-16A. I completed this kit in Oct 29 2005, too late for Singapore National Day. After building several other aircraft in gray, I decided to do a more colorful paint scheme for this model. I chose the Venezuelan paint scheme plus Republic of Singapore Air Force stencils from Scale Nutz, as Singapore is also a lush, tropical country. This is, therefore, a "what-if" build.

The plane was built OOB. The Academy kit is not the best F-16 kit out there, and I must agree. The panel lines are rather shallow, so I re-scribed most of them. The intake was particularly bad, with a very pronounced (and totally unconvincing) inner lip and ejector marks on the inner sides. Kit decals were of poor quality — as usual for Academy! The pilot and ejector seat were ok, but the controls were, sadly, simple decals too. There was also a catastrophic failure of the gear bay during assembly (my fault), but I continued to build the plane until it was finished (which is why I did not take pictures of the underside).

Click on images below to see larger images

 

I brush-painted the model with Tamiya XF55 Deck Tan (underside), XF57 Buff, XF58 Olive Green, and GSI H312 Light Green (for the camo). I painted the buff on top of the plane first, then the two-green pattern. Thanks to Steve "Cloggy" Cladingboel for the painting tips! Weathering was done (on top of an overcoat of Glossy Mr Top Coat) with Gundam acrylic marker, chalk pastel sludge wash, and raw chalk pastels. Another overcoat sealed it all in. Painted toothbrush bristles simulate the static dischargers.

 

(Note: I am sure there are a lot of inaccuracies on this model: wrong horizontal stabilizers, wrong weapons, etc, and those two pointy things on the sides of the radome are missing too; and for this, I apologize.)

 

Anyway, Happy Modelling!

 

Note the helmet color — it's red because the missus said so! Haha.

Jojo 

 

Photos and text © by Jojo B Cruz