I would say that the one on the left (short one) is the P&W nozzle.

Thanks

Though niether exhaust accurately represents the Pratt or GE nozzle, I would say that the short nozzle is the one that's supose to be a GE. In the real Jet world, the GE nozzle is shorter than the Pratt and also has larger (therefore less) turkey feathers. Yeah, those a quite crude, even for 72nd scale.


Mike V

Noodling through the stash today, I found Hasegawa's F-16B. Turns out the Kitech is a poor knockoff of the Hase kit. While the Hase kit has 4 sprues, the Kitech turned it into just two, but most of the parts are in identical locations. Sort of explains why most of the details are kinda soft.

I could of told you that , but I thought it was common knowledge that nearly all Kitech kits were rips of other manufactures.

You ought to see thier crummy 48th F-16. It too is a rip of the Hasegawa kit, but with "raised" panel lines. What a joke, as they were so lazy as to not copy the panel lines in recessed form. I have one rule of thumb concerning Kitech kits; never buy them.

Mike V

Slooowwww plodding progress....

Here are a few pics of where I'm at with my Viper.

Here's the completed Shull24 resin engine nozzle, all painted except for a small black patch which is part of the camo pattern on the fuselage rear section. The gray you see is the "middle" color of the Arctic scheme.





The Royale Resin nose firmly cemented in place (I used JB Weld...that puppy is on there to stay!)



I've painted the camo pattern on the intake section and fuselage before joining them so I don't have to try to mask and spray into the gaps between the intake and the underside of the fuselage. I just completed this task last night and the next step is to glue them together. Then it's on to masking and painting the rest of the plane.



BTW, I'm using Gunze Mr. Color paints (first time...love 'em!) and masking between the camo colors is done with worms of Blue Tak poster putty.

That's it so far.

No..wait...one more thing. How cool is this...I found a photo of the real thing in the exact scheme I'm doing! For one thing, it showed me that there are subtle differences in the camo patterns between individual aircraft. The profiles that came with my TwoBobs sheet show a "general" pattern for all the planes covered - they all look the same. From what I can see, Tamiya actually nailed it perfectly for this particular aircraft as it is the subject of their kit decals. So, I'm using the kit's painting guide when laying out the camo pattern.



Cheers,
Eric

Eric, looking good. I'm working the same problem with the intake on my F-16. I was going to do the same thing, get the intake right, paint the lip, and the top, paint the bottom of the fuselage 'under' the intake and then install, fill and sand the intake join. Looking forward to how it works out for you.

@ Mike: for half price (U$4.95) it didn't seem like such a bad deal at the time. Time has told a different story. It will remain a good example of a bad example.

Mask and paint...mask and paint...will it ever end?!

Usually, when I paint a model with a multi-color camo scheme I'll mask and do each color in it's entirety before moving to the next. With the complexity of this scheme combined with the shape of the plane, I have decided to do it in numerous stages. Since the camo patterns wrap around the entire plane, trying to apply the putty worm (Blu-Tack) and tape masking, while trying to hold the thing, would be difficult. These pics will give an idea of my toils:





Oh, let me introduce you to my latest invention...a specialized putty worm rolling tool! I was just using my hand to roll the putty worms on a sheet of glass but could never get a nice uniform thickness, especially when trying to get thinner worms. I got this idea one night after some frustrating attempts at making long, thin worms. The white plate is just a ceramic wall tile I picked up at Lowes and the clear piece is a scrap of acrylic sheet I once used as a little cutting board. Just take a ball of putty, place it on the tile, place the acrylic sheet on top and start rolling it back and forth. Works like a charm!





....and at the end of the day (as of last night), we get...





Cheers,
Eric

Good work!

And a technique I can steal.

Finally !! Some paint !! Camo looks great so far,lots of patience and planning,but great results

I've just reached a milestone...the camo is DONE! Love that Blu-Tak!

OK, there are a couple of really tiny touch ups that no one but me with an Optivisor would ever notice but I'll get to them later, after I get some airframe details painted. Oh yeah, I've got to respray the white in the gear bays too.

The horizontal stabilizers, wing flaps, main gear bay center plate, and afterburner section are just stuck loosely in place for these pics. They'll be installed permanently much later. Still got lots to do!











Cheers,
Eric

Looks good!

My F-16 seems to be permanently stalled.

Excellent paint work im inspired.looking good cant wait to see finished.



Build On,
justin

Coolest camo scheme I've seen in a long time, and very nicely done. The blue-tac is a great trick as well. I'd certainly like to have this one sitting on my display shelf.


Hermon

Hi Eric
Your Viper is looking very, very good. That artic camoflage must be one of the best schemes ever in recent times. Sorely tempted to acquire one myself.
tim

Sorry that I've not posted any updates for a while. Most of my work for the past few weeks has been touching up some of the camo and getting the landing gear components painted and assembled. Tamiya does a great job of representing the complex array of struts and actuators found on the real aircraft but where they lack in detail is in the plumber's nightmare of hydraulic hoses and lines.

Initially, I'd thought of adding either Eduard's p/e undercarriage detail set or using Aires resin gear bays but decided in the end to just use what came with the kit and add a few token hydraulic lines to the more visible struts. These are made from 0.3mm lead wire and either painted with black acrylic paint or a Sharpie marker.

Wheel bays are painted with Model Master semi-gloss white enamel with details picked out using thinned dark burnt umber oil paints.

I've still got some work to do on the nose gear but here are the mains, complete except for the doors which will be added after I apply decals, detail wash, and clear coats.





I almost forgot to mention - the wheels are from Royale Resin Products.

Cheers,
Eric

Several lifetimes ago I worked on tools for servicing F-16 LG. Somewhere in my stash o trash, I have photos of the LG and my tools. They don't look a lot different from your work here.

Nicely done good detail

I was up until after 1:00 a.m. this morning working on this but now I can say that the decals are on! That is, all except for those on the main canopy frame which I haven't worked on yet.

I will allow the decals to "cure" for a day or two, apply a sealing gloss coat, and proceed with a very light wash to highlight panel lines and other details. Not too much weathering as these planes are clean! Then on to the final cockpit and canopy detailing.

The decals are from the Afterburner Arctic Aggressors set. AB decals are printed by Cartograf who I consider to make the finest decals in the world. Tough, very thin, and forgiving. They react well to Micro Set and Sol as well as Solva Set.

I'm thankful that there were multiples of many of the stencils and wing walk stripes in the AB set since as great as the decals are, I still managed to mangle a few when applying them. It was sure nice to have spares! One trick I found was to cut the longer strips (the ones on the wings) in half. Trying to position and straighten those long thin strips can be very frustrating and cutting them in half makes the job much easier.

The belly - lots of little stencils and markings, along with a star and bar on the starboard wing.


The only color in all the markings are the red and yellow "14" and the badges on either side of the intake. Everthing else is black, white, and gray. Pretty cool.




Flaps and tail planes temporarily pressed in place for the pics. They'll be permanently attached as one of the final steps.




Cheers,
Eric

Wow with each post you just make me want another f-16

Super work Eric, I've been following this build right through and I will be stealing some of your ideas for sure !!

Cheers, D

Eric, Your work on the F-16 is fantastic; beautifully rendered paint and your solution for filling the seams in the intake are brilliant. Thanks for sharing your build (and techniques) with us!

Take care,
Mark

Wow, hadn't seen this one in a while. Really sweet. Love the red box in the MLG bay, adds a ton of life to the arctic whiteness of the bay.

Progress continues. Highlighting wash applied, cleaned, and final flat coat applied. Final bits being installed. Biggest thing yet to do is the main canopy. I am going to add some additional details to the inside framing, including things like latches and hand holds, so have been saving it for last.

One little detail note, I was going to add some scratching and wear to the refueling receptacle cover (the bare metal patch in the center of the upper fuselage) but I just can't bring myself to risk making a mess of it and ruining the general clean look of the model. So, let's pretend that a new one has just been installed!

Cheers,
Eric

Lookin good that sweet bird is almost ready for touch down Keep up the good work Sir