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Tamiya F-16 back date?


Guest Smitty44

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Guest Smitty44

   I was wondering if anyone knows of anyone taking a stab at backdating the Tamiya F-16 to an "A"  I could swear I saw a build once where someone used the vertical stab of the Hasegawa kit. There are a ton of Air Force aggressors out there so I want to do a Top Gun F-16A ! I know there was a Revell kit, but meh. Thanks and have a splendid weekend!

 

FwdMjLu.jpg

 

 

VABOwOC.jpg

Edited by Smitty44
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Hello Smitty, I am presently doing this project, see my thread on the work in progress section... you'll need to go a few pages back to find the thread.

 

I will do an update in the next few days that will show many of the external changes that need to be done, the cockpit is covered already.

 

Cheers,

Marcel

Edited by Marcel111
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Guest Smitty44

Hello Smitty, I am presently doing this project, see my thread on the work in progress section... you'll need to go a few pages back to find the thread.

 

I will do an update in the next few days that will show many of the external changes that. We'd to be done, the cockpit is covered already.

 

Cheers,

Marcel

Perfect, thanks Marcel! Did you use the Hasegawa tail?

Edited by Smitty44
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I actually have done a really nice conversion of Tamiya F-16CJ into an F-16A OCU (the Navy Top Gun Aggressors) and my first round of photos were lost when Photobucket changed things and I haven't had time to take more photos, upload them to imageshack, etc but hopefully soon.  Off the top of my head here's a list of things you need to accomplish for this conversion (or at least what I used).  The 1/32 Tamiya F-16CJ base kit, The GT Resin NSI and P&W exhaust, Avionix F-16A Cockpit (a little tricky to properly fit into the Tamiya kit and make the canopy properly open/close, but doable with some patience and clever use of Milliput, again I can show some WIP photos soon), the Tamiya F-16C Thunderbirds main landing gear lights and non-bulged main gear doors, as well as the smaller wingtip launch rails, I suppose you could use some of the Hasegawa parts, but it might require some significant overhaul depending on how bad your OCD is :-), The KASL Hobby 1/32 F-16A Tail (needs to have the parachute area sawed off and then you need cut off the end of the Tamiya Kit tail and sand it so its narrow to fit flush with the more narrow KASL Hobby tail, this is a nice product that corrects the rounded shape/diameter of the F-16A fuselage), you need to delete some of the leading edge slat "teeth" as some of the teeth only had 2 "prongs," Two Bobs Decals (can be hard to come by, but keep hunting on the internet), a good F-16A/general reference book for what panel lines/vents, etc to add/remove, lastly and surprisingly one of the most time consuming tasks is that the fuel cell panels on the rear of the F-16A are slightly different and require careful sanding & modification, templates or scribing tools to do properly.  If you'd like some assistance send me a PM and I can send you some photos before I upload them to Imageshack.  Final note the real F-16A had a slightly smaller diameter landing gear struts, but for the sake of sanity I figured this would be too much hassle, and too small to notice (unless you're a psycho).  Also if you're doing a really early Block, the horizontal stabilizers were significantly smaller and differently shaped (but most A models don't have this as it produced control problems on the real thing and was quickly corrected).

 

Dan

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Not quite.  The larger stabs were extended on the leading edge as well as the trailing edge as well as the span.  The best way is to check photos and take your references from "landmarks" on the fuselage.  The trailing edges are easy of course...

 

Jens

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Guest Smitty44

I was aware of most of the changes needed and also will have Jake's A/B model book in hand when I get there, but thanks for all the great stuff guys!

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Like the 1/48 kits, the problem is that Tamiya molded a "flat" on top of the aft fuselage where the bigger C tail fits.  You have to re-contour that flat area to match the curvature of the rest of the fuselage back there.  There are also some significant panel line differences back in that area among all the other changes.  It's deceptively easy looking, but there's actually a good bit involved in going from a C to an A.

 

Jennings is right. KASL Hobby actually provides a good solution to solve this in 48-scale. Not sure whether they would consider upscaling this to 32...

http://www.shop2000.com.tw/KASLHOBBY/

(Set K48078)

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This topic comes up fairly often.  Rightfully so, since the NSAWC Vipers make such attractive models.

 

It's a bit frustrating, as one person will put out false info, then that info gets repeated and repeated, and then repeated all over again as if it were correct.  

 

First of all, there's no need to discuss the small horizontal stabs because the NSAWC jets don't have them.  Never did, never will.  Furthermore, Jens is right--the small stabs were shorter in overall chord.  Chopping off the trailing edge doesn't make them correct.  Close, but not correct.  The lightweight gear of the early jets are different not only in diameter, but many of the overall details.  

 

The NSAWC jets aren't exactly F-16As, really.  They are Block 15 OCUs, which were built alongside C-models on the assembly line.  As a result, they share many similarities (but not all) of a C model.  They are a bit of a hybrid.  If you're using refs for a Block 15 F-16A, you're already behind the power curve.  You need refs for a Block 15 OCU if you want to be correct.  Otherwise, you're model will also be a bit of a hybrid.

 

Of course, if you're not looking for complete accuracy and only want a cool-looking Viper with a great camo (and that's totally OK), then build your model however you'd like.  Just have fun doing it.

 

Smitty, since you have The Early Viper Guide, you'll be set.  All of the OCU stuff is covered in there.  If you have any further questions, I can send you additional pics and/or point you to page numbers where you can find the info.  

Edited by jmel
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Jake, seeing as you're on this thread you may be the man to ask.

 

While looking into aggressor F-16s, I was surprised to learn they were retired because of wing cracks. Surprised because I'm old enough to recall it being promoted as the ultimate dogfighter as compared to the staid old Phantom.

 

Would later blocks, strengthened for what are now practically heavy fighter-bomber duties, have absorbed the ACM effects better than those earlier blocks? Or are the roles substantially different enough that a strong, agile air-to-air fighter is still not attainable, with current philosophy preferring invisibility and BVR weapons to achieve the best combat result?

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I used the PWMP tail for mine.  I'm not an expert so I can't attest to it's accuracy but it looks the part.  It fits well too...

 

Bryan

 

those tails have their merits, but are too big. The KASL tail is better but also requires tweaking. The solution could be that Daco upscales it's long promises F-16 tails to 32...but the 48s have not even appeared yet :( 

I think it is clear you need to put in significant work to build an A/B model...which begs the question why Tamiya has not tackled this...

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and see some of my struggles. Unfortunately I am not able to build at the moment...

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=36133&hl=redskins

 

IMG_3587.jpg

 

Forget the avionix cockpit. You may want to go hybrid on this as well and simply use the base of the Tamiya kit and backdate this with parts of the True Detail (Squadron) cockpit... 

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