Marcel111

That will be very nice! Which scheme will you do? I still intend doing the Nellis Block 52 after this but then again I may run out of F-16 enthusiasm. Steve, it’s the black/white contrast demarcation that is fiddly in that every imperfection is noticeable. David, glad you found the build!

Looks great!

Here is what the underside is looking like: Boy this splinter masking is taking a long time. Cheers, Marcel

wow, the Eagles look fantastic, excellent work! Marcel

I have had my G in the cabinet for some years now with no sagging issues with the kit legs... and my G is exceptionally heavy due to all the resin, esp the 3 resin ALQ-99's. My Academy D has been in my cabinet for about 8 years, built with the kit legs and no sagging issues either. The general stance of the Academy kit is a bit tail heavy but that's not because of the plastic deforming. Cheers, Marcel

Stev, really like the way that is looking. excellent work!

It's been forever since I posted an update... on the one hand I have been very busy but on the other there is not much to show off with when it comes to assembling a Tamiya F-16C Block 30... it's a great kit and I just used Thunderbirds Block 32 kit with the Block 50 kit intake and exhaust attachment and Aires GE exhaust and hey presto. Here is where I am right now. This black and white airbrushing is taking a bit longer then I thought, every little bit of overspray is noticable. And a bit closer up to show the Crossdelta airframe stiffeners, which are very nice and crisp: Cheers, Marcel

Hi there, I built the G a while back and as mentioned above that needed a lot of work. On the plus side, the surface detail is very nice and fine and the overall shape looks good (the Revell 1/32 E looks terrible in my opinion and is a complete non-starter). To do the F I suggest adding the Olimp exhausts (the Aires ones are off), the above-mentioned ACS stacks, Rhino intakes and resin seats (forgot which ones I used). You'll need to spend a bit of time adding more detail to the cockpit and also improving those vents on top of the LERX, I completely redid those with plastic card, the kit versions are far too thick. Also, pay attention to the pylon attachments, you'll end up with a misplaced pylon if you blindly follow the instructions. Cheers, Marcel

Robert, great to see you at Basler Modellbautage, enjoy your vacation! Marcel

Very nice weathering, wow! Marcel

Ben, what an incredible project! You really are the weathering-master! Marcel

Steve, that is looking good already! An additional technique you may want to try out is dry-brushing panels of the model with slightly different shades of gray. This is a fairly fail-safe way to get some life into the model. Here is how I do it: 1. Identify some enamel grays that are slightly different to the grays you want to weather. Must be enamel paint, this for some reason doesn't work very well with acrylics. 2. Take an old smallish paint brush and cut the brush bristels such that only about 1/4 inch or less remain. 3. Dip the brush into the paint. 4. Use a scrap surface to get rid of virtually all of the paint on the brush (i.e. typical dry brushing proceedure). 5. Continually brush/rub along a panel line such that you get a slight discoloration. Cheers, Marcel

Thx Lud, that is very helpful. At this point I am entirely convinced that the Nellis F-16's used and still in use, use FS35109. I am still wondering just a little bit if some F-16's, esp the Alaska aggressors, use FS35190 but but for the Nellis DJ I am building I will use FS35109. Incidentally, Vallejo 71.111 is to my eye a very good match for FS35109. Here is a little sampling palette I put together using what I considered pics with good light balance: Cheers, Marcel

Thx Lud... I am wondering how you can say this with 100% certainty? Thx Pascal, I have these colors and have tested that blue. To my eye the FS35109 seems just a little too dark? I may end up going for a FS35109 and FS35190 mix.

I noticed the kit is listed on the Tamiya website so I presume it has been relaunched...