RichieB

Quick update time. Whilst I assess the construction requirements to fix the engine exhaust securely enough to hold the weight of the model when the acrylic rod is inserted, I've had a go at the add-ons in a bid to make sure I don't leave them to the end when the mojo starts to wane. I've already built the tanks up so every time I spray some grey (and I seem to be doing that more often than i need to at the moment - more of that later!) I use any remainder to pre-shade the tanks. The tanks will all be removable, wing tanks using the Tamiya poly-caps and the fuselage tank via magnets. The ALQ-188 pod will be used as an alternative to the fuselage fuel tank so has magnets added, as well as the Aim-9s. I've been trying to get the rather distinctive missile head colour right as its not black but a sort of metallic dark grey/green. I tried MRP Anodised Aluminium paint but it came out too light so the final product is a mix of NATO Black, Vallejo acryllic silver and a touch of Olive Drab. Still work in progress I think! Although the missiles are very nicely detailed, a feature of the training missiles the Aggressor is that they have no fusing mechanism so the detail around the banded area at the bottom of the seeker head is going to have to go. The Kopecky launcher rails have come up nicely and I've drilled some holes to help with alignment/fixing with the wing part. The centre pylon looks better for the addition of the Leathernecks crutching mechanism and the gun has had some gunpowder pigment to give a bit of sheen even though it will be mostly unseen. Now, back to the engineering board.

Hi Neo, if you mean the wire for the Oxy hose that's fuse wire which is really easy to bend. The LEDs are a mix but the really small ones are produced by https://evandesigns.com/ and are the Z class - great for wing lights etc and very bright. They pre-wire them and provide pretty much everything you need. However, I'm sure there are other retailers how can do the same. I use the 3v class as I try to pack all the electrics within the jet i.e. no visible wires, so size & weight are important.

That's a great steer, thanks Ziggyfoos!

As ever that took a little longer than I thought, but anyway onto the cockpit. As this is an in-flight model I need a pilot and the Tamiya version is not bad at all and certainly good enough for my level of figure painting. I note that ReedOak have started doing some F-16 pilots and those look stellar. I've tried to add some variation to the green but avoiding the uber-contrast that can be a bit ott (imho). Maybe I need a little more variation though as the photo seems to have blended all the tones together! The seat is also Tamiya's with a couple of stencil additions. Enhancements include some patches and visor that were printed onto paper, cut out then glued in place. I also added some wire to the oxy hose for a mic lead. The cockpit panels are from Quinta and look really nice - certainly better than any hand-painted effort on my part! I also added the seat-belts from the set but had to tone them down a bit as they are too light in colour. The main IP is also Quintas but as this is in-flight I had to add some decal simulations of a working flat-screen panel. The whole thing certainly looks the part, these 3-D decals are mini-works of art. And yes, I have added some lighting - I've gone for green in keeping with more modern cockpit lighting. The subtle panel lights were done using very thin fibre-optic wires which are great because they bend easily. They've been added a bit haphazardly as I had to drill the holes before adding the Quinta decals. There is also a small LED on the side wall which I have blacked out a bit to kill the light output as its really just to throw a bit of background lighting onto the panel. The effect is quite subtle - maybe too subtle! During a bit of experimentation about whether to light the IP from above or in front I discovered that the LEDs are bright enough to shine through the 3D decals if placed really close behind. It tripled the amount of LEDS I had to use but the effect is quite convincing and much better than the other lighting options I was considering. The LEDs will also light up the HUD glass. Now just got to work out how to connect all of this extra wiring up!

Well that's Xmas and the New year well and truly out of the way - hope you all had a good one - time for an update! Started assembling some of the bigger structures around the fuselage area which in typical modern Tamiya style, are a drop fit. First major painted assembly attached is the rear intake portion which was necessary to start planning on where all the wiring will go. The engine face was painted then buffed up with some metallic paste. The intake portion was weathered slightly to an off-white colour but you wont see too much back there unless you're looking hard! The eagle eyed among you will realise that the undercarriage bay has two extra holes in the wall. As this is a gear up project the holes were drilled to allow wiring to pass through. The Reskit exhaust has also gained some attention. The outside petals are in steel with the characteristic darker edges where they overlap when the nozzle is closed. I still need to add some details such as where the No Push stickers go and some further discolouration. The internal walls of the exhaust have received different pastel shades to mimic the soot pattern. the part on the right goes inside the part on the left and there is some further inside detail on the engine end of the petals which will probably never get seen but I know its there! I've also joined the top fuselage parts together so I can start assessing how all the extra lighting bits I'm adding can be laid out. Having over-sprayed to check for flaws, the fit is thankfully near perfect so only a little work from me to correct any issues. The line on the tail is there to help me align the fin assembly as the model's original owner was going to put a new tail on so removed a lot of the original tabs used for ensuring a perfect fit. I've had to create a centering tab in the fin and new slot in the fuselage to help align them, not helped by having the fin lighting to content with! Hopefully next time I will have a cockpit update and maybe some light action.

Apologies disregard, pressed save by mistake!

Really great finish/weathering on the Nighthawk. I prefer the more realistic look and you've captured it perfectly!

I have 2 kits of the F-104 so looking forward to seeing what you do with this one. As for your question, yes they are but I suspect your surgery will be more appropriate anyway.

Finally get around to the cockpit which is not bad straight out of the box. However, I want to try out some of the 3D cockpit decals so I've gone for a set from Quinta which look very nice indeed and well beyond my cockpit painting skills. It does mean you have to file off all the nice detail that Tamiya put into the kit so there's no going back once you start! I'm also using the kit seat as it'll have a pilot on it. After a black base I used MRP paint but a slightly lighter grey than the usual USAF cockpit colour FS36231 as I'm trying out the shadow technique which is to spray from a constant angle (like from a single light source), which on a dark base, creates a varied tone set of shadows and light spots. You can then add detail to your own taste. The only snag I have with the Quinta set is adding lighting as the decals are too think to backlight. I think I'll just go with a flood lit effect. In case I don't get round to any other updates soon, Merry Xmas everyone!

Got slightly side-tracked on the intake which is not an insignificant feature of the F-16 so one you need to get right. To Tamiya's credit the fit of both halves of each half (if that makes sense!) is pretty good and just needs a little bit of filler to smooth out any visible join once glued together. A blast of white primer helps blend it all together before I dirty it up slightly using off-white colours and a very light sand coloured pigment. Not sure if I'll glue them together before I insert in the fuselage to ensure a tight join or whether you even can. Test fitting so far would indicate that Tamiya have done their job well. Another prominent part is the engine exhaust. As mentioned previously I'm replacing the OK kit part with the very nice Reskit version. The exhaust comes in 4 main parts and includes photo etch for the burner rings. The detail is lovely but will need some careful weathering to match the staining you often see - especially on the inside of the exhaust. The innermost part did have some very nice engine detail but because I'm using the exhaust as the entry point for the supporting acrylic rod I need to do some rather drastic surgery and drill out the middle section, which is a shame because it's nicely done and I'm sure would look lovely if anyone had wanted to look at the back end of this model. I did add some of the PE but once the rod goes in most of this will be unseen. The real trick is securing the engine in the fuselage so that nothing breaks when the weight of the model is sitting on it.

For jets I tend to use acrylic rod through the engines but for prop jobs how about a combination of all three: Use a bent clear acrylic rod as the support, secure a metal ball to the top and create a similarly shaped half dome insert under the model. If you put enough magnets into the surface of the half dome you can insert the metal ball and the magnets will allow you to position the model however you want. You could also use any other type of ball and put magnets in that as well - just make sure the polarity is correct. Oh and use strong magnets!

Thanks chaps, the Tamiya F-16 is an outstandingly well engineered kit which will hopefully allow me to concentrate on the additions and perhaps get this one over the line faster than my normal schedule. No promises though .

As an aggressor, these F-16s were not usually loaded with the range of weaponry often seen on F-16 models. This version is going to be from a time before AMRAAM so the earlier wing pylons are required. Although they are included in this version of the Tamiya kit, Kopecky has done some very nice resin renditions which clearly I had to have. The Tamiya kit doesn't however have any weapons so ResKit to the rescue for some Aim-9Ms, which again are superb. Strictly speaking these should be training rounds with the rollerons on the rear fins removed. However, I much prefer the look of a fully capable missile so artistic licence will prevail. I will however add training decals as live weapons would be a no-no on a air combat training exercise! As the Kopecky rails are so nice I have added magnets to them and the Aim-9s so they can be attached and removed easily. Not sure what I'm going to do about the ACMI pod as not seen any of these on the aftermarket sites. That and baggage pods are sorely missing from resin heaven. And what would an aggressor be without a jamming pod, in this case the ALQ-188. Aires and Wolfpack both do a 1/32 version but the Wolfpack version seems too small to me so I went with the Aires one. The transmission horns will be added later as they look like a carpet monster appetiser. As before I added magnets so it could be replaced with the centreline drop tank for variety. Of note, the Tamiya Thunderbirds kit does not have any of the Bomb Release Units for their pylons. As I was creating the possibility of a naked Pylon I needed a replacement BRU. Step up, Leatherneck pylons for the F/A-18 which have spare BRUs (which look similar enough). Again very nicely done and with a spot of pylon side wall thinning slotted in easily. I should add that Kopecky now do an F-16 centreline pylon which surpasses my efforts. I've also made up the kit's fuel tanks, which are OK and will be removeable via Tamiya's rubber plug method. Again, Kopecky have now done some replacement fuel tanks which look far better - tempting! Might get onto the cockpit eventually.

Well here we go again, this time I'm indulging in a Tamiya kit. Much as I like the challenge of upgrading the delights of Revell's offerings, sometimes you just want something a little less demanding. Such as the Tamiya F-16C which judging by all the accounts I've read, is a superb kit. Squirrelled away in my stash is the Thunderbirds offering which allows an earlier Blk32 aircraft which differs from the mainstream Blk50 kit by having the P&W engine, normal (small) shock inlet, lightweight gear with the original wheels and flat MLG doors. However, as it is the Thunderbirds kit it also does not come with weapons and some of the pylon details which I will need for my chosen subject. I've always liked aggressor schemes (who doesn't!), in fact anything that gets away from monotone (grey) colour schemes and there is no doubting that the 64AGRS based out of Nellis has some of the most interesting schemes around. I'm pretty much a fan of all the schemes but for this one I've plumbed for the 'Flogger' scheme as pictured on the lead aircraft below. Crucially, the Thunderbirds kit comes with early sidewinder rails which is right for the era I'm looking at i.e. pre-AMRAAM. (USAF) Now I don't want to make it too easy so this will be an in-flight display and I will be adding lights to this one as well but most of the kit will be out of the box. Except for the engine exhaust which comes courtesy of ResKit (love their stuff). Oh and some ResKit winders, will probably need an ALQ-188 and ACMI pod as well. Maybe some cockpit enhancements from Quinta and might treat myself to some goodies from Kopecky who does loads of goodies for the F-16. Yeah, pretty much out of the box. Right, so where do we start. With the intake of course. That's the thing with adding lights, you can't build it in the order Tamiya would like you to. Because you need to add things like wires and batteries you also need to plan the layout of how you will connect it altogether noting that once you close a section up, that's it - no more access. The F-16 has some nav lights on each side of the intake. These can be added by drilling out a small hole and adding a very small LED. To avoid light overspill (a real problem with bright LEDs) a silver foil backing is used. The outside will be first painted black to kill light overspill. Luckily the actual intake has a small enough gap for the wires to go past and feed back into the fuselage. Another tight spot for lighting is the tail where the F-16 has a large anti-col beacon at the top and a smaller light at the base. Again, a small white LED was used with silver foil to limit overspill. The clear part sits on top of the LED and the wires run down the back of the rudder. I had to do this as this was a second hand kit and the tail had already been glued together. In addition, the started kit had also had the base of the fin cut off in anticipation of reworking to an F-16A by the previous owner. I therefore needed to reinstate the original base using a thick piece of card as a strut to provide some strength. In addition to the wire, a thin fibre optic wire was run from the LED light down the base of the rudder and out of the base of the tail. Interestingly, I'm pretty sure Tamiya had plans to add their own lighting kit to this model. The wing tip photo below shows a groove carved into the inside of the wing which leads to the point where the wing nav lights are and the design of that clear part is definitely with lighting in mind. I know because I was going to do the same to fit the lighting I had in mind. Thank you Tamiya for making that part of the kit construction slightly easier! Well its a start. I should point out that progress is inversely proportional to the many demands of family and life in general so please be patient. We will get there in the end.

Hi jmel and thanks all for the positive comments, The model is lit using 3v coin batteries hidden in the nose gear (the gear door is removeable). I used a switch on this particular model to turn the lights on but subsequently I've used reed switches that are energised by magnets in the tail pipes. Most of the internal lighting is very small 3v LEDs with some fibre optics used for small lights in hard to reach places, especially the cockpit side panels. You can backlight the cockpit IPs if you've got the right instrument decal (semi-transparent or Aires acetates from their cockpits are good) but you will probably need to add some extra LED lighting (as concealed as you can make it) to get the cockpit looking less like a black hole. The tail pipe lighting is through 2 x 5mm LED bulbs as you need more light to feed down the acrylic tubing. Everything is in the jet so you can take the model off the stand without an issue. The slime lights are actually photo luminescent decals that I charge with a uv light. It doesn't last long but it looks the part. I've subsequently experimented with using Electroluminescent (EL) Tape on a 1/32 F-15B which looked just like the real thing (because it effectively is the same material) but is a b*****r to fix electrically (and I am no electrician!). Thread below if interested. I've started work on an F-16 Aggressor which again will be all light up though only one engine and no slime lights so much easier. I'll start logging soon but I'm currently away from the bench for a while. One challenge you will have is that you can rarely build or paint in the sequence intended because of the wires that need connecting/soldering before you glue parts together, so plan carefully and make sure your wiring connections are solid as you can't access them once its all closed up. Look forward to seeing how you get on. Best wishes.

Just awesome!

Superb! Love the subtle weathering and really neat finish. Congrats.

Stunning builds, weathering is spot-on. Really well done!

Thank you for the very kind words everyone.

Many thanks for the kind words everyone, much appreciated.

Thanks everyone, I'll sign off on this one by adding the Ready for Inspection link. Til next time...

After a rather lengthy build, this one is finally over the line. I really wanted to do a large scale air superiority blue F-15 and the candy cane scheme of this B model really appealed. As ever, there was no real OOTB version so extras included an Aires early C cockpit, some additional resin parts from Bruce for the rear cockpit, new exhausts from GT Resin, Fuel tanks borrowed from the Revell F-4, modified Aires Aim-7 to get an F variant, CE Aim-9Js a fair bit of scratch built vents etc and of course some added lighting. The Revell kit is OK shape-wise but needs some real love and attention to bring it somewhere near modern standards i.e. no riveting, rather wide panel lines, soft detail etc. Suffice to say I learnt a lot, mostly that I need to be more focused on build Quality from the start rather than fixing up my errors later on! I tried Black basing on this one, but with lots of over-painting which prove more effective, so not sure I'll do it the same way again. The weapons and tanks are attached with magnets so they can be moved around or replaced. I also trialed some acrylic carving for the afterburner effect which turned out quite neat. Anyway, enough words... picture time! And yes the lights still worked (mostly!).... Thanks for looking! And for anyone interested the build thread is below:

Well it took the best part of 3 years but she's done! Bit of a journey I'll have to admit and some things worked out better than others (as ever!). The Revell kit is good shape-wise but needs a lot of love to bring her to modern standards of plastic manufacturers, even then it ain't no Tamiya. My build QA requires a bit more Q I think but generally happy with the paint job and the fact the decals didn't silver. I probably made it far more work than it needed to be by introducing errors to my supposed improvements which then needed time and patience to correct. Certainly, a learning experience. However, she's a blue candy cane F-15 and looks really cool! The weapons and tanks are on magnets so are movable and for those wondering whether the lights still work....... Oh yes.... well mostly! If you stayed the course this far then you deserve a break as much as I do. However, I will be back with something that hopefully requires a little, no, a lot less work. Thanks for watching and all the feedback, greatly appreciated. I'll post some more images in the finished section at some point.

Quick update as progress is quick (for a change!) I've been applying some light weathering using Oil Brushers and Streaking effects, and mixing up the colours a bit just for variety. Hopefully the effect is subtle but interesting. Rough idea is shown on these fuel tanks and pylons: Probably can't see but I've also added the screw jacks for the tank braces. Final Matt coat and we're almost there!

Many thanks for the comments chaps, much appreciated. Great picture of her in the flesh Geedubelyer, look no panel lines! If only we'd had digital cameras back then. At range i.e. not camera close-up mode!, I'm hoping my efforts will blend into something that isn't monotone but isn't too stark either.