[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Many thanks Gents, this place is great for advice and inspiration. 👍🏼

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Many thanks Gents, this place is great for inspiration. 

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

More photos at the link to the Ready for Inspection section below.

 

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

This is the the Thunderbirds version of the well-regarded Tamiya kit as it is the closest to the 'Flogger' version of the 64AGRS Aggressor Squadron F-16C that I wanted to emulate.

The kit itself is excellent with good fit, detail and design, makes a really nice change from some of the other efforts out there.

My aim this time was to generate a more realistic paint and weathering combo as these birds are relatively well kept, and to add some lighting of course!

Anyway, on with the photos..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some close-up detail. The ECM pods are fixed by small magnets and removable. The intake took a while to get right but looks ok now.

The wingtip pylons are from Kopecky (lovely detail) and the ALQ-188 is Aires (weirdly a noticeably different size to the Wolfpack version).

 

The weathering was kept fairly subdued using colours that closely matched the originals but provided enough difference for scale effect.

The paints are MRP (love these) and the decals by Afterburner. This jet didn't seem to have a black nose but it looks so much cooler with one so artistic license prevailed!

 

The exhaust and Winders are from ResKit and are a really nice substitute for the Tamiya parts. The static dischargers are by Master and the lovely ACMI pods by Bandit Resin.

 

The visor cover is actually a photocopied picture then reduced to size.

 

And yes, the lights still worked - always a nervy moment when you finally connect it all up!

I'm still perfecting the afterburner effect but I think this is my best effort yet.

 

Cockpit lighting also came out ok though as its a closed cockpit it only really works from certain angles. 

 

Many thanks to everyone who stayed the course and commented on the build - always welcome. Link below if interested.

Til next time!

 

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

And...she's done!

Weathering was kept fairly light using panel line washes that were close to the original colours, oils for some colour variation and streaking, and some added grime for typically dirty areas. The fuel tanks and weapons are detachable so I'll add them in the finished section pics.

I'm quite pleased with the final results which tried to adopt a 'realistic' approach rather than accentuate every panel line as these aren't really dirty aircraft.

I also really liked the Tamiya kit, fits well, goes together easily (even with my additional lighting changes) and has impressive detail up front.

This colour scheme is also great and I'm glad to finally have it in the (slowly growing) collection now.

 

 

The lighting still works - which is always an endgame relief!

I'm still working on achieving a realistic afterburner effect but this one is the best so far.

 

If you've stayed the distance with me on this one then thank you for your patience! 

Hope you like the final product.

More to follow in the Finished section idc. 

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Thanks Chuck, much appreciated.

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

3 hours ago, chuck540z3 said:

Looks really nice Richie.  To smooth out the X-22 a bit more, spray a coat of 100% Tamiya Lacquer Thinner (yellow cap) on top of the X-22.  You want it wet, but not pooling, then move the airbrush on to the next section.  The thinner "melts" the X-22 a bit, letting it settle down a bit more, which I do every time I spray X-22 as a "flash coat".  One caution though:  Make sure your airbrush is really clean, because the thinner will dissolve contaminants within the brush and blow them all over your model.  Don't ask me how I know!  😒  Make sure everything you spray has a coat of X-22 on it.  I notice that the exhaust nozzles are on and if they aren't sealed, I would avoid them.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

That's great advice thanks Chuck, will give that a go! Does it matter if the underlying paints are MRP ie lacquer also?

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Decals

As predicted, the decals (by Afterburner) went down well and were relatively few in number. I had to spend some time separating out the No Step and Walkway ones from the line decals as I'd already painted those on. I did note that the decal lines are slightly thinner than the 1mm width of the painted ones but no great issue. The only slight issue is that the Tamiya Thunderbirds kit has no decals for the tanks or stores as they aren't relevant for that version. Although Eduard provide lots of decals for the winders I'll have to source the fuel tank ones from elsewhere and add them later.

 

Once the decaling was all done I resealed them with another Tamiya X-22 Gloss coat. I'm not entirely convinced whether the Tamiya paint is the best choice or whether my technique needs improving but I can never get a glass-like finish. Still, good enough.

Next stage is weathering (without turning it into derelict disowned by its maintainers!).

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Overspray and Gloss Varnish

Having added all the tonal variation I then needed to tone it down as Aggressor aircraft are usually kept in fairly good condition.

The aim is to make it interesting but realistic bearing in mind the effects of scale. 

I used the base colour to smooth the tones then masked off and sprayed the black walkways using 1mm masking tape strips as a guide for thickness.

Have to say this was my first go at this as I usually use decals, but in this scale it's probably worthwhile painting them on.

 

I used Tamiya X22 Gloss varnish heavily thinned and it seemed to go down OK. I never seem to get the mirror finish that I've seen on other models displayed here on LSP, maybe I need more coats. The grey leading edges which were masked off previously came out ok which was a relief.

 

The gloss tends to reflect a lot of light and makes photography of the colour variations difficult but hopefully this photo proves they are still there, only more subtle than before. Actually, you may just have to trust me on this one! You'll notice I managed to break the aerial off - something else to fix later.

 

I've also gone for a black nosed aircraft. Not strictly in keeping with this particular airframe but I couldn't find the right decal set for that one.

I just like the look of this more than the grey nosed versions.

 

Ok,next up - its Decal time! Luckily aggressor aircraft are not festooned with them so hopefully this will be less time consuming than the F-4 I did previously.

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Post Shading

I've added the green base colour in the same manner as the two browns and then used a different darker green to add some tonal variation.

Using the panel lines as guides I added some more defined tonal areas where panels were often removed.

 

The aim is to slightly 'overdo' the colouring as it will be toned down with a base coat later.

At this point I'm not too worried about any particular pattern other than the specific panels I wish to highlight, variety being the name of the game.

 

Certain areas gather more dirt than others so they got a little more treatment.

You can also see the brass replacement light housing on the front of the fin that I previously managed to break off.

 

I'm not trying to follow all panel lines religiously as this can be a little unrealistic and too 'uniform' as a method of weathering.

So far I'm happy with the result which I will tone down with thinned base colour to get the desired 'used' look but hopefully with subtle tonal depth. 

Hopefully success at this stage means I can go easier at the weathering stage.

[Su-25A Frogfoot, Trumpeter 1:32]

Awesome!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Thanks Madhatter, I wasn't sure until I tried but as long as the LED is directly behind then it is bright enough, Nano size (1 mm) should be sufficient. I had to add MFD decals as the Quinta ones were blank. The other instruments are lit from an LED above but its hidden in the HUD. I presume if you backlit those, the instruments would show up in a similar fashion but worth checking. I used Mig AMMO ultra to secure the fibre optics but Tamiya should work just as well.

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Camo Base Layer

Quick progress report, first the 'Ooops' moment. Whilst moving the model on the workbench I hadn't realised how close it was to the edge until it barrel rolled off towards the floor. Luckily I have the reactions of a leopard and caught it before it hit the floor. Unfortunately I also have the dexterity of a Leopard and in stopping its earthly plummet I managed to smash it into the side of the desk. Luckily(!) nothing serious broke but casualties included several small items like the wing RHWR antenna, and those along the top of the spine. And there was me thinking that I'd be more careful this time when I stuck them on.

Anyway, suffice to say that the fin aerial will be repaired later and the one on the spine will be replaced with some spare brass parts.

Having filled the swear jar up at least I've managed to get two colours down. The tan was sprayed free hand and I used bluetack to help provide a neater line for the brown.

I'm sort of doing it as I go, with the Green being fully bluetacked, it mostly works but some areas will need careful back filling.

You can see where I have deliberately not fully covered the area to leave darker background from the black basing.

 

I've also decided to add some other colour spots using a mid-tan/brown inn a pseudo random fashion using a template to break up the single colour theme.

It wont stay this bold as my aim is to overspray the whole scheme with the primary colour to blend all the additions back in.

The light grey highlights put on after the black basing have sort of worked okay but they are quite subtle and work better on the lighter colours.

Might have to redo some of those with a lighter version of the base colour.

 

I'll do the same with the green before adding some more defined colour shading to some panels.

Time to dig out the references!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Pre-shade

Well almost. I've long debated the merits of pre-shade over post-shade. Pre-shade over black allows you to build up a darker tonal variation but you need lighter variations to add to the effect. Adding different colours can also help but the overspray of the primary colour needs sufficient coverage to be realistic and that often leads to blotting out the work already done.

 

The other option is post-shading, where you start with a layer of the primary colour then add on top. It requires more additions to get the same effect but as its additive its easier to control. You are likely to need an overspray of primary colour to tone things down but this can be much lighter as you already have the primary colour down. In addition, all real life weathering is in effect post-shade, so can result in a more realistic finish.

 

Being an over-optimistic skeptic I went for both. I'll try and make my mind up as we go.

I used light gray (white doesn't cover that well) to show areas where the light would catch the airframe i.e. edges and tops of curves.

 

I then added some streaks in the direction of airflow or water drops, to break up the large black areas.

I also painted the leading edges grey then masked. Again, not sure if this is easier to do than painting everything, then masking and spraying grey. I'll let you know!

 

With the pre-shade done, now its time for some real colour!

[F-104G Starfighter, USAF markings, In-flight + parked]

Fantastic work, love the finish you achieved. You clearly have far more patience for foiling than I ever will!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Prime Time

Now we're getting somewhere. Having got the canopies back to where I wanted them they were masked up and added to the main assembly.

Silent prayer to the God of Dustless Canopies. 

I also added the slats and flaps and the nose cone. Was debating whether to leave this off for separate painting but even with Tamiya there is often a little adjustment needed to blend it in. The build to this stage has been remarkably pain free, issues were mostly of my making due to the requirement to build out of sequence.

 

A

 

I used MRP for the primer as the surface has not been molested as much as I normally do. The primer is very thin so good for preserving detail but not great for smoothing out scratches. It sprays well and goes down like other MRP paints i.e. very well.

 

After a bit of buffing with a cloth its nearly time for the first colour to go down!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

12 hours ago, Neo said:

Sometimes a little windex or rubbing alcohol will get that greasy texture off

Thanks Neo, I'll try that. I wonder what causes it as you'd sort of expect a Finishing product to, well, finish it!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

 

Cockpit done

I've finished weathering the cockpit in preparation for gluing the canopy in place. I used Eduard masks for the HUD which worked well as you have to paint the edges of the clear part black. I also added some green HUD symbology (well it looked like that anyway!) and a small piece of iridescent film for the HUD glass. The rest of the weathering was just a light wash to highlight any rivet detail and some oils to lighten the black on the front coming.

 

I had one issue with the canopy where a final polish with Tamiya Finishing compound left what looked like grease marks on it. Couldn't rub them off so had to go back to a light sand and start again finishing with Tamiya FINE this time. Not sure why that happened but it was a bit of pain as I'd already masked the canopy and sprayed the edges. Maybe it was because the tube is a bit old but at least it was recoverable. As I'm going for the smoky canopy I suspect a lot of the detail finesse will be hidden. At least I have these photos!

Let final assembly commence!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

On 8/14/2024 at 10:44 PM, Horrido109 said:

Awesome build Richie. I also built an aggressor example a while back, using the same Tamiya kit. It was an absolute pleasure to work with, but with some minor reservations of course, as you pointed out.

 

You're doing a great job of it. I'll be following your build eagerly to see the finished product..

 

Victor

Many thanks Victor, it truly is a very nice kit especially when compared to the 1/48 Academy F-15C I'm also building which is a whole league (or 2) of fit, putty and sanding below this one!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Coming Together, Wings and Things

Joining the two fuselage sections together proved to be slightly less of a headache than I thought it might after all the internal alterations. 

The fit at the backend needed adjusting but I couldn't see which bit was hindering the join. I put some wet paint on the prominent parts and when the fuselage halves were put together again they marked an area that need trimming down on the exhaust section. Perfect fit after that. The front chin also need to careful pressure to ensure both halves met at the right place underneath. The other areas that needed some additional work were the intake area (slight gap) and whilst there I noted a couple of sink marks that needed work (white plastic is so dam hard to spot mistakes!). The side panels around the nose section needed a little sanding to get them more flush and some minor work around the rear fuselage joins to remove any gap traces. Generally however, Tamiya did a great job on the fit.

 

 

With the fuselages glued I could then add the lower wings. I wasn't using the middle pylons so added the covers. The tank pylons are designed to be removeable so I added the covers to make the spaces less visible but drilled holes in the middle of the covers to allow the pylon struts through. This was a bit fiddly and I managed to break one so had to scratch a new cover as well. The outer wing pylons will be permanently attached, hence the space remains. The front wing join to the fuselage needs a little sanding down to make it fit properly. Blk32 F-16s also have only 2 flap attachment gaps on the leading edge near the fuselage, not the 3 provided. This was filled using plasticard and smoothed in and the additional support on the front slat carefully removed.

 

Blk32 F-16s have distinctive strengthening on the fuselage and wings. Whilst there are a number of options (including one provided in the kit but this is a bit thin), I went for the new Quinta ones as I like their 3D decals. These went on with white glue and no fuss so hopefully will take paint well.

 

In between fuselage work I started finishing off the cockpit and canopy. The internal framing was given a little detail including grab handles and some HGW rivets as they seem quite prominent on photos (but probably not easily seen with the canopy down!). It took several attempts to get them all on as I found them difficult to stick.  I also dirtied up the cross-brace a bit.

 

The earlier aggressor birds had tinted canopies but luckily Tamiya provides both clear and tinted versions. Removing the centreline seam was my usual method of masking either side, sanding the seam away them polishing it back to life using Tamiya polishing compounds.

Just ordered some Eduard canopy masks as I'm not convinced I'll cut out the Tamiya ones provided without error.

Getting close to prime time!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Weapons & Wiring

In between corrective actions on the intake, I managed to get a bit further down the line with the weaponry, not that there's much on an aggressor aircraft. The baseline painting is complete with a gloss coat added for decals. The ACMI pods are from Bandit Resin and are very nice indeed. I also have one of their baggage pods which is also lovely. With the fuel tanks detachable and these items added using magnets, there should be plenty of scope to mix the load up.

 

With the intake attached with no major fit issues I could then add the cockpit and tail so that I could complete all the wiring connections. The cockpit is a great fit but has to be as I'm not using any of the screw-down options that Tamiya provides. The tail had to be glued for the lighting connections and because it had been reconstituted after a previous build. Much of the lighting is in the top half (wing lights and cockpit) but the power cells and engine lights are in the bottom half. After testing each connection to make sure I'd linked them correctly (and they still worked!) I connected both halves together which now means it will be tricky to close up both halves as I don't have a lot of latitude to manoeuvre the halves around. Luckily there's quite a lot of room in the F-16 kit when you leave out some of the extras.

Some test fitting required me to trim some of the internal plastic, especially at the rear after my exhaust rework. However, it all seems to fit without too much stress. I have noted that the chin area will need some careful work as it needs a little pressure to hold its shape.

Time for two to become one!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Intake Lip

Well I thought I'd got it cracked by painting the lip separately and joining it to the pre-painted intake.

Fit was ok (could have been better if I'd done a little more dry fitting homework) but the real problem began with my choice of glue. I used Ammo Ultra Glue as I wanted time to make sure I seated the intake lip properly and didn't want any seepage ruining the paint. That part worked fine but after thinking that I could smooth out the join a bit better and get rid of any visible signs of a join (even though there probably is one anyway). On sanding it flush, a repaint highlighted that I had actually cracked it by putting too much pressure on the but-join. I realised I'd be better starting again so took the lip off (luckily no damage) then re-glued with Cryo. The subsequent round of gap filling and re-sanding was not pretty and took 3 or 4 repaint attempts before I'd recovered most of the flaws. Lesson learnt, next time more patience on the initial fit, less time in the swear shop.

 

Also, you can see from the photo above that the front gear door is not a perfect fit. Its not bad but will require some careful work to blend in.

Before assembly to the main fuselage I added the chin lights which I'd sprayed red (left) and a bluish green (right) and then I did some research on the ALQ-188 chin pods.

It turns out they weren't always carried when the ALQ-188 pod was fitted and since I had made the pod removable, I really should make the chin pods too.

I used two very small magnets in both the intake side and the chin pod then installed the magnets (the black smudges in the photo below) flush so they will be hard to see when painted over.

 

 

With some (very) careful measuring and steady hand-drilling, the pods now just clip into place and can be removed whenever.

Oh, and the chin lights still work, thank goodness! Don't worry, I'll paint over the bits of the light that don't shine.

The good news is that now the intake has been done I can start the final assembly process.

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Other Details

As with every other lighting project, there is usually more than one way of assembling items, and rarely in line with the instructions. 

For example, the wing tip lights (which I'm positive Tamiya designed to be lit with a custom kit at one point) can be assembled to the wing (as per the instructions) or the Aim-9 pylon. The pylon option ensures the tricky fit is dealt with first as the wing option has two rods which help placement.

Unfortunately the lighting means that a hole needs to be drilled in the clear part and an LED inserted which if not held in place can easily wander its way back into the wing. Adding the wingtip light after the wing could push the LED into the wing and then its a bugger to retrieve.

So LED, wiring and clear part were added at the same time using tape to hold the bottom half of the wing in place so that all the alignments were correct.

The bottom wings go on after the fuselage is glued together as they have screw fits so they will remain unglued for the time being.

I did cut some of the metal rod off as they seemed a bit long for the Kopecky Aim-9 rails.

Leaving the wing pylon off also allows me to paint without having to mask it up.

 

Another small add was to fill the small sink mark on the fuselage at the back of the canopy frame and add some additional wires and detail to the actuator mechanism area.

Not a lot needed as it will be mostly covered by the canopy frame.

 

Engine Bay

This also required some deliberation on whether to leave the exhaust off or assemble in one piece. I chose the latter though other builds have successfully achieved the former. My choice was built around having to get a fairly precise location for the back end whilst also juggling the requirement to create a solid enough base for the acrylic rod and fitting the lighting assembly.

To reinforce the engine area (which will take all the weight of the model) I CA'd a plasticard band around the join in the Reskit exhaust parts and another one at the entrance to the fuselage as this makes it a snug fit.

The tube where the acrylic rod will go is secured with Milliput and some additional plasticard rings around the join area.

Two other rings were created to add further support and also secured with Milliput. To ensure the tube had a snug fit (and to compensate for any errors in placing the tube exactly in line with the exhaust, the holes in the support rings for the tube were made slight bigger than required. Another piece of plasticard was placed behind the support that had the exact size of hole required (16mm in this case). I could then cement the two plasticard pieces together as the overlay would remove any errors and provide a solid support for the tube.

It may not look pretty but it should do the job!

The addition of lighting at the rear also means the tube can't be too long or it interferes with the intake.

Once all assembled I added two micro-switches which will allow the lights to be turned on using magnets rather than traditional switches.

Currently half the lighting as attached to the top fuselage (cockpit, wings and tail) whilst the other half is attached (or will be) to the bottom fuselage (intakes and engine).

Should make for an interesting experience when I glue the fuselage halves together!

[1/32 F-16C 'Flogger' - In flight and lit up]

Copied Pete, I guess the Reskit open nozzle is for parked aircraft then.

Unfortunately, because of the complexities of lighting and building a solid enough receiver for the acrylic rod I've kinda already glued it in place!

(It always takes me a little while to compile photos for an update).

However, I wanted a model with full reheat on so this nozzle is probably closer to the mark than the closed one and I have a plan for the afterburner which needs a fully open nozzle - more on that later!

[F104 G Starfighter USAF]

Looks flyable! Really great work, well past my skill set.