F`s are my favs

I'm 99% sure I didn't know about this plane... my first time seeing it, although the name rings a bell. I'n not sure. Anyway, it's looking gorgeous! Beautiful! Just a side question - the Raptor on the background is 1/48, right? And another question - how do you plan to make the canopies transparent? - with some clear plastic molding or just reshaped flat pieces, or maybe even just painting (I doubt about it), or you will print the entire pieces out of transparent material? TY

Howdy! It is looking amazing! Btw I'm somewhere halfway through the making of the E-version now, and probably in the menthal breakdown stage... cause it really is an amazingly designed and engineered kit, probably the most complex one that I have built, but it has plenty of flaws and imperfections. One question though - I also plan to add the centerline fuel tank, so why did you use the Reskit part? I suppose the original part is with wrong shapes or details maybe, but is it indeed?... I didin't notice them. Thanks, and once again - awesome model!

Yep, I initially thought that they must be placed a little bit forward, which indeed made them sit flush, like they were made to be there. However, the swivel points must also be placed either the same distance forward, or they would have stay further back in the stabilerzs, which is not realistic. The stabs placed half an inch forward was not realistic either. I checked plenty of photos and their entire roots touch the fuselage. So there was no doubt after that to make the extentions. It was a nice journey adding these complex shapes, but now they are perfect. Cheers.

Guess which one is the nicely thinned horizontal stabilizer... Btw, here are some strange ''gaps'' near the rear halves of the stabs, towards the fuselage, if put like they are OOB: And after a long filling procedure, they now fit flawlessly. The darker gray material is what I added, it is staked layers of stock plastic sheets, then sanded bit by bit until they meet the fuselage flush. At least I can make them moveable as they are separate pieces, so here you can see the ''extra'' pins for the rotation points: with some metal inserts from the inner sides, to have something to make them ''stick'' to the fuselage. Again, one stabilizer has properly thinned edges, the other still has not. And how it looks from the fuselage side: Then I added the outer portions of the wings, which I glued them permanently in an extended ''flight'' setting. Kinda easy fitting. And check out the symmetry with the horizontal stabs just plugged in: Of course, I couldn't resist to check the sight with the pylons/LRASMs attached too...

Of course I knew it wouldn't go without a hitch... The roots of the vertical stabilizers had nasty interfaces with the fuselage... this is after my best efforts to make them sit flush: But on real photos - they are flush... like it is a single panel with very sharp curves, I mean there are no seamlines at all. So... I deviated from my initial dream to make them ''detachable'' (for easier handling/transportation) and I must glue them permanently. Then, their leading edges were okay-ish, but check the trailing edge... And after a legit ''thinning'' procedure, here is the difference side by side - one thinned properly, and one as it was originally: Not to mention that there is also some funky stuff going on with the horizontal stabs, but I didin't figure it out yet... how to proceed. Maybe they will be next. The second mishap was with the humbpack on top of the fuselage... I was aware of the edits required just after the canopy because it is too flat, but I notice that its entire shape to the far rear side of the fuselage is a bit wrong. I noticed it only once I glued both sub-assemblies of the fuselage, which posed other challenges by itself. Here I tried to capture with blue stipes some key curves, and compare them with a pic of the real plane on the background - check out the curvature of the panel lines on top of the humpback: It's not a matter of POV, nor image distortion or things like that. It definitely needs quite some sanding, and the issue is that the plastic is not thick enough. So I tried to insert some extra material from the front of the fuselage through the tiny spaces back to the rearmost bulckhead... Of course I couldn't do it as I would beforehand. This lead to some holes in the humpback, which I had to additionally fill from the top, then sand over and refine the shape again and again... I think I kinda did it, anyway, it's times better than before: The side profile changed ever so slightly, which is good. The tires are mounted and the MLGs are just about done. Some wiring and final painting required. I will have to sand the tires from underneath to make them sit slightly flat at some point.

The intakes are complete now... and painted. I'll keep the masking stuff inside the trunks for the final painting stage, just in case. I expect some ''fixing'' of the bottom-side color to be required, at least just a bit. I drilled the ECS exhaust pipes... crazy stuff here, don't ask me how, there is a picture from the bottom side following, but it all went very well. The difference would be visible if only someone points a flashlight toward it. Note how, on the right-hand side vent, I slightly smoothened the edges of the resin part, while on the left-hand side they are not yet - hence the ridges of this resin part look a little bit more exaggerated. I must not forget to improve them like on the other side later on... The two wing-root vents on top of the fuselage are also prepped. It thinned all the edges: And jsut one pic upon finally gluing the two main sub-assemblies. The ladder door is also closed. You can see how I ''drilled'' the resin vents from below too. The two darker rails of plastic on both sides of the vents are just structural pieces, to reinforce the future mounting holes of the vertical stabilizers, cause I plan to make them removeable. It is a monstrer with the nose section just taped up. I'm finishing the pylons of the MLG - they and the mounting of the vertical stabilizers are next.

It is looking very nice! The paint does it good.

Once the MLG were ready, the major assemblies went quite straightforward and effortlessly. Here are the doors closed and ''perfected'' as much as I can. There are some gaps and irregularities (which indeed look quite big on the pictures) along the doors, but I think I can make them less noticeable during the painting/weathering stage. The gluieing of the side panels was relatively easy. The very front areas of the intakes need some more care. Btw I went into a really useless kind of adventure with these triangular intake ports on both sides of the bottom - they were like that OOB, and I compared with a lot of pictures, and they didn't look like that... At that moment I didin't realize there are additional parts provided in the kit that are meant to be placed above them. So I improvized... Then I noticed the parts and I realized it would be better to add the original parts. It all went very well, and the first picture at the top of the post is actually with the finished intakes. Yeah... Meanwhile, I deviated a bit from the manual by glueing both parts of the wings first. It's just easier for testfitting both major assemblies (the ''intake'' and this ''wing'' sections), which would happen quite often before I'm comitted to glue them together, and with the nose section. It's a beast with the two parts testfitted... The underwing pylons will be press-fitted. They attach quite sturdy, and I will keep the option to remove them of course. However, as the wings have no supports between their opper and lower sides, I added some ''pins'' straight through the bottom sides and attached to the upper portions of the wings, and close to the holes for the mounting of the pylons. This way, it will be much more secure and sturdy when I apply force to pressfit the pylons. Once cut off and sanded, they are just about invisible from the bottom side. The ECS vents are a day and night difference thanks to the Quickboost resin upgrade: Next up, blending the seamlines of the intake lips, the ECS vents to the fuselage, and painting the MLGs, then I hope the wing and intake assemblies will be ready for glueing. Cheers for now.

The main wheel bay just before closing. Shortly put, the doors are installed beforehand with their closing fittings, in closed position, hopefully all will be okay once I remove the alignment ''things''. The two side walls of the intake areas (from the fuselage) are temporarily fixed, just to give me perfect alignment while I glue the bottom side permanently. Then I plan to ''remove'' the side walls, make the hinges and the opening ''things'' of the doors, and continue with the painting. TBH, I was a little bit bored doing all this stuff about the MLGs, so maybe a month ago, I decided to give some LRASMs a go. Yep, I have no idea when I will finish this model, but I would like to display it with four AGM-158 missiles (interchangeable, with magnets) on the inner underwing pylons, no other loadouts. They are not part of the kit, and I got me a set of ''Smart bombs US aircraft weapons in 1/32'' and went berzerk... the tips couldn't by more wrong - the top is the plastic part, assembled with the two halves. The bottom shows the correct silhouette from a drawing of the real thing: Here are the four LRASMs side by side right after the gluing of the two halves: After adding initial facets along the tip sides. Again, these are the four missiles at the same stage of modification. I just tried to keep each one rotated at a different angle to see the progress ''in one picture'' better... After blending the side facets: Next up - this is after smoothening of the chin and blending it with the new side shapes: That's just the mods of the shapes of their tips. Then, I thinned the ''stabilators'' in the rear, slightly rounded up the leading/trailing edges of the wings, and slightly modified the shape of the wing roots from the bottom side of the missile. Glued the wings and the vertical stabilizers in a retracted position, and prepped them to accept the pylons in a... let's say ''centralized and mirrored'' spot between all four interfaces. So they can be interchangeable, plus I might be tempted to do some other types of loadouts one day. Btw the underwing pylons were ''second to none'' OOB ... I couldn't leave them like that: After installing the magnets, I drilled elyptical holes near the front sides, and some other mods that I was not exactly aware of what I am doing, but I used plenty of reference images. And I could say they are ready for painting now: Check out how thin the trailing edges are. Of course, I forgot to take pics how they were before the cosmetic procedures, but they were really thick. If I don't forget before the painting (probably after the F is ready), I should add some round stickers as an imitation of the engine covers. And the leading trailing edges of the pylons need quite some thinning also. Cheers for now. The bottom side of the fuselage (MLGs) needs to dry very good, and I'll continue fixing the opening/closing of the doors.

Yeah, that's a huge part of the hobby.... Cheers, and have fun on the build!

It really is a difficult kit to build, but it's perfect. Awesome progress so far, and an interesting choice of color scheme. Keep it up!

HNY! Well, I have the mojo for the F, so I continued with the MLGs. Here it is extended: And retracted. It was quite an adventure making it sit flush with the fuselage. Luckily, the OOB tire was way too too thick, so after ''fixing'' it, now it sits just perfectly in the well. One is in the can, but now the difficult part - mirror the other one.

I didn't even know that such a plane exists. Appears to be a monster, kinda reminds me of the Valkyrie. HF building it!

Yep, thanks LW, I appreciate it. I went over a few WIP topics and already cut some of the main parts for a test fit, and it really reminds me of the old-school SR-71 kit by Academy, which I have built maybe a decade ago. The SR (in 1/72) had only a small number of parts, while this kit is a real monster with so many details... hopefully, at first glance, there are no missing/incorrectly molded edges of the parts. Yet I'm still reviewing others' builds for a better picture of what's to come, and I'm rather optimistic I can deal with the challenges. It's time for a Super.

Howdy, and Merry Christmas! While halfway through the making of my first ever ship (the Zumwalt DDG-1000) , I decided to get my Super started. The ship is the priority though, so I will not post about the Super quite often. I have the kit from quite some time now, and I inspected it thoroughly. This is hands down the most complex kit I've ever seen. The instructions make it even more complex than it looks like, but once you get used to the detailed drawings - the instructions become less and less overwhelming. I really enjoy this complexity and ''scientific'' approach. My plan is for an airframe from the War Party Sqdr. - not the most colorful plane, but probably you know that the low-vis schemes are my cup of tea. I'll use the Reid Air Publications decals for that, and will also jazz up the model with some resin - the Reskit closed nozzles set, a pilot figure + ejection seat, and the ECS vents. As of now, I don't plan to go crazy with everything moveable and open-able... just the landing gear and the canopy for a two-position display mode. Yet, at first glance, this kit offers so many possibilities and settings... I might be tempted to do the flaps and elevators too. The palstic parts have a lot of flash. They are from very hard plastic, which means even the smallest thinnest parts should be strong enough, but a lot of cleaning efforts of each part will be required, which adds to the complexity of the build. I started from the first step in the instructions - the intakes/engines part... which I had to split in two where the compressor faces are. It grants better access to the insides ot the intake trunks, and that's the only way to make them seamless from inside. Everything will be visible through the intakes, as they are huge in this scale and quite straight indeed. Once dry and painted, I'd like to prep the MLG with real springs and moveable pistons, retractable, etc. Cheers, happy holidays again, and a lot of plastic happyness in 2025!

The wingtip tanks are finally ready and..., check it out ''parked''.

Thanks SwissFighters! Thanks Rainer, too. Btw I indeed added a very subtle dark green filter over the black glare shield.

Thank you all! Richie, yeah, I thought it will be difficult, and it really was. It is well worth it of course, but I'll probbaly do standard metalizer coatings for the C-variant.

Finitto, finally, my most ''detailed'' model so far. The rivets are countless, but I did my best to make them after a detailed comparison with real photos, so they are not too too much. And this NMF-aluminum-foil-wraping-thing was just... I don't have many words to explain it actually. I like the result so so much, but as of today, I'm just about sure I'll use simple painting with metalizers for my ''C'' version one day. Anyway, I enjoyed this model quite a lot. Thanks for liking the build, and a big big Thanks for all the tips and guidance needed at many moments. Here are just a few pics, and more here in the ready topic: Btw these are only the in-flight pics...

Well, she is ready for some pics. Hope you like it. My first time doing something like this - with the NMF foiling, the complex staining of the panels, and many other things... Here is the WIP. Some distant pics, then the close-ups: It could easily be my most detailed model to date... The decals are so good. You could read more than 90% of the lettering in the zoomed photos, and are quite realistic too: Cheers!

That thing...

An awesome collection of Fs, and maybe this F-16 is the cleanest and with the sharpest constrasts of the camo patterns. I can't notice a single streak, fuel leak or whathaveyou. Awesome! Congrats on the finished model!

Congrats on finishing it! What a model! So clean and sharp. Btw I can't wait to see your next project after the full recovery. Is it time for the Lightning II maybe...

Decal session on the go, and it's cookin' . They went very very well... I'm quite surprised indeed. Now the stencils...

I would go with something clean like yours... just a little bit more stripes with a sponge/brush as a discoloration of some feathers... https://images.app.goo.gl/kF7aYcHa6GKDFEcM6