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Hello all, It's been a while since I have posted; in fact, it's been a while since I've been building. But with encouragement from Peter, I decided to post the rest of this build. I'm sure that almost everyone has read all of the glowing reports about this Tamiya kit. I won't add much to what we already know except to say that my experience has been the same. Everything really does fit amazingly well. It fits so well that in the couple of cases where it didn't, I ultimately found out that it was my fault. So be warned when you build this kit. Dry fit everything and if you find a problem, back step until you find where you went wrong. My only complaint is the it's a vastly over-engineered kit. I think we are all used to building cockpits, for example, where we know that not everything, heck, maybe not hardly anything ends up being visible. But it's still worth it because it's fun. I exceeded my fun factor on this kit when it came to gluing together multiple parts to make the assemblies where the flaps fit into the trailing edge. But, that's just me and I'll get off my soapbox now. In spite of the kit having a beautiful (stunning) engine, I decided to do the Eduard Brassin engine because the visible surface detailing is gorgeous. But, I've waiting till close to the end of the build to get cracking on it. The photo below shows the engine block and front housing as well as one of the cylinders. It's painted gloss black as a prelude to using Alclad Aluminum on the cylinder fins. How, you may ask, am I going to mask each of the cylinders? Well, I got myself some Mr. Mask and some Mr. Mask Neo. The difference between them is ???, but I'm hoping that they will enable me to mask the cylinder heads in a reasonable period of time. The engine also has pushrods (scale) and even spark plugs. I'm going to have to do some careful drilling and fitting. Photo etch for the engine includes a couple of odds and ends and the wiring harness. I'm undecided at this point about using the PE wiring harness. I have some .015 solder which may be closer to a scale look, so I'm going to see what I think and then retreat to the PE, if necessary. There's not a lot to say about the rest of the photos. At this point, the fuselage, center wing, outer wings, horizontal stab and elevators, vertical stab and rudder are all done except for final sanding, polishing, and rescribing. Although not pictured here, the landing gear is complete as well. Remaining to be done are some final sanding and finishing, primer, paint, decals, and final assembly. And, oh yes, the engine and cowl assembly. It's been a lot of fun so far, and I'm hoping you will enjoy the rest of the build with me. John

I've just recently gotten back into creating aircraft profiles, more for fun and to get work off my mind. I know this site hosts quite a few really talented artists and historians and I would be really grateful if you all wouldn't mind giving a critique. It would really help me to keep getting better. http://bad-rabbit-design.deviantart.com/gallery/ My thanks in advance to all.

1/18 scale Lockheed Martin F-16CJ Fighting Falcon HAF BBI - Elite Force conversion / scratchbuilt The following article is to describe step by step the 1/18 scale Lockheed Martin F-16CJ Fighting Falcon Block 52, currently flying with Hellenic Air Force, conversion using the BBI - Elite Force toy model kit, bought from the States a couple of years before for less than $60 USD. Despite my enthusiasm when I finally got this 1/18 model in my hands, as soon as I opened the box which exceeds in length the 3 feet (!!!), I realized that I would face hard time and massive scratch building and I'd need to spend hundreds hours on my hobby bench to make it look descent. In the substance, it is not even a model to assembly but a game for children which could be ready in less than 2 minutes. The detail convinces only if you look the model from a distance while points such as landing gear system, engine nozzle, panel lines etc are real dramatic. Luckily, the model is accurate on dimensions and could possibly be used as a F-16 exhibit model that do not interest on conformity of colors, special details etc. So, I decide to begin the building from the zero and give life in this 82cm long monster with no detail (comparing to scale models by Hasegawa, Tamiya etc) but however this 1/18 F-16 toy has almost unlimited possibilities of becoming a high detailed scale model. It should be noticed that the model's airframe comes straight from the box already sealed and I had to open it and work it from inside. That's a hard work to do, because the fuselage remains stuck with internal reinforcing possessors and metal supports & screws that I should locate and carefully remove without causing any damage on plastic material. Following pics show the 82cm long beast, immediately after opening of packing box. I am already start thinking about finding the proper window to place this Falcon. By selecting heavy metal on my CD player (in order to become aggressive and get the “Friday 13th” feeling) and using a saw and a Dremel tool, I opened the fuselage, the basic airframe pieces were cut and useless parts such as landing gear, engine nozzle, a part of the air intake etc were removed and led to the garbage.