The F-16XL

[boness]

good luck on this project Dominic, Its gonna be a big one. I built the 1/32 Kagnam F-16XL kit a couple years ago, most of the parts are wrong, but the wings look close. You might be able to use them as a base for the ones you need to build. I got mine through MRC's website.

When I built that one, I wasnt going for accurate, I was going for looks right so its not 100%. It does catch peoples attention though in that scale.

 

I found in my research that the fuse on F-16 kits are too short, they added two fuse plugs to the airframe to lengthen it. As far as I could see, the cockpit was that of the F-16A ( I think the first XL was actually #1 F-16, it had a nose gear collapse on landing so the engineers turned it into the XL ). They did beef up the gear on this airframe to suppert the added weight of the wings and weapos it was supposed to carry.

 

Wish you all the luck man

 

jim

[Schwarze 1]

Roy,

Thanks for your explanation on laminating, I will consider using this technique sometime. I attached a pic in this post. This is probably the best orthographic drawing of the XL that I have.

 

Mike V,

my XL conversion is based on the Tamiya F-16CJ kit, so I am assuming that the heavy weight gear is present. And that the length of the fuselage is spot on to that of the XL. I could use some brass rods to act as wing spars for the delta wings. Stephen Cornett in ARC has built the ACE kit of the XL, and the wings do look too small.

 

Jim,

I haven't heard of the Kagnam kits before. Though I might not add any weapons onto my Xl, because I want to keep the clean lines intact and not have them obstructed by the ordnance.

 

Here we go... (ok, now how do I cut off the main wings???)

Dominic

[Viper Enforcer]

Yes, the Tamiya kit does have the heavy weight gear, so you're good to go there, but the wheels are wrong for an XL, as they use the original block 40 wheels and brakes.

 

Also note that Tamiya's 32nd F-16 fuselage length is NOT spot on for an XL. It still needs to be "cut" stretched, the same as it would be on any other F-16 kit

 

BTW, where did that drawing come from? It seems off.

 

As for the ACR/Revell XL wing cut, you'll have to find a place mid wing to cut, making sure to get the proportions right. When I did the conversion in 48th, I used a cardboard template as a guide.

 

Mike V

[Schwarze 1]

I can't recall where the drawing came from, unfortunately...

 

As much as I would like to make my XL accurate, it's probably going to be the only model of it's kind in my model club (maybe even in the whole of New Zealand, so surely they'd be surprised to see the first 1/32 F-16XL). As long as I can get it to look the part then that's fine by me, although I do want to get the wings right.

 

I'm scratchbuilding both wings so I'll probably have to make the cuts near the wing roots. This is, after all, my first major conversion.

 

Dominic

[Viper Enforcer]

I see, but it just seemed more practical since you're going through the trouble of trying to get the wings right, which you really can't do if you don't lengthen the fuselage in the first place.

 

Also, with the extended fuselage and deleted ventrals, you can really give the "cahracteristic" scorpion tail.

 

Well, good luck on the wings. Are you planning to map out all the hard points as well?

 

Mike V

[Schwarze 1]

Ah ok, fair enough. Could I possibly make the extension of of sheet styrene? As much as I would like to extend the fuselage with parts from a donor kit, my budget is limited and I can't really buy another complete F-16 kit when I only need a fraction of a fuselage. Saves me time and money.

 

Could you point out where the fuselage was extended? because my F-16's fuselage is kinda closed up at this stage. Deleted ventrals ??? Scorpion tail??? A diagram as to where these are would be useful.

 

Hmmm... hard points??? care to elaborate?

 

Dominic

[Schwarze 1]

Oh.. and Mike...

 

Seeing as this is my first major conversion (or a kitbash rather), I don't want to go too far with the extending of the fuselage. It's definitely going to be a tedious task for me to do, because the Tamiya kit has a large weight on the cockpit area and the top and bottom fuselage halves are closed and sealed for good.

 

However, I do want to have the following on my XL...

 

1. A good overall shape of the delta wings

2. The "scorpion tail"

3. The deleted ventrals

 

Dominic

 

P.S. for the wings, the length of the edge that meets the kit's fuselage will be inaccurate. Otherwise the shape, the anhedral and the other little bits on the wings I will make accurate. After all, it is the FIRST F-16XL model in New Zealand.

[Viper Enforcer]

Yeah, you can work it as is, all but the Scorpion cant. The cant is a result of the aft upper and lower fuselage splice plugs being taperd. The upper splice plug is cut a little short, while the lower af plug pushed out about 1.5 inches. This in turn cants the tail froward, which gives it that characteristic Scorpion tail. It's going to be a reather impossible feat to do on your kit as is, without cutting the aft fuselage.

 

In my 48th scale coversion, I missed this and tried shaving off some of the base of the vertical tail dorsal, but this ended up looking real odd and out of profile, so I just went back to the standard tail, with no cant.

 

Mike V

[Schwarze 1]

Hey Mike,

 

If I did extend the fuselage, what would the scorpion tail look like? and could you point out in a picture what needs to be added or removed on the fuselage?

 

Could I possibly have a look at your 1/48 F-16XL? so I can see what needs to be done.

 

Thanks for the help

Dominic