Norwegian F-16A

[ruzlkampf]

Whaaaaaaahh! Now THAT'S a pile of cool stuff Graham! Oooooh, I'm green with envy.....didn't even know this kit existed. All I could find available were 'C' models. Are there Norwegian markings on that Nordic Viper' decal sheet? Check out my 'comprehensive' decal sheet that came with this kit at the end of this update. You'll get a good snicker.

Thanks for filling in the blanks on the origins of this kit Harv and Karl! 'Knock-off' kit just about describes things perfectly. Interesting mix of raised panel lines and recessed 'detail' had me scratching my noggin. I still haven't found a piece that fits correctly yet.

But I digress; Speaking of things not fitting,....even after chewing and whittling on the intake for hours getting the pieces on both ends to fit, it was all for naught as the entire assembly is twisted/warped anyway! Gaaaaah! Because the front and rear landing gear are attached to this intake trunk, even a cursory looksy was enough to show they would be noticably skewed. Time to get out the chain-saw.

 

 

 

 

 

Then slid the front of the intake into the now assembled bottom 'scoop' (I won't even go into detail about the needle-nose plier action it took to get this to line up) to make sure my nose-gear was at least vertical.

 

 

 

 

Which highlighted yet another fit problem. There isn't supposed to be a gap between it and the lower fuse. Sigh.

 

 

[ruzlkampf]

After much hacking and Cuban slang words,....I got the main landing gear bay lined up to where the wheels would also be level with the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

Flipped over to show that the intake trunk was twisted and at the wrong angle swooping down into the front scoop. At least my landing gear won't be at some wonky angles now. Damage control on the intake won't be too awful bad, but my trust in how this kit is going to go together is now about as far as I can throw a '57 Chevy.

 

 

 

[ruzlkampf]

Now that the mounting points for the landing gear are lined up, I decided to mock the gear itself up to see how it was even going to attach at those points. Whuh oh,....maybe not. It's going to take awhile to get all the parts cleaned up for assembly. Here's an example of what most of the parts look like before carving and whittling,.....the others are worse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got out the sprues with the ordnance and drop tanks 'n such to see what I could do with those.

 

 

[ruzlkampf]

Here's the decal sheet that came with the kit. Came with way more markings than I anticipated. I thought it would just have the red/white/blue prototype stuff. Don't know if this kit justifies an after-market sheet or not, I'll wait and see if these explode on contact with water or not. Hmmmm, I could use a good laugh before I go to bed,....maybe I'll see how the canopy fits tonight?

More pics as things 'progress'? Bwhahahahah! Later, Russ

 

 

 

[PhilB]

Looks like you got your work cut out with this one Russ!

I KNOW she will be a beauty!

 

Phil

[Lancman]

Russ here is a link to the decals and some other goodies, I have the landing lights and the 4 little vanes on the nose from PWMP.

 

http://www.zotzdecals.com/reviews/zotz48019/zotz48019.htm

 

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/lane/PWMP.php

 

 

Graham

[ruzlkampf]

Ha ha! I don't know about that Phil, building this kit is like trying to swim in a bog carrying a sack of bricks. I didn't think there was such a thing as an 'unbuildable kit'....but this comes as close as a big wet smack on the cheek to being one. I actually found ONE piece that fit tonight!!! Whoohoo! The front landing gear strut went right into the slot in the nose-gear bay. I was stunned.

Wow, great links Graham! This is the only F-16 I've ever built, hence only wanting to spend $45 to get my feet wet. The only references I'm using are the pics I posted in the beginning of the thread and the plans I enlarged. I keep noticing more and more little bits that have been added from my earliest version. Once I get the basic model together, I'll decide which era to add all the new widgets. Noticed they moved the landing lights from the main gear to the nose gear door, and the antennas are completely different amongst other things. Probably do mine in the early-mid 80's. Maybe have that blue lightning flash that 301sq (?) had on the forward fuse? Those tiger meet markings you've got are the bomb, VERY nice.

OK, can't say that I got the landing gear 'assembled' and put on.....more like a gross exaggeration of what/where I think everything is supposed to go. Had to build it completely because the poor fit and directions made this the only way to know if it lined up. Got some major tape action going on while lining everything up to keep everything torqued and twisted more or less correctly. These last 2 pieces of tape will be taken off tomorrow after things solidify.

 

 

 

[ruzlkampf]

[ruzlkampf]

Dunno how 'correct' the gear is. There were no locater pins/marks/depressions or nuthin. I just let everything fall where it did and glued it. Used my enlarged plans to get the gear door angles as close to right as I could. I'll be closing up the fuse tomorrow, which will entail a ton of tape and clamps to get everything to warp to shape. Wanted to see if the canopy was even 1/2 way close, and after some creative carving (I don't think it's designed to be closed) got it within putty range. Unfortunately the clear parts weren't in a plastic baggy, so they're scratched and abraded badly. I started some preliminary polishing to get it presentable for these pics. I'm going to break down and get some Future to dip these in (I've never used it before ) and try to salvage what I have.

 

 

[ruzlkampf]

[ruzlkampf]

I needed to get a start on my pilot for fit purposes because the fuse will be zipped up tomorrow. Check out those snazzy side consoles! When I first got this kit, and I built up the ejection seat....I couldn't make heads or tails outta which way most of the parts fit. Some of them might be upside down? dunno. This will probably progress no further than 'squint-scale' from 2 feet away. The canopy is so thick, it makes everything distorted like some kind of 'funhouse mirrors' anyway. I'll make a vain attempt. I'm in 'get er done mode' and just want this model to go away like a bad habit.

Updates tomorrow should see this with the fuse glued together and the wings on. AND hopefully sitting on it's gear. Whoohoo! More pics as things progress;

 

 

 

[Harv]

Russ, don't know if it matters much to you, but it appears that the picture shows your intrepid Norse pilot sittin' on something that proably is supposed to represent either an ESCAPAC (used in the prototype YF-16) or a Stencel ejection seat (used in the Full Scale Development a/c), which I believe are what your kit markings (and box picture) show it to be. I'm pretty sure the production F-16s all had ACES II seats fitted; and if any of the earliest models were delivered with anything else, I'm 99.9% positive that they were all replaced with ACES units. Not a critique; just wanted to point it out in case you care one way or the other. I've got a number of F-16 kits in my stash, some with AM cockpits- I'm sure I could scrounge you up a spare ACES II if you want one.

[ruzlkampf]

Wow Harv! You mean this kit actually has something recognizable? Interesting. I'm thinkin this kit also must have an original style wheel hub pattern also, cuz it doesn't match up with the pics I showed. DRAT! Makes sense they'd upgrade though with the escalating weights during it's service life. I understand these Norwegian F-16's originally had the black radome and smaller elevators of the early Block 5(?) batches. I get bleary when I go thru all the batch sequences, and haven't got them straight yet. Think I read where they were built by Fokker in the Neatherlands for the European consortium, which is pretty neat. Thanks for the generous and kindly offer of the seat buddy. Much appreciated, but I'm trying to slide by with as little effort and modifications as possible just to get this done and out the door! heh heh.

OK, that almost went up in flames tonight when I couldn't find one of the wings. This came VERY close to morphing into an Australian F-16XL wanna-be, woulda-coulda-shoulda kinda build. Whuf, fortunately I found the wing in an ME-109 box. After taking all the clamps, tape, and rubber bands off the fuse after glueing everything up,....I taped up the wings and pseudo-elevators to get my first 'sitting on it's wheels mock-up' looksy. Whoohoo! I'm 'gettin er done'! Here's where I'm at;

 

 

 

 

Liberal clamping closed that unsightly gap between the fuse and intake into within putty territory. Uhmmm, the radome is about 1-1/2 mm too tall. Sigh, par for the course.

 

 

 

[ruzlkampf]

View from the front. I got the cannon bay covers tweaked just enough to dribble some dissolved putty into the gaps to smooth things out.(well, as much as they're ever going to be anyway)

 

 

 

[ruzlkampf]

Geeez, see how the canopy distorts the pilot? Looks like an egg-head from that angle. I'm always mentioning the poor fit and how I have to massage every piece; here's an example. Look at the gap at the trailing edge of the left wing,.....and the corresponding gap at the LEADING edge of the right wing. I'll get it all whupped into shape eventually. I'm even starting to enjoy my little forays into carving on things,.....the plastic on this kit is soft as soap, and whittles/glues nicely.