Yet another Viper question...

[Rainer Hoffmann]

Sorry to bother you with yet another Viper question, but I'm doing a little research at the moment (for a small scratch project I'm planning). So far I haven't found any drawing of a F-16C Block 50/52 or Block 40/42 (and there are lots available in the internet) that match my photo references. I have the Daco book, but again the drawings provided are at best relatively close to the real thing, but in some respects they are simply wrong.

 

At the moment I'm especially interested in the vertical stabilizer. Can anyone point me to a drawing that shows some dimensions of the stab? Overall dimensions of the aircraft are just not sufficient.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Rainer

Edited June 2, 2012 by Rainer Hoffmann

[Viper Enforcer]

You really won't find any. Most of the drawings found in books are based off of the panel and access door charts, which are generalizations rather than true engineering line drawings. The best I've seen are Loft drawings from Detail and Scale. Scott Brown and Dan Perezverreti have made some decent drawings. Look here for Scott's line drawings, which are more Block specific.

 

 

BTW, what kit are you working with? If working with the Tamiya F-16, there's really no need to check the kit vertical tail or the stabs (or most any of the other airframe parts) against Engineering line drawings as I provided all that information to Tamiya, along with actual dimensions taken off of the real aircraft, when I was a technical consultant of the Sweet-16 (32nd F-16C-CJ) Project. Tamiya's 32nd F-16 is one of the most accurate jet kits ever made.

 

Mike V

Edited June 2, 2012 by Viper Enforcer

[Rainer Hoffmann]

Thanks for the info, Mike. Scott's line drawings indeed seem to be much better than anything I've found so far. I have the old Detail & Scale book on the F-16, but the drawings show the early Block 15/20/25 airframes.

 

I'm not working with any kit. Actually I haven't build a model in many years and I wanted to start again with a simple little scratch project (most of my models were scratch built). So I decided on the vertical stab of the viper. Just to get the feeling again and to practice the basic skills like filling, sanding, scribing and painting. So may be accuracy is not an issue anyway. But of course I want to avoid obvious errors.

 

Rainer

[jrh]

The actual vertical fin (not the lower base portion) is identical in size on all F-16s, so if the drawings are of an A, the fin is the same as a C or an F.

[Rainer Hoffmann]

The actual vertical fin (not the lower base portion) is identical in size on all F-16s, so if the drawings are of an A, the fin is the same as a C or an F.

 

Ah, I have to disagree. The early blocks of the A (up to at least block 15) did not have the distinct upward curve of the base fairing that all C and D models have. The early A models therefore had a straight lower edge of the vertical fin, without that upward curve towards the leading edge. None of the drawings I've seen so far shows this upward curve. It seems that everybody just copied the vertical stab from early (A-model) drawings.

 

EDIT: I agree that the general dimensions of the fin are the same on all models. Sorry if I misunderstood you.

 

EDIT 2: changed "block 25" to "block 15"

 

Rainer

Edited June 5, 2012 by Rainer Hoffmann