F-16C Thunderbird #1

[themongoose]

Welcome Everyone, thanks for flying by this build! Tamiya's 1/32 F-16C, this one's been done for over a month now but I didn't have the presentation and the stand the way I wanted it. I think it's ready for display now though(although as soon as I looked at closeups around the cockpit I see I have some touch-up to do LOL). I wanted to represent a picture I found on AirWingSpotter with the plane going vertical and vapor contrails billowing off the wing roots so for that I used medical rayon rope(basically just cotton balls in a rope form). I cut the arm from the Tamiya kit in half and turned it around to go vertical. 

I chose to do Lt. Col. Mike Chandler's bird from the 2004 show season. I was lucky enough to find a walk-around of his #1 and so i tried to represent it as best I could. This is an out of the box build except for 2 extras that I thought were crucial; the American Flag and the stopwatch in the cockpit. I preshaded with grey and dark grey panel line accent so that the lines would be crisp, without an surrounding shadow, to represent a show bird.  I used MCW paints for all the gloss work and Vallejo for the cockpit and the exhaust nozzle. All of the striping is done via airbrush and the rest is with the kit decals.  One of the unique things I did for this was to paint the engine internals to represent full afterburner. The way I have the plane oriented I guess I'll need some mirrors to see that now haha! I've included a picture below taken on a horizontal stand so you can see how it turned out. Let me know what you think as I may try this again and would like some feedback on it. You can check out my WIP for more details http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=72439&hl=thunderbird

 

[Jack]

Afterburner looking goooood, full AB.....

[dora9]

Nice! Love the subtle panel lines and the AB! So when #2-3-4?

[Bill Cross]

Most unusual display. Thanks for sharing.

[themongoose]

Hey guys thanks for the comments and feedback! Dora and Maru5137 I'm working on #7 now, it'll be a T-38 Talon. Ive finished 1/3/5 now so i figured I'd stick with the odds and then go even lol. 3 is an F-4E and 5 is an F-35A, I did wip threads for each 😄

Bill Here's the pic i was trying to capture...definitely unusual, always amazes me what happens when an aircraft is moving through the air. I may try that one with the F-18 surrounded by a cone of vapor sometime in the future. I think this pic is ok since it has the airwingspotter credit in it but mods if it isn't i understand if it has to be deleted. I like trying to give the illusion of movement. I could see some roping in the vapor trail as the air twisted and the stabilators were angled causing the stream to change direction as it flowed over them. Then i added a little “smoke on†for aerobatics.

[Shawn M]

very well done and executed, looks great

[Rod Bettencourt]

Very nice representation. As a prior Block 25 crew chief, I dig it ! Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Rod

[Gerhard]

Thats very well done, superb build.

[aircommando130]

That is awesome! I like inflight displays...Can't wait to see the mighty Phantom II Thunderbird!!

[Gazzas]

Panel lines came out awesomely!  Love the afterburner and pilot helmet detail, too.

 

Splendid!

 

Gaz