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Painting a real F-16


Nic C.D.

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Want to hear something cool? A friend of mine is an F-16 pilot here in Belgium and he's going to be the new demo-pilot for the next few years. He asked me if I could help him design a special livery for his jet, so together with a fellow designer, we created a the "Dark Falcon".

 

Painting on the jet has started (it will take a few more weeks to finish her) but she's looking already pretty cool!

 

Here are a few photos (lot's of masking involved):

 

540.jpg

 

For the moment, she has a black tail, but there is going to be a spectacular design over it.

 

540.jpg

 

One of the special features of the Dark Falcon is that it will be the first Belgian demo F-16 that will have a black radome. No photos of that at the moment, it isn't yet installed.

 

Hope you like it!

 

Nic

 

 

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aaaaah......Nic?.........How about a decal sheet, ofcourse 1/32, of your art work?

Might be mighty cool to be presented by you at the ESM this year?????

 

just my 2 p's....... :innocent: :wicked: :wicked: :wicked: :wicked:

Edited by Jack
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It is one of the most exciting projects I've worked on. They wanted something really eye-catching, but we could use only the standard grey paints, white and black. The pilot's callsign is "Vador", so you can imagine that I used that in some of the designs and communication.

 

The jet will be officially presented in April, and the Belgian Air Force wants to release the design step-by-step, so I can't show the entire design yet. Sorry Maru... 

 

But here is a part of the design that I can show you:

540.jpg

The good news is that two model brands will bring a kit of the "Dark Falcon"; one in 1/72 and the other in 1/48. Chances are quite big that someone will do a decal set in 1/32 too, but that will be a very big sheet! And Jack, I've already got a 1/32 kit, cut some sprue, but have still to start it. I hope to have it ready for November for the competition!

 

The entire painting process for the jet is 4 weeks (+ 3 weeks before to got her ready). We have an air-to-air photo flight in 3 weeks, I'll post photos the second I have photos!

 

Nic 

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The entire painting process for the jet is 4 weeks (+ 3 weeks before to got her ready). We have an air-to-air photo flight in 3 weeks, I'll post photos the second I have photos!

 

Nic 

 

You think it'll perform at Sanicole this year??

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It is pretty cool to see the design evolve and eventually see it going on the real aircraft. It is pretty cool, but there is a fair bit of stress too... Many aircraft enthusiasts are going to see it and we can only hope they like the design.

 

Jack, the airshow program isn't definitive yet, but the Dark Falcon will definitely fly at the Airtattoo in the UK and at the Kleine Brogel Airshow in September. In All, there will be 12 to 15 airshows and events for this season. In the second season, we hope to send the Dark Falcon to the US for some shows. I don't believe there is a Sanicole Airshow this year. 

 

Nic

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While the painting of the Dark Falcon continues, the pilot (callsign "Vador") continues to train his display.  Here is a link to a short video (just 1 minut) of the display at 3000 ft. In the next few weeks, he will fly at 1500 feet and later at 500 ft while getting ready for the airshow season.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXbMMOrzdms

 

When I have new photos of the jet, I'll post them too!

 

Nic

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  • 2 weeks later...

Painting of the Dark Falcon continues. By the end of next week, she should be ready... Here are a couple more in progress photos!

 

540.jpg

 

540.jpg

 

As you can see, there' still a lot of masking going on! All the while, the pilot is training his display at 500 ft and that is looking quite good too! When the aircraft is done, first there will be a photo flight and a display in front of the home crowd. The first full display outside Belgium will be at the Nato Tiger Meet in Poland in May.

 

While doing this and all the patches, T-shirts, etc. I've started a Tamiya F-16 to have it in this livery.

 

Hope you like the progress !

 

Nic 

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