Tamiya's 1:32 F-16Cj received raving reviews all round when it was first released with comments of "most accurate", "most detailed", "most easy to build" comments coming from all quarters.
On first inspection, the kit does deserve the praises as the part breakdown were really good offering removable weapons pylons, tail, and even engine poseable on a dolly. There is even a choice of smoked or clear canopy. Photo etched parts, displayable radar and gun and even a seated pilot with ascending ladder completes the whole picture.

Here goes the build log starting with Step 1 to Step 4:
The first section is to complete the dolly to hold the engine if its detached. The details of the dolly is sufficient and resembles photos available in "The Modern Viper Guide" book by Jake Melampy. ( imported by F4-dablemodels for Malaysian retail) You can opt to detail them further with the extra nuts and bolts and the reflective strips on the side of the rails which are crucial for night work.
I was not pleased with the quality of the part mould though because the whole dolly was riddled with injection pin marks, seam lines and uneven half casting which required a lot of sanding and putty work ( See photos and areas marked with red arrows) Not a single part was spared except the wheels.




















The wheels on the dolly were free from this nuisance. To avoid chipping the perfect circle of the wheel, I usually cut away from the part and then trim off the excess in an angle. This minimises cut in into the part leaving pits. After that I sand it with a sponge sander.


As for long and flat parts, a 2 grade emery sticks works well for me.


For the next part, I have moved on to cutting up the engines but more of the dolly will be next with the painting and detailing.

As usual, C&C absolutely welcomed. Its good to be back modelling 32 scale modern birds!

Cya

Loo

Hmmm ... am watching this build with interest (make that very very much interest) ... cos sifu at it again.

Pretty scarry to find all these drastard pin marks over dear dolly, though not mentioned by any reviewers (must be Mr T's freebie got the better judgement :P )

Anyway are/will or have you build Academy's 32nd Buzzard as comparison??

SAC,
I do have the buzzard but not built yet. Started on the plane parts though and so far so good. The problems at the dolly is not that evident.

Some of the parts breakdown at the dolly don't make sense.....

Sure to be a fabulous build...but one question:

How did you take the last two pictures considering you were using both hands to work? :blink: Got assistant or got a third hand hidden somewhere? :lol:

hahaha!
3rd hand.....don't let my mutant features secret out!

Actually the camera was on timer mode......

aiyoh 3rd hand..one wonders what other extra dangling limbs you are hiding from us...

on a serious note , removing seam lines is always a pain for me , least loved part of constructing a model apart from painting wheels.. :blink:

some more progress pics...


the next steps


engine halves have a ejector mark! bummer


which needs to be taken out as it can be seen. Photo too dark though. The exterior fit and alignment is perfect


fan looks good enough


nozzle detail is good and accurate




pin marks but will not be seen


fit is good and pin marks hidden


the next stage


more to come tonite. Some painting should begin

aha..the ultimatum viper at last...

caya la tauke... with the 3rd hand, now it explain alot... huhuh

wait till you see my extra eyes and head!

bro..started liao ah.. like that I also want to continue to work on my kinetic one also... :D

Great start! You might want to look here for some inspiration!

LINK HERE

Hakka bro, idle hands are the work of the devil so I better be busy......

Happy to say that so far the parts on the aircraft do not suffer from ejector pin syndrome.
As for the painting, the base coat on the dolly is done. Moving on to painting the engine tonite and putting in those extra hoses, lines, etc....
The various metallic shade is sure to be a killer. Most of you know that I have not much of a modern airplane guy. So far have only seriously completed 2 F-14s, 1 F-4,.....

thanks for the link. Looks detailed n good!

Well, keep it up. You've still got an F-15, a couple more F-4's, a raptor or two, and many more!

Funny thing is once you get started on a big scale jet, you cannot stop. The fun that I had doing the F-4 is just coming back.

I still have 2 F-14s, 1 F-4, 1 F-15, 2 F-18s,...If I can pull the F-16 off in one month, that's only another 6 months more! khahaha... daydreaming

Dear Loo CK,

MamaViper !! :o :o

You still have exactly 1 month till the GB (if date not delayed) and you're going to burn a lots of midnight oils from now onwards. :D
Go! Go! Go!

Regards!
TS. :D :lol: :D

yesterday night's paint job with most of the base coat done except the detailed painting and weathering which will be left for much later so I don't mix up the consistency.
Some modulation on the green is done with Tamiya dark green and gunze primary green just to get some depth. As usual I prime the whole kit with Tamiya black first to darken all recesses. The aluminium colour is a mix of 2 alclad tones and one Gunze metalic aluminium.









This painting took a bit longer as the earlier putty works on the main rail was a complete failure resulting in having to sand down the whole ejector pin areas with a slender iron file. Looks a bit more convincing now as the defect was very obvious earlier especially painted with alumn.

Cheers. Back to the engine tonite.

1 thing about ur works bro....soooo neat ....chantique....bravo...keep it up.... ;)

big scale stuff is really nice to build and display...keep the speed Loo, U can do it.

will try my best to complete the bird....Just had a look into HHQ sale and discovered I never really bought the DACO book! How did I miss it?????
Now I have another good reference to superdetail and get the weathering more accurate.

There is also a very interesting decal sheet that I am eyeing...... Alaska....
will decide later if the box decal is worth keeping.

maha guru Naza, thank you but you are DE MAN!

Nicely done so far. Very neat work!

You mentioned Alaska decals. I presume you mean the Arctic Aggressors with the funky cool paint schemes? If you are AMS type then this kit won't do as the Aggressor aircraft are Block 30 whereas the Tamiya kit you're building is of a Block 50.

However, if you're not fussy then by all means! Would love to see a big scale Aggressor Viper.

gb,
thanks for pointing that out. Was discussing the same issue on the block 30/50 with Capt Kirk while browsing the decals and that was the main reason for not grabbing it immediately. Need to check more on what mods are neccessary to get it backdated to a block 30.

in the midst of taking a breather from Alclad overexposure as I have moved on to the engine. This stuff is really good! Too bad it cost so damn much.

Cheers

The mods are actually quite simple and are mostly to do with the landing gear arrangement.

You'll need to find the light-weight main landing gear(MLG) struts with landing lights attached, non-bulged MLG doors, Block 30 MLG wheels and landing light-less NLG door. These parts are available in the Thunderbird kit. If you do get that kit as well, you can mix and match parts and end up with a Block 30 and a Block 52. Also needed are the strengthening plates.

There's a really good article about the different F-16C Block variants HERE.

Thanks gb for the brief description on the mods, but on second thoughts, I best keep this in its original Block 50 instead.

Weekends for me if spent at home is the most productive time, model making wise. As my youngest is not too well with a stomach flu, I managed to clock in a lot of hours in the morning.

The engine parts were dry fitted, base painted and then part weathered. The ejector pin marks in both inner sides of the engine was not much of a problem as you can only get a glimpse of it thru the nozzle. Both references I have with me shows the white ceramic areas very heavily weathered with soot and discolouration, so I decided to give that a go.


these are the main parts awaiting a oil paint turpentine wash.


This particular ring had a bit of handpainting due to the complex masking that would have been required. The mettalic blue is gunze while the other hand paint was with Vallejo.

Alclad was used extensive in most of the metal finish areas. There will be a lot of additional wiring and tubing after the halves are fused and looking forward to that.

Cheers and C&C welcomed

the engine halves have been joined and some weathering on the inner walls concluded but require a little more touch up later.


I am quite pleased with the weatheirng outcome and this shot was taken with a flashlight shining into the pit. The metallic blue ring gives it a good glowing touch.


while waiting for the engine glued halves parts to sufficiently cure, I started to put together the less problematic areas. This is the tail which came together very well except that you will need to clean up the ejector pin marks so that the halves mate tightly.


this shot shows the engine pit area which had a very strange construction join.


the sequence is shown here and the inner walls which are loaded with rivets are broken down into 4 sections. The walls do not align perfectly enough and likelt will have a line showing after painting. I will unlikely clean that up and chalk it as artistic license.


the other half.

a few more pics and this one shows the details on the floor o fthe engine pit. A bit of ejector pin mark but not evident viewed from the limited angle after I put the part into the fuselage


the instruction sheet sequence.


shots of the engine exterior which will need some sanding and putty work including adding at least 20 various fuel, electrical, etc. lines.





the air intake parts have some very nice details but a bit of warpage which requires a little attention though not too challenging







which brings me to this stage. Tomorrow I will start on the cockpit where the PE fun begins!

C&C welcomed!

a very good reference on the exhaust, I'm following this thread closely.

Aggressor Viper > Loo - would suggest you get the Ta-ta-miya (sorry cannot help it :P ) Thunderbird's Viper if you intend to the aggressor version ...

http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM60316

It will save you valuable time in finding and converting the kit into the aggressor bird ... you will also need to consider these items if you want to take that plunge...

AN-128 targeting pod (training) remember Wolf pack had this set not sure if HHQ still stock this.

Otherwise the Ta-ta's kit is pretty close and complete for an Aggressor oob.

Alternatively you can also source academy's big scale viper which has all the block 30 options available in one kit too ... ;)

Loo - One question though ... any alcad paint reference used for the metal finishing here ke? eg what color for base and then the metal finish ... looks like "heavy metal" is used here ... :P ;)

SAC,
if you follow the Tamiya instructions, its all chrome silver.
I opt for 2 shades of aluminium and one steel for variety. All alclad.

Having dry fitted most of the major parts, I have to say I understand now why there is such rave reviews on this kit. It really is wonderful. The view from the air intake right up to the engine block is just impressive. If only there is enough time to open up some fuselage panels to see the whole continuity.

Aiya! mana boleh follow the models instructions to the "T" ah !! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :P :P (oppps at it again!!! )

Thanks for the Alcad ref at least we now know which bottles to target lah ... hehe ... :P

Am keeping a watchful eye on your build... perhaps after this build, I would like to see you build the Academy's as an agressor version lol!! :rolleyes: ... please please ... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Actually this bird does grow on you. Now very tempted to get the Thunderbird block 30 because of the agressor schemes!

Tauke Loo,

impressive build.. only a Sifu dare to touch this 1/32 tatamiya (ssorry cant help it either) birds....

tengok instructions pon boleh gila

Ah so that's where the shrink ray gun went.

Nice work on the nozzle. Really looks the part.

Sorely tempted to start! Aagh...

danke Bear and Sil,

started on the office last night and glad to say the ACES II seat is spot on and only some superdetailing needed with the Eduard PE to put in the fine stencil plates, seatbelts, etc.... Painting starts tonite.

The instrument panels on the other hand is not a F16C but a F16A MLU (mid life upgrade ) console layout. Even the Eduard PE is that too. Hmmm... anyone knows whether this is acceptable or not? The references I have is not conclusive. Will be a waste if its not correct.

Loo,

My knowledge on F-16 instrument panels is rudimentary and good enough for 1/48.

But, generally, the F-16AM (aka MLU) has a 'similar' panel to an F-16C Block 50.

The F-16A before going thru the MLU programme had 2 CRT's, while all production F-16C's regardless of block had 3 CRT's (one on left, one on right and the centre radar scope).

In short, if it has the 3 pre-requisite CRT's, it is close enough for a MLU or C IP as far as modelling goes.

I won't go so far as to say the MLU has more or less or different switches, blah, blah,..... (which may be the case).

Blk 40/42/50/52 have only two displays i.e left & right. Radar / stores/ EWS / WEPs / NAV/ etc functions can be switched between left & right scopes. There is no center CRT, only the nav / IP console.

From my research, for Block 52, the steering wheel is wooden:



:lol: Boring morning

Back to the subject of CRT and buttons...

Nice ref. Does it have power steering? ^_^

The roti-man horn is missing though. Popek-popek.... :D :lol:

ok, I stand corrected.

What I said is only applicable for earlier blocks I guess.

Thanks guys,
The DACO book has a good tech drawing of the consoles for both the C and MLU types. The difference is slight. Looking at it, I will not bother to match console with the actual bird ( ala decal marking ). Do not have enough knowledge to do that, and not that I want to either.

thanks for the assist.

Now I have to scratchbuilt a steering wheel! :D

Taukeh Loo.. very nice and informative wip.. :lol:

Got questions... the inner exhaust, those soots are achieve by airbrushing?
Looks convincingly real.. especially the metallic blue.. :D