Tamiya 1/32 F-16 CJ Block 50

[kikque]

Hi everyone, this is my first "work in progress" on the forum. The kit is just fantastic so I'm trying my best to do it justice, it's my first attempt at a 1/32 scale kit. I had completed the engine before I joined the forum so sorry to anybody who wanted to see this kit built from scratch. I'm happy to post any images of the kit that people request. Here are a couple of images of the engine thus far:




I may decide to include more detail (wiring etc) to the engine once the main aircraft is complete. I don't have an airbrush so everything is painted by hand. There were no issues assembling the engine (as you'd expect from Tamiya). The seam lines were filled, sanded and then primed with light grey Tamiya primer. It was painted with Tamiya acrylics then given a coat of Klear to get it ready for any decals. You get an engine dolly with this kit but I won't assemble it just yet. The next task was the engine bay:



Once the coats of yellow/green and aluminium were applied (above) I chose to give the bays a light wash of Ultimate dark dirt. The rivet detail is excellent and I think the wash just makes it stand out a touch more (without being OTT).



My ultimate intention is to create a diorama with the finished kit. That's it for now but I'll be posting some more images over the next day or two. Any suggestions/advice/questions are welcome, thanks in advance to anybody who takes a look!

[Lego]

Nice work.

Will definitely be watching this build.

[1001kjk]

I'm along to watch aswell. Looking good so far

[Paul]

Yep ill be watching too, loved building mine

[kikque]

Thanks for taking a look guys I'll post as many updates as I can this week. I'm still working on the engine bay which is fitting together very well, I'll post some pics of it tomorrow. I've started working on the air intake parts, they were primed and then brushed with a couple of layers of Tamiya flat white. My plan is to apply a coat of Klear inside the intake (after getting rid of the seam lines) so the finish looks smoother.



The undercarriage is metal with this kit so it is nice and sturdy. I gave the metal a couple of coats of primer before adding the flat white. You can see below that I have screwed the upper part of the front undercarriage onto the intake. There is only a wash/base coat of white so far.



Next I assembled the external halves of the front of the intake. They went together quite well, but I used elastic bands to hold it together before gluing with Tamiya extra thin. A bit of putty was added afterwards which I'll sand and re-scribe when dry.





I'll be back with another update soon. Thanks again guys!

[mincemeat]

Excellent work so far! Please keep us posted!

[JediBoer]

I've got this kit in the stash so I'll definitely be following this build! Great work on the engine kikque! Can't wait to see how the build unfolds and learn before I tackle mine!

[kikque]

Thanks JediBoer, this kit is brilliant to build, you'll really enjoy it. I've managed to assemble the air intake and engine bay, it all fitted together beautifully and feels really solid. After getting rid of the seams inside the intake I applied a coat of Klear. The result is good and gives the inside a nice sheen.



The undercarriage was the next job, everything was primed and given a couple of coats of flat white. The metal undercarriage is excellent and really sturdy once you screw it into the fuselage. I quite like the rubber tyres but I know a lot of people prefer resin The decals were applied with micro set/sol which worked fine. The visible bare metal is both flat aluminium and chrome silver. The next step was to assemble the rest of the undercarriage structure and add the battery. The battery was painted Tamiya Field Blue, with metallic grey for the terminals. I added an extra styrene strut to the battery holder.



Once everything looked good I applied a wash of dark dirt. It looks darker in the photo than it does in the flesh, I may lighten/clean it up a little before applying a coat of Klear. The F-16 wheelbays I've seen do look pretty dusty sometimes The wash has picked out the detail of the moulding really well.



Here's a view of the assembly from above, the floor of the gun bay has been given a base coat of flat white. You can see the structure of how this model goes together.



Next I glued the fins and arrestor hook assembly to the underside (I'm leaving the hook off until the end because it's a bit fragile). The first piece of the photo etch chaff/flare dispensers is visible too, but the detail is hidden by the glare.



Lastly there's a pic of the Aces 2 ejection seat. It went together beautifully and is nicely detailed. I've only applied the base colours so far; Khaki for the cushioned areas, Royal Light Grey for the overall colour and Park Green for the oxygen bottle. I'll carry on detailing it and post some more pics when it's done.



Thanks again to everyone who takes a look or is following, I'll post an update in a couple of days as I've got a bit of time to work on it.

[JediBoer]

Great job so far mate! Like the undercarriage and what you did with the ejection seats.

[kikque]

Thanks Jedi , I'm just posting a quick update of the finished ejection seat. I added more detail by dry brushing and applying a weak Ultimate Concrete wash. I then brushed on a coat of Klear before adding the decals with Microset/sol. The seat cushion is nicely detailed and the wash picks it out well.



You get the belt/harness buckles in photo etch with this kit. The belts you have to cut out from a pre-printed and adhesive strip. They looked a bit sterile to start with but once I added another wash and a coat of Klear they blended in quite well.



I painted the ejection handles flat yellow and then added black warning chevrons with a waterproof 0.2mm fineliner pen. You can't see the effect in these pics. I'll post a better update tomorrow to show what's been happening with the cockpit, cheers guys

[UKguyInUSA]

Cracking job so far mate!

Looking forward to your next update now

Cheers,

Martin

[kikque]

Thanks Martin, I'm glad it's looking OK. The cockpit is coming together now, I started by printing a diagram of F-16 gauges so I could detail the panels. I gave them a base coat of flat black whilst still on the sprue.



You get a clear sprue piece for the glass cockpit screens of the front panel (with decals). However there are no decals for the standard gauges e.g artificial horizon, pressure gauges etc. So I printed some 1/32 gauges I found online which could be glued to the panel.



I cut the gauges out and stuck them on. Once they were dry I put a bit of gloss coat on top of them to create a glassy effect.



After the front panel was done I moved on to the tub. I followed the diagram to get most of the button colours and layout.




Here you can see the upper piece of the cockpit/fuselage and gun bay:



Once the rest of the tub was assembled I did a bit of dry brushing and gave everything a weak concrete wash. I didn't want to 'over weather' the cockpit, just give it an operational or 'used' feel. The throttle stick is moveable.



A view from above the cockpit after the tub and pedals were attached along with a bit of dry brushing:



The nose weight is attached by a screw that goes through the tub then through the weight and into the lower fuselage. There was a bit of movement after I tightened the screw so I shaped some blue tac to fit between the tub and the weight and super glued it in place. Everything's good and solid now



So here is the tub with the seat and front panel temporarily in place. I've started to enhance the panel lines by pre shading with an Artline 0.2mm fineliner, I then smudge it in the direction of the airflow. Hopefully the lines will be more crisp once I paint the fuselage and wing areas.





I'll be doing some more work on her later so the next update won't be far away Thanks to everybody who is following this build

[JediBoer]

Wow! Great work on the cockpit! I also like the idea of using the fine liner with the panel lines. I'll have to try that myself! Do you mind sharing the URL where you downloaded the instrument panels and the gauges?

[planemaker]

Great work! Love the engine and cockpit. It's gonna be a real beast!

[schweinhund227]

Nice work !

[kikque]

Hi again guys and thanks a lot for the nice comments . I'm sorry if you took a look while the photos were down last night, I messed up with Photobucket, they're all back now Here's the url to the cockpit diagram Jedi, it's for RC builders but it's really useful:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-jets ... ayout.html

I hope it helps, there are lots of images of Block 50 cockpits on Google images too. Give the fineliner a try, just make sure it's a good water proof ink. I use an Artline 0.2mm but you can get sets of modelling fineliners specifically for panel lines etc.

I've been busy assembling and painting up the pilot. I'm ultimately going to create a diorama with this aircraft so I got an Academy set of USAF modern 1/32 figures.



I'll use the set to chop and change a couple of things. I decided to use one of the pilots from the actual F-16 kit to sit in the cockpit because of the good fit and sharp detail. I'll use 2 of the arms from the Academy kit to make the pilot look more animated. Here's a pic showing the pieces I used and the base colours of paint applied:



I glued the arms while the pilot was in the cockpit (so everything fits with the canopy up and down). I filled and sanded all the resulting gaps between his arms and body. I turned his head so it looks like he's giving the 'thumbs up' to the ground crew so I had to reshape and cut the oxygen mask pipe to fit the pose. I think it looks better than the kit's stock pose (which is fine but a bit rigid looking).



Here are some pics of the finished pilot in the cockpit. I dry brushed some light khaki on the flight suit to highlight the detail before applying a coat of Klear and adding a light Ultimate concrete wash. I chose the older helmet and mask rather than the more modern type just because I prefer the look
I also dry brushed the harnesses with light grey on top of the green base colour. There is a Tamiya metallic blue stripe on the helmet, I weathered the visor cover by dry brushing on a bit of metallic grey. The visor itself has a layer of Klear and Glosscote to give it a good shine.





Cheers everyone and if there are any questions about the kit/build don't hesitate to ask.

[JediBoer]

Here's the url to the cockpit diagram Jedi, it's for RC builders but it's really useful:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-jets ... ayout.html

Thank you kikque! Great work on the pilot figure!

[Homerlovesbeer]

excellent work, man! i'm very impressed with your brush painting skills.

+1 amazing stiff

[kikque]

Hi again guys and thanks for the comments. I'm just adding a quick update to show the progress on the F-16's structure. The fuselage is now assembled along with the tail and wings. It all fitted together really well although I did use some pegs and elastic bands to make sure it all dried without any slight gaps. The control surfaces are moveable once inserted into the poly caps already inside the model:



You can see I am finelining all the panel lines as part of the pre shading. Here are 2 pics of the left wing assembly:





I carefully sanded and polished the seam out of the canopy I'm going to use. You have a choice of a clear or smoked canopy with this kit. The Tamiya compounds gave the canopy a good sheen.



The tail fin is completed and I am now busy pre shading the fuselage:





Once the shading is done and I'm happy with the assembly I'll start to prepare for painting. It'll all be done with brushes so I shall make sure the paint is thinned properly. I've got a good sable brush to use, but I'm aiming for applying as few strokes as possible to prevent lines. Hopefully by the weekend I'll have started to apply the base coat. Cheers guys

[kikque]

Hi again guys, the painting is progressing well so I thought I'd post an update. It's been quite time consuming as everything is brushed on but the results are good so far. The F-16 was first primed with Tamiya Grey before I added a base coat of Ocean Grey 2 (RAF). The Ocean Grey has a blue tint but will give good depth when I add the finishing coats. I decided to use Tamiya Dark Grey mixed with white for the final coats (well thinned). Here you can see the first finishing coat being brushed on the starboard wing:



The brush strokes disappear as the paint dries as long as you use good sable brushes and don't work the paint too much once it's on the model:



The gun bay is painted Flat white and has a Ultimate dark dirt wash. I decided to highlight the conduits with copper and Flat Earth to accentuate the detail (in reality they're just off-white).



The Vulcan Cannon was assembled (the barrel rotates ) and base coated Flat Black. I then gave it a coat of Tamiya Gun Metal and dry brushed with a little Flat Aluminium. The shells are painted with Tamiya Gold Leaf and Aluminium.





The next step was to start brushing some tonal variations onto the aircraft. I slightly darkened the colour of the finishing coat and brushed/dry-brushed around the panel lines. You can see the effect here:



Once the tonal brushing was complete I let everything dry for 24 hours before adding a coat of Klear to the whole aircraft.



My next task is the decals, I'll post some pics of the underside next time. Thanks to everyone who takes a look, I'll be sure to post again soon. Cheers guys

[Lego]

Very nice




She is coming along nicely.

[CJSomerset]

WOW! Just found this thread, your brush work is amazing. Love the pilot although he does look like he's sucking his thumb in the first pic

[JediBoer]

Stunning work! How do you thin the paint?

[kikque]

Thanks a lot Lego and CJ! lol at the pilot sucking his thumb

Cheers Jedi (I hope the Typhoon is going ok ). I thin the paint with Tamiya Thinner X-20A in a small mixing pot and give it a really good stir. I change the ratio of paint to thinner depending on the effect I want to achieve. The finishing coat is about 70% paint and 30% thinner on the F-16, although I'd rather have used a 60/40 mix in hindsight. I found that as long as I used quite a wide sable brush and didn't over work the paint the coat dried quite nicely.

All the best guys

[JediBoer]

Cheers Jedi (I hope the Typhoon is going ok) .

The Typhoon is on ice a little at the moment. Work has been keeping me away from the bench the last couple of weeks and when I get time I spent most of my time on Leopard 2 and the Israeli Sufa I'm also buidling. Thanks for the info on thinning the Tamiya paints for brush painting. I struggled quite a bit brush painting with the Tamiya paints.

[Homerlovesbeer]

so so nice....

[UKguyInUSA]

Great work so far mate!

[patrickroos]

Wow impressive hairy stick moves mate!!
Looking very nice!

[kikque]

Hello everyone, thanks so much for the comments and for taking the time to see how this model is going . I've managed to get the underside of the F-16 together. I opted for sky grey rather than ghost grey and I'm quite pleased with the finish considering it was brush coated. I applied 3 thin coats to the underside in all and then gave it a coat of Klear. I'm basing the paint scheme on a US F-16 I saw at Boscombe Down back in the 90s (so the finished model will look slightly different to the Tamiya call outs, also my memory is a bit hazy ). It performed an amazingly ear-splitting and low-level display that I'll never forget. Here are some pics:



Once the decals were applied I glued the undercarriage doors and lights in place. One minor gripe with the decals is that they don't 'sit' very well even after a few Micro Sol coats, but they'll be fine. I added a Ultimate dark dirt wash to pick out various lines, rivets and direction of airflow:



The nose radar is complete although I won't show the cone open in the diorama:



I've also been sorting out the ordnance for the jet. I'm including 2 AIM-120Bs and 2 AIM-120Cs, 2 HARMs and 2 Fuel tanks. I'm not putting anything on the belly because I want the F-16 to look sleek and not too heavy:







The decals weren't too fiddly Once the ordnance was painted and the decals added, I Klear coated them and applied a dark dirt wash. Things are starting to come together now. My next step is to finish a few minor details on the topside of the jet. I'll post another update soon, many thanks to everyone who's watching or just taking a look Cheers

[UKguyInUSA]

Nice job on the ordnance, that'll help bring this baby to life!

[Backfire22]

brush work is very smooth. Thanks for sharing.

[Smiffy]

Look very nice so far