DBMiller's Academy F-16C

[DBMiller]

Sometime back a year ago or so I bought TwoBobs decals for our Vermont ANG F-16's in their 60th anniversary colors. I needed a block 25 model so I bought this Academy kit (I couldn't afford the Tamiya at the time) since it was an air national guard model. When I got the kit I found it included the decals for the Vermont 50th anniversary! Now what do I do?
I've decided to use the kit decals for this build and eventually spring for the Tamiya for the aftermarket decals. Someday.

The kit:

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Inside:

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Decals and Instructions:

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[peppie]

Great looking scheme
Good luck on your build

[MarkVerploeg]

This could be a fun build
the kit looks pretty good
Good luck with the build

[rwsmith14]

Love the Vermont ANG scheme.... Good Luck ! that kit is not the greatest,, watch the gaps in the wing roots...real bad !!

[DBMiller]

So, I lied. I finished only one of my in progress builds before starting my F-16. But, my T-62 is well on its way, so I don't feel too guilty! On to the build. Sorry for the length.


158th Fighter Wing’s History at a Glance
Humble Beginnings
Vermont’s Air National Guard has roots as the fifth guard unit in the United States, federally recognized as a unit August of 1947, literally a month after President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 which officially separated the U.S. Air Force from the Army. The pilots were part of the 134th Squadron Unit.
As the Air Force took baby steps from the Army, the now-Vermont guard underwent many changes in the infant years, including being part of the 101st Fighter Wing in Maine in 1949. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the 134th was reorganized with the 158th Fighter Interceptor Group, now known as the 158th Fighter Wing.
Having no official Air Base as our own, field exercises were performed at army Camp Johnson and air training at the local airport in South Burlington. As the Air Force took shaky steps separating from the Army, the Vermont guard underwent many changes in the early years, including being attached to Maine at one point. The newly-formed Guard unit’s primary mission was air defense, its second air-sea rescue over Lake Champlain.
Falling under the Air Combat Command, the Vermont Air National Guard’s mission encompasses national defense, counter-drug missions, and air capability. The base’s medical and civil engineering components also participated in humanitarian missions to countries around the globe.
The wing has always had a strong reputation as dedicated airmen but we truly earned renown September 11, 2001 when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. That day changed the face of the United States and even more so that of its military.
9-11 Changed the Face of the Military
Even before official orders had been issued, members of the VTANG had left their civilian jobs to rally at the base, ready to defend Vermont and America against whatever might come next. When orders did come, there about 500 airmen worked the base as an armed camp.
Our F-16s were the first planes in the air over New York skies after the 9-11 attack. For several following months, VTANG’s pilots worked beside other Air Force pilots to protect New York and surrounding areas in combat area patrols. Inclement weather interrupted other bases’ ability to fly every day, but Vermont pilots flew for 122 consecutive days with no break. Back home, more than 500 airmen worked at the base as an armed camp. Because of our dogged perseverance, the base earned the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for its response to the September 11 attacks.
In March of 2002, the unit began to drop from a “24/7” operation to the more traditional role. But the military, particularly the role of the Air Force, would never be the same. As a unit we would be thrust into over-seas operations such as “Enduring Freedom” and “Joint Forge”

Some of the planes flown by the Vermont ANG:

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The F-16C. This is the only picture I could find of the 50th anniversary markings I'm using from the kit. The 60th are more colorful, and I have a set, so I'll build another later.


I found this online. It shows the differences in the block 25 used for this build.


The build:
This kit is no prize! The surface detail doesn't look too bad but the cockpit and wheel wells are almost bare! Also, there are a few defects in the molding I've found so far. The instructions aren't too helpful either in some areas.

See this part? It's TINY! Ping, off it shot from the tweezers! Thought it was a gone for good but I found it in the box with the rest of the parts! I found it, I know what it is, but the instructions are not too helpful with the direction it is supposed to sit in the sidewall of the cockpit.


Look at this cockpit! How low rent can you get? On the other hand, it builds up fast!
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I put the pilot in (not glued) just to get his arm on the control right. I'll have to build up his shoulder with putty.


Did someone ask for ejector pin marks? I didn't. This, by the way, is what passes for a nose gear well.


The main gear well is not any better.
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The intake has a a few issues, as you can see. Does it looked cock eyed or is it just me?
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That's it for now. I just wanted to get something posted so you don't think I've forgotten it!

[DBMiller]

A little more work today.
If there were ever a prize for "Best Not Even Trying" I could make a case for this cockpit to be the winner. Those decals are not only terrible but way out of register! At least they won't show up too much once the pilot is in place.



And look at those side walls! Blank, except for that one throttle lever. I used Ammo flat black here.
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The seat just needs the headrest painted (I forgot it) and a bit of wash to finish off. I used Model Master Metalizer for the exhaust directly over polished plastic - no primer. That is the recommended method and it looks pretty good. Add a bit of wash and it should look even better.

[DBMiller]

Love the Vermont ANG scheme.... Good Luck ! that kit is not the greatest,, watch the gaps in the wing roots...real bad !!

Wow! You are sure right about those wing roots! I think I should have inserted a length of rod to expand the fuselage a bit to fill out that gap! I didn't so now IT'S FILLER TIME!

[ToddS]

Nice cockpit and seat! The 1/72 lacks a bit of detail in the office but thats ok.

[DBMiller]

Ah, the wing roots. A pictorial journey of adventure starting with cleaning out the ejector marks inside so the wings would sit flush to filling the huge gaps up top. At every step I am in danger of loosing what detail there is to having to sand out some bad fit! I am so glad there are better kits for me to use the more colorful decals from Two Bobs at a later date!



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You can see by the last photo that I had an issue with the primer. Don't ask my why I used the Vallejo, or why I even still have it! The Badger is so much better and I will be using it on the rest of the kit!

A few more parts on! A few more bits to sand and fill!


My paints for the plane and metal polish for the exhaust! I have had this polish since about 1989! I used a label machine to mark the paints so I can see them better.


More stuff done. And get a load of that cockpit!
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Back to work!

[DBMiller]

Just a quick update as I add more bits and get closer to priming! The landing gear instructions are so not helpful! There is just an exploded diagram of several parts with arrows pointing to some place on the kit. There isn't even a clear positive placement for some of the bits! I glue the one end where it is supposed to go and the other where ever it ends up. Crazy!

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My supplies came in yesterday and I used a bit of Ultimate Dark Dirt wash on the tail cone.


Now, here is the real reason for this update! I have 2 sets of US paints: Mig/Ammo and K4. I sprayed a test card of the 2 colors and got this. What's up with this? The Ammo paints are FS 36270 (medium gray) and FS 36118 (medium Gunship Gray). The K4 paints (the box calls them Block 50 F-16 colors) are FS 26270 (medium gray) and FS 26118 (dark gray). You can see the differences. Shouldn't they be a bit closer match? The Ammo colors look a closer match to photos or is it the 'color scaling' they advertise to make the colors match better on model kits?

[Smiffy]

Great work so far, that jet pipe looks amazing

[DBMiller]

Another quick post. It would be longer but I'm not very organized and didn't have the other parts ready for priming.

That Badger primer is the best - it goes on so smooth and clean!

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By the way, this is the paint set I'm using for the build. I haven't used the K4 paints too much but what I have has come out perfect! I used the K4 Vietnam set on the Jedi fighter (http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.p ... 16#p199116) and they went down very nice!

[ToddS]

Lookin good! It is interesting the difference in color.
Do you thin the Badger primer or just put it on?

Looking fwd to seeing paints applied

[DBMiller]

Lookin good! It is interesting the difference in color.
Do you thin the Badger primer or just put it on?

Looking fwd to seeing paints applied

Straight from the bottle! Goes on sweet.

[DBMiller]

Another quick update on my boring gray on gray with gray decals F-16C! The pilot, green but with a gray helmet, is in and the canopy will be closed. The only weapons will be the wing tip Aim-9's (gray) and I will have the fuel tanks but nothing else on the wing pylons. They will be gray also. I masked the inside of the canopy and primed it black (a kind of gray) so the frame won't be so visible when closed and painted gray.

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[ToddS]

Like the looks of the build.. very nice..

Looked into getting some badger primer to try. The reply, "usually ships in 2 to 7 MONTHS!! WHAT??
Watching the items for when the become available.. Must be good stuff, yeesh

[Hackovsky]

Looks superb and the build helped me a lot with my build Are you planning to have the canopy opened?

[DBMiller]

Looks superb and the build helped me a lot with my build Are you planning to have the canopy opened?

No, it will be closed up. The main reason being that the cockpit is so lame. Another is that I usually break off bits during and after the build that I want at least one part safely glued on!

[DBMiller]

Oh, dear, how do I make my gray F-16 build stand out from the rest of the F-16 builds, some of them decidedly not gray? Simple!

I give you Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire tap dancing to Begin the Beguine!

[youtube]37XhIuqsWVk[/youtube]

Oh, and if that isn't you cup of tea, here is a short update and 3 photos.

I've got the dark gray on and just have to mask it off for the final light gray and white for the gear bays. The canopy is on with white glue for painting, which is a good thing because I forgot the HUD! I have the tanks and Aim-9's painted, as well as 2 more racks and the gear doors. Shouldn't be long now!
So far I have had good results with the K4 paints, on this build and the Jedi Starfighter. Now, if I could only get better with the airbrush!

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[Avgas]

Looking great and I'm liking the Fred vid as well! Probably the most elegant guy ever.

[DBMiller]

Sorry, no dancing in today's update; it's way too cold! I think it was -10 F this morning and dropping to about -12 or less tonight! Anyway, I have more painting updates. I have to paint the nose cone a bit darker, attach the gear doors, wheels, lenses, and weapons, but other than that it's about ready for decals!

A bit of gear bay masking. The nose gear is done and I've removed some of the tape. I forgot to mask the center line between the main gear so I had to do that after this photo.

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Wheels primed. Two very bad, deep, ejector pin craters on each tire. Tough to fill and clean up.


Aim-9 and fuel tanks decaling underway. Those red stripes were very stiff and hard to get on. I may just paint the other stripe. The nose gear door decal just barely settled over those rivets.

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Some views of the whole plane. I've done worse.

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[Hackovsky]

Great work there! I am looking forward to see it done. Those lines around the wing roots are incredible! I am still fighting with the filling :/

[MarkVerploeg]

Very nice diversion tactic
the F-16 is looking great though even if most of them are just grey on grey
looking forward to the end result and keep up the good work

[DBMiller]

Very short update today. I glossed the plane for decaling before painting the nose cone a different shade of gray.
I masked that, painted the gray, and will gloss it today. I used the 2 grays on the fuselage to mix the nose gray, just enough to show a difference in the un-painted nose cone material.

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[rwsmith14]

nice work, DB

[ToddS]

Looking fantastic sir..

[DBMiller]

After the incident with the drill and my Su-27 I am taking some time to decal the F-16. I've had some bad decals in the past but these aren't even trying! I'm starting to think the kit was not so bad after all and I should have used my Two Bobs decals. At least they would have dressed it up a bit; these just highlight the kit (and my building) problems.
They are very out of register, but I knew that and was just going to accept it. It's the other issues that are worse.
Some of them seem to go down fine but then the silvering starts to show up! These decals are so stiff they don't even conform to a flat surface! And the white! It is so transparent that the gray shows through!


Some of these are not too bad but look at that refueling decal! Full of pin holes and drowned in decal solvent and still won't settle down! But the worst (so far) are on the tail. They don't even try to settle into the panel lines - even after cutting them!

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Oh, well. I'll just have to save up for a Tamiya block 25 or get another of these and some after market and try again.

[peppie]

To bad about the decals.
When decals are this tough, I sometimes gently pull a dulled toothpick trough the panellines to push the decal in, right after some sol. This sometimes works, but be very carefull.

[DBMiller]

All my good intentions are gone and I'm about as sick of this as I can be. The decals are junk, but I'll put on a few more and call it done.



The red stripes are decals. They fought me so bad that I ended up masking and painting the yellow stripes.

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There is a small decal to fit between the 2 sets of stripes but I don't know how I'll get it to work. They refuse to respond to decal setting or solvent solutions.

[DBMiller]

I'm still unhappy with the decaling. So much so that I'm not going to put on all the little markings included. I will, however, finish and put it on display next to my old Vermont ANG build. To borrow from the POP's, I build for my own pleasure! So there.

A mud bath should do the trick.

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Then a bit of a wipe down.

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My first use of the Ultimate placing stick! Works great for the landing lights, because you know what tweezers would do...PING... into orbit! You can just make out the lens in the triangle of gear parts.

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[jelliott]

Thats a great tip for using the Ultimate placement sticks for clear landing lenses, I never even considered that!

[DBMiller]

Thats a great tip for using the Ultimate placement sticks for clear landing lenses, I never even considered that!

I've used it for placing antennas on my Su-27 as well.

[ToddS]

Sweet! Like the looks of the wash.. Nicely done sir