1/48 Tamiya F16C Blk50 '347Mira' Hellenic AF ** FINISHED **

[scotthldr]

Hi all,

Next build will be following on from the Kinetic F16, however this time Tamiya's finest will take centre stage



with this lot being added into the equation,

Aires Cockpit, Exhaust and Wheel bays,



the Steel Beach Intake and antenna cover sets along with Master Models brass pitot tube,



decals will be provided from TwoBobs, Zotz and Icarus Productions sheets.

All of which should give me this

F-16C Blk50
347 'Persues' Mira, Hellenic AF




Will hopefully make a start of this over the weekend.

[RoverDriver]

.

[Mr Flibble]

Ah good stuff another Viper
Watching with interest again - got a couple of these kits in the stash

[Craig]

Great stuff the Greek collection must be growing rather nicely now!

Just out of interest, where does the fascination with the Hellenic Air Force come from?

[TomTwin]

I have always wanted this kit, will be following this one with interest.

[Deacon]

Excellent.

I'm looking forward to watching this come together mate.

By the way, as Craig has suggested, you are getting quite a collection of Greek a/c's now. Any chance of a 'group shot'?

Alan

[scotthldr]

The interest in Greek a/c stems back to the mid 80's when I really got interested in a/c. Living not too far away from Lossie and Kinloss most of my school holidays were spent at the fence and in them days just about everything NATO had to offer could be seen between the two bases with the exception of Greek and Turkish aircraft which was a shame as they operated a diverse range of a/c including classics like the RF-84/F-5/F-100/F-104's and so on, the only way to see these a/c was in books and magazines. That was until the early/mid 90's when I enjoyed a couple of holidays in Zante and with the close proximity of bases like Andravida and Araxos the days were spent watching F-4's F104's and A7's skimming the waves between Zante and the Peloponnese, since then I've enjoyed several holidays in Greece and the interest in Hellenic a/c keeps growing.


Alan, I'll try and get a picture of the Greek stuff together over the weekend. 8 finished/ 5 to start/ and many more to follow.....

[Deacon]

I think it's a perfect personal GB you've chosen Scott.

A diverse amount of aircraft with interesting colour schemes and an air force that not many have chosen
as the basis of their builds.

Oh, and I'm looking forward to the group photo the weekend.

Alan

[Craig]

The interest in Greek a/c stems back to the mid 80's when I really got interested in a/c. Living not too far away from Lossie and Kinloss most of my school holidays were spent at the fence and in them days just about everything NATO had to offer could be seen between the two bases with the exception of Greek and Turkish aircraft which was a shame as they operated a diverse range of a/c including classics like the RF-84/F-5/F-100/F-104's and so on, the only way to see these a/c was in books and magazines. That was until the early/mid 90's when I enjoyed a couple of holidays in Zante and with the close proximity of bases like Andravida and Araxos the days were spent watching F-4's F104's and A7's skimming the waves between Zante and the Peloponnese, since then I've enjoyed several holidays in Greece and the interest in Hellenic a/c keeps growing.


Alan, I'll try and get a picture of the Greek stuff together over the weekend. 8 finished/ 5 to start/ and many more to follow.....

That makes sense

Definately helps stoke the interest

Looking forward to the group shots!

[Logster]

Really look forward to seeing this Scott. Love F-16s and this was one of my first kits back in the hobby - but i think you will do a much better job!!!

[Jamesv9820]

Another one;) only kidding - look forward to seeing this one progress

[Fumbles]

Hopefully you will have better luck in the build progress then the Kinetic kit... I'm looking forward to seeing this one in the build up.

[scotthldr]

Some progress,

The cockpit and seat(minus harnesses)have been built up and painted and have now been fitted into the forward fuselage, no real problems here with the cockpit being more or less a drop in fit










The wheel bays have been painted up as well, this time I tried a different method by painting the bays Black first followed by the White. This give the impression of shadowing, unfortunately I couldn't get a decent photo of it.



The tail unit has been made up as well, but a bit of modification was required to turn it into the style used on the Hellenic jets as they use the Para brake chute housing and RWR antenna. Likely these parts I had left over from the Kinetic kit and with very little work they mated up with the Tamiya main tail unit. The Parachute pack is from the CMK update set I had left over from 3 years ago.

The Kinetic parts are Dk Grey




Other parts done are

Pylons made up
Drop Tanks made up
LANTRIN pods made up
Intake and Intake cover made up
Started building up the AIM120's and AIM9's

[Jamesv9820]

Looks really good Scott.

Think the seat could benefit with a light Oil wash applied, but as you say it still is WIP..

[scotthldr]

Just gonna leave the seat as is, well I've still got the harnesses and other etch parts to put on. The problem with my photos is since I paint in Gloss the flash always exaggerates the overall contrast making it look so much more vivid, will dry brush a Dk Grey over the cushions though.

[Craig]

Looking great once more, the attention to detail is impressive

[scotthldr]

What a joy it is making this kit and compared to the Kinetic F16 what a difference considering that they are particularly the same kit. Just shows how well engineered the Tamiya moulds are.

This kit is falling together with very little in the way of correction for parts to fit. The only area that will require a bit of further work are the 2 panels (one either side) just behind the radome, however this area on the Kinetic kit required some serious filling and sanding, not so this time.


The Aires main wheelbay drop fitted straight in and fits like a glove, not so the front wheelbay as some idiot superglued it back to front (don't know who it was ) so it had to be broke out and re fixed the correct way, so the seam isn't the best there but a touch of filler will cure that.

The front and rear upper fuselage parts went together very snug, this was followed with attaching the upper and lower fuselage halves and again the fit was prefect. Next the lower wings were attached and again a prefect fit followed by the rear lower ventral stabilisers along with some of the smaller parts dotted around the wings and fuselage.

The tail until on this kit can be fitted without glue so it can come off for transport(the weapons are the same) why I don't know, and to be honest the fit isn't great, so like every other model I will be gluing it in place but for the time being it's dry fitted.

All together a very satisfying evening

[scotthldr]

Have spent the last 2 nights concentrating on the exhaust, with this being a Blk50 it is powered by the General Electric F110-GE-100. On my last 2 F16 builds they have used the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 so something new here. As in the past builds I have elected to use the Aires replacement exhaust as I find they add a lot to the overall finished build.

First stage was to wash and dry the entire resin contents, this was followed by sprayed the internal surfaces Light Sand to replicate the ceramic material




This was followed by spraying the "feathers" with Anthracite followed by Gunmetal






Then the longest part, masking up the "feathers" to paint the Dark Grey overlap areas on each feather. I had decals for this but they are sized for the Dr Pepper exhaust and are Black and from pictures the area is more a Dark Grey. So I decided to spray them, it took just over the hour to mask up



After a couple of passes and left to dry for 15mins it was time to remove the masking and hope for the best



Glad to say it turned out ok





It was then time to soot up the inside of the exhaust, for this I used Anthracite and gently built up the look I was after.







And lastly the Afterburner ring was painted and detailed




Just need to build it up now.

[Craig]

That looks fantastic, how did you "build up" the coverage of grey without saturating it? Just quick bursts down the nozzle?

[scotthldr]

Turn the pressure and paint flow right down, then start spraying off the surface and gently flick the AB towards the exhaust so you're not really passing over the surface with the AB more like throwing the paint over it.

[Craig]

Turn the pressure and paint flow right down, then start spraying off the surface and gently flick the AB towards the exhaust so you're not really passing over the surface with the AB more like throwing the paint over it.

Ah right, does that need a double action AB and compressor to achieve or wiill canned air and a single action deliver the same result?

[scotthldr]

I used my 200NH for this which is single action along with the compressor which has the Air Regulator on it. As long as you can control the paint flow and air pressure it'll work.

[Deacon]

Very tasty sir.

Alan

[Craig]

I used my 200NH for this which is single action along with the compressor which has the Air Regulator on it. As long as you can control the paint flow and air pressure it'll work.

Right, may well need a compressor rather than canned air then

Thanks again! It's appreciated you sharing your wisdom

[scotthldr]

Hi Craig, yeah a compressor is definitely the way to go. The problem with canned air is as soon as start using it you're losing pressure not to mention the cost of cans £6-7.00 for one, when you can buy a compressor for £50.