1/48 Kinetic F-16C Blk 52+ Hellenic AF **FINISHED**

[scotthldr]

Here's the next build that I've decided to start on.

It's the 1/48 Kinetic F16C Blk 52+ of the Hellenic AF. I will be adding the Aires cockpit and exhaust sets to this and maybe some Steal Beach accessories at a later date. Decals will be from Two Bobs and not the kit supplied ones, all paints will be Xtracolor as per usual.

This one will compliment the 340 Mira F16D Blk52+ I made two years ago but will be finished in it's sister unit of 343 Mira "Asteri"





This kit has had it's fair share of knocks but from where I stand it looks more than ok with good detail throughout and the weapons that come as standard would be enough to arm several models. Time will tell if it builds up ok.

First thing was to remove some of the cockpit area from the kit in order to get the Aires set to fit. I'm glad that I've used Aires cockpits in several past builds and I now know how they tend to fit as the instructions that Aires supply are far from informative infact useless when it comes to what surgery is required on the kit parts. It was a case of cut a little, dry fit, cut a little more, dry fit again and so on....... I used a Dremell tool to thin down the cockpit walls on the kit which wasn't a good idea, it's too severe and digs into the plastic resulting in two areas where it has gone right through however these things happen and it will be fixable so no loss of sleep. The Dremell was used to sand down the resin pit which had more success and the overall fit is pretty good.






The Aires cockpit/seat has been washed in soapy water and a base coat applied, which has been followed by Dark Gull Grey FS36231.

[Screechy]

Looking forward to this, sure it'll be another awesome build.

[Mr Flibble]

Looking forward to seeing this as it progresses.

With the Tamiya price hikes coming, I think Kinetic will become a more viable alternative!

[scotthldr]

Phil, I dare say that you like me have read all the things that are wrong with this kit, but to tell you the truth I can't fault it so far. Some of the parts breakdown is questionable but that was to allow several versions to made from the same moulds, which keeps costs down. You would have to be a right "rivet counter" to pick fault with alot of the supposed errors. Hopefully it will build up ok but I can't see any problems ahead.............yet

[scotthldr]

After my initial positive thoughts about this kit I've started to see where a lot of the faults are with it. The parts breakdown although making sense to Kinetic does not do the modeller any favours . With so many parts it leads to more joins and seams, therefore more filler, which will require more sanding which ultimately leads to more loss of detail, the tail alone consists of 15 parts and you have a major join between the front cockpit section and main fuselage. Some of the parts fit is questionable and everywhere there seems to be injection pin and sink marks. A lot of time and patience will be required to knock this one into shape. With 450 parts(weapons do account for a large amount of this) this kit is definitely a case of quantity over quality.

On a positive note however, the Aires cockpit has been finished off and fitted into the fuselage and progress has been made on the tail section and wheelbays.

[Fumbles]

Damn! sorry to hear about the kit Scott... I know in the end you will build another beauty. As far as working with Aries instructions.. Ohhhh my. What instructions?
I hope this kit won't give you as many headaches as the Buck did. I look forward to seeing some updates.

[scotthldr]

It's taking a lot of work knocking this one into shape, a fair amount of filler has been required especially around the nose section where 5 separate panels meet, the tail piece again requires filler as it is made up of 15 parts. The whole kit is over engineered, obviously a marketing ploy so they can say it contains 450 parts which makes it sounds better value for money. The thing is it would be an excellent kit if they rationalised on the parts breakdown. I've read that the kit has several shape issues.... if it has I can't find them, unless they are on about the fit rather than shape?

Here 's the current status, the Tail and Intake sections are dry fitted only at the moment.

[ArabJazzie]

Cant believe how different this kit is engineered when compared to the 1/72 D i built!

As for the abuse this kit has had in the past, i remember the detail was knocked in certain quarters and the nose was reported as being a bit on the droopy side! I do think some of the supposed errors were fixed along the way and im sure it will end up to your usual standard!
Arabest,
Geoff.

[scotthldr]

Not much progress over the last week, any time I've spent on it has been filling and sanding and it's slowly getting there.

Decided to have a break from filling and spent today building up the Aires exhaust







The external surfaces of the petals have been covered in Carbon Fibre decals which is a very slow process, but the results are great.






I've slightly altered the internal rear portion since the pics where taken

[Takamota]

Looks very nice.. Love the exhaust

[Kenny]

The results certainly are great. Coming along nicely

[scotthldr]

Have spent the last few days finishing off the filling and sanding of the seams and sink marks, this is by far the most filler I've used on a kit that hasn't had major resin parts installed. I normally wouldn't post pictures up of a kit with so much filler but to show you what I mean.










This was followed by a coat of Matt Light Grey over the seams to check the were ok, which revealed only a few minor blemishes to be fixed.

Once fixed, the whole airframe was given a coat of MLG as an undercoat.





The stores and weapons have also been corrected and undercoated.

I will mix the main camouflage colours up over the weekend and start lying down some colour(3 Greys) on Monday

[TomTwin]

Looking good Scott. Scheme will be something to admire when complete.

[Jamesv9820]

Looking good Scott - look forward to seeing some more soon

[scotthldr]

With a good couple of days ahead at the "Viper" it was time to start lying down the Ghost scheme. When I did the "D" version a couple of years back it was the most challenging scheme that I had done, as the 3 Greys kept blending into one another and it was quite hard to see the demarcation lines, however now having the knowledge with this scheme no such worries this time. The upper surfaces were done on Monday and the Undersurfaces on Tuesday. I've started on the detail painting and the replacement AGM-88 HARM has arrived so happy days.






Scott

[periklis_sale]

nice work Scott
what colors did you use?

[Mr Flibble]

Nice work on the paintjob, Scott.
Quite interested in these kits.

[scotthldr]

Colours are all Xtracolour

FS 15237 Blue/Grey X126
FS 16307 Medium Grey X134
FS 16251 Aggressor Medium Grey X132

Radome and Wing tip rails are FS 16270 Neutral Grey

Anothers used are Light and Dark Compass Grey

[Fumbles]

Now thats a filler queen! Geez 5 parts for the nose and 15 for the tail! Just a little over done... But considering all that. The build is really coming along now. Excellent job sofar. Looking forward to seeing the decals on next.

[scotthldr]

Progress has slowed down on this one due to work, manage an hour here and there, I've also run out of FS15237 Blue/Grey and Colourmix as well so hopefully that will arrive tomorrow. I've spent tonight sorting out the cockpit area, which is pretty iffy. This was down to me using the Dremel(never again)to thin the side walls for the Aires cockpit which has over stressed the plastic in places, I've repaired the area as much as I can but I won't know the end result until I spray the cockpit surrounds Anthracite.

Anyway this is where it is as of tonight













Comments and criticism welcome as always

[Deacon]

That paint job is looking the business mate.

Alan

[Jamesv9820]

Looking good Scott - I really love the Hellanic scheme and you've done a cracking job here!

[Craig]

Very nice indeed!

[davidm]

Very nice work, you make using an airbrush so easy.

Also what is the air intake cover made of? Got a few F-16's to make soon.

[scotthldr]

Thanks guys.

David the intake is made of resin and is from Steel Beach, go to page 4 of link. Be careful which one you use as there are several types for the MCID and NSI intakes, there is the bag style and the plug style and they are kit specific to Hasegawa and Tamiya. The one I used is the NSI bag type for Hasegawa but it fits the Kinetic kits with minor surgery.

http://store.spruebrothers.com/model-ac ... -c371.aspx

If you need any help just ask.