Hasegawa 1:48 F-16N Falcon VF-43 'Challengers' (kit no. V7) FINISHED

Hello all,

My next build is a F-16N 'Agressor' as used by the US Navy for dissimilar air combat, primarily at the NFWS or Top Gun Academy.
The F-16N are my favourite Falcon or Viper, the camo scheme of three pastel greys look elegant and slightly sinister...

I'm going to try and recreate this aircraft of VF-43 'Challengers', F-16N BuN 163274, flown by Cdr Thor Jensen.


I'm going to be using the Hasegawa F-16N kit in 1:48 scale, kit no. V7


I'll be using this decal sheet from SuperScale, sheet no. 48-480, to recreate F-16N 163274.


Searching for pictures of the subject, I found this unfortunate picture of F-16N 163274 as she is today at a storage ground...

Got a bit done today (this goes together a heck of a lot quicker than a Tomcat!)

Exhaust built, gear bays in and painted white, intake assembled(just needs a bit more sanding internally to sort it out), nose filled with Blu-Tac and lead shot, wings glued together and pylon holes filled, cockpit nearly finished painting.


And, regarding the camo scheme, I'm chuffed to find a colour match for Gunze Sangyo 324 Light Gray .... RLM 02! (Humbrol 141 - no longer in production, but Xtracolor do the RLM range)

Very nice, good start

Regards, Bernard

Got my Quickboost seat today, lovely detail, but...

As it's a copy of the Aires seat with the belts added, there are no guide rails for the seat! (The Aires seat goes in conjunction with the Aires pit)
Kit seat with guide rails and QB seat on right, sans rails.


So, a quick trip to the LHS (Little Hobby Shop - A1 Models, Colchester) and some 1.5mm Evergreen 'channel' styrene later we have this;


Also added a strip of styrene to the rear of the cockpit to avoid a 'step' once the two fuse halves are stuck together. Added some styrene detail to pad out the void between seat and canopy actuator housing.


Vainly, I also added a compressor fan to the otherwise bare face of the intake. I made it from the exhaust fan of a 1/48 Hobbyboss Mirage IIICZ, and cut off the nose of a Matra 530 E from the same kit to make the centre body fairing. It won't pass muster by the IPMS, but I like it!

Looking good, really love those seats

Thanks Josh, the resin seats really make a big difference, especially if you're going to have an open cockpit.
To be honest, when you look at the kit seat next to the resin one, it isn't THAT bad! The Hasegawa F-14 kit seats are also really good.

There're quite a few manufacturers of resin replacement seats (in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32) like Pavla, Neomega, Quickboost, Aires, Avionix etc etc.

Excellent work

Regards, Bernard

Painted up the Quickboost seat, really great resin seat, incredible detail in 1/48 scale.


The real seat...

(www.ejectionsite.com)

Well, seat is done! Really impressed with the detail, more detail than I could successfully paint, but I'm happy with the result.


Wing joins needed a bit of filler, but it should be ok. Used tape to protect the surrounding area from the filler, so less to sand off!


Trying my newly acquired roll of blue paper as a photographic backdrop like the pros seem to use. What do you think?

Been slowly working on this, sorting out paint has been a bit of a drama, as some of the converted Humbrol didn't look right. I've used the prescribed mix of 50/50 140 + 167 for the slightly browny grey, 167 and a dash of 230 for the bluer grey and Xtracolour RLM 02 for the pale browny/green grey.

Well done

Regards, Bernard

Decals done now, the Superscale decals worked well and responded well to the MicroSol/Set decal soloutions.

The Master brass pitot and AOA probes are also very nice additions, I knocked the pitot by accident, and where a plastic one would have snapped, it just bent!

Anyway, here it is so far, just need the decals to set and then tomorrow I can spray another clear coat over the decals and then weather and do the panel lines.

That looks awsome

Nearly there now...

Decided that the 'Rescue' and associated decals next to the cockpit were too bright, so I removed them and used the more 'tactical' Hasegawa decals. A bit of UV light and some Microsol/set later, they were on and made a much better impression, although thicker than the Superscale decals.

Sealed in with varnish, the Viper was given Uncle Phil's own Dark Wash to weather and pick out the panel lines.

Looking great

Splendid

Regards, Bernard

So, I was going for this;



And have now finished this F-16N.
Kit: Hasegawa V7
Decals: Superscale (sheet no. 48-480)
Paint: Humbrol enamels, Flory dark wash
A/M: Quickboost resin seat, Master brass pitot and AOA probes.

Fantastic work, well done

Regards, Bernard

Thanks Bernard, I'm quite pleased with how this has turned out, thanks for your comments.

Glad you like it...