Vingtor Posted April 8, 2012 Posted April 8, 2012 My entry for this GB will be the first of them all, the YF-16 prototype 72-01567, in 1/72 scale. The base kit will of course be the Hasegawa YF-16 which is quite good but lacks details. The model will thus be upgraded with parts from the Hasegawa F-16A kit as well as aftermarket stuff for the latter. As there are no really good decals out there, I will make these myself. Photos will come. Nils 3
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted April 10, 2012 Posted April 10, 2012 I have an old Revell boxing of this kit which comes with engine on stand. Looking forward to seeing this one completed Nils
Vingtor Posted April 10, 2012 Author Posted April 10, 2012 I have an old Revell boxing of this kit which comes with engine on stand. Looking forward to seeing this one completed Nils Not the same kit, I'm afraid. The Hasegawa kit is a "real" YF-16 while the Revell kit (with the separate engine) is something between an YF-16 and a F-16A. The Hasegawa kit has been reboxed as a F-16 CCV with a few extra parts, still with decals to build the prototype. Nils
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted April 10, 2012 Posted April 10, 2012 THanks Nils, not that I am worried about the accuracy. i just like the scheme! I happen to have the F-16CCV kit as well somewhere in the stash
Vingtor Posted April 11, 2012 Author Posted April 11, 2012 (edited) As there are several who will do one of the prototypes in this GB I may just as well tell that I am working on a decal sheet for F-16 prototypes and demonstrators. I hope to include the following: YF-16 72-01567 (with both "YF-16" and "F-16" tail logos) YF-16 72-01568 (in red/white/blue, "cloud" and "ghost grey" schemes) F-16A FSD #1 75-0745 F-16B FSD 75-0752 F-16/79 test bed Including stenciling. Will be available in 1/72 and 1/48 scale. As I need the decals for my own model I will have to finish the artwork asap and send it to the printer. Image of the instruction sheet front page: Nils Edited April 21, 2012 by Vingtor
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted April 12, 2012 Posted April 12, 2012 Great! I would be interested in a 1/72 sheet
Vingtor Posted April 14, 2012 Author Posted April 14, 2012 It is D-day for the F-16 STGB, so here I go. Using the same kit as theplasticsurgeon, I refer to his thread for a photo of the kit. I will also sacrifice a Hasegawa F-16A kit for various parts, and use several aftermarket kits that are intended for the Hasegawa F-16A/B/C/D kits. I have started with the fuselage underside, more precisely the jet air intake. The kit intake and nose wheel well is rather simple and the intake duct is much too shallow. The Hasegawa F-16A kit has an intake that is much better, and that fits the YF-16 kit quite well. The size and shape should be the same as for the YF-16, but details such as the position lights have to be removed. Although the Hasegawa F-16A intake is better, there is still room for improvements. It's intake duct is a bit longer, but still does not go all the way back to the engine fan. To our rescue comes CMK with a resin intake for the Hasegawa production model kits. The CMK intake has the duct like I want it, however the nose wheel well is without much detail. Aires has a nice replacement set for the Hasegawa wheel wells, though using this with the CMK intake will be a major modeling task. To fit the CMK intake to the kit some plastic has to be removed. With this done, the CMK intake fits nearly perfect. The CMK intake is a couple of millimeters shorter than the original YF-16 part, thus this gap has to be filled at a later stage. Nils
RNoAF Aerobatic Team Posted April 14, 2012 Posted April 14, 2012 Wow, Nils! Du går virkelig inn for dette;-) Really looking forward to follow this build;-)
Vingtor Posted April 14, 2012 Author Posted April 14, 2012 Really looking forward to follow this build;-) Normally I build 1/72 models rather basic while I leave detailng to 1/48. This time I will try to do it "right" in the smaller scale. Hopefully I will make it all the way. Nils
hacker Posted April 14, 2012 Posted April 14, 2012 (edited) As there are several who will do one of the prototypes in this GB I may just as well tell that I am working on a decal sheet for F-16 prototypes and demonstrators. I hope to include the following: YF-16 72-01567 (with both "YF-16" and "F-16" tail logos) YF-16 72-01568 (in red/white/blue, "cloud" and "ghost grey" schemes) F-16A FSD #1 75-0745 (possibly also as F-16/101 test bed) F-16B FSD 75-0752 F-16/79 test bed Including stenciling. Will be available in 1/72 and 1/48 scale. As I need the decals for my own model I will have to finish the artwork asap and send it to the printer. A preliminary image of the instruction sheet (72-01568 still missing): Nils l have this kit in the stash and want to back date it just a bit to the prototype version so your decal would be handy indeed but as for the throat l will have to look to see if this kit has it as it does come with the engine. The kit is missing the instrument panel so l will be watching to see what you use for one as it is different Edited April 14, 2012 by hacker
Vingtor Posted April 15, 2012 Author Posted April 15, 2012 l have this kit in the stash and want to back date it just a bit to the prototype version so your decal would be handy indeed but as for the throat l will have to look to see if this kit has it as it does come with the engine. The kit is missing the instrument panel so l will be watching to see what you use for one as it is different The YF-16 instrument panel is slightly different from the F-16A panel so I think I should include this on the decal sheet. I have done much of the artwork during this weekend and it should be ready for printing within a few days. Watch this forum for updates. Nils
Vingtor Posted April 15, 2012 Author Posted April 15, 2012 A few more words as the build goes on. As the Aires wheel well is much better than the CMK representation I eventually decided to go all the way and use the Aires part, knowing that this would cause some trouble. I thus cut out the wheel well from the CMK part and made the hole big enough so that the Aires part would fit inside. First I sticked some Tamiya masking tape to the intake duct ceiling for protection as I would not risk scratch marks. With the Aires well in place I added .030 x .010 plastic strips along the edges, to get a smooth surface. The inside required a bit more work. To seal the opening from the inside I added a piece of thin styrene sheet (“rømmelokk” to any Norwegian readers). The edges of the styrene sheet were carefully cut with a sharp knife before I filled the uneven edges with Milliput. After sanding I filled with putty once more, this time using Tamiya putty which is easier to sand. Here is the intake from the front. The wheel well edges were filled with putty and sanded. Also the position lights and strengthening plates on the intake sides were removed and sanded. The jet engine fan is missing from the CMK intake. It is visible on the real aircraft when looking in through the inlet mouth, thus it should be represented on the model as well. To represent this I used the fan from an Italeri Harrier kit, with a Harrier tail cone acting as the spinner. This subassembly was painted gun metal. The intake duct was then painted white inside before the engine fan was attached to the rear end of the intake. Finally, the inlet reinforcement strut, which came from the Hasegawa F-16A kit, was painted gun metal and installed. Actually, the fan should be positioned at the rear edge of the main wheel well. But it is difficult to judge the distance inside the intake duct so I attached the fan to the rear edge of the CMK intake. I think this will do fine. Note that these steps are valid not only to the YF-16, but to any Hasegawa production model kit, and possibly kits from other manufacturers as well. Nils
Vingtor Posted April 18, 2012 Author Posted April 18, 2012 With the intake and nose wheel well done, I am moving on tho the main wheel wells. As represented in the YF-16 kit these are much too shallow to give room for the undercarriage and they are lacking any detail. I am thus using the Aires detail set to improve this. Unfortunately I have no photos of the real YF-16’s wheel wells. Although the interior detail might not be 100% accurate for the prototype, I assume that the Aires part is a much better representation than the kit offering. To make room for the resin part I have removed plastic from the kit lower fuselage part and thinned down the edges. Before attaching any resin parts to the lower fuselage I wanted to finish off with all heavy surgical interventions to this part. Besides the intake and undercarriage, the engine nozzle will be replaced with aftermarket resin parts, also from Aires. I thus had to make room for the afterburner chamber on both the lower and upper fuselage halves. With all the heavy work to the lower airframe done, the resin parts for the air intake and undercarriage could be positioned in place. The gap between the two parts was filled with a strip of sheet styrene. The last item to be attached to the lower fuselage is the Aires engine afterburner chamber. This item had been assembled and painted earlier. Nils
Vingtor Posted April 19, 2012 Author Posted April 19, 2012 Finally, the decals artwork is finished and ready for printing. I can now concentrate on the model. I will tell when the decals are ready, for anyone who are interested. Two scales, 1/72 and 1/48. Nils
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted April 20, 2012 Posted April 20, 2012 Great progress Nils, your surgery is very neat compared to anything I do! The decal sheet looks great as well and I for sure will be purchasing one when ready.
wellzy Posted April 20, 2012 Posted April 20, 2012 Hi Nils I will watch your build looks good ,I like the F-16/79 scheme could be knocking at your door for that in 1/48th Cheers wellzy
Vingtor Posted April 21, 2012 Author Posted April 21, 2012 Time to go on with the cockpit section. The YF-16 kit is moulded with a closed canopy, while the Hasegawa F-16A kit has an option to display the model with an open canopy. My plan was to build the YF-16 model with an open canopy. However I had no idea how to do this. Now it was decition time, and (without considerating that this could go wrong) I decided to cut away the cockpit section on the YF-16 kit and replace this section with parts from the F-16A kit. There will be some changes though, to backdate the F-16A cockpit to YF-16 standard. Nils
Mike V Posted April 22, 2012 Posted April 22, 2012 The YF-16 instrument panel is slightly different from the F-16A panel so I think I should include this on the decal sheet. I have done much of the artwork during this weekend and it should be ready for printing within a few days. Watch this forum for updates.Nils The YF-16 instrument panel and the rest of the cockpit is significantly different than the F-16A/FSD Cockpit. Hasegawa did get the sloped/angle aft cockpit bulkhead right though. Also note the YF-16 used the ESCAPAC seat only, while the FSD F-16As used the STENCEL Seats. I am really glad to see this YF-16/FSD F-16 decal sheet; especially in 48th! I can help with technical details if you like; just let me know. Having built a few of these subjects for the Edwards FTC museum, it would be nice to finally have some modern made decals finally. Now all we need are "accurate" conversions for the YF-16, FSD F-16A, and F-16 J-79s. A few more words as the build goes on.As the Aires wheel well is much better than the CMK representation I eventually decided to go all the way and use the Aires part, knowing that this would cause some trouble. I thus cut out the wheel well from the CMK part and made the hole big enough so that the Aires part would fit inside. First I sticked some Tamiya masking tape to the intake duct ceiling for protection as I would not risk scratch marks. Note that these steps are valid not only to the YF-16, but to any Hasegawa production model kit, and possibly kits from other manufacturers as well. Nils Nice work so far. I've made a similar NSI intake for the Hasegawa kit, but it's a lot more tapered or tunnel contoured going aft. I agree; Aires wheel wells much better than CMK. I've made a similar NSI intake for the Hasegawa kit, but it has more duct taper going aft. Note that the YF-16 wheel wells were a lot less detailed than the F-16A. The NLG steering actuator was also totally different and tghe main wheels are not the same as the standard early LWG wheels. There’s also no Halon bottle or aircraft battery in the YF-16 main wheel wells. I can't tell off hand, but is the Iranian flag included on the flag strip? It was on the original flag layout, but later removed after the Iranian revolution when the order of F-16 to that country was canceled. Mike V
Vingtor Posted April 22, 2012 Author Posted April 22, 2012 I will use the Hasegawa F-16A kit as base for the cockpit interior, with additional aftermarket stuff. As Mike say, the YF-16 used the ESCAPAC seat, thus this will come from an Aires A-7D cockpit set. The Hasegawa cockpit has the side "rails" for the ACES seat moulded integral with the side consoles. I would have to remove these. However, as the cockpit is too wide, and the Aires ESCAPAC seat easily fits between the ACES side rail, I rather decided to fill in the side consoles to level with the seat parts. I have also expanded the forwart cockpit floor. Mike, thanks for your interest in this project. I plan to do an F-16/79 in 1/48 scale at a later stage, thus any information on the air intake would be welcome. In fact, any information on all subjects on the decal sheet is of great interest. Nils
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