Viper Group Build 2010-2011

Hi Owl ,

Hasegawa don't mention anything about putting in any nose weight , so I was looking at italeri's F-16 instruction sheet and they suggest about 10 grams . The larger sinker behind the cockpit is about 5 grams and the smaller ones in the nose are probably about 1 gram each . I thought I might just add some to be on the safe side .

                             John .

Helo H-34

I have the cockpits installed on the four Hasegawa F-16's ;

I'll glue the fuselage halves next , along with the wings , tail fin and tail planes .

                                     John .

 

that is quite the assembly line you have going there, but also a lot of nose weight. Are the Hasegawa kits balanced differently? When I built the Academy F-16, there was no problem at all getting the nose gear to sit down. DO the Hasegawa kits really need all that nose weight??

OWL

I have the cockpits installed on the four Hasegawa F-16's ;

I'll glue the fuselage halves next , along with the wings , tail fin and tail planes .

                                     John .

STFD637

Owl: Great pics! Thanks for those. My plan is to fully display the finished pics on the front page as they are completed. This is my first GB hosting ......so you might have to bear with me.

Oh I understand, please don't take my suggestions as criticism.  You are doing a pretty swell job for your first GB hosting!

OWL

Owl: Great pics! Thanks for those. My plan is to fully display the finished pics on the front page as they are completed. This is my first GB hosting ......so you might have to bear with me.

Helo: VERY nice stash. I love to see pics like that cause I can show my wife to show her my stash isn't that bad (of course she doesn't agree, but she doesn't complain too much either.)

Please keep the pics comming. I had to pack my builds up for the next 24 hours while I go to work. On another note the build room/man cave is getting ready to be put together here in the next few weeks!

Travis

hey, Helo, you got enough Vipers there?! haha nice stash!

STDFD, Can I make a suggestion? Alot of Group Builds have pictures of teh completed build on one of the first few posts. Do you think you can put the groups builds on the first post once they are completed?

I am liking the renewed activity, As reward here are some pics I took of various F-16 during Airshow to get your creative juices flowing! 

OWL

I'm glad you were able to repair that broken wing Travis , your build is coming along nicely .

I just went through all 8 pages of this GB and saw Callsignowl's amazing finished F-16 , I was wondering if those Ohio decals are available in 1/72 scale .

I have built the A-7D Corsair II with similar markings and I would I love to add an F-16C .

If all goes well with my four current F-16 builds , perhaps I might add an ANG F-16C and I would really love to have a go at an Israeli F-16 as well ;

Either an F-16D Barak or the F-16I Sufa and if I can find those ANG markings in 1/72 scale a F-16C [Ohio]

Hopfully later today some more WIP pics ;

                                 John .

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0]Crisis over. I was able to get the wing tip back on with minimal damage. I started the painting process with a primer and preshading. I also got the Grey underside done (Pollyscale Italian Blue Gray 1).

If I had a set area to do my building I might try Helo's approach and go at a couple of these vipers at once. They are pretty straight forward. Of course once you start adding resin things get slowed down a bit.

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The wing tip at the top of this pic is the one that snapped off. I broke clean just past the outer pilon. Both of the weapons pilons cam off as well.

Travis

WOW! Helo. you don't waist any time!!!!! That is quite the assembly line. Great job.

I was able to get my kit pieced back together. Will post some pics. Lucky for me the break was fairly clean and easy to get back with minimal effect to the finish.

Travis

Hasegawa's 1/72 F-16's seem fairly straight forward builds , so I added two Hasegawa F-16N kits to the bench .

I'll build one as the Navy Top Gun aircraft and the other I will back date to a F-16A "Netz" for the Israeli Air Force . Which entered service still in the USAF colors ....

                             John .

alright guys, the GB is back in business!

sorry to hear about the vipers tumble, STFD. are you going to be able to fix it?

OWL

I did some preliminary airbrushing on the F-16A and B

I'll glue the cockpit pieces in place next and then glue the fuselage halves together .

                         John .

Happy New Year Travis .

I make a start today on my 1/72 Hasegawa F-16A and F-16B Fighting Falcons ;

The builds will OOB with markings from the 8th TFW "Wolf Pack" , Kunsan AFB Korea .

It will be a cross-over build with all my other on-going builds for the Korean War GB .

I'll post some WIP pic's later this afternoon.

                           John .

SOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally got all the parts in place. Just gave the Netz a final wash to prep for priming and.........right out of my hands to the floor it goes. Damage= 1 broken wing tip, some weapons pilons and a horizontal tail fin!! I have already started getting them back together....but I might be waiting to get some more work on this thing. Maybe I will get to work on my Blue Angel  for the Hornets Nest GB!

Travis

Happy New Year everyone! I got some good work done on the Netz recently. My biggest issue was the Chaf and Flare dispensers. I had  a hard time finding pics of the actual pics...finally I found to correct placement. I got most of the parts that will be painted in place glued and ready to go. Here are some pics:

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Well that's all for now. Hope everyones builds are going great. Can't wait to see some good pics soon!

Travis

Hey all!

Hope everyones build's are progressing along and we are having fun. I have been plugging away on the Netz for a week (when time and kids allow). Got the cockpit in and the main components together. I am still waiting on the resin!. I took the seat out as I found a pretty good gap between the tub and rear wall (see pics). I filled it in with sprue. I would also like to thank Mr. Color (TM) for making Mr. Surfacer and allowing me to fill the small seams in w/o sanding

I also picked the colors for the A/C. The paint guid calls for FS colors and has Dark tan shown 2x with 2 different colors! I am using some Polly scale paints from the extensive collection. WWII Italian warbird colors seem to match the best out of all the choices out there.

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Keep up the good work....and keep the WIP pics coming!

Travis

BigSmitty

Medicman71,

I found the decals for the 149th FW for the Viper, so I'll be building the San Antonio bird.  By the way, I found some really slick 111th FS Viper decals with the Houston Texans logo for the tail.  

I guess if I really wanted the good decals, I could fork over the money for the old (late 80s) 1/32 Hasegawa F-16A+/C.  It had the San Antonio ANG decals in the kit.  Best I could find was $50 starting bid on evilBay.  Bleah.

Yeah all the ones i've found have been sold out.

Medicman71,

I found the decals for the 149th FW for the Viper, so I'll be building the San Antonio bird.  By the way, I found some really slick 111th FS Viper decals with the Houston Texans logo for the tail.  

I guess if I really wanted the good decals, I could fork over the money for the old (late 80s) 1/32 Hasegawa F-16A+/C.  It had the San Antonio ANG decals in the kit.  Best I could find was $50 starting bid on evilBay.  Bleah.

I should have some more pics up tonight. I got the fusilage halves and verticle stabilizer on the "Netz" a few days ago. Of course while browsing Ebay I found some more resin to add to the kit.

Corrected horrizontal fins and chaff despinsers!

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I figure...."why not!" My goal is to have this baby loaded for war! Plus it will give a chance t hone my resin add on skills!

Now on to the other GB I have committed to!

Travis

Well I finally got to work on the "Netz." I got the cockpit tub done....had some issues with old decals from the Hasegawa kit. I added a True Details resin seat to the tub as I am keeping the canopy open. I used a toothpick to simulate dials on the side panels (kinda scratched the black off to show the grey through.

I was going to make this an Air-Air set up but couldn't resist adding some of the bombs I got in my Skunk Models weapons set. I also used Hasegawa's smart bomb set for the Lantern pod. (it is just much nicer than Skunks)

If all goes well the Netz will have 2 Rafael Spice LGB, 2 Aim-9 Sidewinders on the tips, and 2 Python-4 missles. I got rid of the centerline fuel tank for a AN/AXQ-14 data pod.

Here are some pics. I am just glad to have got some work done on this.

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Travis

BigSmitty

Ah, yeah, forgot.  1/48th.  Trying to find some 149th TFW (Texas ANG) decals as the house I grew up in was right in the flight path of Kelly AFB.  I remember when they transitioned from F-4s to the F-16s... everything got much quieter!

Hey me too!! Well I grew up in San Antonio, but I saw those 16's all the time. Good luck trying to find the decals. I haven't looked lately, but I couldn't find them when I looked. I think I may do the Houston Vipers that way we can have two Texas birds in here. Let me know if you find those decals.

CallSignOwl wow thats a beauty of a Viper I see you have the burner can painting down to a science, I will have to remember how you did it. I can only hope mine comes out close to as good as yours did. I have a 1/32 Revell F-16 waiting for some attention, hope to get to it after the first of the year.

Ah, yeah, forgot.  1/48th.  Trying to find some 149th TFW (Texas ANG) decals as the house I grew up in was right in the flight path of Kelly AFB.  I remember when they transitioned from F-4s to the F-16s... everything got much quieter!

STFD637

Owl: Great looking bird!!! How did you get such a realistic look to the inside of the exhaust?? I have been trying so many different things to get the white hot/burnt metal look! Never looks quite right though.

 

Thanks STFD!  I painted the inside of the exhaust with gunmetal paint, and heavily dry brushed it with white. The afterburner was also painted gunmetal, but dry brushed with steel.

OWL

Chewybr: I second that emotion!!!!!!.

Owl: Great looking bird!!! How did you get such a realistic look to the inside of the exhaust?? I have been trying so many different things to get the white hot/bunrt metal look! Never looks quite right though.

BigSmitty: I have added you to the list. Just need the scale.... I am assuming 1/48?

Oct/Nov have been crazy months for me. I have replaced 2 major appliances and a laptop in the space of 4 1/2 weeks. My trusty Dell finally bit the dust and I had to replace it with a new "widescreen" one!.

I did finally get to finish the darn Helicopter for the Korean GB. I think it took me 3 weeks to put decals and weather it....working in 20 min shots a day!! Oh how i long for a "man cave" and a door to lock me in!

I will be starting the "Netz" tomorrow afternoon and night. I have pulled the box down a dzen + times and thought about it. I did pick up some Skunk Models acces. to go with it! With luck and some peace in the house I should have some pics up by tomorrow night, Sunday at the latest.

You guys keep up the great work.

Travis

awesome to have you aboard smitty. Holy smokes we have vipers just about done already. wow, i guess i need to get my butt in gear.

In another note. I should be starting my build by this weekend. 

Just wondering if it is too late to sign up for this.  Just getting back into the hobby after having my modeling room redone for our daughter's room and being out of any space to use for the past couple of years.  Now that I have some new found space, I can start up once again.  I have Academy's newer F-16C "Arkansas ANG" with some pretty neat Gulf War nose art decals from some Shaw AFB Vipers.

Nice work Owl.  Nice work indeed.

Have a safe trip hutchdh!

In other news, Im calling my Viper DONE!!

OWL

OWL...looking good...the Academy kit built up pretty nice  .I am on the road on business for a few weeks and look forward to getting back to the man cave.