Academy F-16 Fighting Falcon 1:32

Painting

F-16s are generally multi-tone grey and can be quite boring but the `Aggressor` jet breaks this rule which is the main reason for me making this kit. The decals provide two colour scheme options; a light blue, dark blue and grey scheme and a green, brown and tan scheme, both are very unusual but I decided on the later as I intend to do an F-18 in the blue scheme in the future.

The starting point as ever is to prime the kit, using my favourite Tamiya Fine Primer and once dry I rub the finish down with 8000 grade Micro Mesh (see your Techniques Bank for how to use MM) to get a glossy finish. First job was then to spray the grey antennas on the wings and intake sensors and mask them off. The radome was also sprayed at this point whilst I had the paint in the gun.

Now it was time for the camouflage.

Starting with the lightest colour, in this case the tan it was sprayed and when dry was masked off using the Blu-Tac and masking tape method. I opted not to pre-shade or post shade this model as these jets are generally kept in very good condition and modern paint doesn`t wear anything like that seen on WWII era aircraft. The dark brown and green were then added using the same method and all the masking was removed to reveal the camouflage. As ever there was a bit of touching up required and any residual marks from the Blu-Tac can generally be removed by ‘dabbing’ the affected area with more Blu-Tac to lift it away.

With the airframe left to dry overnight I turned my attention to the stores. The kit comes with a very impressive selection of stores including AIM-9 Sidewinder L and X models, AMRAAMs, ECM pods, JDAMs, HARMs and fuel tanks. Aggressor F-16s have a standard fit of an ACMI pod and a dummy sidewinder on the wing tips and the ALQ-188 ECM pod on the centre pylon. The ALQ-188 came from Aries but a little work was required for the other items. The dummy ‘winder’ was made by removing the sensors from each of the rear wings and removing the raised areas from the body. The ACMI pod was made from one of the kit AIM-X Sidewinders. It was sanded smooth and the wings were removed. A bit of sprue was then heated up and stretched and a piece cut to length then inserted into a drilled out hole in the tip. Both stores where then painted up as required and some decals from the spares box added. The kit has a nice AN/AOG-66 /68 Radar that can be displayed if required.

With the airframe fully dry the jet tail pipe was added along with the intake lip (yes this is supposed to be grey). The undercarriage doors were removed and the insides painted white. They do provide excellent masks for the wells as there was no camouflage over spray in the wells at all.
The undercarriage is very straightforward and the fit is good. The only thing I did was to sand flats on the wheels to give them a weighted look. With these done it’s time to add the decals. Being from Two Bobs these go down without any problems and as the Gunze Sangyo paints had a gloss finish there was no need for a gloss varnish. When the decals were dry I added a wash of Promodeller Dark Wash to bring out the detail.

The undercarriage was added along with the doors and the stores. Everything can then be given a couple of dusted coats of Klear to seal everything in then a final satin varnish to give the required finish. When this was dry the masks were removed, the navigation lights were painted with Tamiya clear red and blue and that was it finished.

Conclusion, gallery pdf…