Construction
The plan is to stick to the F-16N scheme in the box with just some minor aftermarket parts which are listed above. I want to keep this build quick and relatively simple.
The construction started with the intake and integral front and main wheel bays. The aft section of the intake also has the main wheel bays moulded onto it along which has some nice detail straight from the box. I just used some of Tamiya’s wash to bring out the detail. There is a seam line due to the join of the two halves of the intake but it is so far down the intake it is hardly noticeable.
The front section of the intake is a different matter. The kit contains options for the two intake sizes; which one you use depends upon which engine was fitted and when the aircraft was manufactured – this aircraft had the earlier smaller intake but the later General Electric F110 engine which is a bit odd ball! The problem I had with the intake was eliminating the seam as it was quite prominent give the location, size and visibility of the intake. For the life of me I couldn’t get a result I was happy with, there always appeared to be a ghost seam no matter how much sanding and filling I did. I left this in the end and will explain shortly my solution.
The intakes fit nicely into the lower fuselage half but due to the construction sequence you have to add the main wheel struts at this stage. I wasn’t hugely impressed with this sequence as it left the struts vulnerable to damage whilst handling the model but there was no real easy alternative so I would just have to be careful.
Back to that annoying front intake seam. My solution was an intake plug. These are available as an aftermarket item (Steel Beach for example) but the one I needed was out of stock so I ended up making my own from Milliput. This actually proved to be quite easy and provided an ideal solution along with adding a bit of colour/interest to the finished model as you will see at the end.
