Airfix F-16A converted to F-16C Block 50
Hozzászólások
82 18 January 2015, 18:38
Gordon SørensenLooks good! I want to build a couple Block 15 MLU aircraft, need to figure out what I need to change....
19 January 2015, 00:15
Jamie AndersonHi Gordon the changes to upgrade to a Block 15 MLU is the cockpit and avionics are to the same standard as an F-16C/D Block 50/52 and the ability to use radar guided air to air missiles hope this is helpful
19 January 2015, 14:00
Maciej BellosGordon thanks! If you will use the airfix kit as a base, you need to replace the horizontal stabilators, since they correspond to Blocks 1 to 5. You need to create the IFF in front of the canopy and change the landing gear, namely remove the landing lights from the main landing gear and put a quadruple light on the cover of the nose wheel. There should be an antenna in front of the nose wheel but I think it depends and the airforce that uses it the aircraft. Most changes are internal some of which reflect to the modernised cockpit as Jamie noted.
19 January 2015, 15:27
Maciej BellosThis one will have a what if paint scheme. Some older jets in the Hellenic Airforce had the so called Aegean Blue scheme (F-4E, F-5A/B and Mirage F1CG) and I wanted to see how an F-16 would look like wearing one. I painted the lower surfaces fith a mixture of 75% Stainless steel and 25% Chrome silver about 2 weeks ago (both Model Master enamels). And tonight I had a bras de fere with my Aztek airbrush, since I think I have destroyed all the nozzles. After two hours of cleaning the nozzles on the fly, I managed to apply a first coat of Humbrol Intermediate Blue (Hu 144) mixed with 10% White (Humbrol 34). I think I need a some touches here and there and it will be ready for the gloss varnish.
30 July 2015, 21:14
Maciej BellosHello mates,
I repainted the upper surfaces, after reapplying the preshading, since I wasn't satisfied with the initial result. I used Humbrol's Intermediate Blue (Hu 144) as is.
4 March 2016, 18:15
Maciej BellosThis kit suffers from my wrong doings. After the final coat of paint I sprayed Winsor & Newton's acrylic varnish, and the result was kind of disastrous. I managed to reshape the kit using Humbrol Clear. I applied the decals for a what if scheme used previously in Greek Mirage F1 and F-4E. Pin wash is up next and some weathering if I figure out how.
11 March 2016, 19:33
Erik LeijdensGood progress Maciej on this ancient F-16 kit. Not completely correct for a block 50 but you know that yourself too. Do not forget to make a antenna on the tailbase, as it is one of the most prominent things by wich you can identify a F-16 as a "C" model 👍
12 March 2016, 08:01
Maciej BellosThanks Erik. Yeah that antenna got snapped off and the carpet monster ate it. There are a couple antennas more which will be glued in the end. As a what-if, I know it's not correct but it's been both fun and educational for me. More block 50s to come from better kits like hasegawa's, kinetic's and who knows.
12 March 2016, 13:35
Aris GreyLooking good Mathie, never seen that kind of what if for an f-16 and i like it!
19 March 2016, 10:15
Maciej BellosThank you Ari. I am glad you like it. I tried something different to hone my skils, since it is still too difficult for me to paint a three colour scheme.
19 March 2016, 21:34
Maciej BellosFinished! Not my best work, I made a grave error with the gloss varnish (orange peel effect) and I almost ditched the whole thing. Then I used Humbrol Clear with a brush and it meshed with the previous varnish and it kind of resulted in a smooth but rather thick layer, good enough for the decals to adhere to. Enjoy and comments are welcome!
20 May 2016, 08:52
Aris GreyGeneral feel is impressive Mathie, the armament make it look very nice. I know the feeling of downgrading the finish with bad varnish or wash but don't worry. It looks great overall
20 May 2016, 12:08
Łukasz GlińskiNice, looks more like one of the new Revell sets, not the old Airfix
20 May 2016, 13:05
Maciej BellosŁukasz thank you for your kind words! Though, I wish I had one of revell's kit, I hear they build nicely!
20 May 2016, 17:55
Łukasz GlińskiSome say they are really nice😉 and yes, I can confirm it, you should definitely go for at least one
20 May 2016, 19:06
Maciej BellosThank you Roland!
Just to clarify things, it's a fictional camo, there aren't any Greek Vipers painted this way, even though we have Block 50 birds. We had F-5s, F-4s and Mirage F1s painted this way so it is a tribute to those aircraft.
18 November 2020, 17:12
Maciej BellosWe flew the F1s until 2003 I think. We have 2000s since 1989 and we have a preliminary agreement to get 18 Rafales in the next two years. It's a pitty that there isn't a decent Rafale in the market.
18 November 2020, 18:18
Maciej BellosThank you Bernhard and Marc.
Łukasz, well all of them don't have proper intakes. Even the 48th scale ones...
18 November 2020, 21:05
Maciej BellosThank you Joshua, much appreciated. It took a while to finish it and it had it's ups and downs.
20 January 2021, 04:17
Patryk S.I really enjoy seeing your great work! Hope I will reach your high level of skill in the future.
15 April 2021, 20:14
Maciej BellosThank you Villiers!
You give me much credit Patryk, thanks! Eiterway, practice makes perfect, so keep at it! Cheers!
16 April 2021, 03:10
Robert PodkońskiCool - weathering on the Hellenic Air Force planes is a challenge...
16 April 2021, 06:49
Maciej BellosThank you baracudaz!
Robert it's a what if in the sense that some previous greek jets (F-4s, F-5s and Mirage F1s) were previously painted in the so called Aegan blue scheme. So I wanted to see how this would look like on a Viper. I tried some wheathering too and it came out ok-ish.
I plan to build a Hasegawa 2-seater which will sport the heavily weathered Agean Ghost scheme. But I have to master the weathering process first
16 April 2021, 18:23
Robert PodkońskiYou made it perfect (not ok-ish...), and it looks very cool. And I think you have mastered weathering well enough.
17 April 2021, 06:13
Slavo HazuchaTurned out really neat - and it´s still a pretty clean one, considered some Greek Vipers look like stokers from the Titanic... 😉
Nice job, lovely little bird 👍
8 September 2021, 11:17
Maciej BellosThank you Tas!
Hahaha Slavo! Though this one is a what if. Thanks for your kind words!
It's astonishing how much attention this poor old airfix kit gets.
8 September 2021, 13:41
Łukasz GlińskiNo, it's not - once you take into account how deeply it was modified 👍
8 September 2021, 14:50
Maciej BellosThank you Alberto!
Łukasz yes, it has quite a lot of parts from other kits: the horizontal stabilisers and the underwing Sidewinder rails come from a hasegawa kit, the centerline fuel tank, the LANTIRN pods, the exhaust, the canopy and it's base until the refueling port are all from italeri's kit, while the tail base is based on italeri's A tail base with plasticard and a lot of putty. The two Mavericks are airfix and all the rest are from Italeri's weapon set.
8 September 2021, 20:44
Maciej BellosThank you Andy! More in my stash, but will be built slowly due to other kits having priority.
Cheers!
9 September 2021, 16:16
Maxim MalparteA good-looking tone overall and quite of dedication to a vintage kit. Thumbs up.
10 September 2021, 10:56
Maciej BellosWelcome Jose and Juskifo!
Thank you Juskifo! I have a couple of block 52s to build, however, I have them further down in my build order. Still, I haven't the incentive to move them further up, despite being a Viper lover.
16 November 2021, 06:24
Shar DipreeNice conversation. Does the inlet match the engine?
The F16s with the Pratt & Whitney F100 (Block <30 and 42, 52...) have the small inlet (NSI) and these with the General Electric F110 (BLOCK 30, 40, 50) the "big mouth" MCID.
26 March 2023, 08:37
Maciej BellosThank you Guy!
Shar, unfortunately not. When Airfix's kit was issued, only the small mouth existed. I worked on a few stuff (elevators, fin base, bird slicers, EW bumps, an exhaust from italeri) but the inlet was out of my league.
My next projects will have all the correct inlets and exhaust combinations.
26 March 2023, 09:42
Maciej BellosShar, I forgot to mention that a few Block 30 jets as well as the N had the small mouth intake.
26 March 2023, 15:30
Shar DipreeHello Maciej.
As far as I know, the Ns are equiped with the General Electric F110 and own accordingly the big mouth.
But you are right, i researched and find information about earlys Block 30 with the Pratt & Whitney F100 and small mouth - according to my source they are named Block 32. As i known all Block x2 are powerd by the smaller Pratt & Whitney F100.
I´m searching for a flexible and modular kit of the F-16 in 1/72 because i want to build a special version of a F-16 in polish, turkish and maybe portuguese service.
I think, the Revell 03844 is one of the most flexible kits. My research results: Modular / flexible F-16 kit in 1/72 | Album by Shar
8 April 2023, 19:29
Maciej BellosHello Shar,
Early Block 30 and all N had the small mouth. At some point the big mouth became available and the Block 30/40/50/60/70 are all big mouths. Here is a link:
f-16.net/f-16_versions_article6.html
Nice album on the Revell kit. Before buying another kit, ask Revell for the single seat clear sprue. The will almost certainly send it!
8 April 2023, 19:58
Album info
This one is a reset, at first it was meant to become a Polish Block 52 Advanced but I had used the wrong engine exhaust (borrowed from an Italeri kit I think), so it will depict a Greek jet. The tail base was scratched, and considering how long ago I did it, it looks decent. This project is more of an experiment rather than building an accurate F-16 Block 50.
