WIP

Michael Phillips
Here we go!

Patrick Hagelstein
Yes indeed!

Adam Gudynowski
Following

Adam Gudynowski
Brave project

Patrick Hagelstein
Thanks Adam! I hope it doesn't get over my head...

Maciej Bellos
Interesting. It hurt my heart seeing the rear fuselage being cut off...

Spanjaard
nice to see you back in the saddle, i mean the bench 🙂
very colourful scheme and nice list of upgrades. this will be really interesting 🙂

Martin Oostrom
NO! You murderer. What did that innocent Tamiya part ever do to you make you do such horrible things? You wicked man!
🙂

Bart Goesaert
that will have given a lot of sweat, and I guess it's not by the effort...

David Thor
I`m in, great project!

Bryn Crandell
Damn! Watching with great interest.

Patrick Hagelstein
🙂 No! Please! Don't call the modelbuilding police!... To be honest I gulped a couple of times before committing my razor saw to that sweet plastic. But I knew I measured well and washed away my sharpie ink so that it only was a very sharp line along the appropriate panel line. This evening it's time to clean up the cuts.

Brad Furminger
Taking a seat for this one.

Patrick Hagelstein
Welcome aboard Brad!

Patrick Hagelstein
As in my avatar, I'm getting a seat too! But with a nice glass of whisky in front of the television as the Mr. Surfacer has to cure before any more sanding. Cheers and untill at my modeling desk! 😉

Bart Goesaert
Kudo's for that cutting... bought the resin conversion for a Su-33 in 1:48...

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White parts are resin replacements...

think I will need to measure a lot, and I hope it will be sturdy enough...

Spanjaard
well deserved rest 🙂 good approach to have those pins to fix the parts.

Urban Gardini
This I really want to follow! I just love it when a build goes all in...

Urban Gardini
I agree though on the feeling one get when it comes to cuttin' Tammy plastic. It feels like if you're taking a sledgehammer to Michelangelo's Venus de Milo...

Patrick Hagelstein
Oh man! Bart, is there any original plastic left? Now that's hardcore!!! Good luck! Remember: measure twice, cut once...
Spanjaard, it was a 12 y Chivas Regal, the perfect drink after an evening of concentrated taping, filing and sanding. 😉
Welcome Urban! I love your comment! 😄 Wonder if Michelangelo himself ever pondered about taking that sledgehammer by himself?

Patrick Hagelstein
[img1]
There's only one little glitch in ordering an update set from a Taiwanese company.... Taiwan is the only costumer worldwide to have the Block 20 factory built! Meaning the Kasl Hobby replacement part is dead on!....for a Taiwanese machine... Now I have to rescribe the back panels still. The only positive thing is that during the MLU update reinforcement plates were added to that particular section of the hull.

Sarunas D
Following.

Patrick Hagelstein
Welcome SuperBug18!

Mike Daniels
Following.

Bart Goesaert
Good luck...Main question is: what was the best starting point? the resin part or the original section?

Patrick Hagelstein
Well Bart, in hindsight it would be better to fill in the dimple on the back meant for the bigger C tail fin base with plastic card and then rescribe that area. The Kasl Hobby part is really nice but meant specifically for the Taiwanese version. It has a small oval panel in the middle where the NATO F-16A/B/AM/BM has a trapezoid panel. So both the oval lines and the neighbouring lines have to be adjusted. To spare the hasle of sawing, filing, attaching, filling and rescribing the resin part, I could have just rescribed the original part.

Patrick Hagelstein
But.... that's modeling! 😄

Patrick Hagelstein
Bart, you got me thinking... I have another not yet asigned Tamiya F-16C in my stash. I try to get the back rescribed to an F-16AM and will see what I will do with my current Frankenfalcon. I somewhere got a Kinetic F-16D Block 52+ with the spine hump, maybe I can switch back hulls...

Bart Goesaert
Good luck, hope it works

Patrick Hagelstein
I looked into it and the Tamiya and Kinetic parts are interchangeable. I'll switch my Frankenfalcon upper hull with the Kinetic kit, the enlarged spine fits completely over the panels concerned. That way I can put the Kinetic part on that 'old' Block 50. As a youngster I wanted to turn the Tamiya kit into a Greek Block 30. Little did I know about block production back then. But somehow I found out that I needed to alter that kit to get a correct Greek bird. Now, years later I have it still filled with the aftermarket parts I bought back then and a Kinetic kit fit for the job (well, actually an F-16D Block 52+ but still...). The idea is to use the remaining decals for my Desert Rose project and turn it into an Omani Block 50+. That way I can use both the kit and the spare decals. But that's for a later time.... First there is that tail to graft onto my new upper hull! 😉

Patrick Hagelstein
After some meetings and other things connected to work, I finally found some time and, more important, some mojo to get on with the F-16AM. I filled in some F-16C unique panel lines with Deluxe Perfect Plastic Putty. I like this stuff! It is fine, easy to apply and removable with water. I just smear it on the panel lines, wait a while and take it off again wit a damp cotton swab. It just leaves the panel line filled and the surrounding area untouched. Furthermore I cut up a Hasegawa tail to get the base with the para brake housing. The base has a slot where the Tamiya tail piece fits in nicely. Now I have to decide if I cut off the top part to switch it with the Hasegawa part or adjust it to an F-16AM shape.

Konrad -
Hi Patrick Following with interest. I've built this kit years ago. But without aftermarket products just out of the Box. Its a Great Kit.

Patrick Hagelstein
Hi Konrad! Welcome aboard! Yes, the kit is great OOB but there is that Dutch guy wanting to build a Dutch aircraft out of it... The easy way was to just build a USAF F-16C. 😉

Konrad -
Thats of course an issue hard to argue with all the experts here. 🙂. I'm really exited what comes out at the end! I've take a seat and enjoy the show. 👍

ice
That's a nice plastic massacre. I grab myself some popcorn and beer and keep watching. Great work so far! 👍

Patrick Hagelstein
Welcome ice! We won't get any work done though as I am watching your Seahawk with great interest in the meantime. 😉

Stephan Ryll
I'll take a seat Patrick 🙂 - looks like a hell of a job

Patrick Hagelstein
Welcome Stephan! Well....yes, it is! Reading through all my references I still discover new things I have to take into account. The Tamiya kit is a gem but all that doesn't matter when one has to alter all those tiny yet important details. But you guys give me that urge to go on and show some progress. 🙂 Let's build stuff!!!

Michael Phillips
Love watching your progress here, it's like a craftsman at work. Very methodical and precise. My work method feels so haphazard compared to you!

Patrick Hagelstein
Thanks for the compliments Michael! I have to confess I like your way of modeling more, you actually get kits built! Whereas I keep fiddeling with details and waiting to get the 'courage' to take the next step.

Martin Oostrom
So everybody thinks someone else is doing it better. 🙂

Maciej Bellos
In this case Martin, we all either do a good job or a cr@p one :-D

Patrick Hagelstein
😄

Spanjaard
ok, so we just need to be as methodical as Patrick, as productive and organised as Michael, able to make details as Ice (just to name some of those present).... now I am getting depressed.... i will never get to that level 😛 i need some chocolate, or a beer, or both 😛

Spanjaard
or maybe even better, spend more time modelling 😄

Bart Goesaert
@Spanjaard: thespruce.com/best-chocolate-beer-353056

Patrick Hagelstein
😄 😄 😄 Cool! I never knew. Have to try one of those!

Konrad -
Thats crazy in this case i prefer a dram of finest scotish Single malt 🙂. But I'm with you Spajaard those skills are far far away from mine. So I need a second one🙂. Cheers

Martin Oostrom
Modelling = use of sharp knives & (potentially) brain solving stuff. Better leave alcohol out of it. 😉
Spent last Saturday evening in a bar with 100 do-it-yourself beertaps. Nice experience.....or should I say headache generator?

Patrick Hagelstein
Sounds like I should switch hobby! 😄

Spanjaard
some things are meant to be mix, others do not. i agree with Martin.
But while not modelling... why not a good chocolate (come to the dark side....) or a good beer (to the dark side too.... 😛), or any form of liquid/solid pleasure that make us happy (best if legal one😉 )

Spanjaard
and thanks for the link Bart, really interesting 🙂

Michael Phillips
Thanks Patrick for the pic of that brush. I definitely have to get a couple of those, looks perfect for smoothing PPP into crevices!

Patrick Hagelstein
So, it's been a while since I actually sat at my modelling desk... I hoped the Veterans Day weekend would give me some building time but sadly I had to go running and spending time with friends... 😉 Even though, I commited to get some work done on the tail base. It doesn't seem to be that much but there are some slight but very noticable alterations made. Let's hope I can find some more time and show you all some more progress.

Murad ÖZER
amazing work so far Patrick! 👍

Patrick Hagelstein
Youtube Video
It's been a while since I worked on this one. But luckily I found the painting instructions again. 😉

Spanjaard
Great video

Patrick Hagelstein
Thanks! I have a club build to finish first but then a couple of orange birds will have my attention again. 🙂

Patrick Hagelstein
😄

Tzonglin Wu
I think I find the difference that you told me in the 11th photo of this album. This F-16AM owns a very beautiful color scheme. I Look forward to your progress. 👍

Patrick Hagelstein
Yep, that was when I was still frustrated about the Kasl Hobby plug and didn't realize that Kasl was right....for a Block 20. 🙂 This one is shelved but often smiles at me from where it sits in my modeling room. 😉 I really need to restart this one! 😄

bughunter
Very careful and clean work 👍 On your first picture you have only MRP-207, but this is only the bright color. I miss the MRP-206, as on this picture:
[img1]

Patrick Hagelstein
Hi Bughunter, in the meantime I acquired the MRP-206 as well but I doubt if I have a use for it as this is the color for the lion rampant and that one is covered in the excellent Syhart decal set. I might only need it for some touch ups but then it's having my fingers crossed that the decals and MRP-206 exactly match. The other 'mistake' is the Eduard F100-229 engine set as this bird flies with an F100-220(E). The only external (for modelbuilding purposes) difference is the different spray ring but I highly doubt it will be that visible inside that burner can. Two reactions to this build in just a couple of hours.... I really need reconsidering this build and move it up in my building queu. 😉

Patrick Hagelstein
Thanks for this tip Hans! 👍