F-16D Vipers

F-16D Vipers

I had a couple of Hasegawa F-16 B and D kits that I wanted to make with less than typical light dark gray camouflage. I found the Caracal Models sheet CD 72 150 decals for making Mig Killer in a desert inspired camo and also new all camouflage gray markings, Mig Killer is a small mouth block 40 F-16D piloted by Lt Gary North during the first gulf war, He shot down an Iraqi Mig 25 using an AIM 120 which were the first kills for an F-16 and the AIM 120. To commemorate this the aircraft was subsequently painted in a desert inspired paint scheme. Although the kits are a B and D on examination they are the same kit with different decals so I am sure there might be details missing from actual aircraft

The other F-16 D I decided to make was a big mouth block 50 aircraft operated by the Minnesota National Guard. I was attracted to the tail bulldog graphic and it's one of the few National Guard units with a Suppression enemy of Air Defense (SEAD) mission using HARM missiles.

I built both mostly out of the box with the block 50 craft being modified with a big mouth outlet and associated exhaust nozzle from unused parts from the Hasegawa F-16 CJ block 50 kit. I also intended to build them with the cockpits closed so the cockpits are stock with the exception of painted on seat harnesses. Both models were sprayed with Tamiya primer before finish coats and panel lines were darkened using pencil.

I finished the Minn ANG F-16 with Vallejo Air Camouflage gray (36170) and Neutral gray (36270) equivalents. I did light base coats to allow the darken pencil lines to show through. Then the decals were applied and a Tamiya semi gloss coat applied, Weapons Harms, AIM 9Ms and AIM 120 were used from the F-16 CJ kit. I purposely keep the airframe minimally weathered to depict a newly painted aircraft.

Mig killer's finish was more complicated and I used MRP dark yellow (33448) and MRP sand (33711) for the top coats and Vallejo Air Light ghost gray (36375) for the underside and Neutral gray (36270) for the radome. I tried to free hand the upper side camouflage pattern first and I was not really happy with it. Although it looked Ok the edges were too soft and the dark yellow seemed to light. At this point I decided to invest in a new F-16 D kit and to finish it using masks from enlarged (108%) templates from copies of the Carcal diagrams. Since the dark yellow was the minor color I also used this as the base color to minimize the masks I needed to make. I attached my paper masks with blue tack. I sprayed the Sand color over the masks. This worked better and I was happy with the sharper edges and also the colors seemed closer to the Carcal depiction as well as images of the aircraft. The pencil darking did not work on this upper surface as well as the Minn ANG craft. I applied Tamiya semi gloss, added the decals, sealed them with another semi gloss coat and applied Vallejo panel line wash using a fountain pen. Inert GBU-12, AIM 9Ms and AIM I20s were used from various Hasegawa weapons sets to depict an aircraft on display.