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2. By January 2004 things have moved on and
this photo shows the painted cockpit detail. Neither Ejection Seat nor
Canopy are in place yet. Now for the finished result..... |
3. A couple of F-16's await a
mission sitting on ramp during Operation Enduring Freedom in
Afghanistan. In reality you are looking at two F-16 model aircraft in
1/48th scale, both by Hasegawa. The aircraft on the right is the F-16C
which was built between Nov '03 and March '04. |
4. The F-16C depicted is an
aircraft of the 389th Fighter Squadron ("Thunderbolts") from
Mountain Home AFB. The ejection seat is a resin item from
Verlinden and the kit is airbrushed in Xtracolour enamels. Sadly some of
this paint peeled away for the masking tape and had to be re-applied. |
5.
A close up of the
traditional "nose-art" applied to aircraft 401 for the
Afghanistan campaign. The legend reads "We'll Take It From
Here" and depicts a US Marine taking the US flag from a Fire Man
working at Ground Zero - the ill fated Twin Towers destroyed 11/9/2001. |
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6. The ladder is a kit item
that was thinned down for greater scale effect before painting. The
canopy framing is completely scratchbuilt using Verlinden items as
templates. |
7. All the cockpit detail is
scratchbuilt apart from the cockpit walls which are from Model
Technologies. These are, however, very inaccurate and the Verlinden
Items (used on the F-16A model) are far superior. |
8. Note the large number of
mission markings worn by this machine. It was very busy during Operation
"Enduring Freedom" where it dropped many "JDAM" GPS
Guided bombs. |
9.
The finished model is
depicted with a JDAM under each wing. The fit of ASRAAM (Kit Items), on
the wing tips, and the wing tanks is accurate for this theatre of
operations. JDAMs are from Hasegawa's Weapon's Set D |
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10. A lot of effort went into the
undercarriage super-detailing although all the work was done with items
from the spares box. |
11. A nice view of the finished model. The
exhaust nozzle is a Cutting Edge resin item covered in Bare Metal foil. |
12. A view of the underside including
super-detailed undercarriage. Weathering is with oil pastel dust. |
13.
Verlinden's 'Lock On' book for the F-16 was used for all the detail
references. |
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14. This photo is taken in daylight which
gives everything its slightly washed out appearance that you observe
when photographing the real thing. |
15. Pictured here in December
2004 the model is now mounted on its Display Base and has its Name
Plate. All that is left is for the future Ground Equipment to be added... |
16. The Name Plate is a
simple Brass one made by a local Key Cutting service. |
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