1/72 Revell F-16C Block 25 Vermont ANG part 12

Gallery Article by Andrew Desautels  (a.k.a. "Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy") on Dec 4 2020 

 

      

The Vermont Air National Guard was founded in 1947 as the 134th Fighter Squadron. Based in Burlington, Vermont, they were tasked with the air defense of the Northeastern United States, and a secondary mission of ground attack. 

In 2015 I decided to undertake the building of their entire aircraft history in 1/72, as they are based in my birth city. This was ambitious since no decals exist for most of their aircraft as of this writing, leaving me to test the limits of my resourcefulness. 

In 1994 the Green Mountain Boys upgraded from F-16A’s to more sophisticated F-16C’s. Thus began a 25 year association with the C’s, initially with P&W powered Block 25’s, and eventually with more advanced GE-powered big-mouth intake airfames. 

All in all, various subtypes of F-16’s (A’s and C’s) graced the 134th’s flight line for an astonishing 33 years. 

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This build is an unusually well-worn Vermont bird as photographed in action over the Middle East war zone in 2008. 

Unusual aspects of this aircraft are: 

  • Very large repainted dark gray area of the fuselage including one of the horizontal stabilizers 

  • Replacement canopy with non-matching camouflage pattern 

  • Light gray replacement panel at trailing edge of starboard/right wing 

  • Left wing tank is 36375 (lighter) front half, 36270 (darker) rear half, with darker gray touchup spray around the filling points of the lighter half 

The challenge: There is no truly accurate P&W powered Block 25 F-16C in 1/72. So I took the following route: 

  • Base kit: Revell 1/72 F-16A 

  • Hasegawa F-16C tail 

  • Hasegawa AMRAAM wingtip rails 

  • Scratchbuilt "beer can" antennae on wings 

  • AIRES afterburner/exhaust (ALCLAD paintwork) 

  • Metal pitot 

  • Hasegawa F-16-style TER

  • Attack Squadron GBU-32 

  • Hasegawa GBU-12's & AN-AAQ-28 

  • Tamiya AIM-120's 

  • Wolfpak decals (72-041) 

I’m thrilled with the final result, with the Aires exhaust being a major eye-catcher. Now if only someone would produce 1/72 decals of Vermont's big-mouthed GE-powered Vipers, the gap in my collection could be filled! (Please! Really!) 

Next time is Vermont ANG part 13: F-35A Lightning. 

Andrew Desautels

Click on images below to see larger images

 

Photos and text © by Andrew Desautels