Cheers to all of you
fellow modelers. This time I would like to present to you yet another
“VIPER” This particular aircraft is representing the first F16N that the USN
received. But to make matters a bit more complicated, it is not in the usual USN
scheme that we are used to seeing on USN birds and on top of that this
really is not a F16N.
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In reality this is
an F16C loaned by the USN from USAF. In 1986 the USN wanted to show the new F16N
the public. The upcoming airshow in Pensacola FL, in May 1986 was a perfect time
to do so. Unfortunately there were no real F16N available. To satisfy the goal
of displaying the F16N the USN loaned an F16C from the USAF, painted on the
Bu-No. of the first coming N (163268), applied the insignia of the units
destined to receive the N on the tail fin and a badge of the 75th anniversary of
Naval Aviation on both sides of the air intake and placed it on display on May
9th 1986 in Pensacola. (This information was obtained from Andrew D. The Jolly
Rogers Guy. It is amazing what amount of information someone has on one
particular aircraft. Thanks Andrew D.)
So this was a nice
and interesting topic for my Academy F16. I like to build unusual paint schemes,
but also wanted a break from often complicated Aggressor paint schemes. Since I
bought the model already with the Superscale 48-419 set containing the above
mentioned bird I had to build it.
The model from
Academy is quite nice I would say. To me it has two flaws: the cockpit is just a
decal (well a very ugly decal on top of that) and the decals themselves for a
“Peppermint Patty” are unusable. The second flaw is the fit of the front
inside of the air intake, but since I was planning on covering it anyway, this
did not bother me at all. Besides these two “inconveniences” the model is
superb. I is a very nice alternative to
Hasegawa. The fit of the model is great I had to use filler only on the
wing-to-fuselage joint and filling the extremely oversized wing pylon holes.
The cockpit was a challenge. I
did not want to invest into a resin set or photo etch since the model cost me
only 7$. My modeling buddy told me that I saved a lot on the model so I should
invest in aftermarket but I wanted to try some scratch building. Well, it is not
a 100% accurate F16 cockpit, but I think it is a lot better than a decal. Make
your judgment by taking a look.
The seat is OOB, added seatbelts with wire buckles. The rest of the build was
pretty much straight forward. Just added some detail to the wheel wells and the
Viper was ready for paint.
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I have decided to try some
pre-shading, which worked very well on the light gray. It is not as prominent on
the darker gray, but still worked.
Well all in all this was a very enjoyable build. I hope you will like the
unusual F16N bearing in mind that no real F16N actually flew in these markings.
Feel free to drop me an e-mail with your feedback (hajecekj@volny.cz)
Cheers,
Jarda Hajecek,
Prague CZ.
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