1/32 Hellenic Air Force F-16D Block 50

[doogsatx]

Now that my Ki-84 is winding down, I finally took some baby steps on my next project - and my first modern aircraft in 20 years.



I was originally drawn to the Greek Vipers on account of their camoflage scheme (a nice reprieve from naptime gray), but the more I dug around, the more interesting things got. Turns out that the Greeks and Turks engage in extremely frequent mock dogfights as the two nations needle each other over the Aegean. So, in a way, these are some of the most active F-16s on the planet.

I'd planned to do a Block 52+ originally, but lack of adequate markings has driven me to embrace the Block 50. I'll be using the Academy Sufa kit...it has basically everything I need, including the drag chute housing on the tail.



Aftermarket is (so far) middle of the road:

- Quickboost control sticks
- Quickboost ejection seats
- Eduard PE interior (an EPIC set)
- Wheeliart wheels (on their way)

I just got a chance to do some work tonight...the extremely exciting task of removing the pour stubs from the bang seats. But they fit amazingly well.





More to come as the Ki-84 moves off the bench...

[bullardino]

Count me in

[deafpanzer]

OUCH! You have definitely lost your mind... it has to be huge! Count me in!

[doogsatx]

It's actually not that big...maybe roughly P-47 sized (longer but with a far narrower wingspan). Next to the F-15 or even the Hornet it's rather small.

[Deleted]

1/32 F-16? Yup I'm in 

[fightnjoe]

looks like you are off and running again. not a modern a/c person but definitely following along on this one.




joe

[venom1]

Sweet as bro! Modern jets is roit up me alley!!

Will be watching this one very keenly indeed....

Cheers,

Sam

[doogsatx]

So...I got up and running on this one, but ran into a wall, bigtime.

The color Eduard PE, that looked so pretty on the fret, looked AWFUL when applied. And of course...you have to sand away ALL of the kit detail to use it, so...swear words.





I was about to shelve the whole thing when I was reminded that Wolfpack makes a resin cockpit for the Sufa kit...so I should be back up on this one sometime next week once mine arrives.

[pantherf]

Looks like you're off to a great start! 

Whew!  Interiors and cockpits... I admire those that do them so well like this is!  I'll be watching this too as the Fighting Falcon is one of my favorite modern aircraft.




Jeff

[pantherf]

As a matter of fact, the work is sick and crazy good man! 

Just so detailed! 





Jeff

[Deleted]

very cool!

[bullardino]

Sorry to hear you were dissatisfied with the PE set, I'm sure the resin 'pit will be outstanding in your hands

[doogsatx]

The Wolfpack cockpit came in today. All I can say is...WOW.





And geez, could they have made the pour block any bigger?



Got that big honker cut off tonight with the Dremel...need to do more cleanup all around on the smaller pieces, which I'm planning to do a bit of over this next week while I work on the MiG-15s. It's too much drudgery for me to devote entire bench sessions to...

[dupes]

You're ditching the Eduard-PE applied pit? Ohhh man. I know a guy who would snap that puppy up in a heartbeat to insert in a certain 1/32 F-16I kit (points thumbs at self).

I mean, I can see what you mean about the Wolfpack resin pit, but it's a shame to let all of that stuff go to waste!

[bullardino]

Defo an upgrade over the original one. Did it have the ejection seats too?

[heico]

Too bad you're not building the Sufa, but a Hellenic can look great too. Especially in 1/32!