'Tigermeet 98' Belgium F-16A

[Vic Balshaw]

Thought I would do something a little different and outside of the GBs. Also to my mind somewhat adventurous when one looks at the decal sheet.

I'm not sure how old this kit is but I've had it in the stash since about late 2003, so the first thing I did was to give the decal sheet a a couple of good coats of Microscale Decal Restorer Film. As for the kit, it is well presented with good detail and so far has gone together with surprising ease.

First stop was to sort out the cockpit, though well detailed and reasonable looking, I did purchase and Eduards PE set just to liven it up a bit.

The seat took about 4 days of small detail work.

Next up will be the rest of the cockpit.

 

[jjp_nl]

Looks neat! Me thinks it would also look great next to an F-16 Tigermeet 2009 We've seen a good many F-16 kits released in this scale as of late (Kinetic comes mind) but for it's day and age this Revell kit was/isn't half bad. Not to mention the decals designed by DACO. They did some interesting things for other companies such as Revell, but also strictly in the after market line of business.

 

[Wayne Little]

Vic, a surprise package! this ought to look great when it's done...

 

[Airframes]

Nice one Vic, ans nice kit too. I was given the same kit, but with the Belgian Spitfire decals - a Spitfire superimposed on the fuselage and wings!
I thought that would be beyond the capabilities of my hands in that scale, so gave the kit to my mate Mick, as it's 'his' scale. Not having done much in 1/72nd scale over the last 20+ years, I was surprised how far things have come, in the way of detail and finesse, in this scale.

 

[tigerdriver]

a pedant might point out vics kit is in 1/48

luckily there are none of those about

pretty funky set of details there, lets hope they play nice !!

 

[Airframes]

Oops! I definitely need new glasses! I read that as 1/72nd scale for some reason - thought it was unusual for Vic to do 'tiny tot' scale! Therefore, ignore all in my previous post!

 

[Rogi]

I have/had almost all the variants of the F-16 in their 1/72 kit, really nice gems those kits I'm eager to see how the 1/48 turns out.

Is there a seam in the canopy on this kit in 1/48 ?

 

[woody]

Nice start Vic Paint scheme should be fun.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Many thanks folks, it is a nice looking kit, but the decals worry me……...

a pedant might point out vics kit is in 1/48

luckily there are none of those about

pretty funky set of details there, lets hope they play nice !!

Thanks also Dave, I've gone and amended the title so that it reflects the scale.

I have/had almost all the variants of the F-16 in their 1/72 kit, really nice gems those kits I'm eager to see how the 1/48 turns out.

Is there a seam in the canopy on this kit in 1/48 ?

Karl, in this instance the canopy is one nice clear and smooth piece of plastic which also forms part of the cockpit fuselage. I do also have another F-16 Tamiya 1/48 kit, this one from 1976 with a really nice seam on the canopy. This one came with the Stars and Stripes decal sheet but I think it is way beyond use now.


I was reading last night about the decals for the Tiger which I can state I'm not looking forward to doing. The reports I read stated that the kit decals were a bit of a pain and easily fractured even when newish back in 2000. I also found out (god bless the internet) that Daco who designed the original for Revell were going to release their own aftermarket set for all three scales. So I went hunting for their site only to find that they were recording these as 'SOLD OUT'. Just for curiosity though I drilled down on the item number and there it was stated that they had less than 10 in stock.

Needless to say a quick email was drafted to Daco and the reply this morning was all good news. So now I have an order in for one 1/48 scale set. I have used Daco before on a couple of civil airliners and they are a good solid decal though they can be a little too solid and not settle well over detail. But they will be a good reserve if things go wrong.

 

[N4521U]

Nice start Vic. Now I know why you wanted to know about black!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Yes Bill, got over it though, just added a touch of medium to dark grey, worked a treat.

 

[Crimea_River]

Should be good Vic.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks for looking in folks and for the kind words, I just hope it will turn out as it looks on the box lid.

Have managed to stick a few more bits of the cockpit together over the last couple of days and was able to get my order in and confirmed for the extra set of decals. I think I'm going to need them and I'm even contemplating making up a set of my own, maybe I'll just get a template ready, just in case.

So here is today's progress.

 

[Rogi]

Looking great I like the grey and tad weathering in the tub

Aye the seam haunts the 1/48 Hasegawa Falcons as well, glad to hear Revell has changed it up a bit

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks for looking in guys.

Work in progress has seen the white painting taken care of and getting the fuselage all glued up. Being a black plastic, she is looking a little worse for wear at the moment but this will soon be rectified.

 

[Crimea_River]

Very sharp Vic. Black plastic looks odd don't it!

 

[meatloaf109]

Don't know how I missed this, it is looking great!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks Andy and Paul.

Very sharp Vic. Black plastic looks odd don't it!

Tis also a pain to work with, it's very soft!

 

[Rogi]

Very cool Light grey, or dark grey plastic on F-16s is my fav

 

[Gerry]

Looking good Vic. Be interesting to see how the decals perform.