[Tomcat RIO]

i'm not a viper fan, but this time i think i can do a review. having built, or in the process of building the worst and the best kits on the market, academy's new kit sets new levels of accuracy in this scale. much like their previous release the f-8 crusader, this kit is packed with rivet details and the landing gear and decals provided are crisp and salivating.

on to the pics!
contents of a fresh box.



the sprue layout is simple, 2 frames of weapons and 1 for the airframe and another for the wings.



decal sheet from cartograf is simply worth the kit itself. wolfpack and 79th tiger are the highlights.











the clear canopy comes tinted, but unfortunately has a seam line running straight down the middle ala hasegawa. this makes repairing the sanded down canopy difficult as one has to still match the smoke tint after.



overall, the kit is packed with details, and the weapons and decals make it worth every dollar. i am still building the kit as i speak.

[Tomcat RIO]

started with the exhaust nozzles, since my airbrush was laden with silver paint for the u-2. sharing the colour.



a darker shade for the GE nozzle plug. should be black i realised.


afterburner interior before and after





GE nozzle interior sprayed white, using same technique for my f-14Ds


cockpit is sprayed grey


there is a sink mark on the side of the instrument panel. shouldnt be able to see it once assembled

[Tomcat RIO]

white parts are being sprayed!

front landing door


main landing doors


front bay details


main bay details


all the funny mainbay attachments, showing highly detailed of parts of the mould

[Tomcat RIO]

wheel struts




wheels themselves, showing front and back of the main wheel




intake trunking

[Tomcat RIO]

cockpit tub


tub and side panels installed into upper fuselage



note to future builders there is a ejector pin mark right where the CRT display goes. it is at an almost impossible angle to remove with blades( i slid in from the aft, and slowly saw away thin layers)


the intake subassembly is very snug, relying on precision of fit for everything to go together instead of mating pinholes. it is Definitely LESS FIDDLY THAN the HASEGAWA intake subassembly.






the main wheel bays have also been attached to the underside fuselage. this is similiar to 1/48 and 1/32 scale f-16s, there is no current 72 that produces the entire chunk not already attached or partially attached to the lower or upper fusleage( eg your hase, fujimi, italeri blah blah)

[Tomcat RIO]

upper and lower fuselage are now joined


from the sprue, i found the 4 blade IFF for MLUs, E/Fs and blk 50s+ surprisingly, none of the kit's decal markings have planes which mount the IFF, leading me to the conclusion that academy has another version / release of this kit soon.



the block of plastic is not the best fit still, requiring some sanding to the bottom, as shown above, and when attached to the plane, still leaves a very fine seam that could pass off as a panel line.




cannon muzzle is attached


overall main airframe is completed

[Tomcat RIO]

next up weapons and pylons

the academy kit provides updated pylon structures for the outboard stations such as the Towed decoy system, as well as regular. it offers it as seperate so you can build whichever version u wish.


the mid wing pylon is similiar, in giving an accurate diamond base for late block f-16scjs


all pylons prepared


the alq-88 comes with the nose seperate



the lantirn and the aaq13, quickly done. hasegawa is better looking shapewise, the academy looks too fat and long for both pods. (but maybe i'm too used to lantirn pods from hase)



the pod and rack are attached by a massive gorge, not unlike hasegawa's weapon set version




a set of HARMS. at long last somebody makes a correctly shaped nose for the Harm in 1/72.

[Tomcat RIO]

the wing tanks require slight sanding at the fuel pump circle. ie the red circle decal. this is because some tiny roughness occurs there due to the rivet detail spilling over


the tanks are assemble. some putty and sanding is needed to smooth out the seam lines.



at the same time i also smoothed out the seam line at the tail area


now to the tail and the housing. academy provides both short and long tails, and if u notice, there are 2 pinholes on the extended housing.


and those pinholes are for another part on the sprue, part e-25 on the weapons frame, a seemingly insignificant long chunk of plastic


but , put them together and you have the tail housing for greek, polish, uae, late block C and Es. this confirms my suspiscion that there is going to be a rebox of this kit with probably a new sprue for pratt and whitney nozzles and NSI intakes to make use of these 2 pieces. and from there we can build blk 25 onto blk 52 from the box.

[Tomcat RIO]

working on the canopy

1 huge seam down the middle, similiar to those who have built hasegaw's kit before



sand down with 600 and then 1000 sandpaper


then wet sand with 2000 sandpaper


and polish using cotton pad and tamiya polishing compound



mask


and spray

[Tomcat RIO]

masking the airframe for spraying

wheel bays


cockpit


the nose is sprayed in dark grey


and once dried it is masked. the irritating spike on the f-16's radomes prevent proper masking, but i used tamiya tape and poked right through. this is because later i can handpaint the thing




and the rest of the airframe preshaded




as well as the fuel tanks

[Tomcat RIO]

GE exhaust nozzle cowling rim was sprayed black, then masked and sprayed in aft fuselage colour




at the same time the lantirn pod and aaq 13 was sprayed in the same dark grey as the nose

[Tomcat RIO]

Aegean blue was mixed from gunze h366, a shade similiar to that of dauntless and us navy aircraft in world war 2. a hint of white to highlight.

here the basecoat is h-367, pearl harbour blue. to give a bluish intone to the later colour


aegean blue proper


build up the tone with mutiple shades of aegean, by increasing white density

[Tomcat RIO]

and once the aegean was dried, i started to mask for the slate grey. Greek airplanes are very dirty, and multi-shaded and weathered like tomcats. so i used the 'patch' method from my previous groupbuild

first, the wraparound near the center fuselage was masked and sprayed





followed by wings

[Tomcat RIO]

next the stabilators and rudder




and the main underside puddle



the aft fuselage was sprayed slate grey, then 2 drops of white added to give a lighter tone, and then patched onto the panels

[Tomcat RIO]

and after the slate grey was dry, masked and sprayed the light grey. this i used barley grey for RAF tornados and phantoms, straight from the bottle.







beware of wet paint!

[alrite]

:thumbsup:WOW very swift, clean build there lol

Is it better than the ROG nad Hasegawa kits?

[Tomcat RIO]

all masking removed




intake masking shows no sign of leaks


mask and spray the outer pylon


prepare white parts for another white coat

[Tomcat RIO]

amraam head is sprayed white as well


and the fuel tanks in gunze h-307


and the harm adaptors



amraam heads were then dried and masked, and gunze h-308 was sprayed to the whole body, along with the aim-9s



ejection seat is assembled. the details are better than hasegawa, though it doesnt compare to resin seats, still looks decent, and seat belts are moulded on too.



aim9 head masked and prepared for black spray

[Tomcat RIO]

started post shading, with very thinned dark grey and a steady hand.
my aim was to create a subtle shading around each panel to contrast the lighter spots within.





exhaust interior also recieved enamel wash and streaking of smoke stains

[Tomcat RIO]

tailplane attached to the body


a gloss coat is given, tamiya acrylic clear, to prepare for enamel wash and decals. notice how the tonal shades darken when the clear coat is applied. i took note of this many a time, and deliberately shaded my greek camos slightly lighter in the earlier photos.

here is before the clear coat


here is after the clear coat


thin sludge of enamel given. it flows very nicely along the clear surface into the rivets that academy has provided on this kit.


and the excess is removed with cotton buds dipped in enamel thinner. tamiya enamels does not react with tamiya acrylic, so i am safe.