[dmthamade]

Hello all!! joining the GB with a F-16I Sufa in 1/32. Built a Barak earlier this year, want a stablemate for it. The Sufa is covered with lumps, bumps, scoops, pods, definitley a far cry from the sleek clean shape of the original F-16. Looks more like a lethal warplane this way. The basic build will be OOB including decals with aftermarket seats and Spice bombs. I won't be doing anything to fix the well known and documented inaccuracies of the kit, will concentrate on building instead. The Barak i built from the Academy 1/32 F-16CG and the Sufa kit is the same basic kit so the build should go smooth. Will need to work on joints as the kit isn't as precise as a Tamiya kit but basic work should do it. Kit comes in a big box full of plastic, will have a lot of spares left over with lots of spare weapons. Will post progress pics as i go.

on

[Wolfgun33]

Sounds cool. Can't wait to see your build.

[dmthamade]

Small update today. I wanted to see how the spine housing and conformal tanks fitted so i went ahead and fitted them on. The fit was pretty good, not needing much more than sanding the edges and minor clamping. The tanks have a noticable seam on the real plane, so no putty is needed to fair them in. The spine fit well enough that clamping was enough. There is a spot at the front where the canopy sits that could use fill, though i think an open canopy may hide this area.
I also Managed to assemble and fit the intake duct, lower fuselage/inlet assembly, and main gear well. All these parts interact with each other so dry fitting is important for a good fit. The fit is good enough you won't need fill here, i had to use some Mr. Surfacer 500 on the inlet, otherwise it's been fill-free. Will fit the wing upper parts next, also have to start painting the cockpit, not my favorite task. Waiting for some seats from Sprue Bros. to see how they fit in case some trimming is needed. Few pics for the night.






Don

[Wolfgun33]

Looking very nice Don.

[dmthamade]

Slowly plugging away at the build, i have the base paint on the cockpit parts, just have to seal and weather it. Painted the exhaust parts and weathered using washes, MiG Pigments and Tamiya makeup. The tailfeathers are carbon fiber on the real thing, i used Tamiya XF-86 Dark Iron to paint them. Will probably have the tub finished today, then i will be able to glue the upper and lower fuselage halves together. Some pics for the day.








Don

[#1 Greywolf]

Oh yeah!!!....this is going to be an arse punting build, the exhausts are KA and then some.

[Wolfgun33]

Wow!! You gotta tell me how you did that exhaust. That's just incredible!!!

[dmthamade]

#1 Greywolf, on 10 April 2012 - 06:23 PM, said:

Oh yeah!!!....this is going to be an arse punting build, the exhausts are KA and then some.

Wolfgun33, on 11 April 2012 - 12:57 AM, said:

Wow!! You gotta tell me how you did that exhaust. That's just incredible!!!

The exhausts really aren't hard to do. I can put together a show and tell, post it by the weekend. I got a package from Sprue Bros. today, the ejection seats from Legends and Spice bombs from Isracast arrived. I trimmed the casting plug from the seat and... they fit in the tub!! Lately i've been getting seats from well known manufacturers that were either undersize or too big, these ones look good fit wise. The moulding isn't as sharp as others i've seen, seems like i can't get all in one seat. The pit got a simple paint/wash/drybrush. I don't spend a lot of times on the pits anymore, just don't have the skills to do them right.





The fit between the upper and lower fuselage needed a lot of clamping for proper alignment, didn't have this problem with my Barak. I think gluing the conformal tanks and spine on caused the upper to warp probably due to misalignment on my part.

This came in the package as well.



Has nothing to do with this build, just happy that i was finally able to pick up a cowl assembly with proper flaps for the Trumpeter kit. I'll bet'cha Tamiya comes out with a Corsair, now.

Don

[Netz]

You missed your punch marks.
Curt

[dmthamade]

Netz, on 11 April 2012 - 02:00 AM, said:

You missed your punch marks.
Curt

Yeah, i know... Ya better believe it drives me nuts a little. I have to say, i allow myself to make mistakes building, i allow at least 2 to 3......hundred per build. I figure that's a good margin . The pin marks wouldn't be too hard to fix, i'll think about getting rid of them.

Don

[dmthamade]

Well, i never got around to doing an exhaust show and tell. I've been down with the flu so until tonight i haven't done much. I did manage to attach some of the lumps and bumps plus some subassemblies. Will hopefully post some pics tomorrow.

Don

[Wolfgun33]

dmthamade, on 15 April 2012 - 04:31 AM, said:

Well, i never got around to doing an exhaust show and tell. I've been down with the flu so until tonight i haven't done much. I did manage to attach some of the lumps and bumps plus some subassemblies. Will hopefully post some pics tomorrow.

Don

No problem. I haven't even started my Viper yet. Hope you get to felling better.

[dmthamade]

OK, did manage to get some stuff together. To do the exhaust, i use the weathering materials in pic below.



To apply the MiG powdwers i use these brushes. These are used just for weathering. The large brushes are used to blend in the colors.



I start off by getting references to the particular engine i'm doing. These parts are for a GE F110 in an F-16. Basic paint is done next, the inside of the tailpipe and exhaust can getting a coat of flat white. The flame holder and rear turbine get a coat of XF-56 Tamiya Metallic Grey.




The flame holder and rear turbine get a wash of Promodeller Dark Dirt.

[dmthamade]

On the rear turbine, i use the Tamiya make-up kit A. The center bullet gets a coat of light sand and mud.



The flame holder is next. Using the Tamiya kit D and using the supplied applicator, apply Burnt Blue over the whole part, then spot apply the Burnt red, then spot apply the oil stain. Using the applicator, blend the colors together. Blue should be the prevailing color here.



this isn't a great pic.



This was done for my Barak, gives a better idea what your're looking for.



Last step is to take the MiG Pigments Black smoke and apply to holder. Blend in with large brush. Pic above is the finished part. You can go back and add more blue or red.

This post has been edited by dmthamade: 15 April 2012 - 10:13 PM

[dmthamade]

Inside the exhaust can i start with Tamiya make-up burnt blue on the front of the can.



Next i apply oil stain and blend the two together.



The rear of the can is done with MiG Pigments Vietnam Earth. Check refs, the petals seem to alternate between dark and light. I applied the powders here with the angled chisel tip brush.



The section on the right gives a better idea of what i'm trying to accomplish. Use large brush to blend together.

Last is to take black smoke pigment and blend into the entrance to the can, over the area you had done the burnt blue/oil stain and blend in.

[dmthamade]

The tailpipe is first coated with the Vietnam Earth Pigment.



Then checking refs to see how the pipe gets scorched, start applying the Black smoke.



Add more smoke and blend with big brush.



Do final touchups, adding and blending where needed and assemble parts.







Done. This was done quickly, the smoke needs more work at blending. This pic is from my Barak, same engine and techniques.







HTH. Don

[Wolfgun33]

Awesome!! Thanks for doing the tutorial. I just got back into the hobby a couple of years ago and I'm still learning how to do things like that.

[dmthamade]

Wolfgun33, on 15 April 2012 - 10:48 PM, said:

Awesome!! Thanks for doing the tutorial. I just got back into the hobby a couple of years ago and I'm still learning how to do things like that.

Hope it helps. Really not difficult to do. Have done a little on the build, mostly small stuff. Still have some lumps, bumps and PE to add to the main airframe, then i will do work on the landing gear. I'm hoping to have all subassemblies done so i can prime them this weekend. Pic shows what i have assembled, basically have one semi complete parts sprue to build. I think the hardest things to build will be the Isracast Spice guided bombs. Parts look not too bad but what i see are no real locators for all the fins (12 on each bomb) and not all at the same angles.



Don

[dmthamade]

Well, i finally have everything glued onto the airframe. I have to say i really dislike working with photo etch. The stuff included in the kit is very thick and difficult(for me) to work with. There is a piece that goes on the rear fuselage that has to be rolled into a curve to fit on the fuselage. As many times i tried i could not get it to curve smoothly, even heating it up did not anneal it enough to curve easily. I finally gave up and made a piece from sheet styrene, glued in place, then glued a dome onto it. There were pieces on the fuselage sides that installed easily, though the ones near the tailplane were a little oversize. After that i gave the plane a coat of primer along with the missiles, pylons, seats and drop tanks. Couple of pics that show the piece i had to make.



The piece on the left is the PE piece i couldn't get to work, replacement on the right. Pic below shows part in place.



Overall primered plane pic



Also had a look at the Spice bombs. Cut the pour stubs from the three main parts, cleaned them up, dryfitted them. Pic below shows what i have.



Notice the poor alignment of the tailpiece on the right? These things are going to need a lot of work. I think i'll use two part epoxy putty to assemble and straighten them up. I was wrong about the fins as there are scribed lines on the parts to locate the fins, still think they're gonna be a pain to do.

Don

[Wolfgun33]

It's really looking good. Nice fix on that PE piece. I'll be using PE for the first time on my Viper as well.