1:72 F-16D Block 40, Ukrainian Air Force, 2017

Dizzyfugu · October 03, 2020, 08:00:59 AM

Grey-in-grey, part III. A rather ugly piece - actually a kitbaqshing (see below)! But here's a 1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some background:
After the Ukrainian independence in 1991, the Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny) was established on March 17, 1992, in accordance with a Directive of the General Staff Chief of the Armed Forces. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, many aircraft were left on Ukrainian territory, including a wide range of fighters and attack aircraft, helicopters and even strategic bombers, and these became the initial equipment. Ever since, the Ukrainian air force has been downsizing and upgrading its forces, but for many years the main inventory still consisted of Soviet-made aircraft.

Following the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution and subsequent March 2014 Russian annexation of the Crimea peninsula and the following violence and insurgency in east Ukraine, the Ukrainian government tried to increase its defense spending and capabilities. Returning equipment (of Russian origin, though) to service was a key part of the spending drive, but in parallel attempts were made to procure flying material from Western sources in order to become moer and more independent from the obtrusive neighbor. In April 2014 two MiG-29 aircraft were restored to flight on short notice and in August a decommissioned An-26 transport aircraft was restored to active service by a volunteer group. On 5 January 2015 the air force received another 4 restored airplanes, two MiG-29s and two Su-27s, as well as two Mi-8 and Mi-2 helicopters. However, since these aircraft had already accumulated a considerable number of flying hours, this could only have been an interim solution and the Ukraine turned directly to NATO for material support.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

This politically highly delicate help was eventually granted in the form of eight General Dynamics F-16 C (six) and D (two) multi-role fighters of early Block 40 standard, leased from the U.S.A. and diverted from active aircraft which were about to become surplus stock and mothballed, anyway.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon itself was a single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as a light air superiority day fighter as a complement to the heavier F-15 Eagle interceptor, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,600 aircraft were built since production was approved in 1976. In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation, which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta.
Although no longer being purchased by the launch customer, the U.S. Air Force, improved versions are still being built for export customers – the F-16 has been procured to serve in the air forces of 25 other nations all around the world, making it one of the world's most numerous fixed-wing aircraft in military service.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The Fighting Falcon's key features include a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while maneuvering, an ejection seat reclined 30 degrees from vertical to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire flight control system which helps to make it an agile aircraft. The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and the advanced C/D version features a total of 11 locations for mounting weapons and other mission equipment.

The eight machines for the Ukraine arrived in June 2016 via direct transfer flights over the Atlantic and Western Europe. The former USAF machines were delivered "as is", even though they had some state-of-the-art avionics replaced by less sensitive alternatives from older F-16 production blocks. Together with the fighters, an undisclosed number of AIM-9M Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles were delivered, but the leasing agreement did not include LANTIRN pods that would provide the F-16C/D with improved all-day/all-weather strike capability. Other equipment like ECM pods was also not included. Service, maintenance and logistics for the new type in Ukrainian service was, due to the small operational number, secured with the help of the Polish air force, which had been operating 48 F-16C/D+ Block 52 fighters since 2006 and had the required experience and facilities at its 31st Tactical Air Base in Poznań-Krzesiny.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Upon arrival, the aircraft were immediately re-painted in a striking digital camouflage and received non-consecutive tactical codes, apparently based on the airframe's former U.S. serial numbers, using the last two digits. They were all allocated to the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, based at Vasylkiv air base, south of Kiev, where they replaced a number of outdated and partly grounded MiG-29 fighters. They were exclusively tasked with aerial defense of the Ukrainian capital city – also as a political sign that the machines were not intended for attack missions.

Since their introduction, the Ukrainian F-16s have been fulfilling QRA duties and airspace patrol, and the corresponding maintenance infrastructure has been gradually built up, so that F-16 operations became independent from Poland in 2019. With the worsening relationship to Russia, more military hardware of Western origin is expected to enter Ukrainian service. If the tight Ukrainian defense budget allows it, twenty more 2nd hand F-16s are to be delivered in 2021 to replace more Soviet fighter types (primarily the rest of the Ukrainian MiG-29 "Fulcrum" single and two seater fleet), and the procurement of LANTIRN pods to expand the type's capabilities is under consideration and negotiations, too.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

General characteristics:
Length: 49 ft 5 in (15.06 m)
Wingspan: 32 ft 8 in (9.96 m)
Height: 16 ft (4.9 m)
Wing area: 300 sq ft (28 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 64A204
Empty weight: 18,900 lb (8,573 kg)
Gross weight: 26,500 lb (12,020 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 42,300 lb (19,187 kg)
Internal fuel capacity: 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg)

Powerplant:
1× General Electric F110-GE-100 afterburning turbofan
with 17,155 lbf (76.31 kN) dry and 28,600 lbf (127 kN) thrust with afterburner

Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.05 at altitude in clean configuration
Mach 1.2, 800 kn (921 mph; 1,482 km/h) at sea level
Combat range: 295 nmi (339 mi, 546 km) on a hi-lo-hi mission with 4x 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs
Ferry range: 2,277 nmi (2,620 mi, 4,217 km) with drop tanks
Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,000 m) plus
g limits: +9.0 (limited by flight control system)
Rate of climb: +50,000 ft/min (250 m/s)
Wing loading: 88.3 lb/sq ft (431 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 1.095 (1.24 with loaded weight & 50% internal fuel)

Armament:
1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan 6-barrel rotary cannon with 511 rounds
2× wing-tip air-to-air missile launch rails plus 6× under-wing
and 3× under-fuselage pylon (2 of these for sensors) stations
with a capacity of up to 17,000 lb (7,700 kg) of a wide range of stores

The kit and its assembly:
I am not a big F-16 fan, but in some cases it's an unavoidable canvas – just like in this case here. This fictional aircraft model (or better: this model of a [yet] fictional F-16 operator) was spawned by two ideas. One was the simple question: what if the Ukraine had after the USSR's dissolution chosen a stronger attachment to (old) Western forces after the dissolution of the USSSR? And/or: what if the Ukraine had started to procure non-Russian equipment, esp. aircraft? So, what would an Ukrainian F-16 might have looked like, in general but esp. after the Crimea annexation in 2014 when such a scenario had become even more possible?
The other source of inspiration was a picture of an Ukrainian Su-24 with grey digital camouflage, a scheme that was/is also worn by some Su-25s. When I stumbled upon an Authentic Decals sheet for this unique paint scheme that allows to apply the complex and delicate pattern through water-slide transfers, I thought that the relatively "flat" F-16 surface would be an ideal basis to try this stunt?

What sounded like a very simple livery whif on an OOB model turned into a construction nightmare. Originally, this project provided me with a purpose for a dubious Trumpeter F-16 kit that I had bought some years ago – dead cheap, but righteously so. This kit is cruel, the model even has no concrete variant specification and is apparently the re-boxing of a kit from an obscure Chinese company called "Income". Effectively, the Trumpeter F-16 is a rip-off of Italeri's quite nice F-16C/D kit – but the Income/Trumpeter clone comes with MUCH deeper engravings esp. on the fuselage that remind a lot of the dreaded Matchbox "trenches". Everything is rather "soft" and toylike, the clear parts are poor and the (few) decals look like toy stickers (!!!). I'd call it crude, even the instructions are apparently poor scans or photocopies from the Italeri kit, including hints for detail painting with no corresponding reference what colors should be used at all... All that could have been overlooked, but after starting with the kit I could not commit myself to use it any further. It's rare that I give up because of a kit's basis!

Next idea to "save" the project's idea of an Ukrainian F-16 was to dig out a surplus Intech F-16 from the pile, also bought long ago because it was cheap, as conversion fodder. This kit has also been re-released in infinite variations under the Mister-/Mastercraft label. Upon closer inspection this kit turned out to have massive flaws, too, but in different areas from the Trumpeter thing. For instance, the Intech kit's wings are utterly thick, certainly 1mm thicker than the Trumpeter model's parts. This does not sound much, but on the really thin F-16 wings and stabilizers this looks really awful! Furthermore, the clear parts had not been fully molded, so I'd have needed a replacement canopy, anyway. Again, I gave up on building...

...until I decided to make the best of this mess and combine the "best" parts from both gimp models, trying to mend the worst flaws to an acceptable level. This led to the glorious kitbashing that this model eventually became! From the Intech kit I took the acceptable fuselage, including cockpit interior, air intake and landing gear, as well as the fin and the weapon pylons. The Trumpeter kit donated its thinner wings and the stabilizers, as well as the much better open exhaust nozzle (there's an optional closed one, too; the Intech kit only offers an open nozzle, without ANY surface detail at all, it's just a blank pipe!).

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Beyond these basic ingredients, some more donors became necessary: All clear parts from both Intech and Trumpeter kit turned out to be rubbish for various reasons. The decision to build an F-16D two-seater was dictated by the fact that I had a leftover canopy from an Italeri F-16 kit in the donor bank – luckily it fitted well to the Intech kit's body. Two crewmen from the spares box populate the cockpit and hide the rather basic interior, which was not improved at all. Furthermore, the ordnance came from external sources, too. The characteristic drop tanks with their cut-off tails were also leftover parts from the Italeri F-16, all AAMs come from a Hasegawa weapon set.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some PSR was necessary to blend the parts from different kits together – thankfully, almost all F-16 kits are constructed in a similar fashion, even though there are small detail differences. In this case, the wings had to be slightly modified to fit onto the Intech fuselage. However, even those parts from the original kit(s) that are supposed to fit, e.g. the fin or the alternative cockpit opening frames for the optional single- and two-seater canopies, do hardly match at all. Horrible.

I rather focused on the model's exterior, and a personal addition to improve the overall look of the otherwise rather basic/poor model, I added some small blade antennae that were totally missing on either model. Another extra detail are the small static dischargers on the trailing edges, created with thin, heated sprue material. Only small details, but they improve IMHO the model's look considerably.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Painting and markings:
Until today, I never dared to apply decal camouflage to a model, but I expected that the flat/smooth F-16 surface would make this stunt relatively easy. This application method would also make painting the model easy, since only a single, uniform color had to be laid down from above and below.
To my surprise, the painting instructions of the Authentic Decals sheet for a number of Ukrainian Su-25 (which all carry the same standardized pixel camouflage) indicated RAL tones – a little surprising, but: why not? Since no other authentic color references were available, I cross-checked the paint suggestions with real life pictures of Su-24s and -25s in this striking paint scheme, and the indicated tones appear very plausible.

The problem: not every RAL tone is available as a model paint, so I had to make guesstimates. This eventually led to Modelmaster 2133 (Fulcrum Grey) as a light grey overall basis (suggested: RAL 7030 Achatgrau/Agate Grey, a tone with a brownish hue) from above and Humbrol 47 (Sea Blue Gloss) for a pale blue underside. The recommendation for the belly is RAL 7001 (Silbergrau/Silver Grey, very close to FS 36375), and this appears plausible, too, even though real-life pictures suggest a more bluish tone. But for a more dramatic look and some color contrast to the upper side's all-grey I deliberately settled upon the Humbrol color, and this looks IMHO good.
The other suggested grey tones that make up the pixel patterns are RAL 7040 (Fenstergrau/Window Grey), RAL 7037 (Staubgrau/Dust Grey) and RAL 7043 (Verkehrsgrau B/Traffic Grey).

The cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (FS 36231, Humbrol 140), the air intake and the landing gear in white (Humbrol 22). The exhaust nozzle was painted externally with individual Metallizer mixes (with blue and gold added), while the inside was painted with Burnt Steel Metallizer towards the afterburner section while the ceramic nozzle petals were painted in a pale, almost white grey with darker lines, applied wet-in-wet. This looks pretty good – but does not withstand a closer inspection, just like the rest of this Franken-bashed F-16 thing.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Applying the digital camouflage pattern went better than expected. The decals turned out to be very thin and delicate, though, with almost no excessive clear film outside of the printed areas, so that application had to be executed swiftly and with lots of water to slide them into place. Nothing for modelers who are faint at heart! Because the single pixel clouds partly follow the Su-25 outlines, the decals had partly to be tailored to the rather different F-16 shape, and due to the different proportions I also had to improvise with the material at hand – fortunately the Su-25 sheet offered enough material to cover the F-16! Some small areas lacked decal material and had to be filled through painting, though, with replacement model paints for the aforementioned darker RAL greys, namely Humbrol 246 (RLM 75) and a 2:1 mix of Humbrol 125 and 67. The lightest grey on the prints turned out to be very close to the Fulcrum Grey, so there's unfortunately very little contrast, and this only became clear after the decals had already dried. However, I left it that way, because lightening the Fulcrum Grey up further would have been a quite messy affair, ending in a rather dirty look that I wanted to avoid, and it had called for an almost white tone.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Another challenge became the weathering process, since I normally apply a black ink wash and some post-panel shading to the finished and painted model before I add the decals to a model. Fearing that the ink might creep under the decals' clear sections, I left that step out completely. The delicate static dischargers were another complicating factor. So, I decided to finish the upper camouflage with the light grey base and the decals cammo first. This made trimming down excess decal material easier. After that had been roughly finished, the dischargers were added and the underside was painted blue. On top of that came the "normal" decals with national markings, codes and stencils. The latter were mostly taken from a vintage Microscale F-16 sheet, the tactical code came from a Begemot Ka-27 sheet. Since the bort number on the air intake was not well visible frame every angle, I added a white 77 to the fin, too. Thereafter I added some panel lines with the help of thinned black ink and a soft pencil. This way the model appears pretty clean, and I think that's fine since many recent Ukrainian aircraft I know from pictures look well-tended. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish overall.

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 40; aircraft "77 Red" (ex USAF s/n 90-0777) of the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, Ukrainian Air Force (Повітряні Сили України, Povitryani Syly Ukrayiny); Vasylkiv Air Base (Kiev Oblast), 2017 (Whif/Kitbashing) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

A simple F-16 in alternative markings – that's what this model was supposed to be. I did not expect that the building phase would become such a challenge, and I'd sincerely recommend to any modeler who wants to build a "serious" F-16 in 1:72 to stay away from the Trumpeter and the Intech/Mister-/Mastercraft kits. They might be cheap, but that does not outweigh their flaws and building troubles.
Beyond these technical issues, I like the look of this "Ukrainized" Viper, the digital camouflage looks very special and works well on the aircraft. The light grey base could have been lighter, though. In fact, the F-16 now looks like an exaggerated U.S. Aggressor on first sight, but with the Ukrainian markings the whole thing looks pretty different and conclusive - a "what if" in the best sense.

But the outcome is rather poor, if not ugly. $:-\$

Pellson · October 03, 2020, 08:27:14 AM

That's impressive! And not even monochrome due to the insignia..

Gondor · October 03, 2020, 09:07:11 AM

Another different yet great looking aircraft Dizzy

Gondor

Dizzyfugu · October 03, 2020, 09:23:23 AM

Thank you, but please do not look too closely at this abomination...

PR19_Kit · October 03, 2020, 09:47:10 AM

It makes my eyes go all skew-whiff, but it's a great model, and something that may just happen before too long.

NARSES2 · October 04, 2020, 05:53:49 AM

The US Air Attaché in the Kiev Embassy is probably at this very moment saying to his Ukrainian contact "see, told you it would look good"

That looks really good Dizzy

DogfighterZen · October 04, 2020, 08:21:34 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on October 04, 2020, 05:53:49 AM
That looks really good Dizzy

Sure does!

I've also thought of that before and went as far as saving a (IIRC) Mig-29 decal sheet on my watch list but never got around to actually ordering it. You've done a good job on that but those kits...

Glenn Gilbertson · October 04, 2020, 09:14:50 AM

That looks great!

sideshowbob9 · October 04, 2020, 09:54:01 AM

Now he's just showing off!

su27rules · October 04, 2020, 10:36:52 AM

Very nice.

nighthunter · October 04, 2020, 02:49:56 PM

Heh, makes me wonder what a F/A-18C would look like in UkAF camo

Dizzyfugu · October 04, 2020, 11:39:27 PM

Thanks a lot everyone, glad you like this experiment. I also never got the buzz about digital/pixel camouflage. The US Army experimented with it, and it did not catch on, and I cannot see any major benefit on an aircraft. A disruptive scheme is easier to achieve, IMHO it's rather fashionable than effective/worth the effort?

Snowtrooper · October 05, 2020, 02:17:54 AM

Amazing what you've done, considering the source "material"!

The blank afterburner is the worst part of Mistercraft F-16 kits, otherwise they could be a reasonable source of parts for silly whiffs. At least some of them have a passable decal sheet (which are unsurprisingly extremely uneven quality)...

1:72 F-16D Block 40, Ukrainian Air Force, 2017

sideshowbob9