Spanish F-16 spotted!

[Shasper]

Spanish F-16 seen here:

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Photostory/FranciscoLara/f16/f16.html


Shas

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Very nice but a wee bit TOO dirty...... IMHO.

Ian

[AeroplaneDriver]

Beautiful.  Maybe jsut a tad overdone with the weathering for an F-16, but still a superb looking Falcon.

[jcf]

Nice construction, but, the heavy panel wash and the "filters" seems to be very much en vogue in Spain and from what I've been able to ascertain is a spill over from the over-weathering treadhead faction.

That lot call the good ol generic wash a "pin wash" and old fashioned dusty oversprays and pastels are now "filters". A load of old cobblers in my book.

I've asked one directly why he calls a bog standard wash a "pin wash" and he couldn't give me an answer.

Jon

[Mossie]

Nice!   Since it's a whiff, I don't see the weathering as overdone, this could be a wartime aircraft, possibly Gulf War when round the clock operations & desert conditions meant aircraft got very mucky.  Who knows?

[Damian2]

I'm hardly one to cast stones when it comes to weathering an aircraft

I love it!! Make it dirty!!!

D

[Scooterman]

I was going to post that link but Shas beat me to it.  I too think it's a tad bit dirty but that's the JMN in me.....

[upnorth]

Very nice and in one of my favorite camo schemes too, right up ther with SAAF sand and olive.

What I really like is that apparently there is a company making female air and ground grew figures. Whether you like the idea of women in the military or not, they are there so its nice to be able to reflect that in scale if you want.

[Brian da Basher]

I was initially very excited as I misread the title as "Spanish F-16 spatted".

Brian da Basher

[Mossie]

Hasegawa do female ground crew in their 1/72 set (including a security guard that looks more burley than the men!), but I've got no idea about 1/32.  I would say that it should be a simple head swap, flight suits tend to hide the most obvious 'differences'.

[Radish]

That is just gorgeous!!!

And I don't think it's too dirty at all. Many, if not most Spanish AF aircraft seem to be filthy at some point or other. Fantastic.

I just love filthy dirty birds

[gunfighter]

NICE! In the early 90s, the spanish air force retired the backbone of its tactical support force, the SF-5A tiger, keeping only a few examples for tactical recce. This left the EdA with 2 types of combat jets: the hornet and the F1. The F1s had arrived in the mid-late 70s, and were getting old quickly. By the mid 90s, the situation was getting worse, and it was clear that the typhoon wouldn´t  be ready for the time the mirages had to be phased out. So, I remember reading in the newspapers in 1994 I think, that the government was in conversations with the US to get 40 second-hand F16s as a stop gap until the typhoons could fill the breech. Unfortunatelly, they opted for the purchase of more second hand F1s from Qatar and france, and modernize 50 or so as "F1Ms", a real crap. These only lasted for a few years after being retired. In the late 90s, we purchased 30 or so second hand hornets and that brought the number to almost 100, well, that was the situation until  we had our typhoons.
I´ve always thought that the F1 MLU was a BIG mistake, and that we shlould have sold them and buy the second hand hornets in early 90s, and give them a good MLU treatment, AMRAAMs, etc.But the F16 force was a nice idea too, itá a very good and capable ground pounder. The scheme is very similar to that wore by the F1s of Ala 14 until they started painting EVERYTHING in low viz grey...
The weathering is typical of spanish aircraft, not necessary in war time...
The only mistake I find is the markings of Ala 15, which is an air superiority wing (they fly F18s), not a tactical unit. Maybe Ala 21 (the former F5 unit) could be more appropiate..
Very nice build!!!!

[pyro-manic]

Absolutely gorgeous. I think the weathering is spot-on for a "busy" aircraft.

[ysi_maniac]

The weathering is typical of spanish aircraft, not necessary in war time...

That is right above all with modern boring GREY planes.

I DO love every bit of this diorama. My only concern: the money this guy has spent

[Gary]

She's a dirty girl...


The F-16. I don't know about the pilot or ground crew woman.