Moments of Zen

[DogfighterZen]

Whoa!!  That is one hell of a kit!  Never seen that one before.  Definitely ain't seen the lil box. 

I shall be watching in anticipation . . .

You've never seen it before?!? It's the best F-16 variant produced so far. Aesa radar, GE engine with 32.000 pounds of thrust and a bunch of other stuff no one else has. But i understand why you've never seen the kit, Hasegawa limited edition only released once in 2011 and discontinued in the same year so, it's extremely rare these days... i wanted it so bad but in 2014, most shops were out of stock and i was almost too late...
No other company ever made this Viper variant in 1/72, only Kinetic but in 1/48.
And you have seen the DSI intake before, i used on of them in the Israeli F/A-16W, it's the intake tested on the F-16 for the F-35's intake design.



That kit took me a long time to find and it flew over a couple of oceans to get to me all the way from Australia.
I've been itching to build one of the two i bought for a while now, now the time has come!! The other kit has already been robbed of it's F-16E specific bits and those were stashed inside one of the Tamiya F-16CJ kits for a real "Tamigawa" build...
Now, there are a few more bits inside the kit's box that don't belong there but i guess you're just gonna have to wait and see what's coming up...
All i can say is that it will have bigger wings but i'm not sure if they'll be big enough to make Kit like the Viper, or as he calls it, "the spikey thing".

[TheChronicOne]

 

Cool... I'm totally on board and glad to hear about these wings. 

[PR19_Kit]

All i can say is that it will have bigger wings but i'm not sure if they'll be big enough to make Kit like the Viper, or as he calls it, "the spikey thing".

Way to go!  But I'm not sure if I'd EVER like a 'spikey thing'. 

[DogfighterZen]

Cool... I'm totally on board and glad to hear about these wings. 

Ever heard of the Agile Falcon proposal? Back in 1984, General Dynamics wanted to have the original performance and agility of the F-16A in the F-16C, by giving it a new wing and upgraded engine. This was not accepted then but the design was used for the Mitsubishi F-2A, with addition of a few modifications.
While i believe most people would use the F-2A kit for an "Agile Falcon" inspired version, i'm using an F-16 cause i hate the 3 part canopy... The F-2A has that reinforced canopy because of bird strikes at low level flight, more likely to happen on it's anti-shipping role, but i simply hate the way it looks... and the extended fuselage combined with a wider LERX that, IMHO, makes the front fuselage look too wide compared to the rear section... and the nose also has an accentuated droop that i can't stand!
So, i've spilled the beans on this now, time to get to work! 
I've also got some aftermarket goodies for it including Aires resin wheel bays, S.A.C. white metal "Heavy" landing gear, Dream Model PE set for the cockpit and i even have a PE set for the GE F-110 engine nozzle but, i'm not using that on this build cause it's getting a P&W F135 engine and nozzle combo, which will be stolen from the other Italeri F-35 kit i've got in the stash. 

All i can say is that it will have bigger wings but i'm not sure if they'll be big enough to make Kit like the Viper, or as he calls it, "the spikey thing".

Way to go!  But I'm not sure if I'd EVER like a 'spikey thing'. 

 

[DogfighterZen]

Ok, i've been slowly masking up the F-35 and the time consumed so far, somes up to around 45 minutes. Trying to set a dead line for this one before the year's end but i'm not really sure i can pull it off, too much going on these days besides work. Family, friends and band require most of my free time during this time of year so, probably it will only be finished in January 2018...



Good thing i gave it such a strong coating of X-22, the paint has been holding on... let's see if i don't jinx it by writing that... I've done most of the topside exterior panel lines and been using my scalpel blade to mask the interior lines like a canopy, just laying the tape over the detail and cutting off the excess running the blade along the raised surfaces. when it all comes off, then i'll see if all this was worth it...

And here's a pic i took of the F-16E/DSI/F-2A mash up, all patafixed together...



This is what i've been wanting to do for a longtime but i was a bit unsure because of the F-16E kit being so rare... i went ahead and opened up the box anyway cause if i ever want to build a real world F-16E, i've got another one in the stash so, might as well build one right now.

Now, another big thing for me, tomorrow i'm going to visit a modelling show for the first time!! 
Beja model show is being held 150+/- KM from my city, so it's close enough for a quick drive over there tomorrow. Thought of entering a few models in the show but i work on Saturdays so i couldn't be there to set it all up before the show began. No worries, i'll just go and check out the scene, look and take pics and maybe even consider making a video, kind of like the one i shared a few days ago of Telford 2017. 
Spending some money is not on my list of things to do... there's not much on my wishlist right now...
Anyway, i'll report back tomorrow night when i get home, for you guys to see what's going on in the southern Portuguese modelling scene.

[TheChronicOne]

Choice lookin' work on the masking! You peel all that off and there's going to be a multitude of glorious detail. Well... unless your knifing skills are like mine then you have squiggly lines and gashes. 

The kitbash looks $%&$& cool, man. Hell yeah don't sweat burning that E. Like you said, you have that other in the stash so it just makes perfect sense!

Do NOT forget to tote the ol' camera / cameraphone with you to the show. I KNOW, I KNOW. You already said you were going to take it, but I remind because sometimes in the morning before work I leave mine sitting on the kitchen table.     In fact, dump all the pictures already on it into a "backup" file on your lappy so that it's nice an empty! 
In fact, I need to do this now to mine after the 80,000 pictures I took the other day. It gets to the point that going through/waiting on them all to load up every time I upload something is a pain. Video sounds good, too. I hope you have the time for that!   

[DogfighterZen]

Just been at the site, great stuff, although i haven't taken any pics or bought anything, i'm on tight budget as it is now so i'm gonna regret spending money now for sure. There's lots of great stuff at great prices but i'd rather spend some more euros later on than being broke before i get paid again. Having lunch right now and after that i'm going back with my camera ready and try to get as many pics as possible.

[Old Wombat]

... i'm going back with my camera ready and try to get as many pics as possible.

We'll be waiting!

[DogfighterZen]

Well, back home and what can i say... i really enjoyed the show, so many good models of very high standards, good vibes from everyone in a very well organized event... i'd never seen so much stuff... it's not a huge event, but some Spanish modellers and shops were there...
But why do i get the feeling that what-ifs are still not welcome at Portuguese shows? Not trying to bash on anyone but i think if there's one model that qualifies has a whif, that's very close to the total number of them present at the show...
They had it all,  lots of military vehicles, a few scifi models, lots of planes and figures, a few bikes, lots of cars of various sorts, dioramas, a few choppers, subs and ships... A couple of satellites, too... oh, and a single civil airliner... but not a single what-if... at least, that i could identify as being such... 
That said, is it worth it to post the pics here? Quite a few, 140 pics to be precise , and as i said, mostly real world stuff so you guys let me know if i should share them or not.

This is the area of the model show from one of the corners, most of the tanks and ships are behind me, aircraft on the right, cars, bikes and dios in the central tables and scifi and junior class tables on the left. Table full of prizes in front of me, on the other end of the room.



If you guys want me to post pics of the models, please let me know and i'll upload the best of them in a new thread.

I had to leave before the award ceremony was over because i've caught a bad flu on Friday/Saturday... Didn't want to disrupt the ceremony with my deep cough...

So, this has given me a good mojo boost, although i resisted the urge to spend money and bring new goodies home. As this show is held every two years so, if all goes well, in two years i'll be representing what-if modelling at the 2019 show... and i will try to take more than one or two models, gotta represent our branch of modelling with a good number in the middle of so many real world ones.
Back to the bench, the F-35's masking saga continues...

[Old Wombat]

I post it all from the SAPMA Expo*, a well built model is a well built model.


* - Actually, I post a few images & a link ... Much easier!

[DogfighterZen]

I post it all from the SAPMA Expo*, a well built model is a well built model.


* - Actually, I post a few images & a link ... Much easier!

well, that's what i'll probably do, 140 pics are just too many to upload here. 

[TheChronicOne]

As usual, I concur wit' me esteemed Wombat. 

[DogfighterZen]

Ok, here ya go, a whole bunch'a'models for y'all to admire, 150...

https://imgur.com/a/5PuiA

Now, done with the pic uploads sharing and back to trying to get rid of this damn flu so i can work tomorrow... so, i'll just work on my models today...

[TheChronicOne]

Many thanks!!!! Something to look at while I eat lunch.     

[PR19_Kit]

It's pleasing that plastic modelling is alive and well in Portugal. Some superb items there, that Rolls Royce looked magnificent.