F/A-16W Block 70

[DogfighterZen]

Glad to know you like it, guys, thanks! 

Ok, i'm officially on vacation for a week!
To celebrate, i got up late, had nothing to do, so i went into the cave and got some work done... Looked at a bunch of F-35 footage and photos and, although in other pics i've seen, the original LOAN nozzle was totally black but the color of the nozzle on production jets, looks to me as it's a dark brown with a slight metallic sheen, and a dark grey on the edge of the petals, so i looked at the colors i had available for this and i had 2 choices for a mix of Tamiya colors.
First option would be XF-28 dark copper but it was too light so i'd use XF-1 flat black to darken it a bit, but i also thought the XF-68 nato brown could be closer to the color i wanted by just adding a few drops of XF-56 metallic grey, to give it the metallic sheen.
I ended up choosing the second option and this is the result...



I think it's pretty close to what i've seen in pics so i didn't even try the first option, now it's masking work to paint the dark grey on the edge. After that, it'll be gloss coated and washed, gloss coated again, masked and then assembled on the fuselage.

[DogfighterZen]

And after masking the edge, a spray of XF-54 dark sea gray and this is how it looks now...



I'll leave the wash for later but it will be gloss coated before any further masking for protection of the paint work.

More soon...

[PR19_Kit]

Anything LESS like an F-16 would be difficult to imagine, and that's all to the good in my opinion. 

[DogfighterZen]

Anything LESS like an F-16 would be difficult to imagine, and that's all to the good in my opinion. 

Thank you, Kit! This layout is basically a mix of the first F-16W i made with the early F-16U proposed for the UAE before the E/F Desert Falcon variants, which had the Raptor type wing but still had the single tail and no canards nor the DSI.
I think it's good that it's very different from the original Viper but still shows it's origins. I'm hoping that i can get a lot of work done on this tomorrow, but there's another decision coming up that's gonna slow everything up a bit, the scheme/country choice...

[DogfighterZen]

Ok, so today i got the CFTs on, had to chop them up a bit but it wasn't too much, they had to fit well on the fuselage and that made for a small portion getting cut off on the outside corner to make room for the tail bases...





Some Evergreen strip styrene bits and putty will do the rest...

[comrade harps]

Looking suitably mean. Wicked!

[DogfighterZen]

Looking suitably mean. Wicked!

Glad you like it, Comrade!
Haven't done much, lots of stuff to take care of during these vacation days but, i've just managed to tidy up the CFTs and dab some putty on the underside of the canard fairings, which still has to be sanded down too.
Still, it's not much, if i manage to sand down the rest of the putty tomorrow, it'll be ready for the electronics spine and all the small lumps and bumps that still have to be glued on before painting begins.

[su27rules]

   Looking nice!!

[Tophe]

pretty, yes!

[Rick Lowe]

Coming along nicely.
Keep up the great work! 

[stuart]

Wow! That's a really smart looking beast!

[CallSignOWL]

oh wow, that looks FANTASTIC!! 

[darthspud2]

Looks like a Valkyrie and an F16 had a fling behind the hanger, and this is the result!

Looking very good.

[DogfighterZen]

Glad to know you like the beastie, gents!
I've been slacking out but family takes priority over everything. Very little time left for the bench but it's all good times with the loved ones so the slow pace is justified. 
Still have to sand down the putty on the canard area and glue the last bits before painting begins, so let's see if i can get it done during the next week.

[Captain Canada]

That looks great ! Sure doesn't look like an F-16 anymore. Nice one.