Academy 1/32 F16i SUFA

[BarryW]

My next build is a colourful one, the box


I have heard a lot of good things about this kit and on opening I get a real quality feel just from how it packed.

Now for some of the contents
a small etch frame with a few brass pieces including the nose probe.


The decals look to be very nice indeed, printed by Cartograph, two large sheets.

A couple of pages from the instructions. Decent enough but not the best I have seen.

Worth taking a look at the transparencies. A beautifully clear set and one that has the tinted canopy. The clear canopy is so clear I missed it with the camera!!!!!!!!

Eduard canopy mask set. A little disappointing as it covers the canopy, of course, and the wheels but there are a lot of transparencies without a mask. Tape etc will need to be used not really a big deal.

The Quinta Studio detailing set. These are the best money can buy and boy, what a lot of money it cost..... The most expensive aftermarket set I have bought. But it is good, very good and will really make the 'pit pop.


My room cleaned up, materials restocked, sprues labelled and in the rack - ready to cut plastic,,,,

[BarryW]

I did something unusual for me. Before starting I washed all the sprues in lukewarm soapy water. It looked as if the might be some grease on some of them.

That said the plastic is very nice, crisply moulded, soft but not too soft, and as I found nice to work with. No flash, no burring and thoughtfully laid out on the sprues.

Construction starts with the seats and cockpit.

Before construction I had to remove detail from seats and cockpit panels.

Some of the panels are thin plastic and I find the easiest way is to attach them to lolly sticks with double sided tape. They can be held easily as I sand the detail off.



Here are the seats and cockpit pretty much ready. The fit of all parts is excellent. The lighting is catching on the parts in a way that suggests detail is still moulded in, it isn't. I have removed sufficient for the Quinta set. I will prime then spray the base colours before gluing the Quinta set into place.



Below a test fit of the seats, mainly to make sure that the canopy prop is at the right angle.




I will build a few more subs before batch spraying.

[Jim R]

Back with a 1/32 plane and the best 3D decals. ? Looking forward to this. Strange though about the masks. I've never seen tinted transparencies before.

[scottie3158]

I will follow along mate I don't envy you all those decals.

[boatman]

SAME HERE an Barry i dint know you had finished the Tornado so i will have a look see hope this kit is good for you sir
chrisb

[HAWKERHUNTER]

I just love the F16. Chair pulled up and kettle on.

[BarryW]

I have been working on a few subassemblies including the 'spine' as you can see below it is in two pieces with a join that is hard to sand without destroying some detail. It does fit perfectly into place though.


The wheel wells have a lot of parts but build up beautifully

[Jim R]

The fit is indeed very good but sanding the seam does look awkward. Very nice detail.

[BarryW]

I have been getting on with the cockpit.
The instrument panels


The ejection seats






There was a minor fit issue between the fuselage halves. I tried dry fitting time and time again, from different angles but always there was an issue in the same place. incidentally nothing inside was interfering with the fit.

you can see it below.


Here is the other side, perfect.


Clearly I will have some filling and sanding to do. Nothing major but given how well everything fit it was something of a surprise

[Jim R]

Lovely detail on the panels and seats. Strange about the fuselage halves. Could it simply be that one half has warped slightly?

[minitnkr]

Office coming on nicely. Fuselage, it's always something.

[scottie3158]

Great work so far.

[BarryW]

Lovely detail on the panels and seats. Strange about the fuselage halves. Could it simply be that one half has warped slightly?

No visible warping Jim.

[BarryW]

After gluing into place the rim of the canopy I decided to sand off a mould line.
First some sanding with a fine 1000 grade sanding sponge to remove the line.


After that I used 2500 grit sander then a 4000 grit polisher. Below is how it looks now

As you can see its far from perfect so I will continue to do some polishing with the 4000 polisher for a few minutes at the start of each session until I am happy with it. I prefer to do such jobs a bit at a time to break up the tedium.

[BarryW]

A couple of pictures of the cockpit with the instrument panels dry fitted


Regardless of the instructions i am thinking that I might hand paint the cockpit surround black as it seems more appropriate.

I then went on to attach a lot of lumps and bumps and there are a lot of them.