Written by Ed.• 8 September, 2016• 5:03 pm• Completed Builds
Completed : Hasegawa 1/72 Lockheed Martin F-16A ADF 'Aeronautica Militare'
Kit Info
Brand: Hasegawa
Media: Injection Plastic and Photoetch
Markings: TwoBobs 72-09/32-060 F-16ADF L'Ultima Diana
The Lockheed Martin (originally General Dynamics) F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter. It currently serves in no less than 25 nations, with over 4,400 aircraft built. Commonly known as the 'Viper', it features innovations including a frameless, bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while under high g-forces, and reclined seat to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot. It is also the first fighter to be built to sustain 9-g turns.
The F-16 Air Defense Fighter (ADF) is a variant of the Block 15 F-16 originally deployed by the US Air National Guard for aerial interception. A total of 270 airframes were modified beginning in 1989. Modifications include the addition of Identification friend or foe (IFF) interrogator, a spotlight installed on the port side nose below the cockpit and the ability to carry the AIM-7 Sparrow missile. F-16 ADFs began to be replaced by F-16C variants beginning in 1994 with airframes being retired or sold to other Air Forces.
The Italian Air Force (Italian: Aeronautica Militare) is the air defence force of the Italian Republic. Established in 1923 as the Regia Aeronautica, it switched to the current name after World War II. The Aeronautica Militare leased 30 F-16A/B ADFs from the United States for 10 years in 2003. These would serve until being completely replaced by new Eurofighter Typhoons. The last Italian F-16 would be returned in 2012, ending Italy's usage of the aircraft.
This build depicts MM7236, an F-16A ADF from 5 Stormo wearing a unique color scheme to commemorate 5 Stormo's planned disbandment in 2010. She wore this 'Diana' scheme from 16 April to 31 August 2010 and is in her QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) configuration armed with 1x AIM-120C and 1x AIM-9L. The Diana scheme was conceived by modeler, photographer and artist Pierpaolo Maglio.
Information from Wikipedia and TwoBobs info sheet
I've taken a look at the kit here.
Back in the 1990s during college, this same kit was one of my first 'properly' assembled kit: I fixed the seamlines, painted and added decals. Yes this kit is that old! Details are simplified in a few spots but thankfully, the fit is fine. It can't really be compared to the latest offerings from Academy and Tamiya but at least this one builds up without much fuss with the only issue being the wingroot requiring some careful aligning and fitting.
The cockpit is simplified with decals for instrument faces and I made some harnesses out of Tamiya tape. The kit has new parts that converts the standard A to the ADF variant. These include the new tailfin with bulged base, IFF bird slicers for the nose and intake, AIM-120 wingtip missile rails and PE reinforcement plates (which have adhesive) for the spine. Hasegawa however has left out the port side spotlight. I simply used a circle template and painted it silver. Not very clear but it's there. I also filled the pre-hollowed holes for rails on wing stations 4 and 7. MM7236 did not fly with pylons on these stations.
I managed to lose one of the drop tanks with the pylon (I think it fell into the trash can which got cleared out) so I ended up replacing them with the tanks from the Academy F-16 kit. These are more detailed than the Hasegawa ones and are shaped slightly differently. I made new connectors with 0.5mm brass rod so the pylons will fit the holes on the wings.
Colors & Markings
The F-16 color scheme is monotone but to weather the color scheme, I used salt weathering and 2 tones for each camouflage color. The same thing was done for the drop tanks. This particular F-16 also has a special all-black tail and nose pattern which was masked and sprayed. Based on reference photos, this aircraft's exhaust ring had turned bluish which I replicated by spraying Transparent Blue (made more transparent with Vallejo Glaze Medium) over the Exhaust Manifold color. On a sidenote: modern missiles sure are colorful with the AIM-120 needing 5 colors and the AIM-9 needing 4. The refueling door was masked and sprayed with Model Air Metal Steel.
Markings are from TwoBobs' 72-09/32-060 F-16ADF L'Ultima Diana sheet. The sheet includes complete stencils for 1x 1/72 and 1x 1/32 kit and complete information about MM7236. The decals went on very easily but some decals required stacking. I skipped some of the stencils on the bottom as they were really small.
First I scratched up the finish on the refueling door with a blunt toothpick. Then panel washing was done with Raw Umber oil paint on the light gray and was slightly darkened for the dark gray. I also filtered randomly and added streaks on the wings. The effect is quite subtle on the dark gray areas though. The same sludge is given on the landing gear before they are attached to the kit along with the horizontal stabilizers. The weapons and drop tanks were also attached at this point after given washes. The inside of the exhaust is completely bare so I added some streaks there.
I then added a final light coat of Vallejo Matt Varnish so it ended up being a satin finish. The formation lights were then handpainted with Metal Air Silver, Transparent Red and Blue and then glossed over with Future.
Last to go as usual was the masking tape on the canopy. Unlike some of my previous builds, the masking turned out great. Alas, there was a very thin strip of masking tape trapped INSIDE the canopy. Oh well. I then gave the canopy a final handbrush of Future and I'm done.
And so another Shelf Queen is complete. It only took me 5 years. Hahaha…
Number 11 of 2016
Tags: 1/72, Aircraft, Completed, Jets, Modern, NATO, Hasegawa, Fighter, TwoBobs Last modified: 8 July, 2021
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