F-16 models in 1/32 scale
Hasegawa kit conversions:  F-16C "late Block 30" and F-16A MLU conversion continued.....   

 

..
    before and... after more detailling 

The kit was further assembled, with adding the wings, vertical tail. Only minor filling is required. 

NOTE: early F-16's before and up to block 30 have at the leading edge flap/slat at the inboard position only "2" rotating fingers". Later block beyond block 30 F-16 have there "3" fingers. Probably this is modification applied later to cope with fatigue issues.
The old Hasegawa kit leading edge flap/slats have indeed "2 fingers" which is correct for the earlier F-16's. The Academy F-16C and Tamiya F-16C have the "3 finger" style inboard slat rotating fingers. 
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The detailing in the remaining other open bays will be done later on. First the model will be finished as far as possible; this will prevent damaging the required fine bay details along the way.

[H2] F-16C "big mouth" also got its wings and tail. 
 

An important detail added on the [H2] F-16C kit were the missing in the kit warning receivers for the F-16C on the wing leading edges (seen below on the model on th left). These were made from plastic rod, sanded, put in place, filled and that's it. 

    Kit lower areas, some details to be added. 

Of each kit, the radar noses were detailed with very thin stretch sprue to suggest the lightning protection dischargers.
Below, of the [H2] F-16C conversion, the larger "big mouth" intake is seen

Also, in various areas small panel details were added from very thin card. 

The two kits seen here with main assembly done, ready for sanding. 

F-16C :  in front of the left wheel bay, a missing vent/exhaust was made from card.

Small strips of plastic on the pylons and the underwing fuel tanks were also added. It required extensive use of thin stretched sprue. 

The stores were all given a coat of grey primer to check for any small gaps and flaws. (note: in the picture some of the Tamiya and Academy kit stores are also shown). 
Note also the black pre-shading sprayed on as also seen below. This will highlight a bit the inscribed panel lines later on and suggest some depth. Note: do not over do it!

The kits are seen here. They were ready to  get their first grey primer. Masking was done and for the light grey primer coat Revell 76 grey was used. Next, the kits had a check up for flaws (these were corrected when needed) and then some pre-shading was applied with black paint. This will accentuate the panel lines later on. 

Colour Scheme
  ..
A Dutch MLU F-16 was to be made for which decals were separately obtained (more on that later on).
For the other F-16C "early block 30" with the new "big mouth" a USAF scheme was chosen. 

The next step was to apply the overall camouflage colours of Federal Standard that were applicable to both the Dutch F-16 MLU and the USAF F-16C to be modelled:

FS36118  Dark grey (using Humbrol  125 )
FS36320  Medium grey (using Humbrol  128 )
FS36375  Light grey (lower surfaces, using Humbrol 127    )

(Please note that on modern block F-16's, the medium grey is no longer in the scheme).

The colours were sprayed on with the Badger airbrush. 

On to next Hasegawa page [H3]....
 

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