1/18 Lockheed Martin F-16CJ Block 52 Hellenic Air Force

Discuss technique and post photographs of your work in progress
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by Nick_Karatzides » 21 Jun 2009, 06:10

The F-16's hot air exhaust of the ECS (Environment Condition System) comes in two different shapes. The old A/B types come with small cover. Here is the way it is covered nowdays on newest Block 52s F-16C/D. The basic shape of the ECS cover made by plastic card and the air exhaust detail will be added later.

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by Nick_Karatzides » 21 Jun 2009, 06:12

CHAPTER IV - Main landing gear bay construction

The main landing gear bay is one of the most complex areas on this 1/18 scale model. I did the dimension calculations, sand the outer surface of the air intake tube carefully, cut pieces of plastic card as required and placed them to start building the bay.

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by Nick_Karatzides » 24 Jun 2009, 06:59

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by Nick_Karatzides » 08 Jul 2009, 07:44

Using 0.75mm drill, a single hole opened on the air intake tube, to later host a pitot sensor which is normally can be found just before the engine's intake fan. This drilling should be done now, before connecting the main landing gear bay construction with lower part of F-16's surface and the pitot sensor will be placed later.

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The air intake case, connected with the lower surface with ZAP cyanoacrylate super glue and the huge (approximately 2mm wide) gaps were filled with epoxy cream. I prefer to use epoxy putty (or polyester filler with fiberglass grains for special purposes) instead of normal scale modeling putty, because it becomes solid rock within only few minutes, it does not shrink or crack after months or years and most important it is cheaper than dirt. Keep in mind, that a powerful vacuum system to suck away the epoxy dust should be always used to keep the workbench area clean while sanding or milling epoxy or resin materials. Using an issued breathing mask and a pair of surgery latex gloves to prevent dust contact with lung and fingers while sanding or milling epoxy, is also an important matter that you should seriously take care of! I personally wear an overall working suit to keep my clothes clean of any kind of dust while sanding epoxy. Some people might find it too much, but I wouldn't like to bring epoxy dust & grains from my work bench into living room and my beloved.

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The main landing gear possessors basic lines were copied from the T.O manual, lined out with green ink marker and later cut 'n' drilled from white plastic card. Blueprint copies enlarged to 1/18 scale, were used to cut the possessors on exact shape & size and later set into place.

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by Nick_Karatzides » 12 Jul 2009, 02:36

Starting to place cables, actuators, fractional DC motors, hydraulic lines, securing hooks & stuff into the model's main landing gear bay. It may look quite empty now, but everything will be in place and look realistic as the project continues.

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I used hair thin copper wire cut off from a simple electric cable to bond plastic spue together, to simulate the cable braids found into an F-16's main landing gear bay. The cables and hydraulic lines are placed carefully according closeup pictures of the real gear bay.

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Found into my old sparebox, a cracked & damaged 1/48 scale fire extinguisher could be also be upgraded to become the metal oval shaped tank found into the main landing gear bay, known as the Halon 1301 (also known as Bromotrifluoromethane CBrF3, which is a an organic halide to provide fuel cell inerting to protect the fuel system from explosions due to combat threats) reservoir. Filling the gap with epoxy cream, sticking it on a nail and spin it with the Dremel tool against different types of sandpapers was enough to make it look like the real one.

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by Nick_Karatzides » 14 Jul 2009, 13:54

It's time to charge batteries and enjoy Greek beaches under the hot Mediterranean sun. CU with more 1/18 scale F-16 updates, after the summer holidays folks and I wish you best summer 8)

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by Nick_Karatzides » 13 Aug 2009, 18:20

OK, it’s been a nice, cool Greek summer. I feel my batteries fully charged, so please unplug me from the "lazy days by the beach" routine and let me work on my 1/18 scale F-16CJ Block 52 HAF project. Stay tuned for pics 'n' updates... 8)

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by Nick_Karatzides » 24 Sep 2009, 03:02

Delayed afterburner wash update - It's better late than never

As I personally believe that following simple techniques and sometimes unconventional methods, result in superior effects, I usually do not use enamel or acrylic paint to wash, because I feel risky when applying the paint mixture and let it run. I prefer an easier technique that can be undone if the results are poor - that makes it the perfect technique. I use hard chalk pastels to wash (NOT oil pastels). The hard chalk pastels, look like a teacher would use on the blackboard in school. Do not use the soft oil pastels that artist use to draw on paper. The hard chalk pastels are easy to find in a variety of colors into your local art store or maybe Wal-Mart if in US or ASDA if in UK.

To do the wash, I use an X-acto knife, a small metal or plastic container, an old brush, dish washing soap and a bit of water. Begin by scraping some chalk powder from the side of the chalk pastel stick, carefully put this chalk powder into the small container and add a tiny amount of water and stir. It is important to add a tiny amount of water in order to make the mixture look like mud - not like soup! For this reason, I use a syringe to add just few drops on the hard chalk pastel powder and I stir using the old brush. Because the chalk powder doesn't mix well with the water, a drop of dish washing soap is needed to break the surface tension of the water and also acts as a "glue" to help the chalk powder stick to the model.

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Once the chalk is fully dissolved into the water/soap mixture it is time to "paint" this mixture on the inner embossed detail on the afterburner's area. "Painting" the mixture is simple - just apply it anywhere it is needed to darken recessed detail. The mixture can be applied carelessly, because any mistakes can be completely removed and redone.

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When the chalk wash dried, I rubbed off the high spots with a slightly damp dry (not wet) Q-Tip cotton swab (Kleenex papers can be also used) and I wiped the dark color from the areas should be light colored. The high spots were cleaned to the basic finish and the low spots were left black. I did the chalk wash on the inner embossed detail on the afterburner's area in about 15 minutes which makes it a very quick and effective technique. You can also read about this into Steve Bamford's article, by clicking HERE.

Some of the wash mixture is re-applied and the wash being wiped completely out of the narrow points. If you follow this method, it is adviced to not rinse out the wash container till you are finished this job. You will probably be touching up certain spots a few times, so it helps if you're not mixing up a new chalk mixture each time because you kept cleaning out your container of the chalk wash mixture. I repeated the the wash process with lighter colors where needed. Using micro cotton batons found into cosmetic shop for less than 1£, I applied some lighter colors such as yellow, white, sand, brown, burned iron etc & also black chalk pastel powder on the inner embossed detail on the afterburner's area, to make it look weathered and extensively used. I repeated the weathering process until it satisfied me and finally I sprayed a clear coat to seal the chalk powder in place.

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by bk974 » 21 Nov 2009, 21:17

Why are all pictures of an "Ultra xs" apple??
FAW


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