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ASSEMBLY
Revell Germany released a
very good little kit in the form of the F16 MLU. It compares favorably with the
Hasegawa kit, which until now was the best F16 series in 1/72nd
scale.
Kit was built virtually out
of the box. The only added part is the ejection seat which is a True Details
Aces 2 seat. It is on the small side but this depicts correctly the tight fit of
the seat which is installed in a low and reclined position in actual aircraft.
Other cockpit parts are used
with a few additions of scrap plastic. I added a throttle and the strange canopy
locking device painted in yellow on the left side, and joystick and armrest on
the right side.
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Jet intake assembly was
positioned and cemented with care as it's the only part of the kit that needs
adjusting.
Construction was
straightforward and puttying and filling are kept to a minimum.
PAINTING
I elected to
build a Belgian machine. Colors are the F16 standard scheme consisting of
FS36375, FS36270 and FS36118. I used Gunze paint and added 20% of white in all
colors just because of scale effect. Some panels were painted in lightly lighter
or darker shades of the surrounding camo color. Nose cone received a medium mix
of FS36118 and FS36270. You need not be extremely precise here as nose cone
color varies with time and conditions.
Panels are enhanced using a
wash of brown and grey artist oil paints.
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| Canopy is tinted with a mix
of Gunze translucent colors mixing amber (orange) and smoke (black).
This mix is well thinned and lightly sprayed. I did not use kit decals
which are well designed (by the DACO team) but are printed on a matt film that made me fear silvering. I used a DACO/ASTRA
original sheet. They are very well designed, very sharp and complete and
adhere easily. Of course the usual gloss coating/decaling/matt coating
process was used. Small details, gear doors and pylons where then added to
finish this very sharp little gem. |
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Eric
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