1/48 Tamiya F-16C Block 30

“Arctic Bandit”

by Mark Chen

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When the photos of the 18th Aggressors started appearing on the internet, I knew that I just had to do one on them in the 3-tone “Arctic Flanker” scheme.  Luckily, 2 decal companies came to the rescue with their recent issuing of decals for this squadron.

I used the recently issued 1/48 Tamiya F-16C Block 25/32 kit as a base.  I swapped out the NSI/P&W intake/exhaust combo and replaced them with the MCID/GE combo from the F-16CJ box.  Since there was little difference between a Block 30 and Block 50 cockpit, I decided to use the Eduard photo-etched cockpit for this build.  The seatbelts came from there too.  The scab-plates, RAM plates, pitot tube and AoA sensors came from the Tamiya Detail-up set for the F-16.

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Construction was the usual Tamiya standard.  Very little in terms of fitting problems but it was a little difficult getting the Eduard PE set to sit under the instrument coaming.

The model was airbrushed with Gunze paints.  The black and white were custom-mixed while the grey was FS36231 straight from the bottle.

After a gloss coat, the Afterburner Decals Arctic Aggressors sheet was used. I chose to model the Wing Commander’s bird, Red 14.

Another gloss coat was applied and a light black oil wash using was applied to the panel lines and rivets. It was then sealed with a matt coat.

For the armament, I did not want to chop up a perfectly good Tamiya AIM-9M so I took a Hasegawa one from the spares box and modified it to a CATM-9.  The ACMI pod was from a Hasegawa weapon set and I replaced its tip with a pin to give it some strength.  The kit’s centreline fuel tank was used as a temporary measure until I can get an ALQ-118 pod from Cobra Company.

Static discharge wicks were done using the bristles of an old toothbrush and painted black with a white end.

Many thanks to the ARC Forum Members for the help rendered to this project.  The insights that they gave were invaluable.

Happy Modelling,

Mark

Singapore

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Photos and text © by Mark Chen