Steps 27-34 involve
cockpit assembly, ejection seat, and assembly of the upper fuselage.
Step
27 -- Main Cockpit
The
1st step I did was the base painting of all the parts in this step.
I used MM Dark Gull Gray for the cockpit tub sidewalls, consoles, and rear
bulkhead. While I was going through the F-16 walk around book for
details on the switches, the color in the book looked lighter,
possibly Light Ghost Gray (which is what the instructions called for).
Also,
part G14 should have the main rod painted Tamiya Titanium Gold, with the
base of it aluminum.
There
are no surprises in this step, except that the throttle lock is missing |
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Step 28 --
How to cut out photoetch parts
This step is
left out from this article
Step 29 --
Ejection Seat
I'm glad that
Tamiya finally included belts in one of their jet kits. With all the
F-15s, F-14s, and F-4s I've built from them, I've always replaced the kit seats
with aftermarket seats due to the lack of belts.
From looking at
the F-16 Walk Around book from Squadron, I noticed that there were 2 possible
seat cushion colors. One of them was a black sheepskin cushion, and the
other one was an off-shade of green. I searched high and low for a close
match, and finally came up with an old bottle of Floquil British interior gray
green. Since the bottle was old, and paint extremely thin, it gave a nice
worn appearance.
I assembled all
the parts except for the ejection trigger (part G6) and sprayed the seat Light
Ghost Gray. This gives a nice contrast to the dark gull gray cockpit.
The bailout
bottle of oxygen was painted Willow Green for the bottle, Light Ghost Gray for
the mounting bracket, Titanium gold for the valve assembly, and aluminum for the
gauge (the gauge itself has a black face).
After the seat
detail painting was done, I added the belts (which I painted a light gray) and
the bailout bottle.
Step
31 -- Lower fuselage parts and rudder pedals
No
surprises here. I lightly drybrushed the rudder pedals with some
aluminum to give them a bit of wear.
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Step
32 -- Installing cockpit
The
only note of caution in this section is to paint the area of the lower
fuselage under where the cockpit goes the color of the cockpit. If
the ejection seat is removed, then the different color from fuselage is
visible through the hole in the bottom of the cockpit below the seat.
All
the screws holding the cockpit down will be hidden (the forward one by the
rudder pedals, and the rear one by the ejection seat rails.
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Step
33 -- Upper fuselage assembly
Take
your time fitting B28 to A1. If you are careful, there will be no
seam and no step between the 2 parts.
After
assembly, I sprayed the cockpit sill Testors MM Flat Black.
I
also questioned whether the aerial refueling receptacle slipway door
should be painted flat black, so I didn't paint it
I
skipped a bit ahead in the instructions and installed the vertical
stabilizer mounting hardware here. |
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Step
34 -- Interior of upper fuselage
Take
your time fitting parts A9, A10, A11, and A12. If you are careful,
there will be no seams to putty after joining the upper and lower fuselage
halves in Step 35
I
sprayed part F44 flat white after gluing in it, as well as the area where
the square access panel where the M61 will go.
Steve |
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