Ken Judt (Agape forum member icekj) decided to forgo loads of after-market parts and obsessing with detail and just go for a good, basic build. Being a mostly OOB modeler myself, I can appreciate that. And Ken’s results show that modeling skills can turn a….. well, I’ll let ken explain. Great work Ken!
Operation: Silk Purse
The kit: AMT/ERTL 1/72 F-16A, with some decals from a Hasegawa F-16A, and who knows what ordnance.
The AMT kit was bought for the decals. This is the Desert Storm boxing and has decals for the NY Air National Guard unit that deployed to Desert Storm. The idea is to use the decals with a nice Hasegawa kit for my Desert Storm series of builds. This did leave me with an extra kit. Large amounts of flash, no cockpit details and such all make the AMT kit what it is.
The idea is to use good basic building skills to make this kit look as nice as it can without adding additional detail. I am not going to correct any details of the kit either, do not care what bulges or bumps are on the tail and what intake it has. What the kit is, it is. Because of the low part count on this kit it should be a quick build (couple of weeks) and be a nice diversion from the WWII builds I am doing.
Making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, so to speak.
And 33 short days later……
Operation: Silk Purse has been a success! Completed in just 33 days.
I think our Razorback from Arkansas can be placed on the shelf of pride and not the shelf of shame. What started out a nice simple build continued that way right up until decaling phase. Thanks again to Dave who pinch hit a home run with his custom printed decals. This build was both challenging and enjoyable. The AMT kit turned out to be a pleasant surprise for the amount of detail put into a low cost kit. I believe I picked it up at a model show for $10. That the aircraft ended up being a plane that has direct relation to a member of Agape is just icing on the cake. Our member Randie Coulter (RCoulter52) has a son that was a crew chief for this Arkansas Air National Guard squadron.
I used some techniques on this build that I have never done before. Here is a list:
- Flat White Latex Interior House paint used to smooth the insides of the intake.
- Using paper masks and rolls of masking tape to create feathered edges on paint demarcation lines.
- Tinting the canopy with Future colored with food coloring.
- Building the ordnance along with the aircraft so the final assembly is expedited.
- Using custom printed decals from an inkjet printer and clear sheets of decal film.
The AMT had a ton of flash on some parts but all in all fit well. I do not know if all the shapes and details are correct for this version of the F-16A but getting everything exact was not the goal of this build. I am looking forward to building more F-16s and have picked up a lot of things to watch with this build.
