Israeli Block 40 F-16C Barak
By Albert Moore
Serving with IDF/AF since 1980, the
Lockheed-Martin F-16 is the Israeli Air Force’s main workhorse. Used for both air superiority and ground
attack, IAF F-16’s have seen considerable action. Most notorious is 1981’s Operation Opera, the attack on the
Ossirac Nuclear Facility, outside of Baghdad, Iraq. A year later in the war with Lebanon and Syria, IAF Falcons would
leave around 40 Syrian aircraft decimated over Lebanon’s Bekka Valley, with no
losses of their own. Israel received
the improved F-16C/D in July of 1987.
While A/B airframes were known as the “Netz” (hawk), the C/D airframes
were bestowed with “Barak”, Hebrew for lightning. Due to arrive in Israel in 2003, is the Block 60 F-16I Suffa
(storm). Together with the current
fleet of F-16A/B/C/D’s, the F-16I will help to replace the remaining A-4
Skyhawks and F-4 Phantoms still in service.
Getting Started
Since building the F-15I Ra’am, I’ve
become a bit of an IAF enthusiast. The
skill and sheer tenacity of IAF pilots through out the history of the Israeli
Air Force is to be both admired and respected.
For my next Israeli aircraft, I settled on the Block 40 F-16C Barak. The items used to build this model are:
- Hasegawa’s 1/48 F-16N Top Gun kit (no.
V7).
- Black Box ACES II ejection seat.
- Airwaves resin Big-Mouth air intake
and enlarged nose RHAW blisters.
- Eagle Designs resin ECM equipment and
main gear wheels/doors
- Hasegawa GBU-16 laser guided bombs
from their U.S. Smart Weapons set
- Evergreen sheet styrene and rod
- Aero Master’s discontinued 1/48 IAF
F-16C/D decal sheet (acquired through Ebay).
Most of the procedures used to build
this model are from the December 1995 issue of Fine Scale Modeler, which
featured an article on how to build the Barak from IAF historical researcher/modeler,
Yoav Efrati. It was seeing his model
that inspired me to build the Barak for myself.
Construction
I started to install a Black Box
resin F-16 cockpit set, but screwed it up trying to add it (I suck at trying to
install these things) . The kit cockpit
was used instead and detailed with guitar string (oxygen hose) and parts from
the botched Black Box set (the ejection seat was used as well). Yoav Efrati’s FSM article served as a guide
to make the tail extension/drag chute housing.
As described, the tail extension was made from laminated sheet styrene,
sanded until the profile matched my references, and then blended into the base
of the tail. Styrene bits were used to
detail the extension and the end of the chute housing. Cut aluminum foil was used to replicate the
jagged reinforcement plate. The tail
was added after the fuselage had been assembled. Next up was the integration of the Airwaves resin big mouth air
intake. All it needed was a little
sanding for a better fit, and then the intake was added to the bottom of the fuselage.
Eagle Designs Rapport III antennas were
cut to accept the kit position lights then reshaped to match reference
photos. These were added to the intake
along with a 005” styrene reinforcement plate and a radar bulge from the above
mentioned Eagle Designs set. Styrene
rod was used to add the RHAW antennas to the leading edge of the wings. The large nose blisters and radome were
added next, and the extra panels and chaff dispenser openings were scribed into
the fuselage. Next item to replicate
were the extra chaff/flare dispensers found on IAF Block 40 F-16Cs. Styrene copies of the chaff/flare dispensers
were cast from foil molds, and then added to openings I had scribed during fuselage
preparation. In consulting with Mr.
Efrati via e-mail, he mentioned that single seat IAF F-16’s sometimes carry a
Pave Penny laser pod. Hasegawa provides
two Pave Penny pods in their Block 50 F-16 DJ kit, so I used one of them on my
Barak. The pylon was modified by
reshaping it with a sanding stick (for reference, see Squadron/Signal’s
original F-16 in action book, pg. 48), then added to the right side of the air
intake. The head was removed and
replaced with a clear seeker head from a Hellfire missile (left over from an
Apache kit), after the model had been painted and decaled.
Painting and Finishing
With all the fuselage modifications and
assemblies completed, it was time to throw some paint on this bad boy. Humbrol enamels were used for FS 33531 Sand
and FS 34424 Green (equivalent to RAF Sky “type S”), while Model Master paints
were used for FS 30219 Dark Tan and FS 36375 Light Ghost Gray. The radome, missile rails, nose blisters,
and the vertical flat sides of the fuselage were painted Dark Gull Gray. The camouflage was applied free hand with an
Aztek airbrush, followed by what seemed like hours of touch-up. I had intended to do a 101 (First Fighters)
Squadron F-16, so the model was painted in the standard IAF camo pattern. I decided at the last minute to do a 105
(Scorpion) Squadron Barak. More brown
was applied to the tail to accommodate the large, sand color scorpion that
adorns 105 Squadron F-16’s (If the Squadron tail art necessitates it, there is
a deviation from the standard pattern applied to the tail). After the paint had dried, it was time to
add a couple of coats of Future. A
thinner wash of Raw Umber and Gunship Gray was flooded into the panel lines and
left to dry. After the excess wash was
removed, the model was cleaned with an alcohol wipe in preparation for applying
the decals. The markings are from the
long out-of-production Aero Master 1/48 F-16C/D decal sheet. I was perusing Ebay looking for some
modeling stuff, when I stumbled across this sheet. I had given up hope on trying to get these decals at an earlier
time, so suffice to say, I jumped on them when I found the auction (Thank God
for buy-it-now!). There are several
options for some really neat IAF F-16’s on this sheet, plus all the appropriate
stencils. The markings I chose are for
an F-16 serving with 105 (Scorpion) Squadron.
The scorpion decal for the tail is too big (this has been noted both in
print and on the web). As prescribed in
FSM’s Barak article, the last six segments of the scorpion’s tail were trimmed
and repositioned on the vertical stabilizer.
All the add-ons were decaled at this time as well. After applying the decals and letting them
dry, the model was cleaned again and a few coats of Testors MM Acryl dull coat
were applied. This has become my dull
coat of choice. It dries fast and ya’
gotta love water clean up. At this
point, I realized I had forgotten the ground starter intake (mounted above and
behind the left main-gear well). The
intake was fashioned from sheet plastic and putty, and then added to the model. The next day, the landing gear, weapons, and
fuel tanks were added. For a load-out,
I went with two GBU-16 LGB’s (from a Hasegawa weapons set), and two AIM-9
Sidewinder missiles. The main gear
wheels and bulged doors are from the Eagle Designs set. Most of the detail painting was completed at
this time too. The last items to add
were the HUD, nose AOA probes (made from cut sewing needles), Pitot tube and
canopy. I also added grab handles to
the canopy. Stretched sprue was used to
make the static dischargers (make 15).
These were added to the trailing edge of the wings, vertical stabilizer,
and horizontal stabilators. With that,
the Barak was finished. It now sits
proudly in my display case, next to my F-15I Ra’am. Now for a vintage IAF war plane, where’s that Avia S-199 kit?...
Special Thanks to Yoav Efrati for
the e-mail correspondence. The technical information and photos he provided
were an invaluable source.
Sources:
The Israeli Air
Force Website- http://www.iaf.org.il/
Building an
Israeli F-16C Barak- Yoav
Efrati; Dec 1995 issue of Fine Scale Modeler; Kalmbach Publishing
Walk Around:
F-16 Fighting Falcon- Lou
Drendal; Squadron/Signal Publications
F-16 Fighting
Falcon in Action- Lou
Drendal; Squadron/Signal Publications