Subject: Re: F-16 Before & after (oops, this one has photos)
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "junior De Jesus" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 10:41:12 -0800

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
ARC Air - Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.arcair.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: junior De Jesus 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 5:48 PM
  Subject: FW: F-16 Before & after (oops, this one has photos)

   

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  From: [email-masked]
  To: [email-masked]
  Subject: F-16 Before & after
  Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2011 01:38:51 +0000

  "1/32 Revell F-16" 

  by "Victor De Jesus"
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here  

  Hi again, I am back with my fourth submission which it is an old Revell, F-16 kit repainted and with a colorful decal set from the

  140th FS of the Colorado ANG. I used MM FS 36270 (grey), FS 31136 (insignia Red), and Testors silver paint for the overall paint scheme. After the main colors and the decal set was applied, I gave the model two coats of MM High Gloss clearcoat (spray can) to seal the deal and bring up the colors even more. I tend to load up my warbirds with bombs and missiles, but I opted to remove all of  the armament for this one since it depicts a demonstration warbird.  

   

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 04.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 05.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 06.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 06.jpg 

      I initially assembled this model sometime in 2004 with the three grey, cammo scheme that usually is applied to this type of aircraft. Needless to say, this was a straight OOB build, well before my airbrush, sanding files, putty, and my introduction to this site. As you can appreciate on the "before" pictures included in this article, there was not a heck of a lot I did to make this a better build. When I saw the Two Bobs decals for the "Minute Men, 50th Anniversary," I just knew I had to re-do this model and add some color to my collection. I quickly encountered all kinds of obstacles during this project. My first and most difficult task was to remove the old paint from this model. After many years of curing on the model, it truly became a real pain on the fourth point of contact (that would be the butt), since it took no time to figure out that thinner would not even tickle the old paint job. After much research, my local hobby shop buddy advised me to use brake fluid to remove the old paint. When he first told me this, I figured he was pulling my chains, but since this was an old kit, I decided to try the technique. To my pleasant surprise, the trick worked, but it took some time to allow the paint to dislodge itself from the model. The added benefit to this technique is that the areas soaked in the brake fluid, will come loose and once clean, you can re-assemble the parts better than before. The surfaces exposed to the brake fluid are not damaged, and the surfaces become better for the new paint job. Word to the wise if you are going to use this technique, it is time consuming (about three days to fully work), it is extremely messy, and you better have a good small brush and an area to clean the mess created by the old paint and the break fluid. To clean the parts you only have to use warm water with dishwashing soap. My second noticeable problem was removing some of the weapon pylons from the underwings. Only one came fully loose with the oil brake fluid. I had to get creative removing the others and this damaged the underwing surface a little. This caused me to get pretty busy with my files, putty, and sanding paper. I hate to admit that after all my efforts to rectify the problem, the results were not very impressive (hence no underside photos). My last major problem came as a shock to me since it was the decal set. Yep, amazingly I managed to purchase a lemon Two Bobs decal set (I guess that's why I got it for $3 in their website :-}  ). The problem was that some of the decals were just for one of the sides of the wings and belly fins. With patience and careful measurements, I was able to paint the missing areas with my airbrush. In hindsight, I should have painted all of the patterns with the airbrush only instead of using the decals at all. Although I had a combination of decals and airbrush paint, you can barely tell the difference between the two. The rest of the project went fairly well and in my opinion, the paint job turned out to be amazingly good. At first I intended to place missiles on the wing tips, but I desisted from doing so since the theme of the decals did not call for any weapons to be added. The external fuel tank was masked and painted to match the overall paint scheme as well. 

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here  

   I really enjoyed trying out new techniques with this bird, and I hope you enjoy the photos included with this article.

    "Victor De Jesus"

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 07.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 07.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 08.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 08.jpg   

  Photos and text © by "Victor De Jesus"