1/32 Tamiya F-16CJ  

by Bill Bunting

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This is the new F-16CJ from Tamiya.  Although pricey, it has exquisite detail and the engineering in the kit is marvelous.  I built this kit entirely 'out of the box'.  Tamiya paints were used for the most part, Alclad paints used for metal areas.  The kit decals were used.  There were no assembly problems, the only challenging area was eliminating the seam inside the intake duct.  I normally build 1/48 and 1/72 props, so this is a bit of a departure for me.  I had previously built Tamiya's 1/32 Zero and F-15E so I wasn't too worried.

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Included in the kit are a separate engine and cart.  The engine can be removed and inserted into the model after assembly.  The engine was painted in Alclad paints, details picked out with Tamiya paints per the instructions.  Tamiya 'smoke' was sprayed in bands around the engine to add a little heat stain effect.  The kit seat was used and painted per instructions.  The seatbelts are built from the tape and photo-etched buckles from the kit.  It looks pretty good as is, but a resin replacement would be a real asset.

The radar dish is a photo-etch piece supplied in the kit. The nose cone remains moveable after construction.  In addition, the flaps and stabilators are moveable.  The leading edge flaps are fixed, but you can choose extended or retracted.  The canopy can be displayed open or closed and can be changed back and forth.  Two canopies are supplied, tinted and clear so you can use either or mix them as seen on the real aircraft.  I used tinted front and back.  A mold seam must be removed, but this was a lot easier to do than I thought.  I carefully scraped the seam away using a fresh scalpel, sanded with a tri-grit sanding stick and then polished with Tamiya polishing cream.  It was dipped in Future and no sign of the seam remains.                             

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The seat can slide in and out after the model is finished.  The cockpit detail is very good and a resin replacement may be better but IMHO is not required.  The details were picked out with drybrushing with white and then some colours added.  The model was painted using Tamiya spray paints but decanted from the can and airbrushed. A coat of Future was added before decaling.  The kit decals were used and I did not find them overly thick as some Tamiya decals are. They settled very well using "Mr Mark Softer" fromGunze.  This stuff seems to be ideal for Tamiya decals and works everytime.  Another coat of Future to seal the decals was sprayed and then an oil wash was used to highlight the panel lines and details.  Final coat was Floquil acrylic satin.  The weapons can be removed, added and moved around on the stations thanks to poly-caps allowing you to change the look of the model from time to time.  This is an excellent model and it should present no difficulty to the average  modeller.  The key is in the painting and finishing.  It is large, pricey but it builds very quickly thanks to excellent fit and engineering.          

Bill                                 

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Photos and text © by Bill Bunting