Subject: Re: ARC Gallery Submission - F-16 "White Falcon"
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Mark Littrell" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2008 14:15:01 -0700

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

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.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: "Mark Littrell" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 3:15 PM
Subject: ARC Gallery Submission - F-16 "White Falcon"

> 1/72 Italeri F-16 "NATO"
> with DACO "White Falcon" decals
>
> by Mark Littrell
> --------------------
>
> Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here
>
> A long time a go in a galaxy very near (ours), I as a child built 1/72nd
> Testors F-16D. I didn't have the right colors, nor any decent tools
> outside of some old emery boards and some basic colors (red, blue,
> black, white, grey) and no paint thinner or putty. Still, I recall
> having some fun with the kit, and at the time, it was one of the best I
> had built. I was all of 9 or 10 years old. Recently, I had the chance to
> build that kit again. Only now I've improved my model building abilities
> quite a bit, and have access to decent tools. This is the Italeri F-16
> "NATO" boxing. The sprues are the same, with the NATO boxing have
> add-ons that include a few AIM-120 AMRAAMs.
>
>
> These photos will be on the left side of the following paragraph of text:
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 02.jpg
> here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of
> photo 02.jpg
> 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
>
> I built this for the Viper 2.0 group build. I was able to get my hands
> on the DACO 1/72nd "White Falcon" decals. They had caught my eye some
> time ago, and I wanted to build this kit. I didn't want an overly
> expensive kit to put them on, and I needed one that would be the right
> F-16 for the decals. I chose this before I knew about the existence of
> the Revell F-16 kit. It has the parabrake housing on the tail, the early
> tail, and all the basic shapes to make a clean F-16 (without using the
> pylons or weapons). DACO supplied the intake sensor and the bump/sensor
> on the parabrake housing with 2 resin parts. I converted the rather poor
> sidewinders into smoke trail generators (used in flight demonstration
> with the real aircraft), and hollowed out the rear of each. I put effort
> into hiding the seams because an all-white paint scheme shows all
> blemishes, but I did not set out to super detail or correct most major
> issues with this kit. The decals fit wonderfully for the most part. I
> had to get some MicroSol to help in several places, but it was worth it.
> On the stabilizers, the decals were a bit too large. Just a heads-up. I
> lined up the trailing edge, as you can see in one of the photos here,
> and afterwards used a fresh blade and slid it along the leading edge to
> trim the excess off. This maintained the blue-to-white fade better than
> chopping the trailing edge, I think. I had to do the same to the main
> wings. Another option would be to fold them over the leading edge then
> repaint white on the underside.
>
>
> Click on images below to see larger images
>
> 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 didn't see too much weathering on the photos of the real bird, so I
> just did a basic sludge wash in the gear areas. The cockpit is very
> simple. It's your average '70s model cockpit. Since the canopy doesn't
> open anyway, I took a pilot from the Revel 1/72 F-16 (which I bought
> after starting this) and used him on this kit. It helps, in my opinion,
> to attract the eye to the pilot rather than to the seat or instrument
> panel. This kit took me down memory lane. It's far from perfect, but
> it's also very cheap. I grew up on cheap kits. There are 3 areas to
> watch out for on this kit, if you build it. There is a gap from the nose
> gear wheel well into the intake. It's just a square hole in front of the
> nose gear mounting point. I covered this with wafer-thin plastic card.
> There is no interior for the parabrake housing. I walled mine off. Not
> the best, perhaps, but better than a gaping hole. Finally, the
> stabilizers are too far forward. They sit flush wit the airbrakes.
> Instead, they should almost sit flush wit the back of the afterburner.
> This is a very easy fix if you think about it ahead of time. Simply trim
> off part of the tabs on the stabilizers that you glue into the fuselage.
> Leave about 2-3 millimeters of the location tabs, and trim the rest aft
> of that. Then insert the tabs but slide them back in their slots until
> they are the proper distance. I used a toothpick taped across the
> afterburner to get the approximate spacing. It worked like a charm!
> Other minor changes I made were sculpting a pitot tube for the nose out
> of copper wire, and using toothbrush bristles for static dischargers. I
> now have a very eye-catching model!
>
>
> Click on images below to see larger images
>
> 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
>  Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 09.jpg
> here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of
> photo 09.jpg
>  Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 10.jpg
> here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of
> photo 10.jpg
>
>
> Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 11.jpg here
>
> Photos and text © by Mark Littrell
>