1/48 Hasegawa F-16CJ Part 2

Republic of Singapore Air Force

by Chuang Xue Qian

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Hey yall! 

This is another entry of my what-if 1/48 Hasegawa RSAF F-16CJ, basically an improvement on the one that is on this site for quite some time already. 

Hope you'll like it! 

Imagine this scenario. Terrorist forces have acquired a chemical weapons capability and are posing a serious threat to Singapore with the most dangerous threat coming from 2 missile silos with 2 missiles blue-tipped with Sarin gas and are aiming at Singapore. The RSAF has been given the order to conduct a surgical pre-emptive attack on the 2 silos to neutralize the threat. The RSAF considers this mission to be very dangerous as not only is the target very far away but also the silos are protected by modern surface-to-air missiles including SA-2s, SA-6s, SA-8s and SA-14s. The enemy has also been known to have an air capability flying an unknown number of MiGs. 

Due to the large number of surface-to-air threats, the RSAF outfitted some of their F-16Cs with HTS pods and HARM missiles to conduct SEAD duties against the enemy radars. After disengaging from the KC-135 after in-flight refuelling, 3 RSAF F-16CJs begin tracking the enemy radars while the strike package of F-15SGs and F-16D+s waited to be cleared hot. Within 30 seconds, the 3 F-16CJs let loose 6 HARM missiles and all struck home. With the SAM threat removed and a corridor opened, the strike package is cleared hot and begin their bombing run. Within 2 minutes, the 2 silos and the control centre used to launch the missiles were reduced to nothing but smoke and debris. While the strike package were busy dropping their bombs, the AWACS warns the 3 F-16CJs of multiple bandits inbound to intercept the strike package and are cleared to engage. Using their superior flying skills and weapons systems, the F-16CJ pilots were able to quickly take out the enemy planes from beyond visual range while keeping the strike package safe. 

In the end, with the silo threat removed, the 3 F-16CJs and the strike package returned to base without sustaining a single loss to any of their aircraft. Sounds cool huh? This shows the versatility of the F-16CJ that it can not only pick off enemy radars but can still attack enemy aircraft and provide cover to other friendly aircraft simultaneously in one mission.

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So anyway, back to the topic. 

Below is a list of improvements made to the old model. 

1. The changing of the engine nozzle and intakes into the F100 PW-229 turbofan engine and NSI intakes. 

2. Modified the IFF antenna in front of the canopy. Well, basically it's a very small removal of part of the 4 aerials as they were a bit too long. 

3. Repainted the AMRAAM and Sidewinder missiles. 

4. Repainted the fillet of the vertical stabilizer. If you look closely, you'll see that the tail fin looks lighter than the fillet. 

5. Changed the pilot's helmet into the JHMCS worn by today's RSAF pilots. I just modified the kit's helmet by cutting away the oxygen hose and positioning it on the left side of the pilot's helmet. I then painted the oxygen mask in the way the JHMCS looks. 

6. Painted the canopy frames black. I missed that out when I first builded it. 

7. Shifted the DASH-3 sensor back a bit. 

8. Painted the chaff/flare dispensers underneath the aircraft. 

9. Rewrote the technician and pilot's name on decal paper. Well, the pilot's name is actually my name and I 'promoted' myself to 'Captain'. Haha.. 

10. I did a bit more weathering to highlight more panel lines in places where it's hard for the pencil to reach. 

11. Made new RBF tags for the Sidewinder missiles

When I first completed this model last year, I was thrilled by the final results only to realise that I had used the wrong intakes and engine nozzles as the kit was meant to build into a Block 50 whilst the RSAF uses F-16s of the Block 52 variant. But luckily the kit did provide F100 PW-229 nozzles and NSI intakes. One thing that I found good in this kit is that you can choose to build an F-16 of either Block 30/32 or Block 50/52 as the necessary stuff like main landing gear, intakes and engine nozzles are there for you to choose. But the kit decals are for a Block 50 model of either the 35th FW based at Misawa AB or the 20th FW based at Shaw AFB. 

My RSAF decals were bought separately and they went on pretty well without much trouble. And now my RSAF Wild Weasel F-16CJ looks almost as good as the real, well not exactly that good. At least I've included a photo of the actual plane below which I took it during the recent Air Force Open House.  

Enjoy the photos! 

Comments and questions are welcome! 

Xue Qian

Singapore

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Photos and text © by Chuang Xue Qian