From: "Steve Bamford ARC" To: "Brandal, Jens \(J.H.\)" References: <1468DAC3F7E2704686B5AEE348137CD401256C2B@vistex33.dunton.visteon.com> Subject: Re: Article for the 17th of May issue of ARC - with corrections Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 23:14:38 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Unsent: 1 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Hi Jens, Thanks for sending in the F-16 article. I'll put this on ARC for the May 17 update. 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: "Brandal, Jens (J.H.)" To: "sheb" Cc: "'Nils Mathisrud'" Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 8:14 AM Subject: Article for the 17th of May issue of ARC - with corrections > Dear Steve, > > I would like to make the changes that Nils has suggested, so the new text > is updated below, so I suggest you use this text as the manuscript in its > entirety, but with the same formatting as the previous email. Hope this is > OK. > > I haven't received a confirmation reply, but I assume that you are too busy > and must make priorities. > > Jens > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nils Mathisrud [mailto:vingtor@online.no] > Sent: 10 May 2004 20:07 > To: Brandal, Jens (J.H.); sheb > Subject: RE: Article for the 17th of May issue of ARC? I have asked Nils to > p roofread it, so there may be changes still. > > > Not much to correct here. The only thing is that as aircraft are being > repainted (and get the larger roundels and RNoAF style tail numbers) it is > FS > 36270 that is used instead of 26270. The new paint is matt, and also > slightly > lighter than the old semi-matt colour. Also pylons and extarnal fuel tanks > are > painted FS 36270 if a repaint is required. > > I leave it to Jens to decide if he wants these details corrected in his > article. > > Regards, > Nils > > >===== Original Message From "Brandal, Jens (J.H.)" > > > ===== > >Gallery Template #03 > >"Revell 1:72 F-16AM" > >by "Jens H. Brandal" > >-------------------- > >Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here > ><<...OLE_Obj...>> Last year, I needed to finish something quick for a > >local model competition, and my eyes fell on Revell's new tool F-16A > >MLU that I had set aside as a "therapy project". It was started on the > >5th of May (a Bank Holiday here in the UK) and the deadline was 17th of > >May - Norwegian Contitution Day. It's a gorgeous little kit that I > >intended to build straight from the box, but as the kit does not > >accurately reflect a Norwegian Mid-Life Update configuration, I had to > >make some modifications. One structural modification that Revell did > >not include are the strengthening plates on top of the wings - maybe > >this was done so that they can later issue a regular F-16 without > >modifying the tools? These plates were easily made from 0.13mm plastic > >sheet. The GPS antenna on the spine just behind the canopy was made > >from a piece of white decal film and the help of a punch and die set. > >One structural modification not part of the Mid-Life Update programme > >is the reinforcement just behind the canopy and in front of the > >roundel. This was made with 0.25 mm plastic strip tapered at both > >ends. Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16s have a searchlight on the nose, > >below the left hand Radar Warning Receiver, and this was made using a > >drill, silver paint and covering the dimple with 5-minute epoxy. The > >exhaust nozzle is far better than any other kit in this scale, and I > >decided to add a little more detail by adding strips of 0.13 mm plastic > >to represent the inner petals. The kit has a number of options, and in > >fact a later issue I ordered to replace the exhaust nozzle after I > >spilled superglue on it (the result of adding the previously mentioned > >petals), had the small stabilizers and the original F-16A instrument > >panel! For an F-16AM, you should use the new launchers capable of > >firing both AIM-9s and AIM-120s, and I decided to arm my Viper lightly, > >hoping to complement it later with better AMRAAMS. The Sidewinders are > >gorgeous, and I decided to make one into an Accelerated Monitor > >Assembly (AMA) which is regularly carried on station no. 9, and let a > >drill round (blue band) occupy station no. 1. The centerline fueltank - > >which I placed too far forward - was virtually standard equipment a few > >years ago, but with the change in emphasis on peacekeeping operations, > >the aircraft now seem to spend more time carrying the 370 gallon > >underwing tanks (referred to as "Dollies" - after a certain female > >country and western singer), laser guided bombs on stations 3 and 7, > >Sidewinders on 2 and 8 and finally AMRAAMS on 1 and 9. The kit > >includes only one type of mainwheel - the earlier one, but aircraft are > >given new brakes and wheels on an "as needed" basis, and is not wrong > >for an MLU aircraft. RNoAF F-16s are painted overall grey - FS36270 > >with the pylons in FS36375 Light Compass Grey. I used Polly S here for > >the first time, and being more of a believer in enamels, found these > >very impressive. The radome and forward RWRs were painted a slightly > >darker version of the base coat. The panel featuring the new GPS > >antenna was painted a lighter shade of grey, and a part of the fin > >leading edge extension was painted LifeColor FS36270 which is a tad > >darker. The model represents a plane from no. 331 Sqn based at Bodø Air > >Base. The squadron markings came from an old Modeldecal sheet which > >has markings of all European F-16 squadrons at the time. The roundels > >came from Flying Colours Aerodecals, and depict the new, correct type > >of roundels 400 mm in diameter. The callnumber on the tailfin was made > >on a photocopier, but these are now available from Vingtor Decals > >http://home.online.no/~vingtor/Decals/Decals.html > > . The walkways on the > >F-16AM and BM are black (previouly they were dark grey), and to make these, > >I copied the grey walkways from the kit on a photocopier set on "dark" - it > >worked wonders. The rest of the stencils are from the kit, and this decal > >sheet does deserve the "Super Decal" yellow triangle on the box. Beautiful > >artwork, great printing and not bad with respect to silvering. I really > >liked the sections on the nozzle where the "turkey feathers" are > overlapping > >- that alone saved a lot of masking and painting. For setting solution, I > >used Tamiya acrylic thinner on the PollyS gloss coat, then applied the > decal > >followed by more acrylic thinner. This dissolved the PollyS and glued the > >decal to the paint without any silvering at all. > >Being based so far north, these aircraft avoid a lot of the pollution of > >central Europe, making their aircraft look cleaner than for example Dutch > or > >Belgian F-16s. Still, a clean aircraft is less interesting than a > weathered > >one, so panels that attract dirt and are prone to leaks were highlighted by > >drawing with a pencil and a bit of selective washing with black paint. > Even > >on fairly clean aircraft, streaks are seen from the hinges of the leading > >edge flaps, and this was simulated with wiping off the wash with a finger > in > >the direction of the airflow. The bottom of the centerline tank also gets > >very grubby, and was treated to a heavy wash of dirty black thinners. The > >gun muzzle was painted copper to simulate the copper based grease used to > >protect the paint, and a little soot from firing a few rounds of 20 mm was > >added with pastel chalk. The model was parked on it's own 1:72nd scale > section of Bodø tarmac 2 hours and 41 minutes after the passing of the > Constitution day, but with enough time to get a little sleep before the IPMS > Hornchurch competition. It did not place, but I was pleased to have a > completed model anyway. It has now been donated to the Aircraft > >Museum at Gardermoen for a future display of all aircraft types that has > >flown in the Royal Norwegian Air Force. > >Click on images below to see larger images > >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 > > <02.jpg> <<...OLE_Obj...>> <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 > > <03.jpg> <<...OLE_Obj...>> <03.jpg> > >Photos and text © 2003 by "Jens H. Brandal"