Hi everyone! This is my first
submission to ARC and I'm presenting to you my recently completed Hasegawa
F-16CJ of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Just to give you a short description
about the F-16. The F-16 is a lightweight all-weather multi-role fighter capable
of both air-to-air and air-to-ground. It has proven itself to be one of the
most lethal fighters produced in the 21st Century. The first time the
F-16 ever saw combat was in 1981 when the Israeli Air Force which used 8
aircraft to destroy the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor with a top cover of 6
F-15s. A year later during Operation Peace for Galilee, the Israelis used F-16s
to engage Syrian MiGs and shot down a total of 86 Syrian aircraft with no combat
losses of its own. The RSAF acquired F-16s to modernize her Air Force during the
1980s to replace the ageing Hawker Hunter jets which had been flying since the
1960s.
Anyway back to the topic, I had all
along been planning to build one of those mean machines for my display stand and
it's finally done after nearly a year of construction, painting, decaling and weathering
etc. I should say it's not very well done, but I still hope you'll like it.
This
plane had to undergo several modifications such as scratch-building IFF aerials
in front of the canopy. And as RSAF Vipers are known to carry AMRAAM-C but the
ones provided in the kit were AMRAAM-B. It was easy to modify the missiles.
Just
trim off a small portion of the fins and paint them black. Overall, this is a
very beautiful kit as all parts went together perfectly without any hitch.
Click on
images below to see larger images
As all RSAF Vipers
are capable of launching the AGM-88 High speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), I
created this what-if bird because I have never seen any RSAF Viper carrying
such a missile. But when the need for Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD)
calls, the Vipers can be quickly modified for this purpose. Hence the what-if.
This jet was finished with paints H305, 306, 307 and 308 for the standard USAF
Viper scheme for Block 50/52s which is also adopted by the RSAF. The
remove-before-flight flags were made of paper!! LOL! The decals were of
SiamScale brand and were bought seperately.
This model depicts
F-16C serial number 615 of 140 'Osprey' Squadron based in Tengah Air Base, the
biggest and most important fighter aircraft base in Singapore. The F-16s of 140
Squadron are primarily responsible for Air Defence, Fighter Sweep and Escort
and Counter Air Operations/Strategic Interdiction/Maritime Air Operations.
Besides 140 Squadron, Tengah Air Base is also home to 143 Squadron,
111 Squadron and formerly 145 Squadron which used to operate the A-4SU Super
Skyhawk. Now 145 Squadron flies state-of-the-art Block 52+ F-16Ds and have
been relocated to Changi Air Base.
As F-16s are the
RSAF's back-bone fighters, they have to be constantly maintained to ensure their
tip-top performances in both peace time and war.
Well, I'll let the
rest of the pictures do the talking for you yea?
Cheers!!
Xue Qian
|