If you want to build a decent F-16XL
without paying a mint for a conversion set this is the way to go. This is my
second XL build and it’s not that complicated. The Academy F-16 is a great kit
to borrow from. Using the extra stores, intakes and a number of other parts you
can build a very nice F-16XL “What if” kit. Plus, your not limited by
accuracy, so you can be as creative as you’d like.
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I used an F-16A cockpit set from Blackbox
and decals from Zotz. The cockpit tub had to be sanded down such that the
seat sits on the lower part of the kit. I used the Small Mouth Intake from
the Academy kit. It fits fairly well but I had to add approx. ½” to
extend it back to the wheel wells. I just cut ½” off the Ace intakes
and filled in the gap. It works out fairly easy. I used the spare canopy
from the academy kit. Here I had to do some cutting and rework around the
back part of the cockpit tub. The fuselage around the canopy had to be
raise 1/8” with some styrene strips. This also helps with the cockpit
tub fitting. The area just behind the front canopy has to be cut to match
the Academy parts, then boxed in to seal all the opening. The nose cone
was molded and copied from the Academy kit. That took care of the front of
the aircraft.
I
tapered the wings back to make them more accurate. The front part of the
wingroot should sweepback at more of an angle. For the tail I went with the
Pratt and Whitney can. The can fits really well but you have to use the housing
from the academy kit as well. Just a small bit of sanding once it’s glued in
place and your set. I also adapted the tail extension from the academy kit to
replace the one on the Revell kit. I decided to drop the flaps and slats for
this build. The wings fit extremely bad. A lot of trimming and dry fitting is
required to get the wings to fit properly. Once they are glued in place a lot of
sanding is needed to get the seams to disappear. Once the wings are set some
rescribing is needed. After all that, I just added a few thousand rivet holes.
The
targeting and navigation pods, AIM-120s, AIM-9Xs, GBU-16s and GBU-31s all came
from the academy kit. The wing pylons, nose cone and pitot tube were molded and
resin copies were made.
I
used .016 lead to scratch build the intake cover and small RBF covers on the
seats.
The
Academy kit was built using a BB cockpit set, CMK wheel wells, Afterburner
Decals and a number of parts that I casted myself. The CMK set was designed for
the Tamiya kit, but I does fit with a little adjustment. I used the AN/ALQ from
the Tamiya F-16CJ to make a AN/ALQ 184 (short version). I also made the resin
pitot tube covers.
Stephen
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