I don't know why but after several years of looking at Tamiya's F-16 kit in 1/32 glory I decided to actually start one. Seems everyone does the same Viper that's depicted with their decals. I usually don't like to build any one specific aircraft or subject piece due to the fact that something may go wrong at any time.

This F-16 is special to me, those who know me know why. With being a Test Flight and Evaluation aircraft, there so many things that are not on the regular "Line" jets. For one the gun camera and many vents are removed and fitted with test equipment. The avionics inside the cockpit are non standard and filled with test boxes and telemetry equipment.

I'm starting with the basic kit which is a F-16C/CJ Block 50 or 52 depending on what options you add or remove. Three-Eighty-Three is a F-16C Block 50 with large mouth intake, BAE IFF "Bird Slicer" Antennas on the forward nose (Identification Friend-or-Foe (IFF)). An Laser telemetry range finding computer replacing the gun. The external load out will be a AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod and a AN/AAQ-13 navigation pod. I'm not too sure if she will be loaded with a pair of JADAMs or something else.

With all of my project I always look at eBay for all of my photo etch and resin bits n' bobs to add to the project. I had already purchased a few things years ago but never really liked them. I first started with the landing gear bays. Tamiya provided the basics which are quite nice with only one or two ejection pin marks in visible spots. Easy enough to remove with a fine scalpel blade and some careful sanding.

The F-16 has just about all of its internal guts running though the main gear bays. So alot of various sized lead wire was used to "busy" up the bays. I wanted to use the Aires bays for the mains and nose but opted to do try to wire it up myself. With working on other projects it only took me two months. Fast for me! LOL

A quick note to ALL resin replacement manufacturers. MAKE SURE YOUR FUC%^*()W(&WE^*(^*W(^@#(^@#(&)*)_@#KING STUFF FITS THE KIT! Yes Aires i'm talking to you! Their quality of their work is just great but there fit is always sketchy. I'm not sure what these guys were thinking when they released their nose gear bay for this kit. It's about 1-3 millimeters short! I ended up filling up the rear of the lower bay wall with sheet plastic and superglue. Just way too short and too late too change. Next time I will modify the bay myself like I did with the mains. With so much frustration on getting the nose gear bay into the nose I opted to leave the intake out and in place will be a intake cover. Not too sure if it will be a cover or a plug though. Time will tell.

I needed two chin pylons mount for the AN/AAQ-33 and AN/AAQ-13. I cannibalized them from the Academy F-16 kit. The AN/AAQ-33 is from Eduard which is absolutely amazing. All of their resin stuff these days is NICE! Crisp and the details are spot on. A little bit of Tamiya fine filler was needed to correct a slight seam on both sides of the mounts. To minimize sanding I made a slurry with Gunze thinner and smoothed it with a cotton swab.

One weird note. I had to chop the left side of the forward fuselage below the canopy release and correct it. Someone was sleeping at the Tamiya factory when quality control was looking at my kit. With the side fixed I had to replace the molded kit canopy seal that ran along the cockpit sill. On the upper forward fuselage, the panel for the Vulcan cannon was filled in with superglue and new panel lies created. I had a hard time scribing the new lines due to the curvature of the area. One or two satellite receivers will be mounted as well later after paint.

For the office I will be replacing the ejection seat with a resin replacement or maybe adding some detail myself. Being that the seat os on rails, I have until the end of the build to decide. I added a test control box to the left side of the glareshield and some wires & rivets as well. Not 100% but 95%. Scratch built O2 and G-suit air hoses were added to the side panels with a map might as well.

Next will be to paint the gear bays and cockpit.

U.S.A.F. F-16C / Block 50, 91-0383 416th FLTS