F-16 A FAP (Portuguese Air Force) colors , Italeri 1/72

[rodrant]

My little contribution to this SiG , will be doing a F-16 A in Portuguese Air Force Colors in 1/72 , not a very enthusiast of modern jets , but this is a version that I long wish to build , as I want to do all the fighters used by a Portuguese Fighter Squadron ( the Falcons , that is their name , Falcões in Portuguese) , I already had a T-28 Tallon , and a F-86F Sabre , now this one and for finish will have a A7P Corsair , but this is the Falcons SiG , so i will do a small ( expect quick) build with this Italeri kit in 1/72 , it will be an OOB build , and only will use an aftermarket Decals from a Portuguese Brand :'Santa Cruz' for depicting the Portuguese Colors .

[rodrant]

The sprue photos ...

First impression real Bad , ok just two sprues but they aren't bagged ...lucky that all is in place (it seems) ...



1 sprue



2 sprue



Clear parts ( these are on a bag)



Decals , will not use them , but they re different from another version that I saw here in the builds , mine have the uncensored version , if any one needs them please let me know I will post them to you for free

Instructions



Sprue scheme and colors used , not very informative ( hell must let go doing only Tamiya kits )



You can do the single seater or the two seater version









so 6 steps in total , will start on it today

Color schemes







A Netherland , a Venezuelan,two Italian, one USA and one Belgium color schemes , for me will be a Portuguese one and will use this decals :





Will have a nice Hawk/Falcon on the tail



These decals are from a Portuguese brand : Santa Cruz, they make the Portuguese versions for fighters , planes and helicopters used by Portuguese Air Force , it is nice as the manufactures doesn't make that much version of Portuguese colors ...for example this was a color scheme that I would like a lot to do in this SiG , but nobody make it ...fantastic , it is a comemorative scheme , it has a F-86 Sabre on the top , and also the small planes in the tail are all the fighters that this squadron used since it's formation



It is similar to one Belgium with a Spitfire

[rodrant]

An update on this build , will be fast I think ,

My first work was to check paints ...Portuguese F-16 has a similar camo scheme as their USAF counterparts , as I couldn't get the colors reference will use some Tamiya colors and see the result , I do not want that the build will be 100 % accurate, as I only have references of photos but will try that at least be very similar to the true plane , at least ... for the body will use tamiya XF-19 , XF-54 and XF-66 ( this one if too dark maybe dilluted or with some white ...for the cockpit will use Black X-18 and XF-19 , for the anti glare black will use XF-69 Nato Black ...will seee .

the build os going fast , and this little kit doesn't have issues of gaps and fits very nicely , only lack detail ...but not an issue for me in this build , maybe there is some aftermarket goodies for it , but If I want to do a more detail kit mybe 1/48 scale kits will do a better job , and for sure more choices around , Revell , Tamiya (even Tamiy aversions wouldn't have the possibility to do a Portuguese F-16 without some work and modifications as far as I get the info from other modellers . around )

Some Photos of the build so far :



The instrument panel has decals , too large for it , but they are placed now , they are white , and the base should be Some Grey tone ...



Painted the seat in Olive Drab XF-62



Wings and tail wings placed





must get some weight to place in the radar cone , and start to do the Prime and paint job soon , not much to do in this litlle kit

[Avgas]

You learn something every day, I didn't know the Portuguese flew the F16. It's looking great so far Antonio, the colour photo of the trick paint F16 looks fantastic.

By the way did you know you were England's oldest military allies? Since 1386.

[Pacheco]

Nice to see a Portuguese Viper here. Looking good.

[rodrant]

You learn something every day, I didn't know the Portuguese flew the F16. It's looking great so far Antonio, the colour photo of the trick paint F16 looks fantastic.

By the way did you know you were England's oldest military allies? Since 1386.

Yes we fly the F-16 , and we participate in several NATO missions , here is a photo of a recent episode where Russian 'Bear' Bombers were intercepted near our territory ...maybe they were lost or something , was a good idea to make a two in one build , the falcon and from Russia with Love here in ISM , LoL




yeah I know Engalnd is our oldest military ally and it is one of the oldest alliance in History

[rodrant]

Nice to see a Portuguese Viper here. Looking good.

Thank you Pacheco !

Really I'm not very sure on the colors to use , let's see how all this finish ...also it is my First F-16 Build , and it is hard, so many versions and variations, it will be a Portuguese Viper as for the color scheme and marks , but maybe not 100 % acurate . Would like to do some Tamiya 1/48 one , but I guess that a lot of modifications to do ...

Obrigado !

[rodrant]

Little update ...

The plane is now ready , and I decided to build it all , prime it , and will start the paint job tomorrow ...

I place a weight in the radar cone , as I didn't have anything else around use a small screw with some Blue Tac



Looking to the plane and decided to make the drastic step to build everything before the paint



Primer ...Tamiya Spray Primer





Still some stuff to sand , but tomorrow will start painting it ..my idea being a 1/72 scale is to paint the main colors and do the small details using brush ...ok ...it isn't the best way , please do not try this at home !

[rodrant]

New update and final on his build :

After Primer , painting time ...

Start dong some pre-shading on the plane , actually do not know if this is done on modern fighter jets



Then start painting and decided to use for the more dark grey tone of the fuselage XF-66 Light Grey



Then and on the upper fuselage used XF-54 Dark Sea grey ( on the front of the plane and on the tail )



On the bottom used Mr Hobby H338 Light Gray ...a little glossy but will do . Choosing the colors was a hard part ...Portuguese Falcons are painted in the same way as for example the USAF National Guard units , but not quite , and if you are checking all the Photos avaiable on the Internet , you quickly discover that a lot of grey tones exist , believe that some are different because of the use, some for the picture conditions , so I decided to paint it like this , but I know that wouldn't be 100 % accurate, could be more dark grey , a light grey on the front nose and tail ...

Some examples :













But in the end will go like I choose, not very worried on this build to match 100 % , I decided to add a pilot , I had last year get a lot of some kits without a box that I collect as kid ...so I go through them and choose a pilot to add to the cockpit , think will be nice to have the pilot ...really think that manufacters could add again the pilots ...then you could chose to build with it or without ...in this case could be a noce adition as the cockpit lacks detail and it is very poor

Here's our littel guy ...I painted it with Olive Drab and the helmet in some grey that I can't remember



With some light :



MAsk the rear so I can paint the exhaust , will use X-10 Gun metal ...I ewas thinking to use X-32 Titan Silver , but and again exausts seemed more dark than silver , even there are a lot of silver ones , I use X-10 , and make some drybrushing using then the X-32 color ...not great result in the end ...but ok for now , must 'invest' in some decent metal colors ...





So after a Gloss coat using Tamiya TS-13 Clear , ready for decals



Another doubt ...some photos depict this white stripes , but other photos don't , decided to place them !



After those decals and the generic ones for the plane , the Portuguese colors ...well noticed now that this were for versions of the F-16 B (two seater version) , so I will use them for the single seat ( they are the same ) knowing that the plane numbers are from Twin seaters ...oh well ... , I should get a Tamiya 1/48 kit and do a nice version in the future ...





Finishing it with another Clear Coat to protect decals , and will use Tamiya Panel Accent liner ...almost I didn't use it as it doesn't have too many recessed panel lines , but placed it the same ...not too much difference after ...



Then you will have the final reveal photos:
http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=447&t=16146

.Thank you all that watch this build ! A quick one and to participate in this SiG , again good luck to all entries ! Some nice builds over here

[Smiffy]

Very nice looking Falcon

[MarkVerploeg]

Very nice work António
too bad i missed the progres of the build
i could have done the same with that Bear
we had those flying along the Dutch coast aswell
Thowe sneaky buggers where just outside of the ground radar range once they found them the first time
and they didn't believe the pilots when they reported it
but again nice work