Blues

Sometimes these blue colors can be really frustrating. Mixing the F-2 colors were bad enough, but I haven't been able to get the right look on the NSAWC F-16. 35190 is an elusive color. It is light, yet deep and vibrant. Xtracolor 15190 was too pale and a little greenish - like 35414. I'm now trying Humbrol H48 Mediterranean Blue - its close, but a little dark. Time for more mixing, 20% white looks right.

NSAWC Vipers

Today I Finally got back to my F-16 stash, to join in on the ARC Viper II group build. I'm building 2 Hasegawa F-16A's using Two Bobs decals, for one gray-camo Viper and one blue-camo Viper.

One note: I've seen several variations listed for the Navy's 3-tone gray scheme: 36320/36231/36081 (FSM) or 36375/36270/36118 (TB). I believe that the correct scheme is: 36375/36231/36081

EDIT: 5/7/09 - The Blue Viper is almost done, just when I thought I couldn't have any more problems on this build I got to the decaling stage. It seems that the Two Bobs decals are printed in the wrong color. The gray is way too light and should be 36320. When its applied to the camo, it stands out like a light. For this reason, I recommend the Fightertown or Hasegawa sheets of the same subject.

Aggressor Vipers

I received the Aggressor Vipers sheet from Afterburner Decals this week. It contains an amazing amount of effort and research dating back to the beginning of the Vipers' use as an aggressor in 1989. It contains marking for 16 jets. I'm not sure if they are planning a sequel sheet in the future. If not I wished that they has noted the various versions of the Flanker Scheme, the previous incarnation had the colors switched (as available on the Two Bobs sheet) and before that the "Flankers" wore camo on top with an all blue underside (35450). Also of note is their color for the Fulcrum Scheme. They list the 35164/36495 scheme, but I've only seen a few examples of this, with most jets having the lighter 35414/ 36495 version, as their own references show. I can't wait to get some of these done. Between this sheet, the Two Bobs sheet and the Hasegawa Fighting Fulcrum and Aggressor releases, I'll have plenty of available markings and I may even produce some of my own what-if variants.

Super Viper

This is my Japanese F-2A, finished after a few years of work. The colors were hard to match, I used Model Master 35183 for the lighter blue and mixed 35042 and 35102 for the darker and I'm pretty satisfied with the results. I added Revell AIM-7s with Two Bobs markings.

Nighthawk

Here's my Academy F-117, finished after 3 years of sitting on the bench. I added Eduard photoetch, then I realized Academy does not provide parts to open the canopy, so I had to make simple actuators out of styrene.

California F-16C

Here's a "remake" of the Hasegawa F-16C Block 25. After my original 1987 version hit the floor, I decided it was time for a complete teardown and rebuild. I finished it off with some Superscale markings of the California ANG 144th FW.