For Air CAP, RSAF F-16s are usually loaded with 2x AIM-120C, 2x AIM-9M and 2x wing tanks. There’s also a Sniper pod on the starboard intake cheek station. The kit comes with a pair of AIM-120As so I took the AIM-120Cs from a Hasegawa Weapon Set.
The kit includes two copies of the Sniper pod but only one of the glass housing. As I’d already used one of the Sniper pods for my F-15E Strike Eagle build I had to scratchbuild the glass from clear blister pack.
The canopy come pre-tinted (which thankfully is accurate to the RSAF F-16) and was masked off and prepped to have the black sealant painted on first with additional masking to follow.
The canopy fits well. Note that some work was done to fair the gun port insert into the fuselage. This is a separate just in case Academy ever needs to mold an older gunport design. Note also that the wings are separate parts which more like Hasegawa than Tamiya in this way. Alignment is not an issue though.
Note that part of the exhaust is molded to the fuselage ala Hasegawa. This was painted and masked off.
The kit comes with the newer LAU-129 outboard launchers but after checking photos, the RSAF uses the older 16S210 launchers instead. These aren’t included in the kit.
The 16S210 launchers included in every Hasegawa F-16 kit were used instead.
And now we come to the short shot nose. This is what happened when I inserted the Fine Molds brass nose probe. It looks like the F-16 has an ED problem.
I figured the easiest fix would be to add the tip of the nose cone back and then trimming it to fit the nose probe. For this I used UV putty which retains its volume after curing.
I then trimmed off the tip and carefully drilled a hole so I can slot the nose probe in.
Checking my work in profile, I can see that the bottom of the nose requires some bulking up. So I added more UV putty and sanded it to shape.
The final result is acceptable.
With the tailfin attached, the main assembly is now done.
As usual I have pre-painted the gear bays white. I have found that it’s easier doing it this way and I can fix any overspray later. Time to sling paint!
Build Log
Pt.1 – Construction | Pt.2 – Construction | Pt.3 – Painting & Finishing
