I fell hard for the gorgeous Zotz ‘Nordic Tiger’ decals the first time I saw them. I used what I had on hand – Academy’s old 1/48 Fighting Falcon release – and grafted on the more-accurate F-16AM fin (with parachute housing) from the equally-elderly Esci/Ertl ‘Dogfighter’ kit. I used an Eduard color ‘Zoom’ p-e set in the cockpit, and scratchbuilt the actual braking chute and the characteristic ECM pylon on the stbd. intake.
The Norwegian Air Force’s F-16AM sn 80-3671 (a.k.a. ‘#671’) was equivalent to the USAF’s F-16A/Block 15 as built, and was updated ca. 2000 to Block 20MLU standard. The 338 ‘Tigers’ Skvadron dramatic Nordic Tiger scheme was a special one created for a 2004 Air Show at Payerne AB in Switzerland; it seems to have been retained through at least 2010.
I picked up a few Revell Germany F-16AM kits in 1/72 which have the correct tail. I know Hasegawa did a “special” one in 1/48. But I’m not paying a ransom for just the tail
Know what you mean by falling for a color scheme - the Tiger Meet artwork is so striking - I’ve got a couple Italeri F16A’s in the stash just for the decals. Nice looking build; thanks for posting the pics!
Looks like we’ve all got the same appreciation for cool art.
My decal stash is loaded with two main categories (in modern aircraft): fancy tail art for (mainly foreign-operated) F-16s; and a whole bootload of the yearly ‘demo’ schemes for Canadian Hornets. I could spend a year or so building nothing else…if I had that kind of attention span. As it is, I end up doing a few a year, mixed in with everything else. [:D]
I build most but not all of my jets in 72nd scale. I have so many of these commemorative schemes for all kinds of aircraft. F-16, F-4, F/A-18, Tornado, Jaguar, Typhoon II. So I totally agree about doing nothing but these colorful schemes.
