Picked up the NEW Tamiya 16.............

Hey all,
Yuppers you got it, I went out and picked up the F-16 today at my LHS. Over all she looks to be a straight forward build.
The exact parts count I am not really sure of but Steve-O said that theres 450+ parts give or take.
The instructions start off with the dolly assembly then proceeds into the a/c itself. The air frame consists of eight main sections(includes lower wing assemblies).
Tamiya gives you a nice array of external stores which include AIM-9Ms, AIM-120B/C AMRAAMs, AGM-88 HARMs, AN/ALQ-184 ECM pods, GBU-31 JDAM(GPS variant), 370 gl wing tanks and a 300 gl(centreline) tank.
They also give you four a/c to choose from. Two are from the 20thFW(one is the TMOTAs bird) and the other two are from the 35thFW. All but the one took part in OIF.
As for any inaccuracies, that I am not sure of at this time. I am sure there are a few people out there who will count the rivets and every angle this bird has. I am only guessing though[B)]. It all comes down to “The beauty is in the eye of the beholder”,
Two things I see already are kind of a downer for such an outstanding model.
One has already been mentioned here, the instrument panel. The instrument clusters are there but they have no surface details. I did notice that they give you the two MFD screens as a clear choice. Again, there is no detail, just plan clear stock. It seems to me that Tamiya was gonna add in the detail interms of decals but forgot em. O’well no biggy here[:p] The second item I noticed was the mold line on the main canopy and the aft greenhouse section. This reminds me of how Hasegawas canopies were molded.
Other than that, I strongly feel that Tamiya did a fantastic job over all. Now I am just wondering what AM items will be avalible for this kit. If anybody is wondering what I paid, this includes my discount, give or take $145…!!!
MMMmm now its off to Twobobs.
Thanks again for letting me share just a little insight on this kit.
Flaps up, Mike

I’d go with the give or take thing cuz I partially lost count at least twice thanks to the Jabbaring Jaboos… [:p]

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Wow, that kit sounds like quite the commitment…in more ways than one.

Saw it at the LHS yesterday. A really beautiful kit in the box & from all I’ve read so far not a very difficult build considering the complexity. The IP is a definite downer, but overall it looks great.

Regards, Rick

I know Eduard is already hard at work making various PE sets for this kit, as well as canopy, wheel and other masks using the new Tamiya tape. I also have a suspicion that Twobobs is already at work on their always-fine sheets.
Hobbydecal, that magnificent maker of dry transfers for aircraft models (those armor guys have had this fine tool of modelling all to themselves for too many years), has already released two different sets of stencils, including national insignia, the big lines and shapes that go around the refueling recepticle, various warning stripes, arrows, ejection seat triangles in red, low-viz orange and gray, as well as low-viz yellow or gray warning arrows. I could go on an on, for both sets offer two sheets each and they are packed with dry transfers, from the tiniest to the largest. These also come in 1/48, of which I have a couple of extras.
My extra 1/32 set has been promised to a Forum member, but I just realized I have an extra sheet of 1/32, which comprises half a set, and I’ll give it to the first emailer who actually owns and is building the kit right now. It has, among other things, red filler cap markings, seat warning triangles, stripes, refueling probe markings, etc.
I’ve become hooked on these things, and don’t mind the little extra work one bit given the great outcome. And to be able to apply directly to a matte-painted surface with no silvering or even any evidence of carrier film, well, that advantage needs no explanation. And, no, I’m not a paid spokesman for them. I just really got sold on their sheets the first time I used one on a 1/48 P-38. There’s one sad fact of life about DT’s: the state of the art in these dry transfers is such that it will be a while before we see any elaborate nose arts in DT. However, check 'em out at www.hobbydecal.com. They have on there the newest series, which includes virtually all the Phantom versions produced in separate sheets appropriate to each variant.
TOM

Thanks for the up date guys. I have the kit ordered through Squadron and hope to have it soon. I just hope some one releases decals for the 52 FW at Spangdahlm AB Germany.

Now if I can only find a ALQ-131 ECM pod in 1/32 scale to hang on mine. I might have to scratch build one.

Hmmm…if Black Box or Eduard release a cockpit set to overcome the shortcomings,I will have one on my shelf shortly thereafter.Thanks for the heads-up
Later on…

That sounds like a cool kit. I’m saving for mine now… newly married as a college student does have its drawback$…

Hiya Steve,
I am surprised you kept focus with the Jabbaring Jaboos…[:p][;)].

I recieved recently a news letter from TwoBobs and they have mentioned that they are working on some sheets for this thing. I am not sure though if they mentioned what groups?
If I do purchase any AM stuff, I’ll go for the interior especially the instrument panel. other than that she’ll be basically OOB unless I get the itch to go all out on her.
I think the Bills have a better chance making it to the Super Bowl and winning then me going all out on the 16[:p][;)].
Flaps up, Mike

Never say never Mike, WNY is kinda like hell and it does get pretty cold here now and again…

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Riiiiggghhhtttt… whada you saying, that I have a chance of going balls out on this thing?? Mmmmm Cold???, it pretty nice out right now[:p]
Flaps up, Mike

I’m afraid my builds are booked up for, say, the next two years and they will mostly have to be certain types built in a certain order, though I may revolt (as I am tonight by finishing up the Profipak X-1A I started ages ago) and build one or two renegade kits just for me. But, to the point, this afternoon I was going through a big stack of assported photos, magazines and other unfiled reference materials looking for stuff to throw out when I came across a diamond in the rough: It was a big, slick, full-color General Dynamics brochure for selling the F-16. It was undated, but I put it somewhere between 1985 and Desert Storm because it has the F-16C and D (began service in 1984 according to this company publication, but there’s no mention of the plane’s first real shooting war for America). Anyway, the thing is chockablock full of two-page color closeups of entire airplanes, plus full page color shots of cockpits. The last of the book (because it’s too big to be called a brochure, and we pay a lot of money for “colors and markings” books with as many pages as this thing, and less color) is a beautiful two page color ramp shot of the F-16C Block 40 “Night Falcon” (I never heard it called that.) in a special livery made up of several grays and a large falcon on the tail, with a black and white set of bird “wings” painted the entire span of the real wings. First time I’d seen this machine. It’s hung with a LANTRN pod and four green TV-guided Mavericks.
I wonder if everyone building, or planning a build of this plane, could get this brochure from Boeing. I’m afraid that’s a pipe dream, though, because I’m sure when GD was bought out, the PR department filled dozens of dumpsters with hundreds of boxes of what we would consider pure gold.
I once wrote the kindly old PR director who used to be at Boeing about an article on the B-47 I was writing for a magazine, and mentioned that I was a modeler. He sent me an original press kit from the roll out of the 1,000th B-47 about two years after I was born, a set of blueprint plans for a 1/48th scale model, complete with painting and marking instructions, dozens of never published photos and the coup de grace, a complete, original press kit from the rollout of the very first B-52! I can’t imagine the value of this to an aviation collector nowadays.
But, stupid, niaive me, I decided the safest place for this stuff was in the archives room at the Confederate Air Force. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Those people don’t just ignore jets. That HATE them. Agressively despise anything that doesn’t have a prop on it. So, when I went back about five years later desperately seeking the precious materials, I was told, quite casually, “Oh, I remember that. It was in a load of junk we threw out when we cleaned out the model room and the archives before we moved.”.
Lesson to be learned: The PR departments at the a/c manufacturers exist to send materials not just to buyers of fighters, but taxpayers and voters like you and me. You’re liable to get any brochure or photos, calendars and anything else they have printed up to distribute. So ask them for it. You may not get the brochure on the F-16 I found, but you will certainly get the new one that has taken its place.
Grumman used to have a press kit just for modelers they sent out, and in fact, there was a time not so long ago when all the big military aviation companies had drawings and painting tips and other stuff they’d send out in a packet to inquiring modelers. Write or email the director of public affairs at these firms, and see what you can get. You might be very surprised.
TOM

Hiya Tom,
WOW, that is fantastic…!!! I just wanted to thank you for the valuable info and possibly how I can obtain such material. I figured I would be able to get in contact with someone but I was unsure if they would be kind enough to give out such items especially after 9/11…
I threw you an email, hope ya caught it…[:p][;)]. Thanks again, it is greatly appreciated.
Flaps up, Mike

Those were the days, you could contact the PR folks of most any manufacturer and get a couple pounds of photos and documents. No more.

I contacted Grumman twice during the 1980’s and got a a goodly amount of stuff, much of which is useless to the modeler… but groovy stuff nonetheless.

Contacted them again a few years ago through the place my Dad worked and all I got was a lousy two-page zox slinger. And with all the legal BS going on these days I wouldn’t hold my breath in trying to get anything worthwhile from these firms anymore, especially Northrop/Grumman. Boeing… who knows…

Mike, you have more reference on the F-16 than has been made but you can have my F-16 file. I’ll just have find some way to transport it… [;)]

Oh, you interested in those factory drawings of the cockpits? They’re for the first production jets, I believe, but they can be had for the right amount of ¢a$h… [:p][;)]

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Well, I manage to get what I need out of these firms, and I have no big newspaper or magazine’s name to throw around any more. I am a freelancer, and if you look it up in the encyclopedia of such things, the lowest rung on the totem pole of journalism (not the biggest lowlife, that, of course, if reserved for those people on TV who call themselves journlists, but that’s for another day and another forum…), but nobody has less pull than a freelancer. However, if you are thinking about planning to one day perhaps write a letter to an aviation magazine’s editor proposing an article, gues what? That makes you a full-fledged freelance writer. I have seen freelancers, usually legitimate stringers for some hometown newspaper, with their own very official looking press credential dangling around their neck which they cranked out that very morning on the old Powerpoint. Add a photo, a few personal statistics, and your signature, and you’ve got credentials, my friend. In fact, there is actually a freelancer’s union, which I think is a great idea. Many people thought it was a joke, but that was ten years ago and it has done nothing but grow. It helps force magazines to pay people, because freelancers are often cheated out of the fees by bankrupt, or just plain sleezy, publications. I have a few real credentials from real publications, because that’s how I have to eat, but I am still a freelancer. And I get real mad at magazines that screw me around, and I always, ALWAYS get even…oh, sorry. Got lost thinking about something else.
To make this too long story very short, don’t be shy. These people take more than their fare share of your tax money, so use whatever tools are available to you to get a little service back from them. Wolf’s may be right in his experience, and I can tell you, a simple letter is not going to do it. Make a nuisance of yourself if you must. This stuff means nothing to these PR flacks. They send it out by the bale, so demand your share. And if you have to be a journalist to get it, then by gar by a journalist. A freelance journalist. If you’ve ever had a one paragraph tip printed in FSM, then you even have a portfolio started.
TOM

Hiya Steve-O,
O, I guess your right about the abundance of 16 reference material that I have. I am always looking for new stuff.
And as for your offer, mmmmm thats sounds pretty darn good. What would you want in trade or do u wish for a nominal fee???[:p][;)]
Like Rick Ellis said(and he did say this), I have more F-16s than the USAF…!!![;)]
Flaps up, Mike

Oh, I believe that a not-so nominal fee would probably be in order… [;)]

Yes, I’ve heard him say it… many, MANY times… LOL

Reminds me of the time he was showing me some of his ‘relics’ and kept saying, “This is older than you are!”.

Now I like Rick alot, he’s a great guy, and he’s done alot which I could only hope to do. He has truly ‘been there done that’. (Heck, how many MiG killers do you pal around with in your lifetime?) But I finally got sick of some of his highly embellished stories and that “This is older than you” bit so I said to him: “You REALLY wanna impress me? Show me something that’s older than you are…

He finally got the clue and figured out that I don’t impress easily… He never did fly the F-16 did he?

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Hiya Steve,
No, no he did not fly the 16. He does have a few manuals on them though. I keep tryin to smootch up tp him but no deal. I could always ask my cousin for one…!!! It would not be the same though know what I mean.
I too like him, but after awhile hearing the same stories over and over again became pretty dull. After awhile I could do word for word as he told a story… LOL[:p].
Pathetic aint it… O’well such is life. At least he aint like the Bad Col.
Flaps up, Mike

Well, the man is quite a character… Colonel Chaos would be more like it…

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Hey Steve, wouldn’t it have been cool if Tamiya added a crew chief as well. I have been wanting to do this dio for some time now… hehehe[:p]

PS, did I mention that it would have to be a female crew chief to boot…

Flaps up, Mike