This is the only shot I have before I stripped it. it was painted in European 1 camouflage originally but a couple of years later I repainted it gunship grey.
2 coats of gunship grey, 2 coats of clear matt, 1 coat of clear gloss and 2 coats of the original camouflage. It took a few days work to shift this lot!
20 years ago, without the almost limitless array of detail parts available from manufacturers and the ease of which these parts can be procured through online retailers, DIY was all the rage!
I made the spine years ago by gluing small sections of sheet over and internal frame. If I was to make this again I'd vac-form it or resin cast it, this took a lot of work back then so I was reluctant to scrap it.
Wheel bay doors scribed & the centerline store holes drilled. The brass hole in the door is a tube that was used to mount it to a custom made base years ago. I'm going to be using this to mount it again.
All I've done to this is add the notches and groves to the very end of the pipe. All the other detail was added when it was first built, 211 individual parts!
Test fitting seat and pilot. Pilots arms were separated at the shoulder, elbow and wrist, his feet were cut off as well. All the pieces were then drilled and copper wire used to hold the parts together.
I originally made the model with canards like those fitted to the F-16 CCV and AFTI but these are a new design. You can see the scratch built light and the intake extension in this shot as well.
Finished pilot sat in his office. The seat straps were a nightmare to do, I used the buckles supplied with the seat and masking tape for the straps. The buckles are threaded and loose not glued.
Line up of the armament I'm hanging off the A-16, the 40mm pod now has it's scratch built pylon attached. The are four fictitious AA missiles to go on twin wingtip launchers as well.