Matchbox F-16A

The sidewinders are drilled out

Thinning down the exhaust

Added a bit of plasticard to make the wheel wells (a little bit) more interesting

Also the front wheel well

Ejection seat is done

Different parts are primed white

Started with the assembly

The fit is not so good 🙁

Gaps

Started with filler

More putty

Here as well

Now sanding

More sanding

Wings are on

Filled the gaps, more sanding and rescribing a few panel lines

Canopy is masked

And the nose cone is glued. Fit is not great either. There is some weight inside just in case

More filling, sanding and ready for primer

Painted the canopy interior color and the tires with XF-1 and a tiny drop of XF-53

Everything primed with grey Ultimate primer (Stynylrez)

Pre-shaded with XF-1

Underside, tail and tanks painted with XF-19

Tried to do some low lights and highlights, although they're not so visible in the photo

Gloss coat on the underside

All masked, ready for the top colour

XF-24 applied

Post-shading and de-masking

Gloss coat

Masking the nose cone

Nose cone painted XF-53

Another gloss coat and decals on

Black panel liner

A bit of light weathering with oil paints

The exhaust nozzle was painted with Vallejo jet exhaust and weathered with blue and burnt siena oil paints

Coat of matt varnish

Ordnance added

And it's finished!

Comments

50 5 February 2023, 13:34

Villiers de Vos
Very nice work.

5 February 2023, 18:59

Alberto
Thanks Villiers. I find very exciting the moment of getting everything out of the box to get started!

6 February 2023, 07:41

Alberto
It's not easy to find these days. I bought it 40 years ago! 🙂

18 April 2023, 18:03

Julian Herrero aka Yuri
Following. This was my first "serious" kit.

18 April 2023, 19:20

Neil Patrick
Looking great. Nice to see all that filling and sanding came good now the primer is on. 🙂

11 May 2023, 21:34

Alberto
Thanks Neil and everybody else for the likes. Let's hope after the painting it still looks ok!

12 May 2023, 06:46

Julian Herrero aka Yuri
Good progress ,,, like it ... I also spent some putty around the cockpit , but don't remember having so much trouble with the rest of the airframe ,,, Keep on !

12 May 2023, 15:07

Eric Thornton
I've never seen a Matchbox kit only the metal cars. This is interesting.

28 May 2023, 11:23

Alberto
Thanks Eric! Matchbox kits were really popular in the 80s in Europe and got many of us into modelling. I will always have a soft spot for them 🙂

29 May 2023, 06:57