Matchbox F-16A

1
February 5, 2023
2
April 18, 2023
The sidewinders are drilled out
3
April 18, 2023
Thinning down the exhaust
4
April 18, 2023
Added a bit of plasticard to make the wheel wells (a little bit) more interesting
5
April 18, 2023
Also the front wheel well
6
April 18, 2023
Ejection seat is done
7
April 18, 2023
Different parts are primed white
8
April 18, 2023
Started with the assembly
9
April 18, 2023
The fit is not so good 🙁
10
April 18, 2023
Gaps
11
April 18, 2023
Started with filler
12
April 18, 2023
More putty
13
April 18, 2023
Here as well
14
April 18, 2023
Now sanding
15
April 18, 2023
More sanding
16
April 18, 2023
Wings are on
17
April 18, 2023
Filled the gaps, more sanding and rescribing a few panel lines
18
April 18, 2023
Canopy is masked
19
April 18, 2023
And the nose cone is glued. Fit is not great either. There is some weight inside just in case
20
April 18, 2023
More filling, sanding and ready for primer
21
May 1, 2023
Painted the canopy interior color and the tires with XF-1 and a tiny drop of XF-53
22
May 1, 2023
Everything primed with grey Ultimate primer (Stynylrez)
23
May 1, 2023
Pre-shaded with XF-1
24
May 7, 2023
Underside, tail and tanks painted with XF-19
25
May 7, 2023
Tried to do some low lights and highlights, although they're not so visible in the photo
26
May 28, 2023
Gloss coat on the underside
27
May 28, 2023
All masked, ready for the top colour
28
May 28, 2023
XF-24 applied
29
June 18, 2023
Post-shading and de-masking
30
June 18, 2023
Gloss coat
31
June 18, 2023
Masking the nose cone
32
June 18, 2023
Nose cone painted XF-53
33
June 18, 2023
Another gloss coat and decals on
34
June 25, 2023
Black panel liner
35
June 25, 2023
A bit of light weathering with oil paints
36
June 25, 2023
The exhaust nozzle was painted with Vallejo jet exhaust and weathered with blue and burnt siena oil paints
37
July 10, 2023
Coat of matt varnish
38
July 10, 2023
Ordnance added
39
July 10, 2023
And it's finished!
40
July 10, 2023
41
July 10, 2023
42
July 10, 2023
43
July 10, 2023
44
July 10, 2023
45
July 10, 2023
46
July 10, 2023
47
July 10, 2023
48
July 10, 2023
49
July 10, 2023
50
July 10, 2023

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