F-16C Block 30 - 466 FS

This is a Tamiya 1/48 F-16C Block 32 that was converted to a Block 30 by changing the exhaust nozzle. There is an inacurracy in this model because it does not have the "wide mouth" jet intake but I'm OK with it. The decals were a discontinued line from Two Bobs that I got from an online retailer in Canada.

The kit was excellent as advertised. I used Tamiya's update set to add the skin reinforcements and such, which turned out to make the model a bit more authentic. I used the LIGHTNING II and AN/ALQ-131 pods from a Kinetic kit; everything else was stock.

This model was made as a gift to a pilot who recently retired from the 466th FS stationed at Hill AFB.

Military Channel's "Top 10 Fighters of All Time"

You may have noticed that I have been building a lot of fighters lately, many of them jets. I watched an interesting program on the Military Channel on the subject of the top 10 fighters of all time. Since I already had a model of a few of them, I decided that I wanted to build all of them and have a display of them on my blog. The following is a listing of the fighters in descending order, with a discussion of whether I agree with the Military Channel or not. Just click on the plane's link to go to my blog page on that model.

10. F-22 Raptor - The Military Channel chose this aircraft because of its new technology. However, the Raptor has not, as of yet, been battle tested. I would not have put it in the top 10 because of this. It may be a fast, maneuverable, and stealthy fighter and perhaps will be a great fighter, but many potentially great fighters in history have failed when put to the test.

9. Harrier - Again, the Military Channel chose this one because of its uniqueness. It has been battle tested, unlike the F-22, but mostly in ground support missions. There needs to be a disdinction made between a dogfighter or multirole fighter. As a multirole fighter the Harrier has been superb and definitely in the top 10; as a dogfighter, probably not.

8. Sopwith Camel - A great fighter in its short service-time, the Camel had more kills than any other Allied fighter in WWI. However, it nearly killed as many of its own pilots as it did enemy pilots because of its poor stability. I feel the Fokker D.VII was a better, more stable fighter from that era and should have been in the Camel's place.

7. Me 262 - Another short-lived fighter which got its inclusion because of its first jet fighter status. However, I don't disagree with the choice. When compared to its contemporary jet fighters (the Gloster Meteor and P-80), it was still far superior in speed, firepower, and manueverablility.

6. Supermarine Spitfire - Along with the Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire staved off sure doom from the Nazi Luftwaffe air attacks on Great Brittain despite inferior numbers and less experienced pilots. Of course I would put this aircraft in the top 10 of all time, and I'm a little surprised that it wasn't ranked higher.

4.5. F-86 Sabrejet - A sure choice for top 10 status, the Sabre brought air superiority back the the Americans in the Korean War. Tied with the MIG-15 in rank, these two aircrafts' histories are tied at the hip.

4.5. MIG-15 - A devastating fighter for the early American jets, the MIG-15 owned the skies over Korea until the appearance of the F-86. Many say that the MIG-15 was the better fighter but the F-86 had better pilots. It's difficult to say either way.

3. F-4 Phantom II - As a multirole fighter, the F-4 was one of, if not, the best. As a dogfighter, the F-4 was middle-of-the-pack. Having said this, however, one cannot argue with the longevity and war record of this venerable behemoth. It is definitely a top 10 fighter of all time.

2. F-15 Eagle - The first air-superiority jet-fighter built to be maneuverable as well as fast, this aircraft is an excellent dogfighter as well as multirole fighter with the advent of the F-15E. An easy choice to make as a top 10 fighter.

1. P-51D Mustang - Not suprisingly, this aircraft is considered the best-ever fighter. Using the same engine as the Spitfire and a laminar flow wing, this aircraft escorted Allied bombers deep into German teritory were it faced the best of the Nazi fighters including the Me 262 and performed admirably. This would be my choice for #1 as well.

F-15J Peace Eagle "Shiro Ruyu"

This is a Tamiya kit with some updating to the intakes and exhausts. I used some vacuform intake trunking that my dad gave me a long time ago for a Monogram kit to carry the intakes behind the main wheel wells. I also modified the Monogram exhaust cans (w/o the turkey feathers) to fit the Tamiya kit and used them. I cut some quilting pins to length for the actuator rods on the exhausts to give them a better look that the flat surfaces on the Monogram parts.

The kit went together well with some minor fit issues in the main wing halves and the intakes to the fuselage. The cockpit was a bit sparse with a flat instrument panel and consoles and little detail in the avionics compartment behind the seat. I decided to use the stock cockpit with the canopy closed since the instrument panel and console decals were decent and I wouldn't have to worry about the avionics compartment.

I originally wanted to make an Israeli F-15, but the available markings were so expensive, so I decided to do this beautiful Japanese Air Self Defense Force show bird with markings provided by Two Bobs Decals. The decals were excellent for their size, but there was one significant problem with the size of the large white dragon - it was too big. I had to cut down and overlap the three pieces quite a bit to get them to fit on the wings. I'm not sure if Two Bobs or Tamiya got the size wrong but I think things turned out OK in the end.

This was a fun kit to work on and if one does not want to update the intakes or exhausts, the kit can go together rather quickly. However, if you do want to do some heavy detailing, it is a good platform to do so.

F-16C "Gridiron Viper"

This kit is from Academy and despite what you may think about Academy, I feel this kit makes a good model. Aside from the poor fit in places (intake-to-fuselage and wing halves) and a vanilla cockpit, one can make a good F-16A Block 15 or C Block 25 from this kit. The biggest problem that I could not fix was the main gear are set too wide and too low, tipping the tail down too far.

This kit was built OTB, the only thing I scratch-built was the HUD box. It was way too shallow on the instrument panel, so I simply extended it outwards. I chose to put the pilot in so that I could paint the helmet like an Indianapolis Colts helmet. I think it looks rather unique.

I chose the markings because my father-in-law is a big Colts fan, and I wanted to give this model to him. The subject is the show bird (an early Block 30 but my father-in-law wouldn't notice the difference) that was painted up to perform fly-overs at Colts home games after their Championship season in 2007. The decals are Two Bobs, which is a good sheet. It comes with the same markings in 1/72, 1/48, and 1/32 scales. I still have the 1/72 and 1/32 decals, so if anyone wants them they are more than welcome to them. Just leave a comment and I will get in touch with you.

As mentioned before, I think this kit is good, especially for someone who wants a good early F-16 version, and doesn't want to shell out a lot of cash for a Hasegawa or Tamiya kit. The cockpit can be updated with aftermarket pieces, and with a little research and ingenuity, one can get the version they are looking for up to an early Block 30 by replacing the exhaust pedals or Block 32 by adding or deleting a few vents.

Bf 109K-4

I obtained this Hasegawa kit off of Squadron's Comsale list. I used the savings to get an aftermarket resin cockpit and wheels by True Details and decals by Aeromaster. The build of this model, its advantages and shortcomings have been well documented. I must say, however, that this has become my favorite model so far.

The aftermarket cockpit went easily into the model and added a lot of interest. I really had no fit problems with the model to note, but I did close the tail wheel doors, and opened the main wheel wells underneath the wing bulges. I decided to attach the outer doors of the main wheel wells, even though they were commonly removed in the field, because it is the easiest way to identify a K-4 version (although several versions of the 109 were slated to have these doors, only the K-4 was produced with them). I repositioned the elevators as well to give it a more realistic look.

I chose the markings of "Black 4" from JG 52 because I loved the red tulip on the nose. It made a beautiful model. This is a popular subject of the K-4 version, probably because it is so striking. I had a little trouble finding a color match to the red tulip decals, but decided that Model Master "Gloss Red" was as close as I was going to get and went with that. The decals were good, in fact the tulip decals went on without as much work as I had anticipated; the only exception was that Aeromaster didn't provide decals for the white stripes on the stabilizers, I had to paint those myself. I enjoyed working the airbrush on this model as well; I liked doing the sharp edges in areas and heavy over-spray in others.

I had a blast building this kit - it didn't take very long to detail, and it turned out beautifully. I hope to add more 109s to my collection soon.

Me 262A-1a

I built this Tamiya kit straight out of the box. I even used the decal seat belts (which I didn't really like). I think that Tamiya hit a home run with this kit. Despite the seat belts, the cockpit was very good, the wheel-wells, especially the main gear wells, were excellent and the fit was superb. I really liked the ingenuity of the nose weight part doubling as the nose wheel-well ceiling and gun compartment floor. The gun compartment could probably use a little bit of detailing, but I chose to leave it closed anyway.

Even though the instructions indicate differently, I chose to put the R4M rockets on the version from JV44. I figured that this subject probably carried the rockets at some point, seeing as how JV44 developed anti-bomber tactics using the R4M rockets.

I chose the JV44 option because I wanted an example the squadron of elite pilots who developed important jet-powered tactics in its infancy. I also liked the two-tone green over light blue better than the two-tone gray over light blue scheme. Although WWII Luftwaffe fighter schemes are somewhat difficult to paint, I enjoyed the practice using my airbrush techniques and feel that the overall paint job turned out well.

I highly recommend this kit for all amateur to advance modelers, especially fans of 262s. The A-1a kit is a bit pricey, but less expensive than the A-2a. Plus, the A-1a kit has most of the parts for the A-2a version, and with a little bit of parts modification and some after market decals, one can still make a A-2a.