Tamiya’s 1:48 F-16CJ is the kit that I picked to create a fictitious flight test chase plane which would be used to act as a safety observer for various flight testing scenarios and equipment. The model was primed with Tamiya Flat White then given a coat of Pactra Gloss White. I know I am not alone when I state that I wish RPM/Testor’s would reintroduce the Pactra line…it was a great paint! The Fluorescent Red Orange is my Hawkeye’s Talon Series Acrylic which too was applied over a primer of Tamiya Flat White.

The tail was actually painted three times. One the first attempt I was going to give the entire upper fuselage a red white and blue patriotic theme, but when I tried to correct a small speck of a booger in the red where it met the white…needless to say it went into the stripping tank (Windex) to remove all of the paint from the upper fuselage and tail (which were separate pieces…I left the subassemblies separate until painting was completed). One the second attempt, this time with just the tail itself, the stripes didn’t quite look right so it again went into the stripping tank.

On the third attempt after I had yet again having given it a primer of Tamiya Flat White I decided on a simpler paint scheme and chose to use my Fluorescent Red Orange.  The areas to receive the Orange are the tail, lower fins, wingtip missile rails and external fuel tanks…the centerline one will just receive a band of orange.

I’ve scavenging through my decal stash to come up with some plausible markings. I’ll post more images as the build progresses as well as point out some of the details such as the NMF leading edges.

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!