General Dynamics F-16XL
Here we have the F-16XL, a competitor for the Enhanced Tactical Fighter (ETF) in 1980. It was up against a modified F-15, and was capable of carrying twice the load of a regular F-16 as well as 40% further. It lost to the F-15, but they kept the planes and NASA eventually used them for a couple research projects. Besides the obvious difference of delta wings the plane was longer, heavier, and had more weapon hard-points. They intended to use the ETF as a replacement to the F-111, which was starting to show it's age. It just looks like an awesome plane to me.
The model was an old Monogram model that I had to get through eBay. I haven't seen an F-16XL model in the stores for a long time. And while Monogram managed to do a decent job with it, they made a couple mistakes. The one I know about for sure is that the rear half of the fuselage was angled up 3 degrees to help with ground clearance during take-off and landing. I figured that with a model this small you wouldn't necessarily notice it. Also, most people that actually see my models don't really know anything about what they represent so it doesn't really matter. (I've been told by my wife that all my Star Trek models look the same.)
Construction was pretty straight forward, with only minor gaps and alignment issues. Nothing worth writing home about. The missiles had some serious issues though. There were huge sink holes in the AIM-120s right around the fins. It's like they just didn't put enough styrene in the mold in the factory. I managed to fill them in though, and I put the missiles on so you wouldn't be able to see it. The AIM-9s also had some minor issues with flash, but that was pretty easy to clean up.
Painting and Decals
Painting was pretty simple. I painted all the white first and then masked it off to paint the other areas. I managed to make the white line go to far past the canopy though. It should have ended where the canopy open up, not just past it. But here's where I rely on the viewer not knowing anything about the subject thing again. I focus on making nice looking models, not hyper-accurate models. It's more fun for me that way.
I had to scrounge for some decals for this one. The ones that came with the model were old and in bad shape. There are actually a bunch of lines that I should have added, but I didn't do the research that I should have done. Oh well. It looks good enough for me.
I did try something new with this model though. I did a 'dirt wash.' Some call it a sludge wash, or a dark wash, but it's all the same. You seal the model with a gloss coat and 'paint' the crevices in with a dark color, like black. After it's dry, you use a cloth damp with paint thinner and wipe off the excess paint and all you leave behind is what's in the recesses or other areas. When done right it really brings out panel lines, rivets, vents, etc. The trick is to use an enamel clear coat with an acrylic based paint or water based clear coat with an enamel paint. That way you don't stain the clear coat. You also need a really smooth gloss coat. The smoother the coat the easier it is to remove the extra paint.
Someone needs to get a power washer!
You can see that it turned out ok. The raised detail doesn't really work well with this type of weathering technique. But I think it looked pretty good. Over all this was a pretty good model. A little different from the standard fare that you see out there. Plus, it looks good next to my 1/72 scale F-16C so I'm happy.