Post by Robert on Aug 17, 2014 20:31:07 GMT -7
This is an F-16A of the Belgian Air Force, 31 Sqn, in 1985 special "Tiger Markings." It is a block 15 aircraft. I have listed it as a non-U.S. because F-16s were also built outside of the U.S.
F-16's are painted with a special paint that makes the aircraft less radar-reflective, therefore repainting an F-16 is a very expensive thing. However, the Tigers of Three-One wanted to keep-up with tradition, by painting a tiger-striped aircraft for the 1985 Tigermeet. Finally an answer to solve this dilemma was brought to them by W. Lippens who is the paint manufacture for the Belgian Air Force. The solution consisted of painting a special plastic coating over the grey-paint. When the colors should be removed they just had to peel off the plastic layer, instead of completely repainting the aircraft. Then came flight-safety... and they judged that it would be to dangerous to fly the aircraft with peelable paint ahead of the air-intake. This would take away the full spirit of the aircraft, and the project was almost cancelled, but then a compromise was made (mainly because the FA-62 was already prepared to be painted, standing in the paint shop with everything masked). The compromise was that nothing was to be painted in front of the air-intake. (courtesy of www.31tigersqn.be )
This is a pre-painted F-16A from Easy Model that I have detailed.
F-16's are painted with a special paint that makes the aircraft less radar-reflective, therefore repainting an F-16 is a very expensive thing. However, the Tigers of Three-One wanted to keep-up with tradition, by painting a tiger-striped aircraft for the 1985 Tigermeet. Finally an answer to solve this dilemma was brought to them by W. Lippens who is the paint manufacture for the Belgian Air Force. The solution consisted of painting a special plastic coating over the grey-paint. When the colors should be removed they just had to peel off the plastic layer, instead of completely repainting the aircraft. Then came flight-safety... and they judged that it would be to dangerous to fly the aircraft with peelable paint ahead of the air-intake. This would take away the full spirit of the aircraft, and the project was almost cancelled, but then a compromise was made (mainly because the FA-62 was already prepared to be painted, standing in the paint shop with everything masked). The compromise was that nothing was to be painted in front of the air-intake. (courtesy of www.31tigersqn.be )
This is a pre-painted F-16A from Easy Model that I have detailed.