Twobobs Aviation Graphics

1/72 F-16C Arctic Bandits

Sheet Number: 72-072

Reviewed by  Walt Fink, IPMS# 2447

MSRP: $12.00 Website: www.twobobs.net As a proponent of colorful and unusual markings schemes for aircraft, I was enthusiastic over the newest 1/72 scale offering from Twobobs which gives me something besides monotone-gray Falcons. The sheet provides markings for four separate 354th FW/18th FS F-16C "Aggressor" aircraft in the three-tone wraparound camouflage scheme---very sharp. Typical of Twobobs offerings, this is a complete sheet including stenciling for all four aircraft plus walkway lines. As with all this company's products, it also comes with a full-color instruction sheet including high-quality photographs of the aircraft. Color callouts are provided with FS numbers and reference for four popular paint lines. I didn't think that an "on the sheet" summary was a really fair review so I built Monogram's F-16C kit #5309 and used the Twobobs sheet for the markings. For the Arctic Aggressor paint scheme, I used Gunze Sangyo grays H311 FS36622 and H305 FS36118, plus Tamiya XF69 NATO Black for the darkest "gray" (the Twobobs sheet gives color callouts with FS numbers and reference for four popular paint lines, and it's really supposed to be black, but I prefer to use dark gray instead on 1/72 and smaller models. Just personal choice.) The decals include a complete sheet including stenciling for four aircraft plus walkway lines; I chose aircraft 314, the first one depicted on the sheet, as I liked the "354th FW" shadow lettering on the fin. The full-color instruction sheet includes small but high-quality photographs of the aircraft. The decals went on great and hardly needed any setting solution. Everything fit as it was supposed to, and the lighter colors are opaque so the base color of the model doesn't show through. I did run into two small problem areas to be aware of, however. Firstly, in my sample, Twobobs had included a very small correction sheet with just a few decals on it, aircraft numbers and crew names---take note that this is "one decal" instead of individual ones, so the subject has to be trimmed very close to the actual name or number in order not to wind up with a lot of clear carrier film around it. The main sheet features individual decals so this isn't a concern. The other problem I ran into was exaggerated by my own dearth of references on the F-16. I didn't think the sheet's instructions were as clear as they could've been on where the walkway lines should go on the forward spine of the aircraft....the top view drawing on the instruction sheet is complete but it was hard for me to discern which was a panel line and which was a walkway line. I had plenty of pix of F-16s but none showing that area, so more or less guessed at where they should go. Murphy's being a modeler, of course, I guessed wrong. Murphy's Second Coming was in the form of a nice photo which arrived here (AFTER I'd already applied clear coat over the markings, of course) showing my error. The walkway lines should go behind the gun muzzle fairing, not in front of it...the sharp-eyed out there will pick that up right away. Now you know why I don't build many modern Air Force birds. My self-made problems notwithstanding, I thought the sheet was typical of Twobobs' decal line...excellent. The end result with the Arctic Aggressor paint scheme is extremely sharp and makes the F-16 look really cool and more menacing than just plain gray. I highly recommend this sheet and thank Twobobs and IPMS/USA for the opportunity to review it.

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