Hasegawa 1/72 F-16C Fighting Falcon

MPM 1:72 NAKAJIMA "KIKKA"
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Myself (rec.models.scale)

Kit Details: Hasegawa B2:800 #00232 - 1/72 F-16C Fighting Falcon US Air Force Tactical Fighter

Aircraft History: The F-16 started rather inauspiciously as a technology demonstrator to see to what degree it would be possible to build a useful fighter that was significantly smaller and cheaper than the F-15 Eagle. The US Air Force (USAF) termed this the lightweight fighter programme and it was not originally intended to lead to a production aircraft, although this was overtaken by the existence of a large export market, initially in Europe. General Dynamics, Boeing, LTV, Lockheed and Northrop all submitted proposals, with General Dynamics and Northrop being awarded contracts for two prototypes each. After extensive fly-offs, General Dynamics' YF-16 was chosen over Northrop's YF-17 (which would later become the US Navy's F-18).

The single-seat F-16A first flew in December 1976 and became operational with the USAF in January 1979. The F-16B, a two-seat model, has tandem cockpits with a bubble canopy extended to cover the second cockpit. Subsequent improvements have led to the F-16C and F-16D, which are the single- and two-seat equivalents of the F-16A and F-16B. All active USAF units and many Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units have converted to the F-16C/D. Other variants include the F-16N and TF-16N Night Falcon flown by the US Navy as adversary trainers, and the F-16XL, a company-funded project with a 'cranked-arrow' wing and lengthened fuselage, which never entered production.

Kit Parts: Hasegawa provide three main sprues with the upper fuselage coming on a 4th smaller sprue, of 72 light grey crisp injection molded parts. The parts are common to the F-16A kit so one gets the feeling this is just a re-badged kit with F-16C example decals. The parts come with reasonable surface detail with engraved panel lines. A sprue containing three clear parts (two-piece canopy and HUD) is bagged separately in the box with the decal sheet.

Instructions: The instruction sheet is generally typical of Hasegawa kits but of the updated variety of the last couple of years that is just black and white (as opposed to the 90's and early 200's version where there is a bit of blue on the instruction sheet) obviously as a cost saving measure, and laid out a little different to what I am used to. It still starts off with a B&W photo of the model and brief history then after a small table explaining symbols used it launches into a dozen assembly steps. The diagrams are much smaller as is the sheet from many other Hasegawa kits I have built but it does label each step (eg: "nose gear assembly", "gear cover assembly" etc). It is still easy enough to follow and lines on the model itself will help precisely place some of the parts. A sprue map and Mr Color/Gunze Sangyo colouring information follows then four view decal and marking diagrams for the two examples the kit produces, plus an ordnance decalling guide rounds out the sheet.

Colour Options: Two USAF examples are provided in the kit, the second being based in Europe, in the standard three-tone grey scheme of FS36118, FS36320 over FS36375 with FS36320 nose cone. 363rd TFW, 19th TFS "Gamecocks" and 86th TFW 512nd TFS are the examples.

Decals: A reasonable sized decal sheet is provided with good register and appropriate stencilling, unit badges, fin flashes etc are provided. Typical Hasegawa so these should go on without any problems.

Cockpit/Wheel Bay Detail: Being simply a reboxed F-16A Plus kit from a couple of decades ago the kit lacks any real depth of detail in these areas. Wheel wells receive some "cross beam" and the nose bay has a couple of small hydraulic lines molded. The cockpit is very basic and you will be relying on the decal sheet for side and main instrument panel console detail. A reasonable replica of a pilot figure is provided, with a separate arm. The seat is too generic for it to be accurate and all this goes into a tub.

Optional components: A boarding ladder is provided for diorama sets and there is a good range of stores provided with bombs, sidewinders, drop tanks and a pod to choose from. Given one of the upgrades of the F-16C included carriage of the AIM-120 AMRAAM it would have been better to have this included in the kit, so I will probably raid the spares box later and add this to the model.

On the Sprue Impressions: The parts are identical to the F-16A kit which I have built a couple of times and reviewed separately on SMAKR. There are no real problems building the kit, it goes together very well and apart from the odd knife scrape to remove some very minor flash, I would say this kit will mirror that and go together rather easily. There is a decent amount of detail on the parts through what was generally a golden age for Hasegawa kits in the late 80's.

Parts breakdown is upper and lower fuselage pieces, a reasonably deep exhaust section which can be painted and has a separate exhaust fan, but a shallow intake (even though the intake housing is much larger) will be more challenging to provide any depth. There are a couple of part placed in side the fuselage that would normally be intake fans (parts B5&B6), and I can't recall from my earlier building of this kit what they are for, so perhaps one can open up the rear of the intake ?? One for when I build the kit I guess.

The main wings are single pieces with the missile rail already molded on and the tailplanes have alignment pins - as opposed to tabs - as they are all moving parts on the real plane, so they can be positioned as the modeller sees fit. With over 70 parts in a kit like this you can expect either a lot of stores or a lot of small parts, and there are quite a few of the latter. With each main landing gear assembly made up of at least four parts and separate wheel well doors provided for wheels up and wheels down modellers, the number of parts can decline quickly.

Accuracy: The F-16A Plus Hasegawa kit is not absolute definitive in accuracy but is very close to the mark and I would suspect similar comments about the F-16C can thus be made. My understanding is the main differences are a couple of small bubble fairings, tail fin fillet and ordnance load between the F-16A Plus and F-16C versions, with the remainder being avionics (and ability to carry the AIM-120 which is not included in the kit). Something I will research more when I build the kit. If there are too many other differences then this kit may raise some eyebrows.

Conclusion: It is simply a reboxed F-16A Plus kit with -C decals and small parts which is a nice solid kit and should build into a great looking replica without too many hassles. The Revell new tooling from reports is a better kit in accuracy and build, but if this Hasegawa kit was the only one on the market, most would be more than happy to build it. Recommended!

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