REVELL 1:72 G.D. F-16A FIGHTING FALCON

 

Reviewer: Paulo Ivo Teixeira (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:  16 August 2007

Kit Details:

Revell F-16A Fighting Falcon 1/72 scale, kit # 04363, from 2006. Flimsy end-opening blue box. Purchased at Hamley's of London, courtesy of M. Eloy.

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.

The F-16 was also licence-built in Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey, where it replaced the F-104 Starfighter. Other operators include Bahrain, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Venezuela. It is a remarkable export success with more than 4000 built.

The F-16 has its shock-inlet air intake located under the forward fuselage under the cockpit. The aircraft's unusual shape features wing/body blending and large leading-edge root extensions to enhance lift at high angles of attack. It is statically unstable with a fly-by-wire system for controllability, a zeo/zero ejection seat angled back by 30 degrees (rather than the usual 13 degrees) for increased pilot comfort and gravity force tolerance, and a limited-movement side-stick controller in place of a conventional control column, for more precise control of the aircraft through slight amounts of hand pressure. The cockpit has HUD and multi-function displays as well as a one-piece frameless canopy with no windscreen, which gives the pilot an incomparable all-round view. The F-16 has excellent combat radius and manoeuvrability, combined with true multi-role capability, all at a relatively low cost.

The Kit:

In what follows I concentrate on construction, and refer the reader to my Inbox Review of the same kit for additional details.


© Paulo Ivo Teixeira 2007

Construction:

This started, as usual, with the cockpit. The ejection seat is in three parts and highly detailed, with seatbelts moulded on. However, once assembled it doesn't quite fit into the tub - I had to press it down really hard, and yet it was still a bit too high. Tub, seat and instrument panels were painted dark gull grey FS36231 (Hu 140); the seat cushion was painted olive drab FS34087 (Hu 66) lightened with flat white (Hu 34), seat belts were light ghost grey FS36375 (Hu 127), as per the instructions. The side consoles and instrument panel have raised detail, but decals are also provided for these, which I decided to use. However, I did not sand them smooth, which I probably should have done, as the raised detail impairs decal adhesion somewhat.

A few other sub-assemblies were completed in parallel. The brake parachute housing and main undercarriage wells were a breeze, but the intake trunk was a pain: big steps inside, which had to be filled, then sanded smooth as best as possible with a piece of sandpaper rolled around a toothpick. Fit of the intake trunk to the lower fuselage is not perfect either, leaving big steps in the rear upper part which definitely do not exist on the real aircraft.

Fuel tanks and Sidewinder missiles were painted while still on sprues, then assembled with few problems, except that fins on the Sidewinders are a very tight fit on their bodies, leaving a tiny gap (no glue necessary). The undecarriage bay doors were also painted at this stage, satin white (Hu 130) on the inside and light ghost grey FS36375 (Hu 127) on the outside. The undercarriage legs and door actuators were likewise painted satin white (Hu 130), with aluminium (Re 99) oleos, as were the wheels; tyres were of course flat black (Hu 33). 

The tail fin was painted US medium grey FS36270 (Hu 126), the tail planes US gunship grey FS36118 (Hu 125) uppers and light ghost grey FS36375 (Hu 127) unders. In the process I broke 2 out of 3 static dischargers on each tailplane - which was almost unavoidable, so delicate they are. I decided not to replace them. I did, however, eventually replace the top discharger on the tail fin (which also broke off) with a 3-mm length of fishing thread.


© Paulo Ivo Teixeira 2007

The cockpit assembly was then cemented to the top front fuselage, which in the meantime had been painted US gunship grey FS36118 (Hu 125) and light ghost grey FS36375 (Hu 127), as appropriate to one of the Dutch aircraft (see below). The upper rear fuselage, moulded integrally with the wings, had already been painted US gunship grey FS36118 (Hu 125), with light ghost grey FS36375 (Hu 127) wing undersides, and cemented to the bottom fuselage piece, itself painted light ghost grey FS36375 (Hu 127). 

Fitting the top front fuselage + cockpit to the remainder of the fuselage was not particularly easy, as the cockpit sat a little deeper than it should have done (see above). This required lots of clamping with masking tape and clothes pegs, and some filling of gaps with white glue. 

It was perhaps at this stage that I managed to destroy Hu 127's satin sheen by attempting to thin it with the wrong enamel thinner and so was left with MATT light ghost grey - just what I needed for another project, but certainly not for this! A new tin of paint was duly purchased, which however appeared to be bluer than the old one! Well, after much repainting and waiting, I convinced myself that Hu 127 is bluer shortly after application, but goes greyer after a few days.

The exhaust can was assembled. I didn't trust the colours called for in the instructions, and from photos it seems that this part of the plane varies a lot in appearance. I used a combination of polished aluminium (Re 99), dull aluminium (Hu 56), gunmetal (Hu 53) and another, very dark, metalliser (exact reference lost in the mists of time) to achieve what I believe is a realistic interpretation of an F-16's rear end. The inside wall of the exhaust was done in said dark metalliser, with the fan painted gunmetal (Hu 53) for contrast; this is nicely detailed, so should be visible.

Before tackling the rather complex landing gear, I decalled the fuel tanks and Sidewinders (which in the meantime had been attached to their pylons: I find it easier to glue the whole pylon + store assembly to the lower wing/fuselage). This involved applying several dozen submillimetre-sized decals, which gave me severe eye-strain as a consequence of having to use a rather large magnifying glass. Actually, this and the number of exceedingly tiny parts which need to be placed in very precise positions and orientations are my main gripes with this kit (besides a few fit issues): never had such problems with them old Airfix and Matchbox kits... Oh well, perhaps I'm just too old for these ultramodern toolings... :-)

The exhaust can was inserted into the rear fuselage, another 20 microscopic decals were applied, and then the tail fin and tailplanes were cemented in place. The nose radome had been painted ocean grey FS36187 (Hu 106) and stuffed with about 5 g of lead + plasticine. This is the colour quoted in the instructions. Some websites say dark ghost grey FS36320 instead, but this is LIGHTER that the adjoining colour, US medium grey FS36270, whereas most photos clearly show a darker radome.

I like my planes loaded with underwing nasties, and what was included in the kit was nowhere near enough: what, just a couple of Sidewinders? So I raided the spares box: an old Airfix A-7 Corsair (also reviewed by me on SMAKR) contributed two MERs and 12 500-lb bombs, which were painted olive drab FS34087 (Hu 66) with trainer yellow (Hu 24) rings around the noses. I also scratchbuilt two AIM-120 AMRAAMs by clipping the fins on two AIM-7 Sparrows: the AIM-120 and the AIM-7 are exactly the same length, the former having a slightly thinner body, but I didn't bother with this as it would be almost imperceptible in this scale. The AIM-120s were painted light ghost grey FS36375 (Hu 127) with satin white (Hu 130) noses and RAF dark green BS641 (Hu 163) fins, and three blue rings around the body from the kit's own decal sheet (actually these were meant for the Sidewinders, which are thinner, so there were small gaps that I painted French blue (Hu 14), an almost perfect colour match).

Prior to assembling the undercarriage, I applied all decals to the plane undersurfaces. After a couple of days' break to recover from eye-strain, I went for it. Each main undercarriage leg is in 5 parts (one of them clear), and attachment points between them are minute, so one has to be very precise with glueing and positioning, and still they come apart very easily and took several attempts to get right. (The nose wheel leg is mercifully simpler, only 3 parts, and a little more clearance.) Getting the undercarriage bay doors on is likewise difficult, as the edge along which they contact the fuselage has a very small area and that is where the glue must go. Morewhite glue to the rescue, as it dries invisible and is easily sanded! 

The canopy and all uppersurface decals went on at this stage. The canopy is a poor fit (surprise!) and required a lot of white glue all around, with the subsequent sanding. As I had jumped the gun a little and alreadu applied a few decals around the canopy area, quite considerable care was in order!

I chose decals for the Royal Dutch Air Force's 314th Squadron "Redskins", based at Gijzen-Rijen, in their 40th anniversary scheme of 1992, showing a Nayive American with feather headgear on the tail fin. The decals are beautifully printed with very bright colours, the Native American's head is separate from the background but registry is perfect. For the record, I managed to lose only ONE of the dozens of tiny decals, and I'm pretty sure no-one will notice it missing (for symmetry I left off the corresponding decal on the other side of the aircraft).

Underwing pylons were then affixed, as were the wingtip rails with the Sidewinder missiles. The latter took several attempts, again owing to the small contact surface between wing and rail. 

Last item to go on was the pitot tube. And then, after some 7 months of labour, my Dutch F-16A was finished! This was also to commemorate three happy years I spent in the Netherlands in the mid-1990s. 


© Paulo Ivo Teixeira 2007

Conclusion:

This was hard work, but the end result was worth it. Certainly not one for beginners, given the number of tiny, fiddly bits and the complexity of construction/decalling. Also a few more steps/gaps/poor fits (however minor) than I would expect in a modern kit by a leading manufacturer.

References:


© Paulo Ivo Teixeira 2007

 

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