Revell 1/48 F-16A Tigermeet

REVELL 1:48 F-16A "TIGERMEET 98"
Quick Review

Reviewer: Reimo Soosar (konnameil@yahoo.com)
Kit Review submitted: July 2000

Lechfeld, June 1998. The star of the Tigermeet, the G-32 fighter-bomber, which was admired by trade press for it's particularly successful Tiger livery, was the F-16 from 31 sqn. Kleine Brogel, Belgium. This annual meet of select NATO air squadrons has been held since 1961.

Instructions 12 A4 pages, including sprue-diagrams for 5 sprues (one clear with 2-piece canopy and HUD), there are 33 steps + decal instructions. One thing you have to notice that decals are super-quality, covering most of the airplane. Sprues are from black plastic (but what was needed to be white, became shining white) but it saves a lot of painting as the plane is supposed to be black with yellow stripes.

Parts 135, (20 of them not intended for use - such as pylons 3&7, pylons 2&8 are showed to be placed into the holes of pylons 3&7, that's really silly, also 4 AMRAAMs, I put on the pylons 3&7 and my F-16 carries all the AMRAAMs). Also some weight has to be added to the nose (10g).

As usual, it starts with cockpit. Seat is made from 5 parts, cockpit has side-panels (no throttle) and a sidestick. Main gear bays are well detailed (7 parts). As I understood it, this model can be built as a 2-seater, but then you need Revell's F-16 two-seater model parts. This tiger as a 2-seater would be fictional, but nice. As I have also understood it, there's always a trouble with fitting the inlet duct. Well, this model doesn't have such a problem, the inlet fitted just fine and as it was supposed to. Also there has been some complaints about the shortness of the inlet duct, on this model the lower part of the duct goes over the main gear bay (so being long enough), upper part as far as it can be seen (to the beginning of the main gear bay). As there is such a long inlet duct I can't help but wonder about the engine, this model could use it badly.

The model doesn't have separate wings, but then is one less trouble (fitting the wings). Main landing gear is from 6 parts + wheel (one leg), each landing gear door has 2 parts beside the door itself (hint- check out the decals, what's supposed to be under the plane's belly, covers the door a bit, I discovered it too late). Only trouble I had with the model was the main gear doors fitting (especially the 2 extra-parts). Nose gear, on the otherhand, was just a pleasure to assemble, gear itself is made from 3 parts + wheel, door has 3 extra parts. Canopy is optional (open-closed), ladder is included. There is even a small variety of avionics (parts 89 can be replaced).

External load: 3 tanks- 2 under the wing, one under the belly; 4 Sidewinders (2 x AIM-9P, 2 x AIM-9L), as I said, 4 AMRAAMs, one jammer under the belly (jammer looks too big, when it's on, the nose gear can't be retracted), I went with 3 tanks, 4 AMRAAMs and 2 AIM-9L-s, but tiger configuration has only the belly-tank (2 decals for it)+2 Sidewinders. Placing the decals can be worrying, but patience, my friends, after all the model looks beautiful. What about fitting? I'm more like an out-of-the-box builder, so I can't miss any gaps, but if I look at my model, I can't see a lot of gaps - one is between canopy and fuselage, others you can try and find yourself, if you can.

Accuracy? Looks like an F-16 to me, that's for sure, length is 30.2 cm (supposed to be 31.3), wingspan without tip-mounted AAMs is pretty much spot on (19.6/19.68).

Highly recommended.

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