Revell 1/72 Lockheed F-16MLu Fighting Falcon

REVELL 1:72 LOCKHEED F-16MLU

Reviewer: Paul Wherran (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 16 November 2002

Kit Details:

Revell #04612 Lockheed F-16 MLu 1/72

Aircraft History:

During the F-16's service life it is undergoing constant upgrading and modifications which has led to a number of different variants, and variants within variants known as "Blocks", all with their own unique differences, capabilities and added features. The MLU variant, known as the "Mid Life Update" is a variant within a block, within a variant and applied to F-16A/B variants.

The F-16A/B Block 5 aircraft introduced the ghost grey coloured radome (previously they were black) which has become standard on all F-16's. The Block 10 introduced some minor internal changes, including a four-barrelled cannon that was effectively the little brother of the Avenger cannon found on the A-10 Thunderbolt, which never really worked very well on the F-16. The Block 15 aircraft introduced an enlarged tailplane surface which effectively allows flight at higher angles of attack. Other features include the addition of two RWR antennas beneath the radome but the abolition of the blade antenna under the intake. There were also some further internal modifications, including minor changes to the radar.

Two variants within the Block 15 aircraft were undertaken which were the OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) and the MLU. The MLU aircraft were refurbished with a new cockpit, basically very close to that in the F-16C/D Block 50/52 (also kitted by Revell!). As a result of this update, there were lots of improvements to avionic systems and general cockpit features, such as night vision goggles, better HUD and so on. There were four Block 15 F-16's delivered to Fort Worth in the early 90's to serve as prototypes for conversion under this program and all MLU aircraft are now in service.

The Kit:

Since there is already an InBox review of this kit on the site, I won't go into too much depth here. Suffice to say that the light grey injection molded parts are of new tooling standard and look excellent, both in detail and in quality. Panel lines are engraved and in all it is top notch quality. There are a couple of ejector pin marks that need to be fixed and the decals and clear parts are separate to the main bagged parts.

Instructions:

This comes in the usual booklet style associated with the company providing a comprehensive range of information and construction directions for the modeller. There are 42 construction steps to follow, but some can be overlooked depending on the options you are including in the kit and the last four cater for the decal and marking guides. Brief history overview and symbol warnings etc are also included. Painting information is commentated throughout the construction process from, obviously, Revell's range, although FS numbers are provided for the external schemes later.

Construction:

Starting in the office, the kit supplies a pilot figure which is more representative of one than you often find in other kits. The cockpit itself is well detailed starting from the realistic looking three-piece ejection seat upon which the pilot sits, but there is no seat belt detail. The main throttle is included separate to the control column and the sidewall/panel detail has raised instrumentation detail. Likewise the main instrument panel with a MFD sitting square almost in the middle has raised detail and a HUD is also supplied. Decals are also supplied for the instrumentation, two types for the main instrument panel so the detail will need to be removed off the plastic. But this detail is too good to waste so I prepared a black wash for the panel faces and picked out the dials, handles and so forth with light grey, white, green, yellow and red as appropriate, using the tried and true method of dry-brushing. I then applied a spot of gloss cote to simulate glass with a toothpick as an applicator. The cockpit was painted in FS 36375 and fitted inside the forward nose fuselage half where it goes very nicely, although the aforementioned inbox review suggests the cockpit might be black in some regions.

The fuselage is broken down into several sections and I must admit I was a bit concerned about how the fit would go here since multiple part fuselages are often not the best to put together. Put put your faith in Revell's new tooling here because they go together superbly and there is no concern at all, although as the inbox review on this site suggested, best to remove the sprue attachment points so the edges are flush. In fact the forward fuselage section is probably split at the same point it is on the real aircraft, so you can't get much more accurate than that! It also suggests that the company will put out a two-seat version at some time. After the seam lines were cleaned a little bit, it was time to move onto the wings.

The main wing assembly was also completely hassle-free as the parts fit together very nicely and no filler was even needed at the roots. I opted to include the the wing tip missiles at this point, I find it harder to add after the construction process when I normally add stores. The tailplanes can be attached without any glue such is the snap-into-place effect they have, with only one locating pin on each side allowing you to position them at any angle you choose. The tail fin also fits superbly.

The intake is nicely moulded and again fits well, with the navigation lights attached the sides provided as separate clear pieces. There was also no problems fitting the nose cone, although I painted this first and added it after the rest of the model had been painted, with the nose probe attached to the sub assembly. The canopy is supplied in two parts, with a jack, so you can display the cockpit open if you wish, and looks accurately moulded without any seam lines! The canopy is not smoked or tinted in any way so this needs to be done by the modeller. The burner can is also well moulded and rather deep, again providing a more accurate and detailed option than previously seen in F-16 kits in this scale.

The undercarriage is very well detailed and moulded, but this also means this assembly process is very fiddly and delicate. I found it best to concentrate on the nose gear which has a number of parts to put together before going onto the main gear. The nose gear landing light is also supplied as a separate clear piece punctuating the efforts Revell have gone to here to produce an exceptionally detailed undercarriage section for this scale. But the praises don't stop there because the wheel well bays are exquisite, with hydraulics and structural detail allowing me to agree with that inbox review suggesting it was the best depiction seen in this scale!

After the aircraft was painted and most of the decaling done, it was time to add the underwing stores. For this the kit supplies accurate replicas of Sidewinders; AMRAAMS and drop tanks. Two pylons are left empty for chaff/flare dispensers. An underfuselage tank is also provided.

Summing up the construction process would be to say that the fit was indeed very good to excellent for the most part and very little extra effort was required by the modeller. While I always have to use filler in some spots, this kit had the least amount of filler used on any project of mine for quite some time.

Painting:

There's always a bit of conjecture about the correct colours for the USAF F-16 fleet, and while all of the colour schemes in the kit are from other air forces, most of them still wore identical or similar schemes to the USAF birds. From my research I have settled on the following Federal Standard colours for the various parts of the aircraft: FS 36375 undersides and cockpit; FS 36118 main uppersurfaces aft of the cockpit; FS 36270 upper surfaces around cockpit and tail fin; FS 36320 nose radome.

Colour Schemes:

Markings are included for at least seven aircraft all of which are Dutch or Belgian in the standard NATO F-16 three-tone low viz grey scheme per above. The three Dutch aircraft are J-063, No. 322 Sqn, Leeuwarden (Kosovo MiG Killer); J-251, Operational Test & Eval, Leeuwarden 1996-98; and J-624, No.313 Sqn, Twente 2000. The four Belgian examples are 50th NATO Special Markings Anniversary, RIAT, Fairford 1999; FA-93, Operational Test & Eval, Leeuwarden 1996-98; FA-124, No.31 Sqn 10 Wing, Kleine Brogel; and FA-46, 2 Wing, Florennes.

Decals:

These are truly exceptional, but at the same time are an absolute project of their own accord! I spent some countless evenings over a two week period, off and on, putting the decals onto my bird, such was the level of detail and options that the kit has gone to. In the end I almost just could not bear doing it any longer, and may not pick up a kit of this ilk again, lest it make me hate decaling so much! The sheet is designed by Daco Products from Belgium and printed by Revell and is the most comprehensive decal sheet I have ever seen in this scale. The sheet includes stencilling for every nook and cranny you can think of, including the intake interiors, exhaust nozzle (there are nearly 50 decals for the exhaust and surrounding area alone!), missile bands (to save you from painting them) and the canopy. The stencilling in most cases can also actually be read and is in sharp register, thin and of matt appearance. They adhered to the model surface without any dramas whatsoever and are in a word superb.

Accuracy:

This is about as convincing a replica as you are going to get in my opinion for this scale. Other than perhaps it being slightly under scale in length I could not really find a fault worth mentioning here about the kit in terms of accuracy. It looks pretty perfect to me.

Overall Recommendation:

I always thought that Hasegawa had the best F-16 range in this scale, and they were so good that you couldn't really say that they would ever be beaten. Well, sorry but Revell have not only beaten them, but almost put daylight between the two options when you also take into account the level of detail for the cockpit and the difference in price to the equation, let alone that the Revell kit in my opinion is still superior in the other departments. The only real gripe would be the lack of suitable weapons options but you can pick up weapons accessories or raid your stores box to suit. This is an excellent kit, hassle free to build and the most comprehensive decal sheet I have seen in this scale - which might be a turn off for some I realise, but at least you can choose not to add some of the items! Very highly recommended and their F-16C-50/52 I assume is also based on this mould. Well done Revell on a superb kit.

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