Tamiya 1/32 F-16 Block 50

[zed]

I have had the very good fortune of acquiring one of these for next to nothing and it looks good enough to build. My question is does anyone other than USAF operate the Block 50? That is, are there any cool schemes to do this in?

Also, am I correct in thinking that you can only make a Block 50 from this kit?

TIA

Graham,

[Jennings Heilig]

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_versions_article9.html

[Mike V]

I have had the very good fortune of acquiring one of these for next to nothing and it looks good enough to build. My question is does anyone other than USAF operate the Block 50? That is, are there any cool schemes to do this in?

Also, am I correct in thinking that you can only make a Block 50 from this kit?

TIA

Graham,

Turkey, Greece, Chile

You can also make a Block 40 from the kit, though for USAF jets you'll need a WAR HUD and upper fuselage beef up plating. For FMS Block 40s (Israël, Egypt, Turkey, and Bahrain) the standard HUD is used and most don't have the same fuselage beef up plating. There are also differing details such as RWR antennas and other exterior details like the wheels; as most of the FMS Block 40s still use the original Block 40 wheels.

[jenshb]

The kit does not include the extended parabrake housing, so straight from the box you cannot build a non-US Block 50. However, the parabrake housing is easy to scratchbuild from plasticard and the antennas can be made from plastic too. I'd be wary of resin conversions as they may have shrinkage issues that will make the parabrake housing an awkward fit. Israeli Block 40s also have the parabrake housing although they fit electronics there rather than a brakechute. I believe Isracast do a conversion set. If you're willing to put in a bit of extra work, then there are a few cool schemes as mentioned by Mike V.

Jens

[Mike V]

Jens is right; be weary of some of the AM tails extensions and other parts with cross sectional fits. WP's parabrake is a prime examples. It's shrunken so badly, you'd need to quarter it, shim, and glue back together to fit the Tamiya dorsal. However, all is not lost as it will fit the underscaled Hasegawa vertical tail dorsal.

I reccomend Isra's conversions. They can be a little rough around the edges, but they are most often a lot more accurate than the other sets out there.

[zed]

Thanks Guys, great info, might go with Chile.

I have a source of Isra conversions so I will look at them as well.

Graham

[newsh]

Hi Graham,

You can build a Bahrain Amiri Air Force/Royal Bahrain Air Force jet straight out of the box using the block 50 kit. From memory, all you need is the 'bird slicers' which can be found in the kit. No add ons, no mods - just some decals.....

HTH

Anthony

[zed]

Hi Graham,

You can build a Bahrain Amiri Air Force/Royal Bahrain Air Force jet straight out of the box using the block 50 kit. From memory, all you need is the 'bird slicers' which can be found in the kit. No add ons, no mods - just some decals.....

HTH

Anthony

That sounds a very interesting alternative, I'll keep that in mind.