Hasegawa don’t waste cardboard with their kit boxes, and this one is no exception. 19 sprues of various sizes are crammed into the box, only one of which is clear. The rest are in Hasegawa’s usual grey styrene, with a little flash evident on some of the (presumably) older, and more well used parts – especially around the weapons pylons on the wing sprues. Cleary, this isn’t a major problem, as a quick scrape with the edge of a knife blade with see them off.
(I found later that there are actually 2 sprues missing from that pic!)
The kit portrays the 2-seater F model, with decals for the United Arab Emirates, allowing you to make it up as one of four airframes, two of which aren’t mentioned on the instructions, which caused a double-take. The decals are well printed, in register, but with a rather thick looking “Tamiya” style carrier film.
Previous Hasegawa F-16s with Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFTs) have had those parts provided in resin, which has caused some builders problems not only in making the parts conform to the fuselage, but also in that some of the detail appeared to be incorrect. This kit has the CFTs provided on a separate sprue in styrene, which will please a great many modellers who either have no experience of handling resin, or disliked the previous offering. The fit looks to be pretty good from the mock-up I made (see photo), which will please anyone that wrestled with the resin set. However, pay attention to the overhead painting guide when you install them, as they give you a better representation of where to place them fore to aft.
The large spine is also similarly well rendered, and includes inserts on each side to do justice to the finer detail of the countermeasures dispensers.
You get a choice of narrow or wide-mouth intakes, although wide is needed for this model as it has the GE engine, so the narrow intakes can go in the spares box. At the other end, the exhaust is built up from 6 separate petals that affix to the prominent ring, then attach to the exhaust “tube”, terminating a nicely detailed burner ring. The Pratt & Whitney exhaust is also included as parts bin fodder.
The cockpit is typical Hasegawa, providing a modicum of detail, over which you can lay the provided decals. Those that want to go the extra mile can source the appropriate cockpit from the aftermarket providers, however, if you don’t want to spend any extra money on the area, the simple answer is to use the two pilots supplied. You also get an extra head for the original pilot that is in the common sprues, so that they both have matching headgear. Moulding of the pilots is clean, and they are portrayed with their visors down and oxygen masks in place, avoiding the need to practice your face painting techniques. Separate arms give you a little leeway in posing them, and they should busy up the office nicely.
For this incarnation, you get a pair of Sidewinders for the wingtip rails, two AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, and a 300 Gallon belly tank. Spare fixtures and fittings include a pair of 370 gallon wing tanks, two less detailed AIM-120s, and a travel pod, all of which could be used in various combinations detailed on the instructions or consigned to spares.
To finish off the variant, you get a set of lumps, bumps and sensors (including a PIRATE sensor that will be familiar to British Typhoon aficionados) to add to the nose, intakes and underside, which mostly attach to the surface without locating lugs, but as long as you follow the instructions carefully here, paying attention to the greyed out locations for the parts, you shouldn’t go too far wrong.
Conclusion
The injection moulded additions to this kit, already well regarded even after the Tamiya kit hit the shelves, make for easier construction of this purposeful looking (and capable) trainer variant. With care it should build up into an excellent replica of an iconic fighter aircraft, in an unusual livery.
