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Hi there. Although this model has been completed for a couple of months now, it's took me until now to get some photos taken and posted on the forum. This is the Kinetic 1/48 F-16A but in Belgian solo air display colours courtesy of the excellent Syhart decal production. I saw the real aircraft in action at RIAT 2014, inspiring me to make one for the display cabinet. I'm pleased with the result but the Kinetic kit is not without its problems, but nothing major. This is mostly OOB other than wheels and ejector seat as resin replacements. There are a couple of minor inaccuracies compared to the Belgian aircraft, but I'm not telling. Thanks for looking. " /> " /> " /> " />

F-16A ADF Fighting Falcon ‘Veltro 51 (Octopus)’ 1:72 Hasegawa The F-16 Fighting Falcon has been one of the most successful combat aircraft of the last 30 years. It has provided air forces around the world with an affordable, reliable, high-performance multi-role fighter aircraft. No fewer than 4500 examples have been manufactured, making it one of the most produced jet fighters in history, and it continues to notch up export orders to this day. The F-16A (single seat) and B (two seat) were the original production variants of the F-16. Many examples are still in service with air forces around the world. The Italian Air Force leased 34 ex-US Air Force examples in 2003 under the ‘Peace Caesar’ programme. The aircraft were needed as a stop gap measure whilst the Italians awaited deliveries of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The last Italian F-16s were returned to the USA earlier this year. As you might expect of an aircraft produced in such numbers, there have been quite a few kits of the F-16 produced in a range of different scales. Most of the major manufacturers can count at least one or two variants of the aircraft in their inventory. Hasegawa’s F-16 has been around for a few years now, and in that time it has appeared in a variety of boxings, often with extra sprues added to enable different variants to be built. Age has not dimmed the kit’s attractions though, and it still rates as one of the better offerings in 1:72 scale. The kit’s parts are moulded in light grey plastic. The parts look reasonably crisp and sharp, but there is a little mould flash here and there. It’s a sign that the moulds are starting to show their age, but it isn’t anything that can’t be cured with the swiper of a sharp scalpel blade. The kits surface detail is fairly typical of a reasonably modern Hasegawa kit, which means it is precisely and delicately engraved and there is no softness of unevenness in the panel lines. The kit shares another trait in common with some other Hasegawa kits of a certain vintage in that the cockpit is a very simple affair. The instrument panel and side consoles lack any kind of raised detail and decals are provided to represent the instruments instead. A reasonably decent ACES II ejection seat is included, but overall this kit’s cockpit would really benefit from photo etched or resin enhancements. Unlike the F-16 kits of some other manufacturers, which have been engineered to allow both A and B variants to be built from the same basic moulds, the fuselage halves of Hasegawa’s kit are moulded in one piece without a separate cockpit area. This eliminates the need to clean up a potentially awkward join line. On the other hand, the wings have been moulded separately, so there may still be a little cleaning up to do, albeit in a less awkward location. The undercarriage bays have a basic level of structural detail moulded in place. They are not as busy as the undercarriage bays in the 1:72 Kinetic kit, but they are pretty respectable nonetheless. The undercarriage itself is nicely detailed, although the nose wheel is moulded in one piece with the gear leg and none of the wheels are weighted. The potentially tricky engine intake is moulded in five parts and is nicely detailed, although it is not full-depth. A fairly good set of ordnance is included, including AIM-9 Sidewinders, AIM-120 AMRAAMs, two 370 gallon fuel tanks, one 300 gallon fuel tank and some bombs. Most of these are not used for the kit depicted on the decal sheet, so you can have a field day filling the spares box. The canopy is nice and transparent but is not tinted, which is a bit of s shame as I’m sure Hasegawa have provided tinted canopies in the past. A handful of photo etched parts are provided to represent the particular variant of F-16 used by the Italian Air Force. It should come as no surprise to learn that the decal sheet caters for just one aircraft – that depicted on the box artwork in the special scheme worn by an aircraft of Veltro 51. Unlike some other sheets of this nature, this one doesn’t include too many big decals as many of the larger areas of colour have to be painted instead. Most of the fiddly bits are catered for on the sheet though. The sheet itself is printed by Cartograf. Conclusion Overall this is a nice kit and it should look good once finished in this striking scheme. The overall shape is good, as is the quality of engraved detail. The basic cockpit is probably the weakest area. Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

Hi All, Just coming back to modelling after a 10 year break and I'm posting a few of the things I had just finished before my absence from the fold. This is a conversion I did of the old ESCI 1/12 scale F-16A cockpit to F-16AM standard. My day job is a simulation software engineer and at the time I was working on a sim of this aircraft for the Dutch and Norwegian AF. So I was lucky enough to have access to the appropriate TOs which hopefully means it's accurate! Although I'm sure some eagle-eyed Viper experts will spot something! As those who know F-16s will be aware, the F-16AM cockpit is very different from the old F-16A so I started by removing all the panels in the wrong place (most of them). From these I salvaged as many knobs and switches as possible. Then I assembled these in the correct place or scratch built from plasticard/rod any missing parts. The side stick I adapted from the kit version, but the throttle I whittled from a block of plastic as the shape is completely different. The AcesII seat is different too, primarly the headbox which has flip-out arms and the restraints which have some sort of immersion detection system attached. Oh and the HUD lens is made from a blister from a sheet of tablets There are excellent builds of the original version here on Britmodeller for those who want to compare and contrast. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234930073-esciitaleri-112th-f-16-cockpit/ http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234957959-112-esci-f-16-cockpit/ Chris

I gather there are a few people on BM who appreciate Egg Planes, and some who don't ... this in an RFI for those who do ... First up ... Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey - 168238 / EG-00, VMM-263 "Thunder Chickens", USMC - Hasegawa Eggplane - OOB with additional home-made decals, brushed acrylics. Lockheed Martin F-16C Block 30 Fighting Falcon. Aircraft flown by Col. Dennis Swanstrom, Wing Commander 185th Fighter Wing, 174th Fighter Squadron "The Bats", #85565, Iowa Air National Guard. Hasegawa Egg Plane, home-made decals, Humbrol acrylic spray. McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18C Hornet - J-5011, 11th Staffel, 13th Fighter Wing, Swiss Air Force. Hasegawa Eggplane - OOB build with home-made / spares decals, brushed acrylics. McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18C Hornet - 164899 “Chippy Ho!”, VFA-195 “Dambusters”, US Navy. Hasegawa Eggplane - OOB build with Tamago decals, brushed acrylics. Curtiss P-40N Warhawk, 2106396, 502nd "Parrot Head" Fighter Sqdn, 337th Fighter Group - U.S. training unit, Napier Field, Alabama 1943. Hasegawa Eggplane. OOB buildwith mix of kit and home-made decals. Comments welcome as ever, including eggscruciating puns if needs be.

The problem with putting off a project for 20 years is that when you get around to it, it can be too late. I bought the DACO deacls for this model over 20 years ago but only now got around to using them. Unfortunately they had badly degraded resulting in epic silvering. I completed the project anyway and its not too noticable in daylight, though terrible under artificial light. Depressingly not one of my best as its one of my all time favorite schemes! Any comments for suggestions welcome John

Hello people, I have been away from the forum for ages, I have actually been in a break from modelling for som time building only a few in the time I've been away. Revell's 1/72 Solo Turk is out but I can't find it anywhere for now and I always wanted to build one so said why not try a 1/144 one while trying to find Revell's kit and here is the result, Masking doesn't seem to be the best job around but still I am satisfied with my result.... I also added a few photos with the original kit built OOB too. Here we go: Thank you for looking...

As usual I bought this cheap on fleabay(no box) and being of a certain age the f-16 seems a faily modern aircraft to me, however this is an Airfix offering from circa 1985 and has poor tooling with 'raised panty lines', very dodgy undercarraige, etc. There were three decal options I chose a NY ANG example from Gulf One. This kit seemed to take ages and I'm not particularly pleased with the results. 1) I screwed up the painting by not bringing the Dark Grey part forward enough, meaning I was forced to use the high viz warning decals(although I believe some a/c carried these anyway). 2) Undercarraige was a nightmare just seemed like some random bits of sprue . On the plus side I experimented with Future and coffee to get a smoke glass conopy(only vaguely vivsble on these shots, but will use again in the future(no pun intended) Used Vallejo model air(mostly) with an Iwata Neo and have tried to get a beat up, stained, wartime feel about the a/c Feel free to comment.....I'm not expecting any bouquets

Lockheed Martin F-16 Mlu "Solo Display" 1:72 Revell The F-16 was developed as a light weight single engined, single seat fighter by General Dynamics for the US Air Force back in the 1970's. It was revolutionary for its time with Fly-by-wire controls, a side stick controller and a reclined ejection seat to offer the pilot greater relief from G Forces. The F-16 proved to be a very successful aircraft and has generated many overseas orders. It was found by several operators in the late 1980's that the F-16 had been subjected to heavy loads than were predicted when the aircraft were purchased. Along with the US Air Force, belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway began investigations into a Mid Life Update. The MLU programme will look at airframe life, a radar upgrade with a Westinghouse AN/APG-66(V2) radar, and advanced IFF system, updated Cockpit displays & indicators, a helmet mounted display, updated data modems & electronic warfare systems, advanced GPS Systems, and provisions for recce pods & a microwave landing system. The Solo display aircraft has been operated in a striking pearlescent orange scheme, with and red lion by The Royal netherlands Air Force since 2009. This aircraft has proved so popular at airshows that it has been kept in this scheme since. The Kit Revell's MLU boxing of the F-16 dates back to 2000. The kit is generally acknowledged to be a good tooling and its as crisp and sharp as when new. The kit features finely engraved panel lines throughout. Construction as nearly always with aircraft starts with the cockpit. The side stick and throttle are added and the three part ejection seat made up. The seat is a fair representation in this scale but will need elts if you do not use the supplied pilot figure. The instrument panel is added to finish the cockpit parts off. The complete cockpit is then added to the front upper fuselage part. Once in the cannon muzzle is attached. The next step is to assemble the five part engine intake assembly, and the 4 part main landing gear bay. Once these are complete they can be attached to the lower fuselage part. The two upper fuselage parts can now be joined with the complete lower part. The next stage of construction is to make up the 5 part tail assembly which has the correct para pack section for the Mlu machine. Once this has been attached to the fuselage the two part engine exhaust can be added. Once the engine is in the ventral fins and tailplanes can be attached (though I suspect most modellers will leave the tail planes off at this stage). The next major stage of construction is the landing gear. If you wish to make your model in a flying pose then its easy to just fit the gear doors. If not then the make up of the landing gear is probably the most complex part of the kit. Each main gear leg consists of 4 parts with the main wheels being moulded as one part. The main landing gear doors are added along with their retraction struts (lot of kit manufacturers miss these out!). The nose gear consists of 4 parts plus a solid moulded wheel. Again the nose wheel door comes complete with its own actuator. The final parts of the build are to add the nose, pitot tube, IFF antennas; and a myriad or smaller antenna. The navigation lights are also added at this stage. The kit comes complete with weapons, pylons and drop tanks. I have only ever seen pictures of the display aircraft with wing tip smoke generators which can be made from the supplied sidewinder missiles. The rest will provide a nice addition to the spares box. Decals Decals are provided for only the Solo display aircraft. The black & orange areas must be painted by the modeller with the red lion motif being provided as decal. The decals have been designed by Syhart of France, and printed in Italy for Revell but do feel thicker than their usual fare but suspect this is to get the colour density correct. Conclusion The decals really are the star in this boxing. Despite the decals for this scheme being available from aftermarket it is great to see them in a mainstream kit. Having built one of these kits I would recommend this boxing for a striking looking model. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Lockheed Martin F-16C/F-16D Fighting Falcon, from Polish Air Force showing their special c/s for the NTM 2013 in Bielewicz, Krzesiny AB, Norway. Kit:ARII 1/144 F-16AM converted to F-16D & REVELL 1/144 F-16C Decal:DIY decal

These are part of a larger build, WIP is here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234966761-a-ridiculous-and-probably-ill-fated-viper-pentuple/ Both are the new 1/72 Tamiya F-16 Blk 50 kits, with stores scavenged from Revell and Hasegawa kits, and Modern Hobbies aftermarket. The jet on the left is from the 35th FW, 13th FS based at Misawa AB, Japan. The jet on the right is from the 148th FW of the Minnesota ANG in the new 'Have Glass V' scheme. Thanks for looking.

These are the last builds in a larger project - build thread here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234966761-a-ridiculous-and-probably-ill-fated-viper-pentuple-spitfire-because-its-britmodeller/ A PAF F-16D Blk 52+ Jastrzab assigned to 3 EL, and a 303 (Polish) Sqn Spitfire IIA. I've come to believe, after the fact, that the Spitfire is in the wrong markings. I think P8522 was a Mk IIB not a Mk IIA. Too late now! Happy New Year!

Inspired by stevej60's septuple build here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234956786-the-legendary-pair/ I've decided that the best way to clear out my stash of 1/72 F-16's is simply to build them. And if I post the builds in WIP, the fear of shame in not completing them will drive me forward (if the fear of shame in not being as good a builder as 99% of the work in WIP doesn't stop me first). The plan: Build #1 - Hasegawa 1/72 F-16CJ built as a Desert Pink RAF Falcon FGR.2 as it may have appeared in Operation Grandby Build #2 - Revell F-16C built as an RAF Falcon FGR.3A in two-tone DSG/DCG as it may have appeared in 2011 serving with No 41 Sqn These two are a follow-up to an RAF Falcon FGR.1 found here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234959568-172-falcon-fgr1/ Build #3 - Tamiya F-16C Blk 50 as 92-0895 Wild Weasel based at Misawa AB in Japan Build #4 - Tamiya F-16C Blk 50 as 91-0391 assigned to the Minnesota ANG in the new Have Glass V scheme Build #5 - Kinetic F-16D Blk 52+ as Polish Jastrzab 4080 assigned to 3 EL Also, I don't know if pentuple or septuple are real words.

Kit manufacture: Tamiya Scale: 1/48 Type: F-16C Arkansas ANG "Flying Razorbacks" Extras used: None Paints and colours used: Tamiya Royal Light Grey XF-80 and Dark Sea Grey XF-54 for the Main colours, XF-20 Med. Grey for the nosecone and XF-7 Flat Red for the tail Other info: Finished with Xtracrylics Flat and Flory Grime Well after getting back into the hobby about 5 years ago (45 now) since a teenager I also wanted to build one of the famous Tamiya F-16s. So about 4 years ago SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) kindly bought me this kit for my birthday. However, wanting to do it justice I was a bit afraid to just get stuck in and muck it up. So it has been an ongoing project, only having the paint completed in the last month or so. I even forced myself to paint the pilot Urgh! A lovely detailed kit, but I wish they would make it easier to fit all the undercarriage after, rather than having to mask it up (I hate masking!).

Some kits to be announced by Tamiya at their fair 21147 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Fighter Type 52-Kou 653rd Flying Corps 166 Battle Squadrons Completed 21148 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Fighter Type 52-Kou 343rd Flying Corps (1944 Guam) Completed 24337 1/24 Gazoo TRD 86 2013 35342 1/35 U.S. Ambulance 6X6 M792 Gama Goat 60788 1/72 F-16CJ w/Full Equipment 21144 1/24 La Ferrari (Red) (finished product) 39404 1/35 utility pole set (Italeri) 39418 1/35 monitoring stations (Italeri) 89787 1/48 Rejiane Re2002 (airframe parts are made ​​by Italeri, Inc.) 32583 1/48 German Army 38 (t) Light Tank E/F No Tomcat announced but that may happen nearer the time of the fair. Edit : More announcements added. Robert

Pics by Graham James

Just picked this kit up over the weekend. I will be using the kit decals and loading it up for bear using stuff from a Hasegawa F-16CJ kit. So far I've done some upgrading work to the kit seat. Original seat on the left and upgraded one on the right. I'll most likely add seatbelts in due course. Mark

Hi All New to posting on Britmodeller but been lurking in the background for a couple of years. Thought it was about time I posted a few pictures of the finished projects! This is my Tamiya F-16C, mostly OOB just a few additional bits: Master pitot and the decals. Hope you like. Chris

Hi All, here are some shots I took at the excellent Palm Springs Museum back in October. More can be found here: http://www.hanger51.org/aircraft-museums/us-museums-collections/palm-springs-air-museum/ F-14A Tomcat by tony_inkster, on Flickr F-14A Tomcat by tony_inkster, on Flickr B-17 Flying Fortress by tony_inkster, on Flickr A-4 Skyhawk by tony_inkster, on Flickr B-25 Mitchell by tony_inkster, on Flickr A-6E Intruder by tony_inkster, on Flickr C-1 Trader by tony_inkster, on Flickr AH-1 Cobra by tony_inkster, on Flickr

F-16 NSAWC Adversary Kinetic Model Kits - 1/48 I would pretty much assume that almost all modellers reading this review are familiar with the F-16 Fighting Falcon. It is probably the most used combat aircraft in the world at this time. The F-16 was developed by General Dynamics for the USAF. This was as a result of proposals for an Advanced Day Fighter Concept. Following on from an Air Force study group the idea of a Lightweight Fighter was developed. Certain elements of the Air Force remained hostile to this as it was perceived as a threat to the then F-15 programme. A request for proposals was issued in 1972 for a 20,000lb class air-to-air day fighter with a good rate of turn, acceleration and range. This was to be optimized for speeds 0.6-1.6 mach at altitudes 30,000 to 40,000 feet. The cost of such a fighter was envisaged at $3 Million. In 1972 General Dynamics was awarded a contract to produce the YF-16, and Northrop the YF-17. The YF-16 rolled out in 1973 with its first flight in 1974. The YF-16 as it then was introduced numerous innovations in fighter design, including a frameless bubble canopy affording the pilot greater visibility. Air-to-air missiles were mounted on wing tip pylons to free up underwing stations. The central control column was replaced by a side stick controller. The pilots seat was reclined by 30° to reduce G forces. In technological terms the aircraft was one of the first to use fly-by-wire and relaxed stability were by the computers actually flew the aircraft instead of conventional inputs. Like many aircraft the F-16 has developed over the years, probably to point where the original designers would marvel at the difference between the YF-16 and the latest 2 Seat aircraft with external Avionics spines & conformal fuel tanks which are now rolling of the production lines. It has certainly gone from a Lightweight fighter to a more overweight example, no doubt like a lot of us over the years! It is estimated over 4500 F-16 aircraft have now been produced, with 25 variants to date, being used by 24 countries. Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) The NSAWC is the centre of excellence for US Naval aviation training and tactics development. It is located at Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada and provides services to aircrews, squadrons and air wings through out the US Navy. NSAWC was created in 1996 by consolidating 3 commands into a single structure. The Naval Strike Warfare Centre was joined by the Navy Fighter Weapons School (The famous TOPGUN) and the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School. The latter two moved from NAS Miramar following the US Base realignment and closure programme in 1993. NSAWC is the primary USN authority on training and tactics development. The command is responsible for development, implementation, and administration of several courses of instruction, and the Navy’s point of contact for all issues relating to Air combat training. NSAWC operate both F-16 & F-18 aircraft in the Adversary role. The Kit Kinetic have produced quite a few F-16 Kits to date, and it shows in the box for this kit. The various different sprues seem to me to have come from different boxings of the kit. The are all in different shades of plastic which would seem to suggest large runs of parts, and then they are boxed up according to the needs of specific boxings. Probably one of the ways they can offer so many different boxings at competitive pricing. There are a large number of unused parts in this kit, with plenty of spares for the spares box, or other F-16 projects. The main upper & lower fuselage parts come as single parts with the wings moulded on like most F-16 kits, with the nose as one part, this comes loose in the box. The main choice for the kit then comes if you decide to build an A model or B model, the upper fuselage and cockpit parts for these come on two separate sprues. The rest of the main parts come on a further sprue. Intake parts, pylons and undercarriage parts are on a further four sprues. From pictures I have seen most of the NSAWC aircraft operate without wing pylons. Following this you seem to get three sprues which consist of mainly weapons and fuel tanks. These contain a few parts for this kit, however most of the parts will not be used for this model. A spares box bonanza. There is one small sprue containing two ACMI pods, one containing an ECM pod, and one containing an ALQ-188 ECM Pod (I have seen these on USAF Adversary aircraft, but am not sure the NAVY carry this pod?). Also there is one last sprue with two ECM pods on it. Overall the parts look well moulded with no obvious flaws anywhere. The wings and tail planes have the static wicks moulded on, the instructions go to great lengths to point out these are delicate, and to take care. Canopies Being that the kit is an F-16A/B both the single seat canopy and the double seat canopies are included. These are clear and fairly distortion free. Given the mould limitations they do have a centre seam with the modeller will have to remove. It is worth noting that the canopies supplied are clear, some of the NSAWC aircraft have fully tinted of partially tinted canopies. The modeller will have to do their own tilt, so you will need to consult your references as needed. Instructions Kinetic give us an 18 page A4 sized instruction booklet. The diagrams are large and easy to follow, and like some of the sprues in this kit it looks like the drawings have been "recycled" from another kit as there are notations about parts for use with separate European F-16s. These will have to be ignored. Painting instructions are only in Black & White with appropriate FS numbers. This is a bit of a let down as due to the complicated nature of the Adversary camouflage, and some full colour painting/decaling instructions would have been most welcome. Decals Decals are provided for three options. F-16B NSAWC 04 Topgun 90th Anv 2009 (Blue camo scheme) F-16A NSAWC 60 2006-2009 (Blue camo scheme) F-16A NSAWC 53 2004 (Brown colour scheme) What I do find slightly disappointing is that they don't supply decals for the aircraft shown on the box top. I was hoping to do a 2 seater in the Brown camo but this is not catered for. Decal artwork has been designed by Fightertown decals, printed by cartograf and are in good register. Care will be needed if doing the Blue camo single seater as the NAVY decal crosses two shades of blue. Conclusion This looks to be a nice model kit. I have heard that some people claim the Kinetic F-16 has shape problems, however it looks like an F-16 to the reviewer. If you want an Adversary F-16 and don't want to buy aftermarket decals, then this is kit for you. Also for the F-16 modeller you are getting a complete set of weapons for the spares box as you don't use them for this kit. For the plastic in the box good value for money. In association with

This build has only taken 22 years Build thread. Here's a rundown of some of the "Whif" features... Markings: 184 FS "Flying Razorbacks" Fort Smith, Arkansas, #07-4276. Originally flying the F-16C, the Razorbacks were due to convert to the A-10 in 2007 but in it was decided that a replacement was needed for the venerable "Warthog" and Lockheed Martin were commissioned to create a suitable replacement. Airframe: The new aircraft had to be cost effective and ready for service ASAP. As there had already been several studies into creating a ground attack version of the F-16, Lockheed Martin were keen to follow up on this as R&D would be far less costly than designing an aircraft from scratch. LM simply took the existing airframe design and applied new materials that were not available during the production of the USAF's F-16s. New carbon-carbon wing spars and centre fuselage sections and carbon fibre wings were designed to give the A-16 unparalleled strength for high G manoeuvres and greater load carrying capacity. The centreline stores position was at last capable of effectively mounting an external gun pod, something that plagued A-16 trials in the 80s & 90s. Thrust vectoring: A full 360° vectoring nozzle based on technology trialled in the F-16MATV demonstrator was designed and installed on the General Electric F110-GE-132 turbofan with a maximum thrust of 32,500lb. Canards: Both the F-16 CCV & F-16 AFTI programs investigated advanced manoeuvrability using canards, LM redesigned them to enhance performance further. Computer simulation showed that such a high AOA could be achieved in conjunction with thrust vectoring that the front section of the airframe would disrupt airflow to the engine intake, a problem faced by Rockwell on the X-31 which also featured canards and thrust vectoring. LM looked at Rockwell's solution and extended the A-16s intake by 2' to place it right under the pilot overcome the problem. Attack & detection systems: The AN-APG-80 radar can perform air-to-air, search-and-track, air-to-ground targeting and aircraft terrain-following functions simultaneously and for multiple targets giving the A-16 superb low level attack capabilities. In addition to this the A-16 is fitted with integrated FLIR, AN/ASQ-213 HARM targeting system and 360° RWR. This eliminated any need for external LANTIRN & HTS pods. Avionics spine: Housing advanced defensive and attack avionics the end of the spine houses a rear facing radar with both air-to-air and air-to-ground capability. Wingtip rails: The new high strength wings allowed installation of twin "over & under" rails to carry the new AIM-157A "Rattler" short range radar guided high manoeuvrability missile. Stores positions: With the twin wingtip rails doubling the A-16s basic air-to-air capability, LM saw no need to increase wing size to carry extra air-to-ground stores. They kept the existing pylon arrangement but upgraded the systems to allow a greater variation of weapons to be installed. 40mm gun pod: Developed specifically for the A-16, this four barrelled 40mm gatling was designed to give the A-16 fantastic anti-armour capabilities using the A-16s unique off-axis manoeuvring for precision strafing.

Hi, This is my latest build, a RNoAF F-16 MLU. I used the Eduard NATO Falcons kit, i.e. Kinetic, together with decals from Vingtor and a PJ pilot in the office. As Eduard is adding resin and PE to the Kinetic kit the build is more or less OOB, just some wiring added. I have added a decent amount of weapons from the kit and Hasegawas Weapons set to make it look like pictures that I found on the web taken at Souda Bay, Crete, during the Libya Air War. I always wanted to make a Norwegian F-16, but it is rather difficult to get all over one tone grey schemes to come alive but I gave it a try. She is painted with Gunze and Aclad II where needed. Hope you like it Cheers /Fred

What's the best kit to use if I want to build this aircraft (http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SY48055). According to F-16.net, J-015 is an F-16A block 20 MLU. The Kinetic F-16A http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/K48036 seems to be the closest match. Can I build it out the box from this kit? I notice the Syhart decals recommend a Dutch MLU resin update set (PWMP) - do I need this? Grateful for any advice. Thanks, Andrew

Hi All, I have a few questions about the F-16F Desert Falcon (UAE Air Force) which I hope you knowledgeable types out there might be able to answer? 1) What kind of wheels does it have? Are they the same as the Block 50/52? 2) What is the laser targeting pod they carry? It looks different to the Sniper XR, is it a new type and is it available in 1/32? (yeah right! ) 3) Do the UAE F-16s carry standard wing tanks or can they also use the 600gal tanks? 4) Any clues as to the air-to-surface load they would typically carry? Do they have JSOW, AGM-130 or SLAM-ER? Otherwise do they use the same JDAM GBU-31 or -38s as US forces? 5) Does the backseat have any flight controls? Thanks very much, and that's probably just for starters!! Al

Greetings everyone . This is my latest project . The italeri kit is not a great one but it is easy to build and you can get a good result if you try a bit . I preshaded the model with my airbrush this time and not with pigments . I have uploaded the video on youtube showing the preshading process ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvRMsEC88eo ) . Below you can see photos of the preshaded model . I hope you like it . Any comment is welcome .