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Tamiya 1/72 F-16C Block 50 new Tool


Stephen

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HobbyEasy has them for preorder for £15.43 including postage. Actual kit is $130HK which equates to £10.16 :gobsmacked:

Release is for the end of March.

Robert

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Sweeet. The fine details in the interior and on the exterior are sublime! Without a doubt, I'll be getting a handful of these from Japan.

On a more objective note, it seems possible to make most Block 40/50 Falcons from this kit with the aftermarket that's already out or even a bit of 'kit-bashing'... For anything else such as a modern Block 30, a new undercarriage set will have to be tooled, amongst other things.

Off to put the 'stash' on Ebay... ^_^

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Hmm, the surface detail looks great and if it's up to the usual tamiya standards I'm in no doubt the fit will be sublime. But, splitting the nose in 2 could lead to seem ugly seams and no hint from those sprue shots to how they tackled the intake area, though seeing as tamiya are the only ones to really crack it at 1/48 chances are it'll be OK.

Be interesting to see if revell will now be prompted to expand their 1/72 F-16 range! :pray:

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I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic... but 72nd is by far the most well serviced scale in modelling. You can find 99% of aircraft in the scale. Sure 1/48 gets much more marketing attention, but I think that has more to do with the fact that the scale is so over serviced by kits that people only tend to notice when a major manufacturer builds a 1/48 or 32 kit because they are of a mainstream subject. By comparison, most new 72nd kits tend to be of less noticeable subjects.

So for example a lot of interest is generated by thefact that Tamiya releases a releasing a new Corsair/Spitfire/Mustang in 32... however are already a dozen manufacturers making them in 72nd, which kinda gets obscured. Less than a year ago RS released a nice P-51H... I believe its the first one released in injection plastic. Sword has a nice range of Banshees coming out, and AZ is doing great stuff. Hasegawa has released a number of new kits in that realm: their recent and upcomings include the V-22, SU-35, F-35, Su-33, among others. How many 1/72 airfix kits have been released in recent history?

So its not under serviced or ignored. I actually think its the most plentiful areas for models today.

WTF? Perhaps English isn't your first language?

Not sarcastic at all. It's a fact that 1/72 has been forgotten about by Tamiya f-16 designers.

Edited by Loki
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WTF? Perhaps English isn't your first language?

Not sarcastic at all. It's a fact that 1/72 has been forgotten about by Tamiya f-16 designers.

Was this really worth the insult? Your original statement is extremely vague and potentially wrong on all but one interpretation.

First off, is the 1/72 F-16 Market underserved? 10 manufacturers produce a 1/72 kit:

Fujimi, Hasegawa, Academy, Airfix, Italeri, Revell, Kinetic, Hobby Boss and now Tamiya.

In 1/48 according to my rough list there are eight:

Tamiya, Kinetic, Hasegawa, Academy, Revell, Italeri, Monogram and Microace.

Based on this list I think the 1/48 F-16s market is being forgotten about.

The second possible interpretation is that Tamiya tends to forget the 1/72 market. That's not really true since that scale has nearly as many kits, even if you ignore the italeri reboxes. They have released four new kits in that area in the past two years (five with the F-16), more than any other scale. The third interpretation is that 1/72 as a scale is not well served. As I posted above, that is certainly not the case.

Thus the only possible logical statement that was correct you could have made is that the 1/72 F-16 Tamiya market isn't being well served. That's an exceedingly redundant statement and not at all what you suggested in your original post. When you added the "usually" that indicates a consistent pattern of neglect, not a single case like the Tamiya F-16.

So either you're wrong or disingenuous. Which one is it?

Edited by -Neu-
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Actually -Neu- I'll point out the fact that you forgot to mention the wonderful Matchbox kit which gave the builder the option to build both single and dual seater. Hey, it even came in three coloured plastic so you didn't even have to paint it.

The fact remains that there are very few F-16s in this scale that can be found or used for a newer block F-16, irrespective of your moody reply.

I posted a simple fact. There is next to nothing for F-16s in this scale for the serious modeller to choose from (if one can find the Block 30 by Revell).

I was not being sarcastic, but you just have to bite don't you.

Look, you're obviously not reading my postings correctly otherwise you would not have thrown your teddy bears out of your perambulator. Please don't answer or read any of my future postings because I won't be reading yours just in case I upset you or you bore the pants off me.

Is there a block function here so I don't have to read your posts by any chance?

Cheers

Edited by Loki
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The fact remains that there are very few F-16s in this scale that can be found or used for a newer block F-16, irrespective of your moody reply.

I posted a simple fact. There is next to nothing for F-16s in this scale for the serious modeller to choose from (if one can find the Block 30 by Revell).

I don't know where you've been looking but the Revell block 50/52 is in stock at Hannants and has been since it was reissued 3 years ago. With the exception of the late block 52+ versions Revell have had pretty much everything else covered for some time. Also available are numerous Hasegawa boxings including the B50 and the Academy kits as well as a massive quantity of aftermarket....cockpits, wheel wells, decals, armament sets, etch sets and so on. Pretty much anything you could need to make a decent F-16.

Other than that though, you're quite right, there's next to nothing available.

And in case you're confused, that was sarcasm :)

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Calm down guys, it's a new F-16, that, even though it's not my scale or even genre, looks very nice. Just be grateful that new examples of any kit is being produced. There's no need for rudeness or personal attack either.

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Well... Back to the subject in hand, there are a few more close in images of the 'test shot' over on ARC.com the images are from post #59, about 2/3rds down the page. More images are found throughout the following page (page 4).

As mentioned before, the detailing is excellent to the point that I personally wouldn't buy any aftermarket replacements... Each to his/her own though. On a tangent and to add logic to a typically confusing rumour, this kit will have the full complement of Block 50 SEAD weapons, though I'm not sure if it will included multiple options such as both AIM-9L/M and AIM-9X.

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The Academy's kit is not very accurate at all. Kinetic's does an okay job at the B-50/52+ two seaters, but leaves a lot to be desired. Hasegawa does release their Viper all the time. It is old and it shows. The cockpit is terrible. Compare the MLG doors to the Revell and Academy ones and see what you think. Revell has had years when they have stopped producing their Viper. As a Viper fan, i can see Loki's point of view.

Hopefully we will see a B-25 and a C/N boxing as well. If we don't, then at least we have 1 Tamiya 1/72 Viper and aftermarket will have to supply us with the rest. It's going to be a good year :-)

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Can I ask what are the accuracy problems for the academy release?

Same issues as in the 1/32 kit AFAIK.

- the wedge (between the bottom fuselage and intake) is too low and the intake too fat: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/zedlav/F-16%20kit%20pics/Academy%2032nd%20F-16/Intake1.jpg

- the nose is too pointy and it gives a YF-16 look to the model

1/32 kit reviews like http://www.vodnik.evbox.pl/pages/F-16CG_CJ/f-16cgcj.htm or http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=6792

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http://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10295&p=169754&hilit=academy#p169754

Story on the Academy Viper.

I have the KF-16C kit. Great decal sheet. Good parts and weapons to be used on the new Tamiya Viper.

I'm using the MLG of the Academy on my Franken-Sufa build. (a RoG F-16B + Hasegawa Sufa parts + resin cockpit + resin intake + Academy MLG). Sounds complicated... and it is for me. Not moving along all that fast with it :winkgrin:

Edited by ruudster
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The Academy's kit is not very accurate at all. Kinetic's does an okay job at the B-50/52+ two seaters, but leaves a lot to be desired. Hasegawa does release their Viper all the time. It is old and it shows. The cockpit is terrible. Compare the MLG doors to the Revell and Academy ones and see what you think. Revell has had years when they have stopped producing their Viper. As a Viper fan, i can see Loki's point of view.

Hopefully we will see a B-25 and a C/N boxing as well. If we don't, then at least we have 1 Tamiya 1/72 Viper and aftermarket will have to supply us with the rest. It's going to be a good year :-)

Looking at Tamiya's history of variant releases in 1/72nd, they tend to release them relatively quickly. They have basically released all the A6M variants in less than two years. Same goes for the Mosquito, Early model corsairs. In the case of the P-47 they had the razorback and bubbletop out within a few months of each other.

I have a soft place in my heart for the Hasegawa F-16. It was probably one of the first jets I ever built. Shapewise I've never seen any major criticisms, though the panel lines apparently are not correct for later models. I think it makes a good early block F-16, maybe even a Block 40, with a bit of TLC. Cockpit is not great, but an AM seat makes a huge difference. The academy kit is just a smaller scale copy of their 1/48 kit, with all of its foibles. I did some test fitting with mine before trading it. I built three of them last year: Block 15, 25 and 40.

5F6.jpg

If tamiya does a Block 15/25/40... I wonder how they will represent the strengthening panels and that damn walkway line.

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Looking at Tamiya's history of variant releases in 1/72nd, they tend to release them relatively quickly. They have basically released all the A6M variants in less than two years. Same goes for the Mosquito, Early model corsairs. In the case of the P-47 they had the razorback and bubbletop out within a few months of each other.

Neu,

That's positive news for us lot that want a bit more variety, soon... I do relate to your fondness of the Hasegawa kit. Although quite long in the tooth (the kit is older than me!), I do feel it's quite a sharp and tidy kit, if basic in areas. I auctioned off all but two of my 'stash' for this upcoming Tamiya release, a Block 30 and Block 50/52 with Cartograf decals are all I have left. Nice models by the way!

With regards to the Block 40/42 that Tamiya could possibly release, they could do what Hasegawa are currently doing with their updated F-16A ADF/AM kits, including a small number of photo-etch plates. Then again, they might not and we'll have to buy some photo-etch/vinyl aftermarket bits or heaven forbid a set of Tamiya 'Detail-Up' parts... ^_^

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  • 4 weeks later...

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