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Skunkworks (was Kinetic) F-16xl 1/48


The dragonborn

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Leaves me stone-cold. Just a technology demonstrator from the early eighties. And in the meantime they're so many jets with a real operational career begging for a decent 1/48th kit. No thanks not for me.

V.P.

Edited by Homebee
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Leaves me stone-cold. Just a technology demonstrator from the early eighties. And in the meantime they're so many jets with a real operational career waiting a good 1/48th kit. No thanks not for me.

V.P.

Indeed!

A decent SU-7, SU-22 and MiG-31 in 1/48 to name but three. That said, I'm sure just as many will think 'great!' as will be indifferent to this release.

Gary

Edited by redcap
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Leaves me stone-cold. Just a technology demonstrator from the early eighties. And in the meantime they're so many jets with a real operational career waiting a good 1/48th kit. No thanks not for me.

V.P.

Totally agree….

Why waste research and plastic on this when there are so many other classic and contemporary subjects begging for a decent kit……Yep…..leaves me cold too.

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Leaves me stone-cold. Just a technology demonstrator from the early eighties. And in the meantime they're so many jets with a real operational career waiting a good 1/48th kit. No thanks not for me.

V.P.

The lack of any sort of operational career didn't hurt either of Airfix's TSR.2's. And although the F-16XL started out as a technology demonstrator it did go on to compete with the F-15E for the ETF program. It's part of the F-16 family and has quite the cult following. The Hobbyboss YF-23 went down pretty well and I can see this being the same. If nothing else it just looks cool and has had some really nice real world paint jobs...

600px-F-16XL_with_Custom_Paint_-_GPN-200

And if we're going down the route of 70's/80's/90's US demonstrators then theres plenty to choose from... I'd love a modern 48th scale F-20, X-29, YF-17 and X-31... :coolio:

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Totally agree.

Why waste research and plastic on this when there are so many other classic and contemporary subjects begging for a decent kitYep..leaves me cold too.

Don't want to bang on about this, but agreed, how many airframes were produced of this variant, single figures no doubt, (just checked, 2 apparently) compared to hundreds of airframes produced for various types which are seriously lacking in up to date kits!
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I don't think anyone can fairly criticise Kinetic about kit releases. No other manufacturer is knocking out new kits in this scale like they are. And Kittyhawk are doing ok too.

If you want to complain about failure to release quality modern kits of classic aircraft, go and ask what Italeri, Revell, Hasegawa, Tamiya and even Airfix are up to. Kinetic, Hobbyboss and Kittyhawk are absolutely leathering all of them. And regardless of manufacturer, we have never been so spoiled by the multitude of new kit releases. It's frankly weird to complain about any new subject. And I say all that as someone who almost certainly won't buy one of these and would love to see a new Buccaneer kit but, am still happy to see such a cool aircraft become a choice.

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If you want to complain about failure to release quality modern kits of classic aircraft, go and ask what Italeri.....

Yes! I've been asking Italeri for years where the 1/72 AMX Ghibli and Fiat G-91Y kits are.

Particularly the AMX. In service with multiple countries and a variety of versions for several years and has seen some battle action. What else does it have to do to get some styrene attention!?

I suspect Special Hobby is a better candidate for making one in styrene than Italeri by this point in the game.

As for the F-16XL......

I won't be buying it as 1/48 isn't my scale, but I think it will probably work well for Kinetic as a seller if I think about how many people I've seen over how many forums have expressed a desire for a decent kit of one of these in any scale.

Also, when it comes to subjects like this, don't forget the "What if" side of the hobby. They'll be all over something like this.

Believe me, speaking as a Canadian, an aircraft having no service life has never stood in the way of the Avro Arrow getting attention from kit manufacturers.

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Yes! I've been asking Italeri for years where the 1/72 AMX Ghibli and Fiat G-91Y kits are.

Particularly the AMX. In service with multiple countries and a variety of versions for several years and has seen some battle action. What else does it have to do to get some styrene attention!?

.

It needs to have the guarantee of people actually buying the kit ! The AMX has topped pretty much every survey for most wantyed subject here in Italy, yet we all know how these surveys don't really mean much in the end. If Italeri is not sure to sell the numbers needed to break even, this is not going to happen and they believe that such sales would not be possible at the moment. Others believe differently and a couple of 1/48 AMX kits have been recently announced.

The XL is an unusual choice but I'm quite happy with it. Yes, only two were built but in the end those 2 had a much longer career than both the TSR.2 and the Arrow, having been flown by NASA for a number of years. And until now there was no decent kit of this version really.

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And if we're going down the route of 70's/80's/90's US demonstrators then theres plenty to choose from... I'd love a modern 48th scale F-20, X-29, YF-17 and X-31... :coolio:

Oh yeah!
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It's different, great What-If? fodder, not been done before, examples exist to measure and looks so cool.

Can't see anything to moan about myself. It's one release and how many times do we see 'Why don't XYZ release a Scruggs Wonderbus instead of another Spitfire....'

Now someone is doing just that they get moaned at again!

Not my thing normally but I'll be getting one maybe two if the two seater is allowed for. Be nice to build something different.

That black NASA scheme looks awesome. I hope Caracal or Vingtor get on it.

Edited by SleeperService
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Don't want to bang on about this, but agreed, how many airframes were produced of this variant, single figures no doubt, (just checked, 2 apparently) compared to hundreds of airframes produced for various types which are seriously lacking in up to date kits!

And exactly how many TSR 2s were produced..............................?????. With respect, this sort of argument for or against a kit really serves no purpose whatsoever. We have also had mainstream kits of other prototypes/demonstrators before. P1127, YF-23,F-20 Tigershark, X-29, SU-47 Berkut, XB-70, XB-35, YB-49 to name but a few. I'd rather have this than yet another Spitfire - something which leaves ME cold!!!!!. Just a personal perspective of course.

In addition to which of course, Revell produced a series of excellent Luftwaffe '46 kits - how many of these subjects never even left the drawing board?

Personally, I think Kinetic should be commended for this "out of the box" (no pun intended) choice. I rather like these unusual & exotic types and, as has been pointed out earlier, the F-16XL offers great "what if" potential - just like the TSR 2?. I still have a Revell 1/32 F-16XL which I intend to build as a Spectrum fighter jet - the Archangel. It looks futuristic enough. I already have plans for this new kit!! I can see one already with forward swept outer wings!!. Yes, the two seater would also be nice!! :D .

Now Kinetic, how about an XB-51, F-108 Rapier, F-103 Thunderwarrior, XF-8U Crusader III..............................................................................!!!

Allan

Edited by Albeback52
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And exactly how many TSR 2s were produced..............................?????. With respect, this sort of argument for or against a kit really serves no purpose whatsoever. We have also had mainstream kits of other prototypes/demonstrators before. P1127, YF-23,F-20 Tigershark, X-29, SU-47 Berkut, XB-70, XB-35, YB-49 to name but a few. I'd rather have this than yet another Spitfire - something which leaves ME cold!!!!!. Just a personal perspective of course.

In addition to which of course, Revell produced a series of excellent Luftwaffe '46 kits - how many of these subjects never even left the drawing board?

Personally, I think Kinetic should be commended for this "out of the box" (no pun intended) choice. I rather like these unusual & exotic types and, as has been pointed out earlier, the F-16XL offers great "what if" potential - just like the TSR 2?. I still have a Revell 1/32 F-16XL which I intend to build as a Spectrum fighter jet - the Archangel. It looks futuristic enough. I already have plans for this new kit!! I can see one already with forward swept outer wings!!. Yes, the two seater would also be nice!! :D .

Now Kinetic, how about an XB-51, F-108 Rapier, F-103 Thunderwarrior, XF-8U Crusader III..............................................................................!!!

Allan

Allan, your quite right and I have no interest in building a kit of the TSR 2 either or a Spitfire for that matter. I think it's fantastic that Kinetic and the like are releasing numerous new types. My point was I would imagine a kit would be more likely to sell well if the aircraft itself has a big following/fan base. The less airframes produced means, generally I would say, less people are likely to know about the type and therefore be interested in building a model of it. I would like Kinetic to be around for a while producing more kits. This is, as was my previous post, my opinion of course.

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I wish I had space to display 1/48. (I'm restricted to 1/144 mainly) I'd love to get a few of these along with a F-16A to do the history of 75-0747. Started out as one the six FSD airframes in 1977, converted into the first XL in '81 (after an accident), converted to a two seater in '82, then NASA got it in 1991. It was retired in 1999 after 22 years of test flying and many configuration changes.

As for XL markings, the USAF flew three different schemes on the two seater plus one for the single seater. Nasa gave it the tail code 848 but at one point it was 846, I know of three schemes it flew in as 848. So there's a few variations to start with that most people are unlikely to know about off hand, then if you whif it... :P

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