Italeri 1/48 F-16 kits

[Slater]

How are these for overall accuracy and fit?

[charley420]

I cant comment to much on accuracy but i do know that some boxings are italeris own tool and others are re boxed kinetic kits. The barak and the f16d being two of them. Hth

[exdraken]

the original Italeri kit is not terribly accurate, but has for example a closed PW nozzle with incorrect feather count

tanks are a bit rounded

generally unmistakenly looks like an F-16

[Mike V]

Recent Italeri 48th F-16s (aside from the F-16ADF kits) have been Kinetic reboxings. Here's my reviews on the on the original Italeri F-16s:

Italeri F-16D Brakeet:

Note that the "Brakeet" name is not a Hebrew word and a common name misconception Israeli F-16s. The correct Hebrew name for all IAF F-16C/D's is Barak for Block 30s or Barak II's Block 40.

Note that the IAF F-16D isn’t anything close to an F-16D, much less a Block 40 or 30 Israeli D:

- Cockpit detail is weak and what little detail that is there represents the A/B cockpit.

- The spine is terribly misshapen.

- The parabrake extension is even worse than the spine as its way too small in cross section and has nothing but erroneous surface detail.

- Bulged MLG doors & larger retract beam not included to represent the Israeli F-16 Block 30 and 40 Heavy Weight gear.

- Proper Heavy Weight Gear is no included.

- Block 40 wheels (Barak Block 40) or Block 50 wheels (Barak Block 30) are not included.

- Missing NLG TAXI/LAND light assy & LEF RWR for IAF Block 40.

- No MCID (Barak Block 40 all/ Barak Block 30 “D” Models) intake.

- No NLG door LAND/TAXI light assembly (Block 40 only).

- No LEF RWR Antennas (Block 40 only).

- Missing the EW/RW Plates on the doughnut panel (Block 40 only, but most have since been removed with a base plate left behind).

At best, you can make an ok standard F-16B from the kit, as the spine and parabrake are practically useless for any D model; as is the cockpit.

Standard issue Italeri F-16A/C kits;:

-The panel lines are on the soft side and the surface has a grainy finish.

-Radome is a bit short and too pointed

-The cockpit detail is generic at best and represents an A or B model.

-The glare shield is offset to the left side.

-Canopy is not blown and frame (real bad on the B/D models) base is too thick in height.

-The NSI intake mouth profile is way off; not to mention the seam clean up (both interior and exterior) is a nightmare.

-The upper fuselage plug (which allows for the option of 1 or 2 seater) does not line up well and makes for allot of filling and rescribing to get it right.

- Both Gun muzzles are poorly executed and the A model type (8 slotted) suffers from molding defects.

- Wheel wells are typical Italeri; all guess work with “diode like” detailing that’s nothing close to the real thing.

- The main wheels are awful and are nothing close to anything the F-16 ever used.

- Though the Light Weight Landing Gear itself is actually fairly decent and in some respects better than Hasegawa, but unfortunately it’s set low which results in an inherent "bottom End" squat when the kit is built up. It looks like the NLG may set a bit tall and the mains were set to low in the design of the kit.

- The P&W nozzle has some strange ribbing or scalloping on the doughnut panel. I have no idea what that is suppose to be or represent, but it’s completely wrong. Also, it is molded in the "puckered/closed” position (SEC mode) and the turkey feather ends are way too thick.

- The GE nozzle is totally wrong as it has 14 turkey feathers, as opposed to the 12 feathers of the real thing. Hasegawa’s F-16Cs & Revell F-16C/F-14D got it right BTW.

- The upper & lower wing root panels (the cover panel where the wing meets the fuselage) are sunken in for some odd reason??? The trailing sides of the wing root panels also have an elongated step.

- The vertical tail base for the C/D model is too rounded in shape, the LE scoop is poorly done, and the vertical tail cap is that of an A model.

- Trailing edges of the speed brakes are overly thick and should be thinned down about 75% of the existing thickness.

- The wingtip 210 launchers are totally wrong and the fastener detail is way over done, as are the rest of the weapons/stores.

- Both 370 wing tanks are off in shape; being way to blunt and rounded at the nose.

- Key C/D model details are missing as follows; larger ECS Exhaust shroud (forward lwr. Lt. Wheel well), High profile the Ammo load door, and most of the basic airframe lights and Landing, Taxi, and intake lights lenses

Updates:

Italeri F-16 ADF

Italeri released an ADF variant which is the same basic F-16A kit, but with ADF vertical tail base and AIFF antennas. The ADF bulge is poorly done; the shape and cross section of the bulges are way off. The AIFF antennas are ok, but are on the small side and the base is over scaled. The rest of the kit is as the above description

Italeri F-16DG Block 40

This is the Kinetic kit reboxed. See my Kinetic review for more detail.

Mike V

[Slater]

Looks like Italeri is pretty bad. I take it that Hasegawa is the preferred choice in 1/48?

Italeri's latest 1/48 F-16C appears to be kit #2686 ("F-16C Barak"). This would be a Kinetic rebox then?

Edited May 14, 2015 by Slater

[Stephen]

Tamiya is the best option for a C variant.

[exdraken]

Italeri's latest 1/48 F-16C appears to be kit #2686 ("F-16C Barak"). This would be a Kinetic rebox then?

http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/it/kit_it_2686.shtml

this is the Kinetic kit indeed.

If you ask Mike V above he could tell you the many issues with this kit as well... mainly a really wrong looking nose section....

depending on price, and your main focus, all the mentioned kits offer something!

Tamiya is said to be the best, but only for a C version (PW and GE engined depending on boxing), accurate weapons for the provided markings

Hasegawa very good shape wise and meanwhile available in all versions! A, B, C, D, E, F with PW and GE engine and intakes. generally little and not up to nowadays standard detail. (wheel wells, nozzles, cockpit, etc...) and without great payload. lots and lots of aftermarket items though to correct all this!

Kinetic and Italeri (D and above mentioned C Barak)/ Eduard re-boxes : lots of weapons, GE and PW engined, lots of detail but in my a really wrong looking nose section...(actually 2 different kind of wrong looking nose sections, as they retooled the nose after the first boxings (Kinetic A "Nato fighter" and I think the Italeri D versions ))

original Italeri ones as mentioned above: not funny looking but not very accurate either

there are out even more F-16 kits form Academy, etc. which are not worth mentioning at all....

have fun with whichever kit you decide and post it here on BM for the enjoyment of all of us please! :)

Edited May 14, 2015 by exdraken

[Lord Riot]

Resurrecting this old thread as I've seen a couple of 1/48 F-16s on ebay not too badly priced. 

 

I'd like to make a 1/48 Dutch F-16A (or B). I don't need absolute accuracy like those of you who do shows and things, but equally I don't want it to sit too low or have a rubbish canopy or such things. Equivalent to the Revell Jaguar standard is good enough for me.

 

Any recommendations please?

[Filler]

Hi mate,

 

If I can offer my opinion, and as I think we have a similar outlook on kits, I'd say that your best bet is to look for a Hasegawa F-16C.

 

The views expressed above are pretty fair.

They're a good accurate shape, although not blessed with great detail.

They don't cost an arm and a leg and whilst they're not super easy to find, they're far from rare.

If you're interested in a Dutch version, they have produced boxings with Dutch decals (including a special tail) so no need for trying to source after market decals.

They go together quite well - there are one or two tricks to make the intake easier to fit.

There is plenty of after market out there if you do fancy adding at least a better seat.

 

Below is my Academy build form a few years back. It's essentially a copy of the Hasegawa kit and for what it costs it's not so bad. Does have a bit of problem with joining the top and bottom of the wings but it's not insurmountable if you know about it before you try gluing it. Mine is out of box and I'm not a skillful modeller and I'm my pretty hard on myself, but I reckon it looks like a fair representation of an F-16 (If you look closely you will see that I somehow managed to end up with the HUD in the wrong place).

 

 

The Tamiya is regarded as the best and it is - but I'm not 100% sure it can accurately build as a late 80's Dutch F-16A and it will almost certainly cost you an extra £15 or more to buy and you'll need to find decals on top.

 

One thing you should look out for with all these kits is for the tail. I think that the Dutch had aircraft with and without the parabrake tail in the 80's and early 90's. I guess if you get a Hasegawa kit with Dutch decals in the box it will be the correct tail. Just look out in case you get decals from elsewhere.

 

I hope that helps a bit.

[Lord Riot]

Thanks mate, that's great info - cheers!

 

Your F-16 certainly looks the part so I'll see if I can find a Hasegawa one on ebay instead of the Italeri.

 

Ever heard of AMD Models? They do one but I don't know if it's a rebox of another like Hasegawa or anyone else.

Edited October 19, 2018 by Lord Riot

[Mike V]

7 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Resurrecting this old thread as I've seen a couple of 1/48 F-16s on ebay not too badly priced. 

 

I'd like to make a 1/48 Dutch F-16A (or B). I don't need absolute accuracy like those of you who do shows and things, but equally I don't want it to sit too low or have a rubbish canopy or such things. Equivalent to the Revell Jaguar standard is good enough for me.

 

Any recommendations please?

I would strongly suggest the Hasegawa F-16A/AM kit; the one with the parabrake, if your Dutch F-16A is configured as such. The Hasegawa F-16 is not without its significant shape inaccuracies (too short MLG wheel well/doors comes to mind; same with Italeri and Academy BTW), but the Hasegawa F-16s are more accurate than the Italeri or Academy Viper kits and it has a "blown canopy", plus they fit a lot better too. 

 

In regards to AMD F-16A; you sure you are not referring to the AFV Block 20 F-16A kit? If so, it's the Academy kit unfortunately.

3 hours ago, Filler said:

Hi mate,

 

If I can offer my opinion, and as I think we have a similar outlook on kits, I'd say that your best bet is to look for a Hasegawa F-16C.

 

The views expressed above are pretty fair.

They're a good accurate shape, although not blessed with great detail.

They don't cost an arm and a leg and whilst they're not super easy to find, they're far from rare.

If you're interested in a Dutch version, they have produced boxings with Dutch decals (including a special tail) so no need for trying to source after market decals.

They go together quite well - there are one or two tricks to make the intake easier to fit.

There is plenty of after market out there if you do fancy adding at least a better seat.

 

Below is my Academy build form a few years back. It's essentially a copy of the Hasegawa kit and for what it costs it's not so bad. Does have a bit of problem with joining the top and bottom of the wings but it's not insurmountable if you know about it before you try gluing it. Mine is out of box and I'm not a skillful modeller and I'm my pretty hard on myself, but I reckon it looks like a fair representation of an F-16 (If you look closely you will see that I somehow managed to end up with the HUD in the wrong place).

 

 

The Tamiya is regarded as the best and it is - but I'm not 100% sure it can accurately build as a late 80's Dutch F-16A and it will almost certainly cost you an extra £15 or more to buy and you'll need to find decals on top.

 

One thing you should look out for with all these kits is for the tail. I think that the Dutch had aircraft with and without the parabrake tail in the 80's and early 90's. I guess if you get a Hasegawa kit with Dutch decals in the box it will be the correct tail. Just look out in case you get decals from elsewhere.

 

I hope that helps a bit.

Nice job on that Academy F-16C; though yea, you got that HUD way too far down the glare shield..  I've built a couple of these years ago, and they have some significant fit issues about the wings. They may look like a copy of the Hasegawa kits, but they are poorly executed copies. The 3  major errors that set apart the Academy F-16s from Hasegawa are: the absolute lack of wingtip/launcher "angle of Incidence" (essentially the downward angle when viewed from the side) and the aft strakes completely missing the 10 degree dihedral.  Instead, Academy quite inaccurately just added a 10 degree bevel to the stab mating surface. The 3rd major issue is the poorly shaped NSI (small moth) Intake.  Instead of providing the intake mouth as a separate 1 piece like Hasegawa, Academy molded the mouth as part of the left and right intake halves. The result is that the overall intake mouth profile has a squashed appearance; in addition to one side (left side if memory serves) that's slightly smaller, which also gives it lopsided look when viewed head on.  Being a "somewhat copy" of the Hasegawa F-16, it does carry over the same inaccuracies that the Hasegawa F-16s; wheel wells, tail dorsal, gear, wheels, etc...

 

Mike V

Edited October 19, 2018 by Mike V

[Lord Riot]

Thanks guys for your time explaining these kits - looks like Hasegawa is the way to go then, if I can find one! They all seem to be C models on ebay right now.

[Mike V]

I have 2 Hasegawa F-16A kits (w/parabrake) I intend to sell soon, but I'm in the US, so probably not a great option for you considering shipping over the pond. However, if interested, drop me a line.

 

Mike

[Filler]

Thanks for adding a lot of extra detail to my basic thoughts on those kits Mike. You’ve pointed out things I didn’t know about. I personally fall between two stools as I do research and I want the most acurate model I can’t get, but my shortcomings as a modeller make it easy for me to accept a kits shortcomings as I can glue a HUD in the wrong place, not to mention all my other struggles with assembly and painting. Although, I can’t for the life of me explain or remember how on earth I got that HUD there. Thanks for the compliment on my F-16 though.

 

LR, if I see a suitable Hasegawa F-16 anywhere I’ll give you a shout.