F16 Vertical fin question

[Swamp Donkey]

Just scanned a few old photos and would like to model a couple of Air Guard F16’s in 1/72. Has the bulge at the base of the tail in this photo ever been reproduced in any kit (I’ve had a look but can find no example), or is it a case of resorting to milliput?

 

SD

 

 

[Giorgio N]

That bulge identifies the aircraft as an F-16 ADF. a variant obtained as conversion of existing F-16A Block 15 and designed as air defence fighter for use by the ANG.

There have been two kits in 1/72: hasegawa issued a number of boxes, that include their basic F-16A kit and an extra sprue with the new tail, the antenna array ahead of the windshield and the LAU-129 missile launchers. Some of these boxes had decals for ANG aircraft, some for Italian ones. These kits also included a small self-adhesive set for the reinforcement plates applied to many F-16s.

Italeri also issued a couple of boxes that allow to build and ADF: one was catalogue number 1337, that included an Italian ADF and two Belgian aircraft (non ADF). The other was number 1271, that included and Italian and an ANG ADF, two A from Venezuela and the Netherlands and an Italian B. Italeri did not supply a new tail but gave the two fairings as separate parts to glue on the standard A tail. The antenna array and 2 LAU-129 are also included

 

Of the two options the Hasegawa kit is IMHO much better, better moulded, more detailed and generally better looking. It can also not be easy to find and then finding one for a decent price is even more difficult. The two Italeri kits are also not that easy to find today, so at that point I'd try to get a Hasegawa kit

If you can't find any of the two kits, there was a resin conversion in this scale made by a small Italian company named Alitaliane, designed for the Hasegawa kit but maybe useable on others. Again, it's something not easy to find.

Last resort would of course be using milliput or a length of sprue to make the bulge and then plasticard for the antenna array.

 

Personally I've been lucky enough to find a few months ago a Hasegawa kit for a price that while not cheap was acceptable. My plan is to use the ADF specific parts on a Revell kit and then build the Hasegawa one as a standard A (all parts for this are in the box). I'm considering trying to make a couple resin clones of the Hasegawa ADF tail but it may be harder than I like

[Swamp Donkey]

Wow, thanks Giorgio for that, extremely helpful. I’ll have a scout around for the Hasegawa kit, I’m in no great rush but would like to do one or two

 

SD

 

(found one for a ‘reasonable’ price. Thanks again)

[Silverkite]

13 hours ago, Swamp Donkey said:

Wow, thanks Giorgio for that, extremely helpful. I’ll have a scout around for the Hasegawa kit, I’m in no great rush but would like to do one or two

 

SD

 

(found one for a ‘reasonable’ price. Thanks again)

 

Hasegawa 01962 doesn't come with reinforcement stripes which are present on the other four boxes 01913 - 01980 - 01997 - 02172.

As for Italeri as Giorgio said box 1271 comes with ADF parts so does box 1337, also some later 188 reboxes do come with ADF parts so sometime does the Tamiya rebox, it's a big if.

Fujimi had at least two F-16 ADF boxes but they are also more hard to find than Hasegawa ones

About later F-16ADF used by italian air force, possibly Portugal samples too they all have F-16C style gun vents and other gigs that were not present on USAF machines

 

Luigi

[CT7567]

Having at least one of all three kits in the stash, I concur with the assessment that Hasegawa's kit is the best out of the box, with Fujimi a rather distant second and Italeri last. The dual-kit Hasegawa releases tend to be a much better value, and frankly I'm still convinced there was an error by Hasegawa or their distributors that set the MSRP for the single-kit boxings at nearly the same price point when first released.

 

Note that on the ADF there are actually two "bird slicer" IFF arrays: one on top of the nose, and a second under the intake (just forward of the nose gear bay, which often obscures it in photos). These arrays are very similar but *not* identical to the similar nose antennae on MLU upgrades:

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0286b.shtml

 

If you're looking for the later updates @Silverkite mentioned - or just a later & better detailed kit - you can use Hasegawa's ADF parts as a conversion for the Revell F-16A (the Hasegawa kits include all the standard parts so you won't lose a model in the process).

[Swamp Donkey]

Thanks Silverkite and CT7567 for your replies, much appreciated

 

I managed to track down 2 Hasegawa boxes yesterday for sensible money. There are other examples out there for small fortunes!

 

SD

[draggie748]

Fujimi also produced two boxings of their F-16A with extra parts for the ADF. one boxing had the Texas ANG 111FIS Balls One markings and the other had Puerto Rico ANG markings. I have one of each in my stash.

HTH

 

Phil

Canberra - The Nation's Capital

Australia

[CharlieGolf2009]

7 hours ago, draggie748 said:

Fujimi also produced two boxings of their F-16A with extra parts for the ADF. one boxing had the Texas ANG 111FIS Balls One markings and the other had Puerto Rico ANG markings. I have one of each in my stash.

HTH

 

Yes they did, and years before Hasegawa and Italeri. I still have a couple of them. 

 

Fujimi 35141

 

Fujimi 35144

 

 

About the Portuguese Air Force, if it is of any interest, the 20 F-16A/B Block 15 OCU of the first batch (nowadays all of them MLU M6.5), were a sort of a hybrid so to speak. The aircraft has several characteristics of the F-16A ADF (such as flight control actuators relocated to the both sides of the vertical fin within the bulges, night identification light, Bendix-King AN/ARC-200 high frequency single-sideband radio, etc), and other features present in Block 30 like the reinforced wings, later gun vents, structural airframe reinforcement, etc.

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by CharlieGolf2009