Academy F-16?

[wingslinger]

Anyone have any opinions on the quality (or otherwise) of this particular 1/48 scale F-16?

Saw one today for only 18 USD and thought it was kinda cheap... the only other Academy I have (a 1/48 scale Hunter) looks like it's pretty good quality

Thanks

M

Edited January 12, 2008 by wingslinger

[Mike V]

Here's my write up on the 48th Academy F-16.

The Academy kit looks good at first, but don't be fooled into thinking it's a Hasegawa clone! At best, you can only make a Block 25 F-16C from this kit. If you really take a look at the Academy kit, you will see they really blew it major in 2 areas; the aft strake anhedral and intake mouth profile. That’s not considering the rest of the problems listed below:

-Cockpit is void of any detail. It has cheesy decals for instrument panel and consoles details.

-NLG strut lacks any kind of "T" shaped webbing for the upper structure.

-MLG Wheels are wrong and lack distinctive block 1-30 style/detail

-Nasty punch holes plague both the NLG wheel well and MLG bays.

-The NSI (small mouth) intake mouth has major profile problems. The intake parts are split down the middle, to include the mouth (unlike Hasegawa's 1 piece mouth), which ends being smaller on one side. This makes for an intake mouth that’s out of proportion (bad profile) when the intake assembly is completed. Only fix to this, is to use a Hasegawa replacement.

-The Gun Muzzle is molded solid to the fuselage. The gun muzzle is not well represented (worse than Hasegawa's first F-16A kits) and is only in the C model “two slotted” style, or late block 15 F-16A model.

-Canopy has no bubble cross-section.

-The wingtank nose profiles are misshapen, being too blunt.

-The LE of the pylons are not properly shaped.

-The wing tip rails, though separate, once glued on lack the proper "Angle of incidence". This is basically the nose down position or attitude, like that of the F-18 wing tip rails.

-Rear Strake: No flare of the aft fuselage strake (right about where the LE of the stabs are when level, for reference) exist and the sides do not angle/cant down as they should at the end of the speed brakes. Instead, the stabs have been beveled with an angled mating edge, to give them the anhedral. This is totally wrong and the worst issue of accuracy with the kit!

-The Exhaust nozzle part (doughnut panel) has some funky scalloping, or bad-shot molding in most of the examples I’ve had and seen.

-Missing are key vents, scoops, and probes for Block 25 and 32 F-16C's:

-Small ECS shroud, only on “A” models

-Under scoop, under left cockpit lower strake

-opposite side, upper strake vent/scoop

-forward tail dorsal base scoop

-Total temp probe

-LEF RWR antennas

Note the markings in the F-16A/C kit (tail stripes) for the 512th aircraft are incorrectly sized for the "A" model tail. By that botching, you really can't make even the kit markings accurate.

The lack of the rear strake flare, no cockpit detail and misshapen intake as enough for me to leave it! As much as I despise the Italeri F-16 kits, I would have to recommend it over the Academy F-16, but not by much.

Some building notes:

-The wing fit is real bad and requires shimming, or cutting down of the outboard lower wing tips.

-The model tends to have an "ASS_END" squat to it.

*Academy F-16C new release.Jan2005*

Academy did absolutely nothing to the old kit, other than add decals, which are pretty nice despite the kit. It would have been nice to have some updated parts to do at least a half-way decent block 32, but with an asking price of $30, it just makes for an overpriced decal sheet!

Hasegawa is the way to go in 48th for Blocks 1-32. Get the Tamiya kit if wanting to do a Block 40/50.

Mike V

[wingslinger]

Wow. I guess thats largely a thumbs down then.. thanks for the info, Mike...

M

[Mike V]

Yep, definately not my first or second choice for a 48th F-16.

At one time, I had over a dozen of them. When I was stationed in Korea, I could pick them up for about $6 a pop. Back then I was building them gear up for pilots and maintainers as going away gifts, or built on commsion.

Since I was closing the cockpit and gear wells, I did not have to worry about the details.

I did however have resin cast copies made of the Hasegawa kit cockpit and intake to make up the kit's main faults. I did nothing about the aft atrake angle, but it still stood out like a sore thumbe every time I looked back there.

For my own projects I only use Hasegawa and now Tamiya. I only have one Academy 48th F-16 my built collection, though it's been through a few hard landings since 95. In additon to using a Hasegawa kit cockpit and intake, I corrected the aft strake and added Hasegawa stabs, left over from one of my 48th F-16XL projects.

It's not a horrible kit, just not every accurate or detailed. Like any model, it can be built up into a decent model, but my point is why settle when you can save the time and effort and get the Hasegawa kit in the first place.

Mike V

[thx6667]

If you're just looking for a fun project Winglinger to use up decals, the Academy kit is a good build and the finished result looks like an F-16.