General Dynamics F-16 in 1/72 scale : kit review & modelling report of REVELL kits

.. continued from page 2...

Revell also issued several kits for the F-16C.

 

The part layout diagram for the F-16C is seen here... and 
there are also a lot of older parts in the sprues (blanked black in the drawings)... Such as for the "A". These are quite useful!

This nice Revell F-16C kit has some of the specific features through an extra sprue of parts for this variant like:

- thick tail base vertical fin but only with the short rear tail fairing; 

- wide mouth air intake parts #93, 94; 

- other type exhaust (GE engine for F-16C block 50/52 ), parts #98, 99; (For an early block F-16C with Pratt and Whitney engine use the other exhaust parts #33, 34 still in the kit);

- wing leading edge ECM antennas parts #107, 108;

- thick main wheels #100, so new parts (and the thin wheels #46 are still in the sprues); but it appears than Revell did not bother to provide the "bulged" main gear doors. Maybe they thought in 1/72 the difference is minimal. 
 

- Stores like AIM-120C AMRAAMs, AIM-9 Sidewinders, optional pylons like different styles of wing tip launchers are also included LAU-107/ LAU-114 and later LAU-128 (or is it LAU-129?) for the AMRAAMs and advanced Sidewinders.
- Bombs like GBU-10 and HARM anti-radiation missiles. 
- Fueltanks comprise two of 370 gallon under wing tanks and a central 300 gallon tank. 
Also included is an AN/ALQ-131 ECM pod and a HTS pod.

- the canopy is clear so not tinted as seen on many F-16's. Check photos and use transparant paint as required.  

Also in this nice kit...
- the different style of gun nozzle for the F-16C with other ventilation grills is nicely provided (though it does not fit very easy).
- different type of instrument panels and consoles for A, AM and C ;
- repositioned landing lights #55 on nose gear door (not on older F-16C's, there still fitted to main gear legs so check photos);

The panellines are great but the upper fuselage again has the same 2 halves as for the F-16A (so slightly different engraved panel lines are not incorporated). 

In steps 25 to 29, check the particular F-16C to be modelled and if smaller parts are needed. For example, the air scoops #106 and #104 are not always standard. 

Decals in this kit are for:
(1) F-16C block 50B of the USAFE 52 FW/ 22 FS as based in Spangdahlem, Germany.
(2) F-16C block 52D of the USAF 366 FW/ 389 FS based at Mountain Home AFB, USA.
The schemes are standard and the markings a bit dull.

The kit will be made as a Poland F-16C using after market decals. 

[7]
USAF

It was decided to make the TIGER MEET scheme as per kit which looks great! This also means that the IFF antennas are NOT to be fitted on the nose, but part #86 as indicated. 

Most of the assembly is per instructions, but make sure that the upper fuselages halves are glued first without any ridge to avoid filling and sanding. Some little filler was needed on the lower air intake. Also fit the later style wing tip launch rails.     

The wide mouth intake (for the General Electric F110 engine as fitted in the F-16C Block 30) was fitted as per instructions with parts 93, 94, 95 and the heating probe #21. Note that the drawing for part #21 is shown incorrect, it should run to the rear..

The cockpit is nice with an adequate ACES II seat, but the instrument and console decals are too large and to bright, you may seek alternatives here.

The outside initial base colours for the scheme as per kit starts as standard F-16 with Federal Standard FS36270 lower surfaces and FS36118 upper areas. Note that later on a two tone grey scheme was adapted for USAF F-16's and also there are some variations on how the grey is set on the air intake. So check photos. 

The base acrylic colours used here were:  FS36270 with Gunze Sangyo #306 and FS36118 with Gunze Sangyo #305. So this is the newer USAF scheme which has only two tones of grey. AMRAAM pylons and launchers can be fitted.
....
The Revell kit decals are good but it is recommended to cut some large decals in several sub-decals so they fit better. The CLEAR decal sections were mostly cut away so many decals set in place in several parts. The decals were fine but need particular persuasion on the mid lower central fuel tank and vertical tail fin base. Use DACO setting fluid as well. 

Decal application took 5 hours to complete.

The air intake lips and so on were painted red and orange to blend in the decals. This was also done at various other spots where tiny gaps were still there in the decals applied.

Final kit detailling was mostly as done on the other F-16 kits seen on page 2, but in this case the canopy was NOT tinted. 

(1) The thicker main wheels #100 of the later F-16 Block's are nicely provided. (But unfortunately the kit does not have any parts for the required "bulged" main doors; you may correct this by glueing on some card bulges and sanding these as shown here for a Hasegawa kit). 

The main gear legs on this Revell kit are also bit awkward to install. A few extra details were made from thin wire and added in the gear bays. Some black wash was applied inside the white painted gear bays and on the white gear legs.

(2) The F-16C type stiffener plates (NOTE THAT THESE STRUCTURAL STIFFENERS vary per variant); here next to the vertical tail base and on the inner wing panels as for the F-16C on the upper fuselage. These were suggested by handpainting with a fine brush a bit darker colours than the surrounding colours. 

(3) The nose pitot was made from a metal needle.

(4) The anti-collision lights on the intake and wing tips got a drop of blue and red paint followed by a drop of Micro Kristal Clear. 

(5) Inside the GE F110 engine exhaust pipe also, the horizontal stripes were hand painted using white paint to suggest the ceramic coating.

(6) Inside the canopy, 2 handling bars were added made from thin rod. This is always seen inside a F-16 canopy.

(7) The wing tips and stabilizers static dischargers are moulded on the trailing edges but I cut these of as these extended bits are too thick; I replaced these with thin fishing wire painted black. 

(8) the kit ACES seat looks good and got some harness starps made from painted tape. The seat was simply fitted in the cockpit as well as some decals fro the side consoles and instruments. A HUD was added as well along with the flying control stick and throttle. 

The F-16C wing pylons were fitted as well as the AMRAAM type launch wing tip rails. On the wing tips, 2 "smoke winders" were added made from kit's Sidewinders missiles, this time with their fins retained. These were painted bright dayglow orange colour using Revell Aqua 25 leucht orange. The central fuel tank was also added and the decals on it required quite some decal softener to ly down. 

The model got a semi-gloss varnish coat, this will give an even sheen and will protect the decals. A coat of Johnson Future/ Pledge was applied with the airbrush in several thin layers using the usual technique...

Finally the canopy was installed after its frames were hand painted with a fine paint brush and some Tiger and pilot name decals added. The canopy was kept clear and was set open and the rear glass section set in place with white glue.

[8]
POLAND

This Block 52 aircraft has the small mouth intake and the Pratt and Whitney F100-229 engine. 

The Revell kit has many "extra" parts in the sprues and in this kit, so these were very useful! The F100 engine parts are #33, 34. 

CONSTRUCTION
In STEP 8-9-10 not the kit parts #93,94 and 99 were used but the other parts also in the sprues such as #17, 18, 19, 20 for the small intake. Here, a sketch from another Revell kit on how...

In STEP 6 the gun port #84 does not fit very well, so some work is needed here. When aligning the upper forward and aft fuselage halves, join first these to ensure a flush joint. I also had to bend the wing a bit to get these flat. 

In STEP 12, the thick base vertical tail is nicely provided but I cut off the base as to fit the parachut pack with antennas provided with parts #27A, 27B, 27 for the Polish aircraft. 

(here the instructions are in the SOLO TURK kit also applicable for this Polish Block 52 F-16C ):


The fairing on the side is a bit longer. 

In STEP 15, regarding the nose plate, part # 39 with the advanced IFF antennas was fitted instead of part #86. Illustrated here:

The main gear landing gear lights #64 in step 17 were not used, this F-16C block has the larger nose wheel door lights, part #55 in STEP 23. 

In STEP 37, the later style LAU-129 AMRAAM wing tip launchers #118 were used.

The remainder of the kit assembly was per Revell instructions  like fitting the ECM stubs #107, 108 on the wing leading edges and the intake anti-collision lights.

But I wanted to add some CFT (conformal fuel tanks) on the upper fuselage as often seen on Polish F-16C's as well. These parts are not in this kit, I got these from the Kinetic F-16D kit; note that after market resin CFT's can also be bought (like from Attack Squadron). 

The CFT fitting required a bit filler/ putty and sanding but can be done.

After that the base model got a grey coat. Any irregularities liks gaps and ridges were treated and the model was ready for the colours.

The model got these acrylic colours airbrushed:
FS36270 grey using Gunze Sangyo H305;
FS36375 grey using Gunze Sangyo H308 for the upper surface camouflage "splashes"; 

The landing gear main wheels are for this version (with Pratt and Whitney engine) probably the normal ones, so use kit wheels #46 that are still in the sprues. The wheel bay interiors were painted "dirty" white as well as the gear legs. 

The edges of the CFT got slightly darker grey lines being hand painted, this is the "sealing" rubber. 
The structural stiffeners often found on the F-16C Block 52 were mostly hidden under CFT's but I painted the two long ones forward of the vertical tail with a tooth pick in light grey. 

The model is for a Poland F-16C Block 52 coded  "4060" as seen at NATO Tiger meet 2011. Note that hardly any Polish roundels are seen, only at the lower wing these are present. The decals were applied after a gloss varnish coat was airbrushed to prevent "silvering". Note also that the walkway lines need some cutting because of the CFT's.

A couple of AMRAAM AIM-120C "small fin" missiles and fuel tanks were fitted as included in this kit. In the canopy, a small piece of stretched sprue was mounted to suggest the Helmet cueing sensor. The model got the final treatment of painted lights, new static dischargers from fishing line etc as applied of the other F-16 models....

Canopy installed and... a nice model completed for the collection.
 

 POLAND
............... 

[area: 312,696 km2 | population: 39 million | capital: Warsawa | GDP 18,000 Euro per capita nominal]

The Polish air force was established at the end of World War One. Later on, several local designed aircraft were used such as from PZL. The armed forces suffered large losses under the German attack in 1939 and the country was occupied. After the Second World War Poland became part of the Communist block "behind the iron curtain" and Warsaw Pact. Various Soviet aircraft were used including MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19, MiG-21 and MiG-29 Fulcrums as well as Sukhoi SU-20 and SU-22 bombers and many other types including the Polish PZL TS  TS-11 Iskra trainer. 
After the collapse of the Soviet block in 1989-1991, Poland became really an independent democratic state again and wanted to become quickly a NATO member. This was realized and for the "Polskie Sily Powietrzne" (Polish Air Force) had a total of 36 F-16C and 12 F-16D Block 52 fighters ordered under the U.S "Peace Sky" program. First delivery was in 2006 and last aircraft delivered in 2009. They got very advanced weaponry including AIMX-9X and AIM-120C AMRAAMs. Also JDAM bombs and a helmet mounted cueing system capability is there as well as the Sniper range pod. 
Now the Polish air force is called "Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej" and the F-16C's  operated by 31.BLT no 3, 6 squadrons based near Poznan and no.10 squadron near Lask. In January 2020 some 32 Lockheed Martin F-35A were ordered for delivery from 2027. Summer 2022 48 KAI FA-50PL light combat jets were ordered. 

Poland F-16C-52CF so Block 52 , no.6 squadron, coded  "4060" , NATO Tiger meet 2011

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..on a rainy afternoon.... 
 

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