Kinetic have released a 1/72 version of the Israeli F-16I Sufa, with weapons loadout included in the kit. Russ Amott [ RUSSAMOTTO ] takes us along for a build.

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Thanks!

Fred, thanks for getting this up. It may be dry and warm enough for me to paint this over the next couple of days.

One of the first things that stood out like a sore thumb when I first looked over the Kinetic F-16I, was that the panel lines are grossly out of scale and too soft! It's a terrible aspect to have in a 72nd scale kit. It ruins some of the ordinance, which look like major cross sections relief cuts from a lathe.

One correction should be made in the article. Kinetic does provide the proper heavy weight MLG struts, but it’s out of proportion compared to some of the detailing. Despite the tooling being somewhat sloppy, those are the correct MLG struts.

It should also be noted that it appears that the modeler incorrectly attached the MLG dragbraces too low, which results in the MLG tension and struts being pulled to far forward.

What Kinetic doesn’t provide is the proper wider NLG lower fork and wheel (Block 52+ and 60 only), as well as the correct NLG inner door structure.

Just about all the Kinetic F-16I EM/RW antennas and vents are inaccurate. Not to bad a kit, but not all that great either.

Mike V

Mike, thanks for the info. I used the larger Kinetic Barak kit, block 40, as a reference and saw the landing gear doors didn't have the bulge to handle the larger gear. The gear itself looked different so I went off that. As for the drag braces, I went off of what the instructions appeared to indicate. With much of the landing gear assembly it was not very clear. The rest of the kit built up fairly well.

The kit (plastic especially) reminded me of the old AMT and Monogram kits I built when I was first starting out as a kid, and the Dragon kits from the mid 90's. I have heard that Kinetic is working on improving the molding and details, as well as accuracy, and also that they have a new block 40 in the works, but I don't know the scale. I'm waiting to see how it turns out. Maybe they will get to where we want them to be in quality and detail.

I see. The MLG doors on the Kinetic F-16I I built as a RSAF Block 52+ did have bulged MLG doors (though shape is not all that great) and the larger retract actuator beam. Wheels were suspect to me too BTW.

I found the instructions are poorly done as well, especially the gear. I just went with what looked right for the Viper, which is second nature as I work them on a daily basis.

Soft plastic indeed. I was sorely disappointed with the surface detail. For the scale, it kind of ruins what could have been a really nice F-16 model. Don’t expect any tooling quality changes in their F-16 line (both scales) other than some bit parts, as all the main parts are already done. They’d have to tool practically a new F-16 series to get close to the standard of Tamiya and Hasegawa. It would be nice if Tamiya scaled down their F-16 to 72nd. That would trump not only Hasegawa & kinetic, but Academy too.