Introduction

This is the second F-16 in air show display livery I have seen from Revell of Germany and I have to say I am becoming quite a fan of the combat aircraft depicted performing this role. The F-16 first took to the air 40 years ago and must be one of, if not the most common fighter aircraft from any country outside of Soviet offerings. This release of the F16C is a Block 40 aircraft if my understanding is correct.

Contents

Inside the typical end opening box for models of this size from Revell of Germany, you will find;

• 1 loose leafed instruction booklet
• An advisory sheet
• A very nice decal sheet
• 4 black sprues
• 1 clear sprue

Review

From the beginning I should say that nearly 50% of the injection moulded plastic in the box is not used on this model, a large number of those items being external stores, and if you are like me I suspect a welcome addition to the spares box. An examination of the injection moulded plastic does result in quite a lot of flash being found, some of that flash is considerable. There are also flow or cooling lines visible on a number of parts; however none of these marks looks to have areas that will need attention. There are of course ejector pin marks dotted about, but Revell of Germany looks to have done a good job of placing them on areas that will not be seen on the finished model. I did find a hiccup in the instructions; this relates to the parts map in the front of the instructions and concerns parts 27 A and b, these two parts need some surgery prior to use which is clearly shown in the instructions, but the image used in the parts map shows the parts after surgery and as they do not match the full parts so some confusion may occur.

Cockpit
The cockpit of the model is reasonable for the scale, with a nicely rendered ejector seat possibly being the star element. The instrument panel and side consoles have a reasonable level of detail which should satisfy most, others may of course opt for the aftermarket resin cockpit products available. The pilot figure provided by Revell of Germany is not that bad and should look acceptable if used. It should be noted that Revell of Germany has included some decals to help lift the instrument panel and side consoles, which is a plus. Lastly in this area a clear part has been included to play the part of the HUD, there is some detail work around its edges and is quite thin, all plus marks.

Undercarriage
The detail on the undercarriage is very good for the scale, Revell of Germany has even replicated detail on the inner face of the undercarriage doors. Construction of the wheel bays has also been tackled in a modeller friendly way which should make assembly enjoyable rather than a task. The detail is good as is, but will benefit from the addition of some wire to further enhance the provided detail by replicating brake line and wiring. the only possible negative I can come up with is that the wheel hub detail does not appear to match the reference I have utilised, I will not say it is wrong but it does not match.

Aircraft Exterior
The fuselage of the model is made of three main parts; the complete lower half, the rear upper fuselage from just behind the start of the wings and the front upper portion of the fuselage. The wings of the aircraft are moulded as a single part of the rear upper fuselage, this approach should I believe cut down on any filler that may be needed during assembly. The panel lines are numerous and very finely replicated by recessed panel lines that should make this model very visually appealing. The tail and stabilizers are separate parts and share the very fine recessed panel lines of the rest of the model.

Hard Points and Hardware
There is a very good selection of hardware supplied with this model, but being a display aircraft it only uses the wingtip sidewinders, which are dummies used for generating smoke while performing a display. The rest of the hardware is spare for later use and that also goes for the hard points in the kit, the lack of hard points does mean you will need to remember to fill the locating holes on the underside of the wings; this is not covered in the instructions for those modellers new to the craft but all very basic modelling.

Canopy
The canopy looks perfectly acceptable to me being a reasonable thickness with fair detail. I like the fact that Revell of Germany has provided the option of having the canopy open with a support provided.
Instructions and decals
The instruction booklet is typical Revell of Germany and should not be difficult to follow or create pitfalls, other than those mentioned. The booklet guides you through construction in 33 steps; which is more than is needed, but does make following easy. The painting and decal portion of the instructions are well laid out and again should be easy to follow. The decal sheet is well laid out and has good strong colour throughout. The excess film around the decals is very minimal and this should help the modeller obtain a pleasing and for that matter colourful finish.

Conclusion

This is another great display aircraft being made available by Revell of Germany, and is provided in a scale that is easily accommodated when complete. Display aircraft models may not be for everyone, but I like them for the eye catching finishes and this one from Revell of Germany is well worth picking up, especially so when you consider the price for what you get.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

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