72nd F-16I ?

[JackMan]

Thanks Laurent

And if I might return to the original point, I responded to the question "anybody grafted a Hasegawa nose onto the Academy kit?" , which I maintain is a waste of time and energy. If you plan to do that you're already invested in using TWO kits, and if you're happy to use two kits why not start out with the more accurate one and add the detail that matters (or is better) from the newer tooled, but inherently less accurate one? Hacking them together like Frankenstein's monster is just making work for yourself. Other than probably leaving you with a pretty accurate Hasegawa nose grafted onto an inaccurate Academy rear fuselage/intake combo.

Ah, I see now how my earlier question may have caused confusion. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I already have both the Academy & Hase kits in my stash and I was thinking of making a resin/epoxy copy of the Hase nose rather than chop up the Hase kit and hacking it together with the Acad kit. Making a copy of the nose means I don't have to waste an entire Hase kit. No hacking or chopping up involved. Merely grafting a copy of the nose. I do like both kits. I just hate to see all the superior rivet/panel details in the Acad kit go to waste. So I was entertaining the idea of a Hase nose+Acad kit.

[Laurent]

Ah, I see now how my earlier question may have caused confusion. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I already have both the Academy & Hase kits in my stash and I was thinking of making a resin/epoxy copy of the Hase nose rather than chop up the Hase kit and hacking it together with the Acad kit. Making a copy of the nose means I don't have to waste an entire Hase kit. No hacking or chopping up involved. Merely grafting a copy of the nose. I do like both kits. I just hate to see all the superior rivet/panel details in the Acad kit go to waste. So I was entertaining the idea of a Hase nose+Acad kit.

If the nose shape is the only issue that bothers you, why don't you use the Wolfpack thingy ?

[JackMan]

If the nose shape is the only issue that bothers you, why don't you use the Wolfpack thingy ?

I've been considering it but I have yet to read any reviews/feedback about it. I think I read somewhere on ARC ( I think the post was by ARCer 'Hoops') who mentioned that the Wolfpack nose seems to be the same shape as the Acad kit, ie, no difference whether you get the "correction set" or not.

I dunno....just looking at build-ups of the Acad kit...my eyes are automatically drawn to the anemic looking nose on an otherwise great kit.

[ChernayaAkula]

Thanks for those pics, Mario!

To get back on topic (1/72 F-16I) : Hasegawa's F-16I (not a limited edition but 'in the catalogue'), will be released in Japan on 25 May.

MSRP is 2600 Yen, so you should be able to find it in Japan for roughly 2200 Yen or a little less (17,50 euro/23 US$).

Just a heads-up: Hobby Link Japan has them for 2,210 Yen (15% off) as an early bird special (offer good until May 11th) for pre-order. CLICKY!

Already ordered one! :wub:

[MiG31]

Pardon my ignorance, but am I to take it that the 1:72 Hasegawa kit won't provide Israeli weapons, such as the Python AAM? Likewise for the bulged gear doors?

[ChernayaAkula]

Yeah, no Israeli weapons (Skunkmodels to THE RESCUE)and no big tanks (can be scrounged from the Mistubishi F-2s).

Maybe they'll include the bulged doors from the F-16C kit?

[MiG31]

I must have confused the doors with those on the RoG kit, which are not bulged. I'm afraid I don't have the Hasegawa kit in my collection.

[mario krijan]

I must have confused the doors with those on the RoG kit, which are not bulged. I'm afraid I don't have the Hasegawa kit in my collection.

Hasegawa CJ block 50/52 have bulged doors! neither of revell kits haven't them!

[ChernayaAkula]

Just had a look at the instructions for Hasegawa's 1/48 F-16I and this kit includes the sprue with the bulged doors and "big mouth" parts, even though the "big mouth" inlet isn't needed. So it seems that Hasegawa is aware that the F-16I uses the heavy weight landing gear and therefore needs the bulged doors.

[Andre]

Already ordered one!

Only one? I ordered three! ;-)

Cheers,

Andre

[Dmanton300]

I've been considering it but I have yet to read any reviews/feedback about it. I think I read somewhere on ARC ( I think the post was by ARCer 'Hoops') who mentioned that the Wolfpack nose seems to be the same shape as the Acad kit, ie, no difference whether you get the "correction set" or not.

I dunno....just looking at build-ups of the Acad kit...my eyes are automatically drawn to the anemic looking nose on an otherwise great kit.

Looking at the pics of the Wolfpack radome it does appear to be no improvement over the kit's in terms of shape. The radome is undersized because the entire front fuselage is too skinny. . simply replacing the radome does not address that issue. The entire forward fuselage from somewhere around the cockpit forward needs replacing. So the Wolfpack set replaces an inaccurate radome with a slightly better detailed inaccurate radome, which rather misses the point I think!

Edit:-Something like this in actual fact!

Wolfpack nose mod

Edited April 25, 2010 by Dmanton300

[JackMan]

So the Wolfpack set replaces an inaccurate radome with a slightly better detailed inaccurate radome...

:P I'm inclined to agree with you, judging by the pics of the Wolpack sets.

[Laurent]

JackMan: if you do a front fuselage+intake resin reasonably priced correction set, I'd be interested.

[JackMan]

lol! I doubt if I have the expertise for the intake part. I'll leave that to folks like Dr.Pepper & TwoMikes. The Hase nose...and perhaps the front fuselage should be pretty easy to make copies of using this method:

http://plamo.outthere.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=38

But grafting it onto the Acad kit is another matter. I might consider it in the far future if I ever get sick of the Hase/Revell F-16s. I also sense that the Acad kit isn't very popular outside of Asia. I think I read somewhere that the price was much higher than the more easily available (in the US & Europe) Hase & Revell F-16s. Here in Singapore, the Acad kit goes for around US$15 to $17..sometimes cheaper (as low as $12) if there is a sale (which is often.... considering that the island is a shopping paradise )

Hence most people will just go for the more accurate + cheaper Hase/Revell kit than the better detailed but less accurate + more expensive Acad one. I cannot understand how Academy came out with the outstanding 1/72 Hornet but screwed up the far simpler lines of the Viper....considering that they have their own 1:1 ROKAF F-16s to take measurements from.

Perhaps I should train my eyes to avoid looking at the nose each time I look at an Acad Viper. I know I can do this because I trained myself not to look at my teachers' bosoms when I was in school.

I looked at their legs instead

[Andre]

I also sense that the Acad kit isn't very popular outside of Asia. I think I read somewhere that the price was much higher than the more easily available (in the US & Europe) Hase & Revell F-16s.

Yup. Here in the Netherlands, I can generally get two RoG F-16s or one-and-a-half Hasegawa F-16's for the price of one Academy kit.

I only have one of the Academy KF-16C kits (because I figured I would pay half the kit price for the Cartograph-printed ROKAF decal sheet if I saw it as aftermarket in the shops), and while there are things I like about the Korean kit (the underwing missile rails with towed decoy mods, for instance) I'll probably stay with the other two brands for reasons of accuracy and price.

Cheers,

Andre

[doctorpepper]

Hasegawa CJ block 50/52 have bulged doors! neither of revell kits haven't them!

but drpepperresins does..

[Hoops]

I've been considering it but I have yet to read any reviews/feedback about it. I think I read somewhere on ARC ( I think the post was by ARCer 'Hoops') who mentioned that the Wolfpack nose seems to be the same shape as the Acad kit, ie, no difference whether you get the "correction set" or not.

I dunno....just looking at build-ups of the Acad kit...my eyes are automatically drawn to the anemic looking nose on an otherwise great kit.

Yup that was me. I have the Wolfpack Israeli F-16C set, and the nose is exactly the same as the kit item, but with more detailed lightning arresting strips and RWRs. The RWRs are inaccurate for an Israeli F-16C however. I cannot speak for the Wolfpack set for the Korean F-16s however, I do not own that set.

Yeah, no Israeli weapons (Skunkmodels to THE RESCUE)and no big tanks (can be scrounged from the Mistubishi F-2s).

Maybe they'll include the bulged doors from the F-16C kit?

I just got my Skunkmodels Israeli weapons set, and I must say that I am dissapointed in the Pythons. The rear fins are too narrow in chord, and angled to sharply back, and the front fins are too long. The width on the front fins look fine to me, but they extend too far back changing the geometry significantly. Better to stick with the Paragon items for the pythons. The other aspects of the set look OK upon first inspection.

[Hoops]

Looking at the pics of the Wolfpack radome it does appear to be no improvement over the kit's in terms of shape. The radome is undersized because the entire front fuselage is too skinny. . simply replacing the radome does not address that issue.

I just out and taped together all three of the kits, Hasegawa Academy and Revell, and took pictures of them in profile, and the Academy is shorter vertically. I'll post photos below. However, interestingly enough, they are all the same in horizontal cross section, they all line up with another almost exactly.

lol! I doubt if I have the expertise for the intake part. I'll leave that to folks like Dr.Pepper & TwoMikes.

Perhaps I should train my eyes to avoid looking at the nose each time I look at an Acad Viper. I know I can do this because I trained myself not to look at my teachers' bosoms when I was in school.

I looked at their legs instead

It might actually work to just sandwich some sheet styrene in between the upper and lower fuselage.

Ai, none of my teachers were ever worth looking at. I guess that's what you get for growing up in a relatively rural part of the American West.

[Hoops]

Whattup!

-Hoops

[JackMan]

Thanks for that, Hoops!

Hmm, as I suspected, the bulk of the problem lies in the bottom part of the nose. It's just too thin & slopes too much towards the back. Looks more like the nose of the Taiwanese IDF Ching Kuo.

Here's one that a Singaporean modeler did:

http://plamo.outthere.info/forum/showthread.php?tid=7959

You can notice the 'pointy' nature of the nose in the 5th & 6th pics.

But to get back into the topic of this thread, will the upcoming 1/72 Kinetic Sufa have a better nose? I seem to recall the initial 1/48 releases had a problem with the nose & then it was revised. Is the revised one better? I'm concerned because if the 1/72 one is a direct pantograph of the 1/48 one, then the nose problem might exist on the 1/72 too.

Edited April 28, 2010 by JackMan

[Ruud]

Me, i'll wait to see what Dragon/Cyberhobby comes along with. They've got a C-25/32 and a CJ listed. Then again knowing their armor "to come" lists, who knows when they'll be out. Still i will wait for them before buying any Hasegawa kit again. Very little detail, terrible cockpit, nothing in the wheel wells, old gun cover, so-so decals, poor ordinance. Kinetic might be interesting (as in cool interesting or as in a traffic accident interesting). Academy... well if it is based on their current 1/72 kit, it will have great detail (wheel wells, cockpit, weapons, additions) and terrible shape inaccuracies on the nose and back of the fuselage. Just wait for the Academy's to show up 2nd hand and you'll have a great parts donor kit for a good price (how much would resin bays, cockpit, etc. cost?).

just my opinion

[mario krijan]

here is a box graphic, from hasegawa page!

[Vliegenier]

Mario, the large tanks are available from Model Alliance and Eagle Design has the bulged doors .

Stef

[Deino]

...

Edit:-Something like this in actual fact!

Wolfpack nose mod

Hmm maybe I misunderstod this post, but from what I see it seems as if that Wolfpack-pack actually replaces the complete front part .... :)

... or can anyone show a comparative view of the new nose .... PLEASE !!!

Deino

[mario krijan]

:deadhorse1: