Chappie Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Good afternoon gentlemen, In four days it will be official- my retirement from the ANG. Come September 1, 2014 I will have served 21 years 3 months 11 days. The highlights of my career was kicking off OIF in 2003, and the second and by far the biggest was my F-16 Incentive Flight in F-16D 85-509 up in Cold Lake in 2005. Experienced a max performance climb, took the stick for some akro, and punched through the sonic barrier and up to 1.22 Mach. I'd like to build a model of that jet and asking what would be the simplest way to build a 1/48th small mouth Block 30 D-model. I've been out of the hobby for 7 years and back then I was building Hasegawa kits and purchased two of the then-new Tamiya F-16C. I'm not getting back into the hobby, my new one is keeping me very busy, I'd just like to know the best way to go w/o a lot of resin, PE, etc. Don't need decals either, when I flew the jet, it had just come back from depot and wore only its serial number. Chappie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonzalo Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Chappie, Your best bet in my opinion is the Hasegawa F-16D. However, the cockpit provided is a "B" so an aftermarket is a must for absolute accuracy. There is a Kinetic version available, but it is more complicated to build and the fit is less than stellar. The Kinetic kit comes with all sorts of extras and weapons included. Hasegawa builds up fast and easy but only comes with missiles. Also, Kinetic provides the intakes and engines for differentt versions allowing you to build small and big mouth. Later boxings of Hasegawa also comes with the parts to build different versions. Although certainly not without it's problems I think Hasegawa builds up faster and easier than the Kinetic kit. Good luck! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonzalo Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Oh yeah, there is a known issue with the nose droop off the Kinetic kit. Later boxings have been corrected, but it is possible that earlier releases. Are out there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThePhantomTwo Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 There is the "conversion" of the Tamiya kit using Hasegawa parts,there have been quite a few folks that have done that with great results. Chappie,missed you here on the boards brother!Congrats on the retirement! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) In 1/48 you only have three options without kitbashing: * Hasegawa - rear IP is a "B" (front IP is correct for a "D") * Kinetic - lots of detail, complicated build, incorrect nose profile * Italeri - both front and rear IPs are "B" not "D", GE nozzle is inaccurate If you find a Heller "D" kit know that it is a rebox of the Italeri kit. I'd recommend the Hasegawa kit. All Hasegawa "D" kits include small mouth inlets and GE nozzles. Edited August 28, 2014 by habu2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scotthldr Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Wasn't the Kinetic nose problem confined to the earlier F-16AM/BM NATO fighter which has since been discontinued? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Niels Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Kinetic never managed to fully fix the nose problem With their Vipers unfortunatelly. Wish they had.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dedalus Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 Kinetic never managed to fully fix the nose problem With their Vipers unfortunatelly. Wish they had.... Amen. Kinetic altered the shape of the fuselage. They did not fix it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vasilis Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 Hello, There other Hasegawa boxings, like the F-16D Block 52+ Hellenic Air Force, which provided both mouths, big and small. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dehowie Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 The corrected Kinetic while still out is great value. In saying its iut we are not talking Eduard 109 out but subtle out for the corrected tool. Great gear bays and nice loadout. Good value until if ever Tamiya do one. If it isnt out by now I strongly doubt we will ever see one from them but hope to be proven wrong. http://www.helmo.gr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1012&Itemid=41 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 As good (or bad) as some may think the Kinetic kit is, I would not say it is the simplest way to build one. With the OPs criteria I would still go with Hasegawa. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DonSS3 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Was my Singapore AF F-16D one of the semi-corrected ones? I plan on building it, regardless, just curious. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nev Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Comparison of noses, if this is the kind of thing that bothers your. Hasegawa on the left, Kinetic on the right Kinetic has a better cockpit and gear bays, but is also a lot fiddlier. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Netz Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 too bad AFV Club did not make their Have Glass canopies in 1/48,that would be the 1st step in a Tamiya 2 seat conversion. But if you can find a 2 seat Hasegawa kit at the "right" price, that would be the perfect donor. Otherwise it's Hasegawa for me, but "I" cannot build one without having to add a few A/M pieces. A cockpit is a must, if on a budget then Black Box/Avionics pits can be found quite cheaply on the 2nd hand market, "I" also have to add gear wells (at least the mains). One good thing with going Hasegawa is some of the original releases can be found cheap, prices did drop a bit when Tamiya and Kinetic hit the market. My F-16D build. Curt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scotthldr Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 The only kit that suffered from the extreme nose droop was the F-16AM which has since been discontinued, but may still be on some hobby store shelves out there. The rest have a slight droop when compared side by side with Tamiya/Hasegawa but move them 2 feet apart and it's barely noticeable. Agreed that the Kinetic build up is over engineered but at least with a bit of care and attention the parts fit unlike the Hasegawa F-16D that I'm currently building. I know that the next F-16 I'll be building will be either Tamiya or Kinetic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chappie Posted August 30, 2014 Author Share Posted August 30, 2014 Thanks for all the replies fellas and thanks Phantom of the congrats. I just finished a 60+ hour work week which is why I haven't been here to check on responses. Since I know the Hasegawa kit so well I'll just look around the internet for a B or D model and pick up a resin cockpit set. I'm not worried about weapons, we were only carrying a single inert AIM-9L on Sta 9, but we were also loaded with 210 rails on 2 & 8, WWP on 3 & 7, wing tanks, and a C/L pylon. What I want to do is attempt a Ken Middleton-style mount where I pose the jet in a vertical climb. That was the most impressive part of the flight- full burner take-off, holding the jet down on the deck while we accelerated to the end of the runway and then stood her on her tail and went straight up to 17,000. My pilot was one of the pilots that got airborne over DC on 9/11. Pretty cool stuff. I don't have a photo hosting site or whatever they are called otherwise I'd post a few photos of the flight plus some shots of my warbird A2A photo flights. Thanks for the assistance. I'll be around. Cheers, Chappie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Netz Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Well if your going wheels up and canopy closed that eliminated any need for aftermarket. I'd just dress up the seat tops, and run a acrylic rod up the exhaust. I've always toyed with the idea of hollowing out the rod and using transparent paints to represent the flame on the inside of the tube. Send me a pm, I can hook you up with some blemed SHM seats for your project. Curt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dehowie Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 An excellent comparison of the later modified tooling with Tamiya. http://www.hyperscale.com/2009/features/f16kineticcomparo48me_1.htm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 The only kit that suffered from the extreme nose droop was the F-16AM ... Sorry but this is not true. I've personally observed the "uncorrected" nose in kits 48002 (F-16AM) and 48005 (F-16DG/DJ). To make matters worse, I've seen two releases of kit 48012 (F-16C "Barak"), one "uncorrected" and the other "corrected", so don't assume that all "later" boxings had the "corrected" nose. All the Academy, Italeri and Eduard reboxes I've seen all had the "corrected" nose. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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