SCALE MODEL NEWS

NEARLY 4600 F-16 FIGHTING FALCONS have been built since 1973. Today the US Air Force still flies the F-16, as do 25 other air arms. And that ubiquity is matched by model manufacturers, including Hasegawa. SMN report: Hasegawa makes excellent F-16 kits in various scales, and they are all good to put together. A recent Hasegawa release is an F-16D in Polish Tiger markings. The F-16 is known in Poland as the Goshawk, though early faults and reliability issues led to the nickname 'neilot' which is a Polish word for flightless bird. However, those troubles have largely passed, and today the F-16D provides a powerful defensive punch. The aircraft is also a regular visitor at Tiger Meets, gatherings of fighter squadrons whose crest includes a tiger. The Hasegawa release is a limited edition kit combo that features liveries used at the 2013 and 2014 Tiger Meets. This video ( below ) courtesy YouTuber ScaleModelAircraft, gives an interesting outline of a typical Hasegawa F-16 build. Th...

The General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16 Fighting Falcon first flew on February 2, 1974, and since its active entry in August four years later, has been in continuous service ever since. From lightweight fighter to heavyweight attacker The F-16 was developed originally as a lightweight day fighter, but has evolved into a much bigger, heavier, and more powerful beast since then - it’s now a highly successful all-weather multirole machine  that is flown by the air arms of some 26 different countries. For a jet fighter, production numbers are eyebrow-raising at 4450 manufactured so far, with more orders to come. However, to put that production number into perspective, Russia’s MiG-15 tops the charts with a likely total of some 18,000-plus, though a precise figure doesn’t seem to be available. 1:48 scale F-16 kits to buy There are more F-16 kits than you can shake a stick at, so we’re just going to pick three of our faves - they come from Hasegawa, and are in big scales. Th...

David Jefferis reports The first production-standard F-16 fighter jet flew 36 years ago this month, and the type is still in front-line service across the world, with more than 4400 having been built, and customers still lining up for new ones. The basic design has been improved vastly over the years, especially where electronics and mission capabilities are concerned, but the basic shape and size remains much the same, a testament to the General Dynamics team that designed the aircraft back in the 1970s. New markings from Italeri Model manufacturers number the F-16 as one of their most popular modern jet subjects, and new kits continue to be released. This time it’s a very neat Italeri 1:48 scale offering, and it’s been given an excellent set of markings, called ‘Special Colors’ on the box. The decals are quite excellent, neatly and accurately printed, and give you a choice of tails - we rate the brooding tiger especially - or green-and-black chequerboard display markings. In the box ...