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Eduard 1/48 F-16ADF AM NATO Falcons Limited Edition

By Winston Gould

Introduction

F-16A ADF / F-16AM NATO Falcons (From the instructions for the F-16A ADF / F-16AM NATO Falcons Limited Edition (Kit # 1172):

The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a world-wide known multirole jet fighter aircraft. Originally was developed as an air superiority day fighter by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). The production was launched in 1976, the type was accepted by USAF in 1979 and more than 4,500 aircraft have been built. Despite of the fact that USAF stopped the purchase of this airplane, improved versions are still being built for export customers. The Fighting Falcon is a fighter that featured many innovations. The most interesting are a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while maneuvering, a seat reclined 30 degrees to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of a fly-by-wire flight

control system. The F-16 has a fixed, forward firing M61 Vulcan cannon and has eleven hard points for various missiles, bombs and pods. The F-16's official name is "Fighting Falcon", but "Viper" is widely used by its pilots. In addition to active duty USAF, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air National Guard units, the aircraft is also used by the USAF Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team and as an aggressor aircraft by the United States Navy. Beside the U.S.A. many other NATO countries adopted F-16 as the multirole jet aircraft. You can see Falcons with national insignia of following NATO countries - Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Greece, Poland. Italy, another type operator, retired its F-16s a while ago – in May, 2012. The big tail of this aircraft is a suitable place to paint an artwork. We chose four of them. Each of them represents one of the four NATO countries – Italy, Denmark, The Netherlands and Norway. The themes of the artworks are not surprising – girls and beasts of prey...

F-16A markings in the kit (Four markings):

F-16A ADF Block 15, AMI7236, 5th Stormo, Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI – Italian Air Force), Cervia AB, Italy, April/June 2010.
F-16AM, 338 Squadron, Luftforsvaret (Royal Norwegian AF), Tiger Meet 2009.
F-16AM Block 20, J-002, No. 323 Squadron, Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu) (Royal Netherlands AF), Leeuwarden AB, July 2001.
F-16AM Block 10, E-194, ESK370 (370 Squadron), Flyvevabnet (Royal Danish AF), 2010-2012.

The Kit

The kit comes in a top-opening box containing fourteen sprues (thirteen in various gray-colored plastic, one clear plastic), a separate two-piece clear canopy, the radome, the upper fuselage and the lower fuselage. NOTE: The static dissipaters are molded on the wings, stabilators and rudder. These may be replaced by the excellent photo-etch parts provided. Two photo-etched frets, one in color; a canopy mask and clear film for the Head-Up Display (HUD). The EDUARD BRASSIN resin parts include the Nose Wheel, Main Wheels, ACES II Ejection Seat, Pratt & Whitney PW-100-220 Exhaust, Flame Holder and Nozzle assembly and front engine fan. NOTE: I will recommend that some of the photo-etch not be used based on the already excellent plastic parts provided. The is my opinion that the plastic is detailed enough and more resilient to potential handling. The choice is obviously yours to make.

Four decal options are offered, as previously listed. This Limited Edition kit is the standard Kinetic F-16AM kit (Number 48002) with the additional parts noted above. This is an excellent kit that has been reviewed elsewhere on the net. You should decide which marking version you want before you begin and keep close track of this as you build. I recommend you highlight the steps before you begin. I use a yellow highlighter to make this less confusing "in the heat of battle". There are three distinct versions you can build (externally) with the markings provided: 1) F-16A ADF Block 15 OCU, 2) F-16AM with the large stabilators, and 3) F-16AM with small stabilators. NOTE: The F-16A ADF main instrument panel is not included in this kit. Therefore, you technically cannot build a correct F-16A ADF with the plastic or photo-etched instrument panels provided. I believe this is a minor point and can be easily corrected with your choice of aftermarket or scratch built parts.

The surface detail is nice with a smooth finish, engraved panel lines and raised detail as appropriate for the aircraft. The sixteen page instruction sheet is a primarily black and white, A4 sheet folded in half with color shading for part removal/filling as appropriate. The last four pages are the full color marking instructions.

Construction is shown in eleven packed and very busy steps. The steps are labeled "A" through "K". However, this is misleading. Step "F" is the side-stick controller. The next lettered step is Step "G" six pages and many parts later. Therefore, I will use instruction page numbers as reference for this review. As noted previously - you will need to decide which version you want to build as the versions are called out throughout the instructions (as Version A through D). Color references are Aqueous, Mr. Color, Mr. Metal Color and Mr. Color Super Metallic, with the appropriate paint manufacturer reference numbers and names. No Federal Standard (FS) equivalents are offered. Each EDUARD BRASSIN resin part is called out by the signature EDUARD BRASSIN marking.

Page 3: (Steps A through F):Construction starts with a very detailed cockpit – extensive photo-etch is applied at this step. Exercise care as you build – double-check your work before applying glue to metal or plastic. You have a choice of keeping the nicely detailed plastic or using the provided photo-etch. Photo-etch replaces the main instrument panel, the up-front controller, the side consoles, the rudder pedals and the rear cockpit wall vents. The aft intake is built, which has the Main Landing Gear bay walls included.

Page 4: The resin PW-100-220 compressor face is added to the rear of the aft intake. Two parts are shown and what Eduard wants you to do with the two pieces shown is not clear. The forward and rear upper fuselage parts are joined. Care should be taken to get a good, clean join and this will save filling and sanding clean up. The APX-109 upper antenna is provided as plastic or five photo-etch parts. I recommend using the plastic for better durability. The interior of the cockpit is built up using more photo-etch.

Page 5: The completed cockpit is added to the upper fuselage. The speed brakes can be posed open and nice photo-etch actuators are included. Once again, this option may be fragile when completed. The remainder of the cockpit photo-etch is added. The upper and lower fuselages are joined. The optional forward port-side identification searchlight is added at this time. (Marking options A, B and D).

Page 6: The forward intake and lower fuselage is built at this step. This includes the Nose Landing Gear (NLG) bay, NLG, resin nose wheel and NLG Door. The key option at this step is for the F-16A ADF, Option A. Some key points at this step for this option are: A) The photo-etch vents are different for the ADF and AM options. These are clearly shown in the instructions, B) The NLG landing Lights should not be on the NLG Door for the ADF version. The landing lights were left on the Main Landing Gear (MLG) for the F-16A ADF version. These are included on the clear sprue (parts Z20) and should be added at the MLG step.

Page 7: C) The APX-109 lower antenna is five photo-etch parts. The plastic part option is not shown, but is included in the kit (part C25). Once again, your call – I prefer the plastic part for durability. Page 7: The MLG bay details, MLG, MLG Doors and resin MLG Wheels are added at this stage, as well as some remaining minor lower fuselage details. The landing lights for the ADF version (Parts Z20) are added to the MLG struts at this time. Check published references for exact placement.

Page 8: The rear fuselage is completed at this time. This includes the resin and photo-etch afterburner flame holder and resin exhaust. The rear lower fuselage details include the strakes, tail hook and vents. The stabilators are also added at this step. NOTE: Eduard has you cut down the rear stabilators for version D. This is to make them Block 10 (Small) stabilators. You

will have to clean up the rear of the stabilators after cutting (thin them down to scale). I highly recommend available aftermarket Block 10 stabilators (Wolf Pack Design 48002 or IsraCast IC48011) to simplify this task. Next , the appropriate photo-etch Falcon STAR (STructural Augmentation Roadmap) external stiffeners are added. NOTE: The ADF version is different from the AM version – this is clearly shown in the instructions at this step. The leading edge and trailing-edge flaps are next, followed by adding the photo-etch static dissipators to wings. NOTE: These are extremely fragile assemblies - You might want to wait to add these (and the rudder/stabilator static dissipators on page 9) until after finishing the painting and decaling steps.

Page 9: The vertical stabilizer is built at the beginning of this step. The aft base of the vertical stabilizer is different for versions A/D and B/C. The ADF and Danish F-16AM have the shorter base while the Norwegian and Dutch have the extended base that contains additional avionics. However, the forward base in incorrect for the ADF version. The kit contains the correct ADF forward base (Parts E3 and E4). These parts have the bulged sides that are correct for the ADF version (the bulges resulted from moving the accumulators forward to allow for the ARC-200 High-Frequency (HF) radio for the Air Defense mission). The static dissipators complete the rear upper fuselage steps. As noted earlier, these are extremely fragile assemblies - You might want to wait to add these until after finishing the painting and decaling steps. You finally get to Step G on this page. Step G is the EDUARD BRASSIN resin and photo-etch Advanced Concept Ejection Seat (ACES) II ejection seat. NOTE: An errata sheet is included for correct construction of the ejection seat.

Page 10: The finishing steps for the aircraft. The seat is added to the cockpit, the radome and pitot tube are added (I recommend adding weight at this step to ensure you do not have a tail-sitter). The HUD is added before adding the canopy. Step H adds the interior frame and grab handle to the canopy. NOTE: Options for open and closed canopies are shown, with the appropriate actuators – your choice. The EDUARD MASK is added at this step. Step I is the Pylon Integrated Dispenser System (PIDS) pylon while the non-PIDS pylons are built in Step J. The PIDS integrates an F-16 under wing stores pylon with a Counter Measures Dispensing System (CMDS) (AN/ALE-47 or Chemring Chaff Block). In addition, placing the CMDS on a wing pylon, versus conventional positioning on the rear part of the fuselage, improves chaff blooming due to enhanced airflow characteristics. The PIDS system provides for an up to 200 per cent increase in chaff capacity when compared with conventional F-16 CMDS. The ADF uses the non-PIDS pylons while the AM uses the PIDS pylons. The unique F-16 Multiple Ejector Racks (MERs) are built at Step K. The wing tip launch rails are next. The LAU-114 rails are used for the AIM-9/AIM-120 series missile (Norwegian/Dutch) and the LAU-129 are used only for the AIM-9 series missile (Italian/Danish).

Pages 10 – 12: The external stores are built in the remaining steps The kit includes two AIM-9M Sidewinder, two AIM-120B AMRAAM, one 300 gallon centerline fuel tank, two 370 gallon under wing fuel tanks, one AAQ-14 LANTIRN targeting pod, two AGM-65 Maverick, two GBU-12, two GBU-24, one ALQ-131 ECM pod, two GBU-31 JDAM, two GBU-87 WCMD and one Sniper XR targeting pod. A general stores placement guide is provided – you will need to consult further references for specific load-outs. That's it for construction. Paint and decal per the instructions for the option you want and you have a sharp-looking F-16A ADF or AM NATO Viper added to your collection.

Conclusion

This kit is exactly what Eduard advertises for its 'Limited Edition" kits – which are really their "ProfiPACK" line, although not labeled as such. Multiple versions (Three distinct F-16 models, four markings), photo-etch, masks and EDUARD BRASSIN resin parts. As a bonus, and standard for the Kinetic F-16 series of kits, you get plenty of external stores for the built kit and the spares box. Highly recommended, especially if you want to build a quality out-of-the-box F-16A ADF or F-16AM Viper. The combination of Kinetic plastic and Eduard upgrades, including the great marking options, is to be commended. Now – how about some F-16C/Ds?

Thank you Eduard for providing the review sample.