Manufacturer: Hasegawa, distributed by Marco Polo Import, 532 S. Coralridge Place, City of Industry, CA 91746, 626-333-2328.
Kit: No. V10
Scale: 1/48
Price: $23.98
Comments: Injection molded, 148 parts (22 unused), decals.
Pros: New "big mouth" intake, good selection of missiles, updated equipment.
Cons: No tinted canopy provided, HTS pod undersize, seam problems in intake, translucent decals.
The latest version of the ubiquitous F-16 Fighting Falcon is the Wild Weasel F-16CJ. These are "Block 50" versions (aircraft production is ordered in blocks with specific equipment) that feature General Electric F110 engines, "big-mouth" intakes, and equipment that allows them to carry, launch, and guide the AGM-88 "HARM" anti-radar missiles.
Hasegawa has incrementally upgraded its 1/48 scale kit since it was first released as an F-16A in 1983, but this is the first issue to correctly show the big-mouth intake, larger landing-gear wheels, and bulged doors of late model F-16Cs. You also get a pair of excellent AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles (interestingly, a less-detailed pair remains on an older sprue), late-model Sidewinders, HARMs, a HARM Targeting System (HTS) pod, "beer can" radar-warning pods for the leading edges of the wings, new wing-tip missile racks, and a replacement head with a modern helmet for the pilot figure.
The modeler has to perform a little plastic surgery to upgrade the model to the "Weasel Viper," including sawing off the wingtip missile racks and replacing them with the new ones. The new rack is one that can handle the AIM-120 missile. Some of the new pieces are noted in inset diagrams in the instructions, and if you're not careful, you might pass over them. The tiny "beer can" antennas are buried in step 5, for example.
The new wide-mouth intake presents some seam problems, so dig out your needle files and take your time. Don't forget to add weight to the nose and bore out the mounting holes for underwing pylons. When I dry-fitted the canopy to the assembled fuselage, the seat kept it from closing properly. I ended up posing the canopy open, but you may want to sand down the bottom of the seat to correct the problem.
The multipart exhaust nozzle is a little tricky to assemble. If you get too aggressive cleaning the edges of the five petal sections, you could end up seeing daylight between them.
The HTS pod is about a 1/4" too short compared to the dimensions in a caption in the Spring 1999 World Air Power Journal. After drilling out two holes for the pod on the right side of the intake, I found that a raised area kept its pylon from fitting smoothly. A pass with a sharp blade remedied the problem.
After painting my model with Testor Model Master enamels, I applied the decals. Watch that fin-tip stripe, as it fits under the top fairing and over a static wick. The light colors (yellow and white) are not bright, and overall the decals are translucent. The canopy comes molded clear, but F-16CJ Block 50s should have the indium-tin-oxide (gold-colored) tint. If you have an older Hasegawa F-16 with both clear and tinted canopies, use the tinted one on this kit.
I spent about 22 hours on my Weasel Viper. Overall, Hasegawa's Falcon holds up to current kits, and the new parts allow modelers to build variants that have seen action with NATO over Bosnia and Kosovo.
Chris Appoldt