Academy 1/48 F16-C, Any good ???

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Today, I couldn’t myself going into one of the local modelshops around. A couple of months ago, one of our forumfriends mailed me a set of decals to do a special Belgian F16-C Falcon, coincidentally I found a 1/48 Academy F16 for a bargain. Of course I couldn’t leave the shop without it, I haven’t had the time yet to examine it closely, but has someone around here built it yet ?
What are your comments ?

2

I’ve got two of them, started on one, but still not finished.
it is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
most of Academy kits (and I’ve built many) are pretty good, just their decals suck big time:)

good luck!

3

Thanks for the info, mig, good thing I’ve got the AM decals then, with my thanks to Fillibert Kraxner who sent those to me [8D]

4

I got one and have just started doing some prepping of the parts. The only problem I’ve found is that there are some pretty big gaps under the wings that need fixing. Other than that it looks beautiful.

5

Yeah the decals suck! I’m now starting on my own Academy 1:48 F-16. I’ll be using Scalenuts decals, but I suppose I will be using some of the box decals as well…

6

I posted a similar question a while back and ended up getting the Hasegawa, 1/48 F-16. Would really appreciated any feedback on the build since my LHS still have two Academy Falcon kits on the shelf and they are under $20.

7

I paid $17 aud for one and $14 aud (on special) for the other, so I suppose I’ve got a good price:).

8

mig21: Me too. I only paid about the same price as you did.

Anyway, Some of the main problems of the Academy kit that I’ve noticed:

  1. No RWR beercan receivers on the wings (but may not be an issue if your particular aircraft subject doesn’t have them).
  2. No saddle tank.
  3. Limited stores options (I would have liked AMRAAMS).
  4. Just Decals for cockpit controls.
  5. Decals of poor quality.
  6. At this scale I’d have expected them to have improved the “dead-end” intake seen on the 1:72 scale model so that I could at least see the turbine.

But still, with some TLC, this model can be built up into a good-looking plane.

Good luck (to us all)!

9

Looks like Academy 1/48 F-16C is a good buy with its reasonable price…

10

Albert_sy2: Thanks for the feedback!

11

Here’s my latest creation (finished on Oct 29 '05).

Lockheed-Martin F-16A “Fighting Falcon”
Republic of Singapore Air Force, 143 Squadron Night Pheonix, #612
“What if” Paint scheme (Venezuelan typical scheme)

Pilot’s helmet is red because the missus said so! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Thanks to Cloggy for the painting tips!




There was a catastrophic failure of the gear bay, but I continued to build the thing until it was finished.