1/48 Tamiya Indian Feathers F-16

Gallery Article by Andreas Gordes on May 2 2014

 

 

1/48 Tamiya F-16 kit # 61102

The fourth and final part about Tamiya’s 1:48 F-16 examines 61102, the ‘F-16C [Block 32-52] “Thunderbirds”’ boxing. The kit contains both light and heavy weight landing gears, so OOB you could build a Block 25, 32 and 52. For an early C model one should consider the stiffeners. For a Block 42 like we see here we also need a typical WAR HUD. Not mentioned in the instruction, but the kit provides the typical weapons load out coming with all four Tamiya Vipers.

The only special addition in this kit is sprue ‘T’ (for T’Birds) with a pilot’s torso, a skull with HGU-33 and ox hose and the Paraffin smoke pipe, all typical for an airshow configuration. But why not a pair of arms, no T’Bird ladder? And why did Tamiya not add a display stand like they did in 1:32 ? Author really hopes that there will be an edition in the future including a stand (see picture 6 how it works).

 

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Photo 6

The sprues are injected in white and that is the advantage of the kit! The four part intake trunking is very hard to paint – this could be needless here. Also with the landing gear the white plastic helps to get easier results. 

The Tamiya kit is difficult to build but leads to a very realistic showing aircraft even OOB. It provides two canopies, one for open and the second for closed. With a pilot figure and provisions for a stand it can be shown in flight. Metal parts and detachable stabilizers allow easier transports. All this makes the Tamiya F-16 into an almost perfect scale aircraft kit.

For those who like to improve the model, there are of course many options available. The ones that have been used here are listed in picture 7. There are also prices shown in Euro to give an estimation how expensive and time consuming scale modeling is. But has it to be that complex?

Enjoy the pictures and then make your own decision!

Andreas Gordes

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Photo 7

 

      

Photos and text © by Andreas Gordes