Tamiya Lockheed F-16C (Block 25/32) Fi

Excellent fit and detail as is normal for Tamiya these days. Canopy comes with a seem line so you’ll need to sand it down and polish it if you care about that sort of thing. You can do a gear up build very easily as well - the included gear bay doors are basically a perfect fit.

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The Tamiya 1/48 Lockheed F-16C (Block 25/62) Fighting Falcon kit was released in 2008. Despite the age of this kit, it is still considered the best 1/48 F-16 Fighting Falcon model available at this time. This kit's high ratings are due to its high-quality molded parts with excellent precision fit. If this model is assembled with care, no sanding, seam filling or rescribing of panel lines is necessary. The kit includes a highly detailed pilot figure and a full complement of fuel tanks and weapons (i.e. missiles/bombs) to install on the pods of the aircraft. Also included is an ECM pod and a Litening II Targeting pod. Installation of the numerous decals provided in this kit is tedious and time consuming. As the decals are thick, use of Micro Set and Micro Sol decal solutions is highly recommended. The kit has poly caps and metal pins for installation of some of the subassemblies on this model. It is recommended that the builder carefully align and glue the two upper fuselage panels together prior to sandwiching the upper and lower fuselage together to avoid misalignment issues during this stage of the build. The nosecone also requires precise alignment to ensure a precise fit when attaching this assembly to the main fuselage of the aircraft. Assembly of the main landing gear bay can be fiddley, but if assembled properly will look very detailed for an out of the box build. The exhaust nozzle appeared to be acceptable, so I did not consider adding an after-market resin replacement. Application of model paint by use of an airbrush is highly recommended. There are two sets of canopy parts that are provided in this kit. One set is clear the other is slightly tinted. Both of these canopy sets are molded with a mold seam line that requires polishing out. I recommend using Tamiya Polishing Compounds to accomplish this task. I also recommend an after-market canopy mask set for best results. Although an entry level model builder could possibly successfully complete this model, intermediate to advanced modelers are more likely to achieve excellent results.

Kit goes together well looks great when complete wasn't a lot of flash to trim. Fun to build.

I haven't assembled the model yet (and probably won't for some months), so I'm sure there will be a little filler here and some sanding there, but going over the sprues I can't find anything wrong with the kit. Details such as panel lines, vents, and rivets are clearly visible, but some resin bits will help certain areas pop a bit more.I'm about 10 minutes away from Ebbing ANGB, and remember seeing the 188th "red tail" scheme before we lost our F-16s for the A-10C in 2007 (which are also now gone...thanks BRAC). So while the birds are gone, it will be nice to have a smaller version sitting on the shelf to help remember the roar of the PW engines overhead!

Good crisp clean moldings with almost no flash. Good recessed panel lines. Well engineered for assembly with no dark art modeling skills required. Clear and tinted canopys that look like they were slide molded. Very thin, but there is a seam to contend with. Micro mesh pads and future take care of that. Plenty of detail out of the box. Only kit I can't compare against is the hasegawa molding. Hands down better than anything else in this scale of an f-16 I've built. Just beware of free shipping! That means kit is sent in a bag via USPS, hopefully intact when you get it.

Received this high quality model with no issues, ready to build!

Just completed it yesterday after seven weeks. Very happy with this kit. I made a few mistakes but it still came out well. I recommend getting the Detail Up set, about ten dollars or so. This was a challenge to build, not for someone with no experience. A choice of three versions with many different electronics packages, ordnance, and external fuel tanks. I built the Arkansas A.N.G. version because it was the most up to date and I liked the red rudder and Razorback insignia. Just read the directions first. Tamiya, for some reason, wants you to cut out parts of the fuselage and then refill the hole with putty. Totally unnecessary and seems like busy work.