I wanted to build a Belgian plane for a while and this aniversary decal set from SyhArt gave me the excuse to do it. I already had an F-16A MLU kit from Kinetic but I had already started building it with my daughter as a Dutch Demo Team bird. Truth be told, I was not impressed with that kit, so I was reluctant to buy it again. Then, I saw Kinetic’s announcement of a new kit in their “Gold” range I thought to wait for that instead.
I bought the new kit as soon as it became available in Belgium and I immediately started my build.
Compared to their old kit, the new “gold” one is a bit more detailed and has better fit in most areas. However, I think it could have been better.
- Most of the seams are designed to “hide” along existing panel lines, or right angles, so only minimal putty/sanding is needed.
- The nose cone now comes in two pieces, so you have one more seam line to take care of. They do provide a radar antenna though.
- The cockpit is almost identical to the old kit. Not bad, but not exceptional for a kit at this price level. It does not include seatbelts for the ejection seat, nor any decals for the instrument panels (althought the raised detail is fine).
- The excaust petals are more detailed, comprising of 5 separate parts.
- The Landing gear bays also include nice details.
- The leading edge slats are not posable (they were in the old kit).
The work in progress
The finished model
Products Used
| Kit | Box | Scale | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinetic “F-16A MLU NATO Viper” |  | 1/48 | K48100 |
| Syhart Decals “F-16AM FA-132 “100 Years 1st Sqn Stingers” Belgian Air Force 1917-2017″ |  | 1/48 | 48-104 |
| Eduard “F-16A MLU for Kinetic” |  | 1/48 | FE1334 |
| Eduard “F-16I SUFA Seatbelts, Steel” |  | 1/48 | FE1157 |
You must be logged in to post a comment.