The F16 Fighting Falcon was certainly the most prolific Coalition aircraft of the Gulf War, with nearly 250 of them being deployed to the Gulf. Although originally designed as a pure dogfighter, the F16 is also capable of performing the air to ground role, and was tasked with this responsibility during Operation Desert Storm. Unfortunately, their effectiveness in this role was compromised in the sense that they were forced to bomb from high altitudes, using mostly unguided weapons. Still, the Fighting Falcon distinguished itself during the Gulf war as one of the premier aircraft in the USAF arsenal, and was used successfully as a 'Wild Weasel' aircraft as well as in the airtoair and ground attack roles.
I used the Hasegawa kit to depict a late model F16A from the 174th TFG of the New York Air National Guard. The 174th had the unique distinction of being the only USAF unit to utilize the GPU5 30 mm GEPOD during the war. However, this pod was only used for one day during the war because the results were less than satisfactory.
The Hasegawa kit has its share of problems. First, it suffers from raised panel lines, and they are not all where they should be. There are also a few fit problems; great care must be given to the fit of the wings to the fuselage.
I started by rescribing the entire kit. I used some of the lines that were already present, but I also had to scribe in many new lines that were either out of place or not even present at all, most notably the vertical panels on the spine of the aircraft. This being completed, I turned my attention to the cockpit. I drilled out the instrument panel and applied Waldron instruments in place of the originals. I then sanded down the side panels and reconstructed the cockpit using Waldron's F16 placard set. This particular portion of the project was very labor intensive, but seeing the end result made it worthwhile. A Verlinden ACES II seat, and sections of guitar string for the oxygen/gsuit hoses completed the cockpit assembly.
The remainder of the assembly was straightforward, although care must be exercised in constructing the gun bay if the modeler decides to leave it open. There are a few tricky spots that can't be filled after the fuselage is assembled.
After construction the standard F16 scheme of Gunship/Neutral/Light Ghost grays was applied by airbrush. I then applied a coat of Future, washed the panel lines, and applied the decals. Finally, a coat of matt varnish, and, viola!
Weapons: I modified the kit supplied Sidewinders with new forward fins to more accurately depict AIM9L/Ms that were used during the war. I also converted a pair of Sparrows into AMRAAMS for the outboard wing stations (Actually, they weren't used during the war, but I granted myself a little artistic license on this). Other armament includes 6 Mk.82, 500 lb bombs on TERs, standard wing tanks, and the GPU5 30mm gun pod on centerline, which I scavenged from the Revell Strike Eagle kit.
Overall, this kit can build up into a nice model of the F16, but it does take a fair amount of work. Maybe next time, I'll try the old Revell kit (if I can find it, that is....)
