Hasegawa F-16A+/B+
This brand was by the far the most accurate kit of the F-16 until the advent of the new Revell toolling. It is still good, but the Revell tooling surpasses it in some areas. The Hasegawa kits have the most accurate canopy of any brand, and overal shape of the kit is very close to a real F-16. Parts are moulded very crisply, with sharp trailing edges. The most serious flaw is the contours of the fuselage aft of FS 375. There should be a gentle taper sloping downwards along the spine under the base of the fin, but on the kit the spine is dead horizontal. Also, the air intake mouth is too 'smiley', and should have a more oval cross section. There is only basic detail in the cockpit & wheel wells, and the front wheel well is too shallow. The kit comes with AIM-9J & AIM-9L Sidewinders, BL755 Cluster bombs, early production wing tanks (tank fins are delta 'dart' type), a centreline tank, 2 TER's, & a crew entry ladder. Compared to drawings in the Detail & Scale and Lock On books, the kit is dimensionally accurate, but the main wheel bay is too short by 1mm, wingspan 0.5mm too narrow. The canopy is the most accurate of any tooling.

Hasegawa F-16C/D/N
As above, however these kits do not include the big mouth intake necessary to make a GE engined version, there is no provision for the correct gun muzzle for an F-16C/D, and the F-16C fin base does not have the slight 'flick up' of the real thing.

Hasegawa F-16C/D Block 50
As above, but this release includes a big mouth intake, new main wheels, bulged main undercarriage doors, AN/ASQ-213 HTS pod, AIM-120B AMRAAM's with new wingtip launchers, and AGM-88 HARM's; but it still does not include the correct gun muzzle for an F-16C/D.

Revell F-16A/MLU, F-16C Block 50/52
Be careful not to confuse these kits with the old Revell America tooling from the early eighties of an FSD F-16A. This completely new tooling from Revell Germany is very finely molded, with beautifully detailed well defined small parts. The new kit is fully optioned, allowing for the making of virtually any single-seat variant except the ADF or E, and is broken down in such a way that a two-seater could be released later. The kit features the later production wing tanks with clipped delta fins, a centreline tank, a parachute housing in the fin base, the most accurate arrestor hook and air intake mouth of any kit, and a separate nose cone. The wheel well and cockpit details are the best of any kit; the wheel hub detail is exceptional. The F-16C fin base has correct upward 'flick', but is a little too exaggerated. The kit includes Block 10 & current tailplanes, and optional gun muzzles for A & C variants (the only kit to do so). It also includes the Rapport III antennae used by Belgium & Israel, the best ACES II of any kit, GBU-8 LGB's, and a very good rendition of the AIM-9L Sidewinder. The Block 50/52 release includes correct parts for the GE engined version, AIM-120 AMRAAM's and launch rails, AGM-88 HARM's and associated AN/ASQ-213 HTS pod. Even though the tooling is more refined than the Hasegawa kit, it suffers from a number of flaws. Again, the fuselage aft of FS375 is incorrectly contoured. The yellow tinted plastic used for the canopy is the incorrect colour and looks toy-like. The wings have a slight dihedral due to overly tight fit when assembled and they have sink marks. The P&W nozzle is incorrectly tapered, the AIM-120's are the incorrect clipped fin version, and there are no bulged main gear doors for the F-16C variant. Compared to the drawings, the overall length of the kit is 3mm too long. The error is spread throughout the length of the fuselage and would be very difficult to correct. The wingspan is 1mm too wide, the main wheel bay is 0.5mm too long. The canopy is 1.5mm too long, and results in a taper at the rear which is too gradual, and therefore at the same slope as the fuselage at that point.

Italeri F-16A/B
Although considerably older than the others, this kit does have some redeeming virtues. It is the only kit with a correctly contoured rear fuselage, and the only one to offer the choice of a jet nozzle fully closed. It offers single & twin seat versions in one box, and the oleo legs are well detailed. The kit includes early production wing tanks with delta fins, parachute fin housing, TER's, CBU-59 Rockeyes, and AIM-9L Sidewinders. The tooling does show its age: it has Stencel ejection seats (incorrect for a production version F-16), no area rule 'waisting' on the rear fuselage tailplane booms, and the air intake mouth has an incorrect cross section (straight top lip instead of curved). The panel lines are crude and overscale by today's standards, but not too obtrusive. The tailplane mounting tabs must be repositioned as they are a carry-over from the Block 10 version- if mounted with no trimming, the tailplanes will sit flush with the airbrakes (too far foward) instead of sitting behind. The one-piece canopy component does not include the canopy rail, so if a model with an open canopy is required the rail will have to be carefully separated from the fuselage, as well as the transparency being cut at the hinge line. The gap between the jet nozzle and the base of of the fin is too small and not pronounced enough, the gun muzzle is crudely moulded, and the kit has rudimentary cockpit & wheel well detail. Compared to the drawings, overall length is accurate, but the canopy is too short by 1.5mm, the main wheel bay is 1.5mm too short, the wingtip launch rails are undersize, and the wingspan is 1mm undersize.

Italeri F-16C/D
As above, but also offers LANTIRN IR/laser pods, ALQ-133 ECM pod, & GE nozzle. No big mouth GE intake or C/D gun muzzle, though.

Hasegawa Mitsubishi F-2
For those with too much money, the F-2 offers a couple of components which can be pilfered for use on F-16's: good large size wing tanks as seen on Israeli and Lockheed demonstrator versions, and a very good GE nozzle.

Smer F-16B
Intech tooling, Very poor copy of Italeri kit, offers extra sprue containing 6 AIM-9B's and 2 Mavericks. Only mentioned here because it is good for the Pakistani decals. (Now no longer the case with the release of Zotz's sheet).

Fujimi F-16B+
For those curious about the Fujimi tooling, it suffers the same inaccuracies around the rear fuselage as the others; in addition, the area ruling on the rear under-fuselage is too pronounced. Wing tanks are too wide and short, although they could be used as a basis for larger tanks seen on Israeli and Lockheed demonstrator versions. Detailing on the wheels is good, and the kit comes with 2 GBU-10 LGB's & ADF nose aerials but not the fin to match. The ejection seats are completely ficticious. Smoke coloured plastic is used for the canopy.

Esci F-16A/B
We mention this kit here due to the fact that it was recommmended as the best F-16 kit by Verlinden at the time of publication of the F-16 Lock On. The tooling is very similar to the Italeri kit, but we cannot vouch for its accuracy as we have not been able to inspect one closely, although that will occur soon.

The Holy Grail
In summary, it is impossible to make a truly accurate F-16 model without using a combination of parts from several brands or commiting to major surgery. None of the kits include a canopy with an undercut bubble cross section. For the most accurate model, the following is recommended: Hasegawa rear canopy, top rear fuselage side, Italeri fuselage rear of FS375, Revell front canopy, nose, intake mouth, undercarriage, weapons, pylons, cockpit and all other small components. Either the Hasegawa or Revell kits could be used as a basis, but the Hasegawa kit does not suffer from the join kink halfway down the fuselage as the Revell kit does.

Vivacious Vipers Zotz 72006
For F-16 enthusiasts the release of Zotz's sheet is a major milestone for the hobby, for it finally allows quality modelling of subjects not offered before and fills an important and long neglected gap in the range of decals available for this aircraft. In terms of printing it is a mammoth undertaking...no less than 21 colours feature on the sheet, making it one of the most elaborate ever released. In terms of subject covered, the production is superb: there are options for Bahrain, Denmark's NATO 50th Anniv scheme, Egypt including orange ID panels, Greece, Pakistan including squadron insignia and Afghanistani kill markings, Portugal including rescue stencilling in Portugese, and Turkey's full range of squadrons including rescue stencilling in Turkish. The instructions are in the usual full colour and include all required views in the case of asymmetrical schemes. Zotz has listened to customer feedback and has presented the diagrams in a less cluttered, easy-to-read manner, a considerable improvement on previous offerings under the Albatros label. This sheet gets full marks for subject matter, but it is far from perfect in its execution. There are a number of problems: the Bahraini red has bled so it lacks a crisp edge. The colour used is too dark; it should have been FS 31302 (as per offical GD drawings) which is closer to the red used on the Danish scheme. They could have saved themselves an extra print run. The metallic gold used for the NATO scheme is too grainy, although this is unavoidable when screen printing this kind of ink. It would have been better to either offset print this colour or use an ALPS printer. The banana colour used for rescue arrows is too vivid and should have been paler. The peach colour used for the ejection seat triangles is too orange, and should have been slightly pinker. Although the NATO scheme offered for Denmark is most welcome, it would have been nice to have more serial options for the standard service scheme, particularly as the serials on Danish aircraft are pale grey, a colour that cannot be accurately reproduced any way other than screen printing.

The Pakistani ejection seat warning triangles are completely devoid of any stencilling in their interior. The most serious flaw is that the clear carrier film is not colourless, it has a yellow tint, so the decal sheet will require a spell taped up on a window before it can be used. In this day and age, such an oversight is simply unacceptable, and marrs an otherwise excellent product. Other than these errors, colour saturation and image registry is very good. We were impressed with the colour used for the Greek national insignia; this is the first time an accurate blue has been used to depict a Greek machine. We also like the way two different shades were offered for the Pakistani national insignia even though this was not strictly necessary. Overall: brilliant subject choice, but Zotz must lift their game in execution, particularly with the carrier film.

Venomous Vipers Part 2 Aztec 72028
Hot on the tail of Zotz comes this release from Aztec, and for F-16 enthusiasts, the circle is now complete as virtually any scheme that could be wished for can now be modelled, except for Jordan and the UAE. Although much narrower in scope than the Zotz offering, it is of better quality. It includes options for Italy's newly leased jets, and 2 different schemes for Indonesia. The instructions are clear and uncluttered, with all views necessary to complete the elaborate Indonesian scheme included. The print quality of the decals themselves is noticeably higher than Zotz, with very good register; very crisp, legible, and comprehensive stencilling (enough for 2 complete aircraft); and very accurate colours. Extra numerals are provided to allow the depiction of all serials. The only vice is that the red ejection seat warning triangles for the Indonesian Millennium scheme are printed too boldly, and we found slight smudging on the extra black serials for the same scheme. Unlike Zotz, the carrier film is completely colourless. Overall: well executed and highly recommended.