F-16A(N) Nato Falcon

anthonyp · September 28, 2005, 06:53:18 AM

This is a 1/72 HobbyCRAP F-16. I bought the the decals off the bargain table, and got this... thing in the box with them. Wow, I can see why certain Hobbycraft kits are hated. This thing and Hobbycraft's CF-18 are marginally better than the old Trumpeter kit with the peel and stick decals.

Anyways, I wanted to do something different with this kit. I have a 1/144 Revell E-3 sitting in my stash, and it had those cool NATO decals. I decided to apply cool decals to this lump of plastic and got an OK looking airplane. I armed it with four Harpoons, two AMRAAMs, and two sidewinders for a maritime strike mission. I figure NATO would badge about 100-200 fighters like their E-3's for some sort of joint command. I'd come up with a more convincing backstory if I really cared.

Overall, bad kit. Final result isn't that bad to look at. With a "real" F-16 kit, it might look even better.

anthonyp · September 28, 2005, 06:53:49 AM

another view

anthonyp · September 28, 2005, 06:54:59 AM

Last view.

Spey_Phantom · September 28, 2005, 07:03:52 AM

i must say that it turned out not to bad.
nice work B)

Keith Diamond · September 28, 2005, 09:41:09 AM

I like the load out and the idea of marking some fighters with "NATO"

gooberliberation · September 28, 2005, 01:53:28 PM

Hey! those old 1/72 Hobbycraft kits arent THAT bad... just because they fit horribly, are laughably inaccurate, are usually missing missiles, lack proper painting instructions, have the worst decals ive ever seen, and have plastic thats too hard to work with....

...does not mean theyre bad :dum:

Have you tried their "PERSIAN GULF FIGHTERS!" Su-25 yet?

AeroplaneDriver · September 30, 2005, 03:50:54 PM

Nice looking for such a crap kit. I like the Nato markings a lot.

Not to drift the topic too much, but I picked up a Hobbycraft Persian Gulf Jaguar many years ago...the box is great for storing spare parts. Unfortunately that is the best thing I can say about the whole kit.

anthonyp · September 30, 2005, 05:41:01 PM

Thanks! The NATO markings just sorta screamed "WE CAN SAVE THIS KIT!" when I saw them in my decals box. I'm tempted to pick up another 1/144 Revell E-3 (on sale of course) just for the decals. I think the place I got it from was selling those kits for like $5.

Haven't seen the "PERSIAN GULF FIGHTERS" Su-25, but the CF-18 was afflicted with that badge of honor. I was actually surprised at the quality of Hobbycrap, even after reading what y'all think of them. That statement makes sense when I say that the CF-105 Arrow was the first Hobbycrap kit I'd ever built, and was pleased with it.

Hobbycrap, where good modeling subjects go to die.