Fighting Viper

Historical Background

Analysis of the aerial campaign during the Vietnam War showed the need for better air combat training for USAF pilots and air superiority fighters. Based on his experience during the Korean War and as a fighter tactics instructor in the early 1960s, Col. John Boyd, together with mathematician Thomas Christie developed the Energy-Maneuverability (E-M) Theory to model a fighter aircraft's performance in combat. Their work called for a small, lightweight aircraft that could maneuver with minimum energy loss and incorporating an increased thrust-to-weight ratio. In the late 1960s, Boyd, together with defence analysts Pierre Sprey and Tom Christie, aeronautical engineer Harry Hillaker and test pilot Col. Everest Riccioni formed the core of the so-called 'Fighter Mafia'. The Fighter Mafia worked quietly behind the scenes to pursue a lightweight fighter as an alternative to the USAF's F-X project (which eventually become the F-15 Eagle). In 1969, Defense Secretary Melvin Laird and his deputy, David Packard, became interested with the proposal and threw their support behind the idea. The Fighter Mafia won a $149,000 to study the concept and the money was split between Northrop and General Dynamics to build the embodiment of the E-M concept: a small, pure fighter with no provisions for ground attack capability. Northrop build the P-600 while GD build the Model 401.

In May 1971, the Air Force Prototype Study Group was established for the now-named F-XX programme, with Boyd a key member. One of Boyd's proposal was for a Lightweight Fighter (LWF) and a Request For Proposals was issued on 6 January 1972 calling for a 20,000 lb-class air-to-air day fighter with a good turn rate, acceleration and range and optimized for combat at speeds between Mach 0.6 and 1.6 and altitudes of 9,100-12,000 meters. Apart from Northrop and GD, three other companies responded. The Air Staff selected Northrop's and GD's proposal as the YF-17 and YF-16 respectively. The USAF hierarchy opposed the concept of a Lightweight Fighter, viewing it as a threat to their F-15 programme. To overcome the resistance, the LWF proponents led by the Fighter Mafia advocated, successfully, the idea of complementary fighters in a high/low mix. The first YF-16 was rolled out on 13 December 1973 and the maiden flight was made at Andrews AFB on 20 February 1974, although the USAF was still non-commital to the LWF. At the same time NATO members Belgium, Denmark The Netherlands and Norway were looking for the replacements for their F-104 Starfighters. They reached an agreement with the United States that they would consider buying the LWF if the USAF bought the aircraft.

To reflect these renewed interests, the LWF program was turned into a new competition called the Air Combat Fighter (ACF) program in April 1974. In addition to Northrop, the DoD invited other competitors, namely Dassault's Mirage F1M-53, SEPECAT Jaguar and Saab's proposed J37E Viggen Eurofighter. The Secretary of Defense at that time, James R. Schlesinger also made it clear that the ACF order would be in addition to F-15s, ending resistance to the LWF/ACF. On 13 January 1975, the YF-16 was declared the winner of the ACF competition on the grounds of cost, range and performance. The YF-17 was selected to fulfil the parallel Navy ACF program, eventually becoming the F/A-18 Hornet. The production-version F-16A flew for the first time on 7 August 1978 and was accepted by the USAF on 6 January 1979. On 21 July 1980, the official nickname 'Fighting Falcon' was bestowed on the F-16 and the type entered operational service on 1 October 1980 with the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB, Utah. The pilots gave the nickname 'Viper', due to a perceived resemblance to a viper snake or to the Colonial Viper starfighters from the popular late 1970s TV series Battlestar Galactica. 

The F-16 is a highly-maneuverable, supersonic multi-role aircraft. It was the first fighter aircraft designed to pull 9-g maneuvers and can reach speeds exceeding Mach 2. It was also designed to be relatively inexpensive to build and simpler to maintain than previous fighters. It was also the first operational fighter aircraft deliberately designed with a built-in aerodynamic instability to improve maneuverability. To counter the tendency to depart from controlled flight, the F-16 has quadruplex fly-by-wire flight control system, with no hydromechanical back-up. A key feature of the F-16 is the superb visibility from the cockpit. The single-piece canopy provides 360° visibility with a 40° look-down angle over the sides and 15° down the nose. The pilot sits on a ACES II ejection seat with a tilt-back angle of 30°, which increases tolerance to g-forces. The F-16 also pioneered the HOTAS controls where various switches and controls were on the control stick and the throttle lever. It is also controlled through a side-mounted, rather than centre-mounted stick. Targetting information was supplied by a Westinghouse AN/APG-66 multi-mode radar in F-16A/B and AN/APG-68 from F-16C Block 25. Block 40/42 F-16C/Ds introduced the AN/APG-68(V)1 version compatible with the LANTIRN pods and with a high-PRF to allow it to illuminate SARH missile like the AIM-7 Sparrow. The F-16 was powered by a Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-200 afterburning turbofan rated at 23,830 lb thrust. Later on, General Electric also became the engine provider for the F-16 with its F110-GE-100 turbofan, from Block 30 onwards. To differentiate between aircraft equipped with those engines, blocks ending with '0' are powered by General Electric while blocks ending with '2' are powered by Pratt & Whitney.

The F-16 first saw combat with the Israeli Air Force when a Syrian Mil Mi-8 helicopter was shot down over the Bekaa Valley on 28 April 1981. On 7 June 1981, eight F-16s executed Operation Opera, severely damaging the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad, Iraq. During the Soviet-Afghan War between 1986 and 1989, F-16s of the Pakistani Air Force shot down at least 10 intruders from Afghanistan including four Afghan Su-22 'Fitters', one Soviet Su-25 'Frogfoot', one An-24 'Coke' and two An-26 'Curl' transports. One F-16 was shot down in clashes with Soviet-Afghan forces. The USAF's first combat actions with the F-16 was during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The Falcons were armed with AGM-65 Mavericks, Mk.80 series of bombs and CBU- and Rockeye-series of cluster bombs in the medium-level bombing role. The F-16 was also used in the 'Wild Weasel' (Supression of Enemy Air Defences - SEAD) missions alongside the older but more capable F-4G Phantoms. The 138th TFS, 174th TFW, New York Air National Guard flew F-16s equipped with 30 mm GPU-5/A Pave Claw gun pod but wasn't successful and finished their deployment using cluster bombs. 249 USAF F-16s took part, losing seven of their number. The Falcons were used in numerous other US deployments since then.

F-16 models are denoted by increasing block numbers to denote upgrades. The original F-16A/B were given block numbers 1,5,10 and 15 with the last-mentioned the first major upgrade to the family. The F-16C/D variant first entered service in September 1984 with Block 25 being the first in the line. Block 25 introduced the Westinghouse AN/APG-68 multi-mode radar and improved night attack capability and cockpit avionics. Today, only Air National Guard and the USAF Air Education and Training Command units use Block 25 F-16s.

The Kit

Hasegawa came up with a new-tool 1/72 F-16 kit in 1986 when they released a model of the F-16A Plus. A year later, they came up with this kit, entitled F-16C Fighting Falcon, It wasn't mentioned on the box but it's pretty clear that this is a Block 25 model. The model features nice surface detailing with engraved panel lines while interior parts have reasonable raised details. Holes were already pre-drilled for pylons. And unlike other Hasegawa aircraft kits, the F-16 came loaded with one 300-gallon centreline tank, two 370-gallon wing tanks, two AIM-9J and two AIM-9L Sidewinders, and bafflingly, a pair of British BL.755 cluster bombs. Also included is a pilot figure. The canopy is moulded in the normal clear plastic, even though the real thing is normally tinted. Decals are for three aircraft:

1. 363rd TFS 'Gamecocks', 19th TFW, Shaw AFB, NC

2. 512th TFS, 86th TFW, Hahn AFB, Germany

3. 312th TFTS, 58th TFW, 'F-16C No.1', Luke AFB, AZ

Construction

Work, as usual, started at the cockpit. The cockpit, as befitting a 1980s kit, is made up of just four parts. The cockpit parts and the sidewalls were painted FS 36375 using Gunze Aqueous H308 with the control stick XF-1 Flat Black and the seat cushion XF-62 Olive Drab. The kit seat is so-so, without much detail. I cut a bit of Tamiya tape, paint them khaki and stuck them on the seat, pretending to be seat belts. While I do have a resin Neomega ACES II ejection seat in my stash, I did not use it as the seat fitted to the F-16 has a larger incidence of reclination. Once the paints are dry, decals for the instrument and side panels were put into place. I have no intention to use the pilot figure. However, I believe that if used, the pilot would be in an awkward position as his right hand is moulded to pose a centrally-mounted control stick, which is non-existent in the F-16! The front and the rear bulkhead for the mainwheel bay were then cemented onto the lower fuselage half before the upper and lower fuselage halves were cemented together. Fit was generally OK although there is a slight step on the right of the nose.

Next up was the intake/nosewheel bay assembly. The wheel bay was assembled first and I did not concern myself much with seams on the upper part as it will be hidden underneath the fuselage. The intake mouth was then inserted into the wheel bay assembly and the whole thing was then cemented to the fuselage. Next, the one-piece wings were attached to the fuselage, together with the tailplanes. This was followed by the tailfin and the ventral fins. The two antenna bumps on the forward fuselage were glued in place. Finally, the bulkhead separating the main wheels and the pylons were cemented prior to painting.

Painting and Decaling

With the exception of the F-16s of the USAF (and the USN) Aggressor units, all USAF F-16s were painted the same pattern consisting of FS 36375 (bottom), FS 36270 (radome), FS 36320 (forward fuselage and tail) and FS 36118 (rest of the fuselage). The paint of choice was Gunze's Mr. Hobby Aqueous paints and they were painted accordingly. I believe I added too much white (for scale effect) to the gunship grey (36118) and it ended up just slightly darker than FS36270. The exhaust can was painted Burnt Iron and a custom mix of silver. The inside of the exhuast was painted XF-2 Flat White. As I mentioned earlier, many F-16Cs have their canopies tinted with gold (to reduce radar reflectivity or for better protection for the avionics). To replicate that, I mixed Tamiya X-19 Smoke and X-24 Clear Yellow and painted the inside of the canopy. I rushed this part, hence the paint application was terrible (plus I used a paintbrush, rather than an airbrush). For markings, I chose the decals for the first option, an F-16 from the 363rd TFS. The decals are typically 1980s Hasegawa although the ivory-coloured white decals weren't really a problem here.

Finishing

The landing gears were assembled and inserted into their places on the model. This was followed by the bay doors. As for the external stores, I decided to hang the wing tanks first while contemplating what my model should be armed with. While the air-to-air loadout is acceptable (although I have yet to see photos of both AIM-9P and -9L being carried on the same aircraft), the bombs included are not, since as far as I know, the US armed forces use the Rockeye and CBU-series of cluster bombs and not the British-designed BL.755. Anyway, I decided to model an F-16 during the Gulf War (the 363rd TFS was deployed to the area) and managed to find a website listing the typical weapons loadout carried by Coalition aircraft. The loadout chosen was an ECM pod on the centreline station (ALQ-119 or ALQ 131), two 370-US Gallon wing tanks, a Mk.84 2,000-lb AIR bomb on each middle wing pylons and two AIM-9L Sidewinders on the wingtip missile rails.

The Sidewinders and the fuel tanks came from the kit while the ALQ-119 came from Hasegawa's weapon set. Hasegawa did not have the Mk.84 AIR (Air Inflatable Retard) bombs in any of their sets but I found a pair in Italeri's NATO Weapons Set. The external difference between a 'slick' Mk.84 and a retarded version is that the latter has a shorter tail with a larger fin. The problem is that, while Italeri more or less got the tail right, the bomb body look undersized, looking more like a Mark.82 than Mk.84. I decided to cut both bombs, using the main body from Hasegawa and the tail from Italeri. The cuts weren't perpendicular to the bomb axis though and I have to cover up the gaps with putty. The model was then put through the sludge wash treatment and finally finished with a spray of Semi-Gloss Clear.

Conclusion

The Hasegawa kit can still hold its own despite being surpassed by the more recent Revell, Academy and Tamiya kits. The parts are well-moulded, have good details and good fit. Furthermore, it was one of only a small number of Hasegawa kits which include weapons and accessories. On the other hand, the kit has some accuracy problems but very minor ones IMHO. Another shortcoming, if you can say that, is the lack of alternative 'big mouth' intake and the relevant exhaust nozzle. But, overall, still a nice kit, especially for an early-block F-16C.