Kinetic F-16 Block 52, Poland 1:48 – build review

Feature Article with Gerry Doyle

And just before we get started, here’s a look at how it all turned out…

The Kinetic F-16 range before the retool in 2022 stems back to 2008. These were one of the first releases that the company had and have, over the years been much talked about due to some fit and accuracy issues. In saying that the range of types and schemes that Kinetic offered always interested me and I had, and still have, a few in the stash. Having built two of these before when taking on this project I knew many of the pitfalls and eccentricities of the model so forewarned was forearmed.

A few of these foibles I remedied with the use of aftermarket items:

• Neomega Seats
• Aries Afterburner
• Scale Model Conversion Undercarriage struts
• Arma Hobby chute housing
• Master pitot and
• Techmod Decals.

Armed with all these goodies collected over a couple of years I was relatively confident in the project.

I started by trying to get all the painful stuff out of the way first. The canopy has a rather prominent seam that has to be dealt with so out with the blade and polishing sticks.

I took my time here as the seam itself is quite wide at the base so there’s a danger of flattening the area with the blade, so I tried to basically reduce it in stages by alternating my passes from side to side and finally middle until nearly flush. I then sanded it to shape and polished. It was then dipped in Future and left to cure in a dust proof container (an old take away tub).

The SMC metal struts were cleaned up next and then I tackled the intake. This was a laborious task but with patience and emery paper taped around an old brush handle I finally had a relatively smooth trunk.

Read on…