1:72 F-16AM Falcon FA-131 Solo Display 2007-2008 Belgian AF

A modernization after which mainly the airframe was left of the original version

The letters AM in the designation do not denote a new production series but an aircraft that went through a life-extension program. The Belgian single-seat examples from the deliveries of the 1980s received new onboard electronics: a radar able to track several targets at once, a central mission computer, color displays and a cabin compatible with night vision goggles. From the outside the change is barely noticeable; inside it is quite a different machine, able to use guided munitions unavailable to the original equipment.

The airframe itself stayed in its early form. It has smaller horizontal tail surfaces than the later production blocks, a shorter dorsal fairing without additional electronics and a lower empty weight. That is exactly why these examples tend to have a better thrust-to-weight ratio than the heavier later versions, and at air days it shows in the rate of climb right after takeoff.

The fuselage number given in the name belongs to an aircraft set aside for solo displays in two consecutive seasons, as the years 2007 and 2008 attest. Display machines received a colored finish usually for one or two seasons and then returned to the standard gray scheme, so the coloring is very narrowly bounded in time and unambiguously datable on a model.

The motifs are printed on a thin carrier film, release after soaking and can be settled with a softener so that they follow the panel lines. The dimensions correspond to 1:72 scale. It pays to start from the large areas on the fuselage and to add the smaller lettering only at the end, when the position of the main motifs is certain.