1:48 F-16C Block 50/52 Fighting Falcon cockpit USAF (Detailed edition) for Kinetic Gold kit

Two batches of one aircraft divided by the engine

Blocks 50 and 52 came into being at the same time at the end of the eighties and they differ in one essential thing: the first received a General Electric turbofan of the F110 series, the second stayed with the Pratt & Whitney F100 series. The difference is visible from the outside. The more powerful American unit needed a greater airflow, and that is why a bulkier air intake with a deeper lower edge sits under the fuselage; the weaker variant made do with the original narrower mouth. Anyone building a particular machine of a particular squadron should check this small thing before gluing the front part of the fuselage together, because once it is closed up it cannot be changed.

What the richer variant adds

The tub of the pilot space is cast as one part with the side consoles, onto which separately cast panels, the seat and the one-piece frame of the head-up display seat. It is the seat that is the mark of recognition on this type: a backrest inclined by thirty degrees made it possible to take higher g-loads, and on the model it comes into its own well under the glazing.

• the cockpit tub with the texture of the upholstery and with molded lettering on the consoles
• the ejection seat cast separately, with the belts modeled on the shell
• the instrument panel and the side controls in a finer form than the injection-molded part
• the frame and the brace of the canopy for setting it in the open position

The set is inserted into the fuselage after the inner opening for the tub has been widened, so it pays to try how the two halves agree dry before filling.