# Revell 1/32nd scale F-16XL‏



## Schmooze (Apr 3, 2012)

I saw a Revell 1/32nd scale F-16XL‏ for sale and I'm interested to find out more details (the good, the bad, and the ugly) as quickly as possible about this from my fellow modelers. Is it worth buying ($60 total) and building and, if so, what can one expect from taking on this unique project? All insights and opininions welcomed. Thanks very much!


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The kit is really pretty crappy. The same basic kit has been sold by Revell, Kangam and Ace and it does NOT depict a real F-16XL very well. The problem is that the kit was constructed using the same proportions as a regular F-16 so everything is squshed, pushed, pulled, out of position. The landging gear wells are set up in the same position as they would be on an F-16 which are wrong, etc. You can make the kit look decent but it is not very accurate. There have been some expensive and somewhat cosmetic update kits available for the model but you really can't fix it all just by sticking on new parts.

The kit was also just discussed in depth on Hyperscale in the last few days. I forget if it was in the general plane forum, Plane Talking, or the jet forum, Jet Age. Either way, its worth scrolling back to see... www. hyperscale.com


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## Schmooze (Apr 3, 2012)

djnick66 said:


> The kit is really pretty crappy. The same basic kit has been sold by Revell, Kangam and Ace and it does NOT depict a real F-16XL very well. The problem is that the kit was constructed using the same proportions as a regular F-16 so everything is squshed, pushed, pulled, out of position. The landging gear wells are set up in the same position as they would be on an F-16 which are wrong, etc. You can make the kit look decent but it is not very accurate. There have been some expensive and somewhat cosmetic update kits available for the model but you really can't fix it all just by sticking on new parts.
> 
> The kit was also just discussed in depth on Hyperscale in the last few days. I forget if it was in the general plane forum, Plane Talking, or the jet forum, Jet Age. Either way, its worth scrolling back to see... www. hyperscale.com


Thanks for your comments; they seem to concur with some postings from years past, and it sounds like it may not be worth the time / money / effort (unless such a challenge is what you're looking for). I did a search on Hyperscale and didn't see it come up. Do you recall the posting topic / title and the date on the Hyperscale web site?


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Schmooze said:


> Thanks for your comments; they seem to concur with some postings from years past, and it sounds like it may not be worth the time / money / effort (unless such a challenge is what you're looking for). I did a search on Hyperscale and didn't see it come up. Do you recall the posting topic / title and the date on the Hyperscale web site?


Its from March 30. Oddly the guy posted his questions in Plastic Pics... its currently on page 3 there.


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## Schmooze (Apr 3, 2012)

djnick66 said:


> Its from March 30. Oddly the guy posted his questions in Plastic Pics... its currently on page 3 there.


I found it...thanks alot for pointing me in the right direction. The responses don't seem to be too harsh about the kit and it's accuracy. It seems like it's not worth spending $60 on a very inaccurate kit. Not to mention the large sum of $$$ for the conversions / add-ons / time etc. to get it to be somewhat accurate. Would you agree?


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The kit suffers in the same way that say the original Tamiya Jagdtiger suffered. Tamiya used the chassis from their existing King Tiger tank to make the Jagdtiger, ignoring the fact that the JT was much longer. To compensate for that, Tamiya had to squash the Jagdtiger superstructure to fit a too short chassis.

Revell chose to model the XL using a regular F-16 planform, so they did not move the landing gear positions, etc. It's just a botch job. 

It's up to you to decide if you want to spend $60 (kind of high) for a 1980s vintage and quality kit that is not very accurate. 

Myself, I'd pony up some additional $$ and buy the Tamiya 1/32 F-16. It's not cheap but its one of the best plastic aircraft kits ever made in any scale. It's also vastly better than the cheaper Academy version.


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## Schmooze (Apr 3, 2012)

djnick66 said:


> It's up to you to decide if you want to spend $60 (kind of high) for a 1980s vintage and quality kit that is not very accurate.
> 
> Myself, I'd pony up some additional $$ and buy the Tamiya 1/32 F-16. It's not cheap but its one of the best plastic aircraft kits ever made in any scale. It's also vastly better than the cheaper Academy version.


Thanks for the comparison. I agree with you about the price for a kit that is not very accurate. Thanks for the suggestion about the Tamiya 1/32 F-16. I have an F-16 already, but I thought it would be great to also make the XL. It seems there's not accurate 1/32 XL kit out there...perhaps in the near future. (crossing fingers)


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Just before Meteor Productions closed down, they sold a resin conversion kit to make an XL out of Tamiya's 1/32 Thunderbirds F-16, under the "Wild Hare Ass'n" label. The conversion was $350 on top of whatever the Tamiya kit cost (I think I paid $125). It was MOSTLY accurate, at least in shape. I think they made up the panel lines on the upper nose out of their heads, and the gun blister could have been better. But it built nice, with some work.

Here's my build:
http://www.inpayne.com/models/f16xli32a.html

With the additional weapons and detail parts, you're looking at about $500 there.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I actually can't believe that old Kangam kit is still around. I was fool enough to buy it almost 30 years ago. Can't even remember what I did with it, but I was too disgusted to build it.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The Kangam, Ace and Revell kits are all the same tooling. The kit was originally done in Korea at the time Revell was partnered with Ace. It was probably sold in a Ace box first (?) but I forget now. This was in the 1980s.


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