gavman

Wow! The Revell Germany (RG) F-16s are really quite impressive. They have some details that the Dragon Wings (DW) models lack, namely: 1) a starboard incidence vane? on the nose; 2) an IFF antenna? on the underside of the nose; 3) starboard & port forward radar warning antennas? on the wings; 4) static dischargers on the tailplanes; and 5) much better-looking (as opposed to the stubby DW ones) static dischargers and a dynamic pressure probe on the tail fin.

Although similar to the Air Command (AC) Falcons, in terms of their: 1) fixed landing gear; 2) fixed ordinance; 3) no pilot in a non-functional canopy; 4) fixed air brakes; and 5) non-moving tailplanes, the Revell Germany F-16s are much better-looking models than the ACs. The ordinance is more highly detailed than on the AC models. Although there is a seam on the Revell auxiliary fuel tanks, it is much less prominent than the gaping one on the Air Command tanks.

If the quality of the Revell Germany [www.revell.de] models is any indication, the Revell-Monogram (RM) [www.revell-monogram.com] ones should be equally as nice, unless of course some of the RMs somehow end up being duplicates of the RGs since ONLY box cover art is still being displayed at the Revell-Monogram website.

David Hingtgen

I still haven't snagged a DW F-16 (can't they make some GOOD schemes?) but I've gotta comment that a lot of the differences you describe are differences between the F-16A and F-16C, as well as F-16C Block 30/32 and Block 40/42/50/52 etc. It may not be an "accuracy" issue, merely "different models of the F-16". DW has done an extraordinary job so far as I can see with all the subtle F-16 differences, it may be simply the particular DW one you are comparing to is a different model than the AC one. (This excludes the static dischargers of course, but the wing radar warning antennas and blade antennas under the intake are some of the things that indicate exactly what type of F-16 it is)

(Of course I'll admit the AC ones have looked quite nice from pics so far---there's still no 1/72 F-16 from anybody that I want, despite being one of my fave planes---kind of like how I have no 1/400 A320's....)

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gavman

With regard to the static dischargers and dynamic pressure probe on the Revell tail fin, this probably is an accuracy issue since this part is plastic. The Dragon Wings tail fins are metal, so they can't be too highly detailed, which is why the dischargers and probe have been rendered as stumps. Unfortunately, since the Revell tail is plastic, the dischargers and probe are much more fragile!

gavman

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David Hingtgen

The Revells look nice! My big question--what about the underside? Seams? Screws? The ones on the F-14 (rear, engine sides) really bug me. Anything like that on the F-16?

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We need more TWA twin-stripes!

gavman

Revell Germany #08204 USAF 31st FW

a) The plastic wheels are on axles so they rotate!
b) The seams run from the starboard and port sides of the nose, follow the leading edge of the wing, and then travel down the wing roots to the trailing edge of the wing.
c) There are two (2) flathead screws joining the upper and lower halves of the plane that have been painted to match the underside of the plane.
d) There are four (4) elevated screw holes where the plane was attached to the black cradle/base from the packaging with pointy-tip screws. This is a better design than the one used by Air Command since you don't have metal-on-metal contact from the flat-tip screws and simple holes in the plane which can mar the finish on the underside (see Things that can go wrong with Air Command planes... http://www.diecastaircraftforum.com/...threadid=30794).

gavman

Air Command #19011 USAF 555th FS "Triple Nickel"

a) The seams run from the starboard and port sides of the nose along the leading edge of the wing, down the wing roots, and then follow the engine nacelle.
b) The three (3) large holes are for black roundhead screws used to attach the upper and lower halves of the fuselage.
c) The two (2) smaller holes are used to attach the plane to the styrofoam and plastic packaging using flat-tip screws.

gavman