General Dynamics F-16

PM

PM Models' 1/72 scale F-16 is available online at Squadron.com (if you dare!)

Reviewed by Brett Green

PM Models from Turkey have always produced somewhat crude models. During the Great Modelling Drought of the 1980s this was excusable, as many of their subjects were not available from other manufacturers.

This excuse no longer applies in the year 2001.

PM Models’ 1/72 scale F-16 is poor in almost every respect. Detail is massively oversimplified, surface details are grossly overscale, smaller parts are punctuated with ejector pin holes, the cockpit is a joke, the thick canopy has no detail whatsoever and the decals are yellowed and blurry.

My first impression upon opening the box was disbelief at the thick, raised panel lines. It took me a moment or two to make sure that I wasn’t looking at some sort of mould channels on the inside surfaces of the kit. These raised lines are also used to delineate the ailerons and rudder hinge line too.

The cockpit comprises a slab for the floor and a right-angled slab for a seat. No control column. No side consoles. No instrument panel.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:
 

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Ordnance is supplied but the fins are over a millimetre thick. That would be the equivalent of a 3” thick fin on a full size Sidewinder.

I did not test-fit the parts but even if the model demonstrated perfect alignment, it would still suffer from its fundamental flaws.

As I finish writing this review, I find myself wondering if I am practicing some kind of snobbery because PM's F-16 does not meet my preconceptions of a “good model”. Will this kit appeal to a different taste, a different skill level? I think not. In fact, I cannot think of a single reason to recommend this model.

The F-16 is hardly a unique subject in 1/72 scale. Hasegawa has several boxings in current release, and other models including the ESCI kit should still be available at swap meets and hidden on the shelves of hobby shops. Any of these kits is vastly superior to the PM F-16, and there are other choices out there too.

The low price is hardly an advantage either, considering the additional work and the major input required from the spares box.

I would not even recommend this as a kit for the younger modeller. I’d rather give them something that will provide more encouragement to continue with the hobby.

This model is bad even by the mediocre standards of PM’s other releases. Perhaps this kit originated in the dim distant past. It is the only explanation I can think of. If so, it should have remained a quaint historical cul-de-sac.

Not Recommended.
 

Thanks to Squadron.com for the review sample