Dean O
Sr Member
I began work on this kit of few years ago with the intention of building it up out of the box but of course that didn’t last long. I decided that I wanted to represent the more modern F-16C block 50/52 cockpit rather than the F-16A that the kit represents.
I started with the ejection seat, adding metal pitot tubes at the top, oxygen hoses and hand made fittings and clips from styrene sheet and tubing. I also covered the recovery parachute in fabric. The seat is also covered in black fabric to replicate the fur seats of the real thing. I have modeled new o2 fittings to be 3d printed to replace the ones I made from styrene tubing but I’ll decide if I want to swap those out after I get a coat of primer on it.
A few weeks ago I started modeling the new main instrument panel and stick in CAD and have been tweaking it since. After many test prints, fits, and adjustments I have one that I am happy with. I decided against re-making the left and right panels, since I didn’t feel like the small differences would break the illusion of the newer cockpit.
I know that this is older kit and Italeri isn’t exactly known for well designed and fitting kits, but this is especially poor. The hood for the main instrument panel just sort of sits on top of the whole kit with a few dabs of glue applied. And a large portion of the ejection seat assembly was holding parts in place while glue dries because most of it goes together with butt joints and no location pins of any kind. It is the only game in town for a detailed cockpit kit, though.
I started with the ejection seat, adding metal pitot tubes at the top, oxygen hoses and hand made fittings and clips from styrene sheet and tubing. I also covered the recovery parachute in fabric. The seat is also covered in black fabric to replicate the fur seats of the real thing. I have modeled new o2 fittings to be 3d printed to replace the ones I made from styrene tubing but I’ll decide if I want to swap those out after I get a coat of primer on it.
A few weeks ago I started modeling the new main instrument panel and stick in CAD and have been tweaking it since. After many test prints, fits, and adjustments I have one that I am happy with. I decided against re-making the left and right panels, since I didn’t feel like the small differences would break the illusion of the newer cockpit.
I know that this is older kit and Italeri isn’t exactly known for well designed and fitting kits, but this is especially poor. The hood for the main instrument panel just sort of sits on top of the whole kit with a few dabs of glue applied. And a large portion of the ejection seat assembly was holding parts in place while glue dries because most of it goes together with butt joints and no location pins of any kind. It is the only game in town for a detailed cockpit kit, though.
Last edited:
