Hasegawa 1/72 F-16A®/ADF Fighting Falcon® 'ANG Combo', previewed by Scott Van Aken

The F-16 Air Defense Fighter (ADF) was a special variant of the Block 15 optimized for the United States Air National Guard's fighter interception mission. Begun in 1989, 270 airframes were modified. Some were fully modified while few others were only partially updated. Avionics were upgraded (including the addition of an Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) interrogator with "bird-slicing" IFF antennas), and a spotlight fitted forward and below the cockpit, for night-time identification. This was the only US version equipped with the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile. Beginning in 1994, these aircraft began to be replaced by newer F-16C variants. By 2005, only the North Dakota ANG was flying this variant, with these last examples retired by 2007. Interestingly, two ANG units, the 169th FS Illinois ANG and 198th FS Puerto Rico ANG flew these aircraft in the ground attack role.

A number of these aircraft were later refurbished and sold, including the aircraft operated by Italy Portugal operates F-16s with many of the ADF features, though these were new build.

THE KIT

If you have every built a Hasegawa 1/72 F-16 over the last 20 or so years, you will find this to be an old friend. To make the ADF version, Hasegawa simply added a sprue to the standard kit that includes the new fin, IFF antennas and the AMRAAM launchers with some missiles and the wing mounted 'beer can' antennas.

Unlike the initial boxings, Hasegawa's canopy is clear and not smoked. The rest of the mold has held up rather well, despite what has to be thousands of pressings. Unlike most modern Hasegawa kits, this one includes both bombs and missiles to put on the pods. The large underwing fuel tanks and a centerline tank are included. Cockpit is somewhat basic with decals for instruments and a rather plain bang seat, but nothing that aftermarket cannot cure.

This special boxing includes a large decal sheet with marking for three ANG ADF aircraft, all the single seat versions. The sheet itself is well printed and looks to be done in Japan. All three versions are shown to be in the three greys scheme. The three units covered are the box art plane which is the boss bird from the 179 FS/148 FW Minnesota ANG, a standard line bird from the 171 FS/191 FG of the Michigan ANG, and a 178 FS/119 FG plane with the North Dakota ANG that has a large Teddy Roosevelt image on the fin. This was one of the last units to fly this plane. I have photos of all three serials with the same units shown on the sheet in my collection, but only one in the markings provided on the sheet. That is the 171 FS plane and is shown to the right.

CONCLUSIONS

While these kits have certainly gotten a lot more pricey than the $9.98 they were when they first were issued well over 20 years back, they are still nice kits and thanks to this upgrade, we can now do some of the very nice ANG schemes that were applied to these planes.

KIT #:	01962
PRICE:	$46.35 from Great Models ($57.95 SRP)
DECALS:	Three options
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	Limited reissue that includes two complete kits