F-16A (oz15059)

About this Plan

F-16A. Radio control sport scale model. Tractor prop layout. Wingspan 35 in, wing area 367 sq in. For .19 - .25 engines and 3 to 5 channels.

Also distributed by Hobby Shack in the US.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "Hi, I scanned all the paper plans, instructions, and the parts addendum that were in my OK Pilot F-16 kit. I hope your site finds these useful."

Note this kit plan did not include drawings of the die-cut parts. There is a note to that effect, printed at the bottom of sheet 2. Quote: "Die cut parts are not shown on this plan. Die cut parts numbers are directly printed on the die cut sheets."

Update 20/1/2024: Added parts tracings, thanks to hlsat from his post on HPA see: https://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa…

Update 14/4/2024: Added kit review from Radio Modeller February 1982, thanks to RFJ.

Quote: "F-16. The Pilot kit is reviewed by Roy Garner.

THIS model came into my possession by I impulse. I have never been a great lover of scale jets with fans stuck up front but when I saw the Pilot F-16 at Sywell and knowing of the high standard of kitting by the OK model company of Japan, plus the urge to build something different, the temptation was too great!

The attractive box cover depicts a completed model of the very colourful General Dynamics F-16 testbed which, together with the Bicentennial F-15 Eagle, must go down as American graffiti at its best.

The F-16 was rolled out on December, 1973, its first flight (classed as an unofficial circuit) was made in January 1974. The F-16's first debut to Europe was at the Paris airshow in 1975. Now known as t he Fighting Falcon, the F-16 appeared at the Farn-borough airshow in 1980 where it gave a very spirited display emphasised by the use of smoke generators on its wingtips.

The Pilot F-16 is based on the test aircraft, which is at Edwards AFB, used for testing the new General Electric jet engine. Spanning 35 in, and 44 in long, the Pilot F-16 is designed for three function radio and a hot 19 - 25 motor.

Now having looked at the box, let's remove the lid. First impressions, a mass of good quality balsa, mainly pre-shaped, and pre-sectioned, wing-ribs all die-cut, blocks, fin unit etc. all bandsawn to shape. The more difficult curved areas are nicely formed in ABS.

The plywood parts deserve a special mention, they are beautifully die-cut, you can remove the symmetrical formers, reverse them, and place them back into the sheet and they fit perfectly, a superb piece of tooling. Add to this a scale aluminium spinner, bags of fittings, tank, undercarriage and ABS glue, plus a full scale plan, a complete illustrated sheet of the wood parts together with a parts list. On the reverse of this sheet are photographic and very brief assembly instructions, some of the 'Japenglish' is rather quaint.

To finish off this excellent presentation, a three view drawing of the full size with painting code and well printed decal sheet are provided.

Construction: Firstly the wing. This is conventional, made in two halves using spruce spars and balsa ribs with balsa webs. The two panels are then joined and braced. Warning, W14 is numbered W18 on the plywood sheet, a photostat amendment sheet is supplied but my copy was illegible. Also rear wing joiner W15 was wrongly slotted.

The wing assembly is then sheeted top and bottom with 1/16 balsa sheet, I used Evostik to glue the sheeting to the airframe. The leading edge is then added, tip blocks W23, (these are numbered wrongly in the instructions)and finally outer trailing edge, this should be W24 not W14. Aileron torque rods were then added and the whole wing was sanded to shape. I didn't attach the ailerons until after covering.

Fuselage is made in two halves top and bottom, the latter screwed in place to allow for radio access.

Top half is constructed from two plywood side panels onto which are glued formers. A little time was taken to decipher the plan, but owing to the superb die-cutting I was able to dry fit the assembly and check it prior to gluing. Spruce stringers are added..."

Supplementary file notes

Instructions sheet.
Parts tracings.
Review.

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