F-16I Block 52+ Sufa Conversion

CMK, 1/48 scale

New from CMK, is their detail complementary set No 4192 a resin and etched metal conversion set to convert the Hasegawa 1/48 scale F-16 into an Israeli Air Force F-16I Sufa ("Storm").

But first some background. The F-16I Sufa is a modified variant of the Lockheed Martin F-16D Block 50 and 52 fighter and ground attack aircraft.

The Sufa is an odd looking aircraft to say the least and its looks are further altered by the fitment of a pair of low drag removable conformal fuel tanks (CFT) mounted on both sides of the upper fuselage holding 450 US gallons of extra fuel.

As if the CFTs don’t do enough to detract from the looks of the original F-16 it is based on, The F16I is also fitted with a dorsal avionics compartment. The large dorsal compartment extends from the rear of the cockpit to the fin and it houses additional avionics systems, chaff and flare dispensers and the aircraft's in-flight refuelling receptacle.

Moving to the nose now, this area has also been modified from original configuration with the addition of various antennae and electronic equipment lumps and bumps.

Enough of my defamation of the looks of this bird and on to the conversion!

The kit comprises 31 resin pieces, 35 etched metal parts on a single fret and a decal sheet that has options for two machines.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The conversion itself looks to be pretty simple itself with the only challenging step being the removal of the kit’s nose and its replacement with the resin one. The rest is the simple being the sticking of various lumps and bumps to the fuselage, the placement of the dorsal avionics compartment/fin and rudder/ CFTs and the substitution of resin parts for kit parts (the undercarriage bay doors and wheels being examples of the latter).

The etch metal parts are mainly flare/chaff holders or their blanked off panels and static wicks the latter which look to be real fun to place!

The resin parts are simply perfect. The cast-in detail is crisp and sharp and the panel lines look to be a pretty close match to what is already on the donor Hasegawa kit. I could not find a single pin hole or mis-cast in any of the parts at all. There is some flash but that literally rubs off in your fingers.

The decals look superb too, nice and thin and in perfect register. You get the option of a single machine of give you the option of a single machine from the “Knights of the Orange Tail Squadron” and three different machines of the “Negev” Squadron.

Assembly instructions are via exploded view drawings with a “parts map” on the front page to help you identify each of the parts to a number key, two full colour four-view drawings of each option to assist with camouflage pattern and decal placement and a key to FS paint shades matched to Humbrol model paints.

The resin parts are packed into three different clear plastic zip-loc bags, the decals and etch metal fret into a further one. All of these are then packed into a reasonably thick folded up cardboard box that looks to be fairly robust, a vast improvement of CMK’s previous packaging efforts.

An excellent effort from CMK as far as I am concerned. The set supplies everything you need (including decals) to build a very nice 1/48 scale rendition of the one-to-one-scale machine.

Recommended.