F-16XL Resin Conversion

John Ballman
This conversion set is not well cast, If Cutting Edge / Meteor Productions is 3rd generation, I consider this to be 2nd generation casting. It provides a injection molded Canopy, straight from the Hasegawa kit, Attic probably ordered these back when HOBICO was a US source for Hasegawa parts. The decals are printed on standard decal sheet for a ink-jet printer, not super quality. Directions are in paper and a CD rom is provided.
The kit requires a donor kit, a 1/32 Hasegawa F-16A/C would be your best starting point. The resin fuselage is split top and bottom halves, just like the Hasegawa kit, however my parts where extremely warped and or broken upon arrival to Casa La Ballman. Using those parts as I guide, I tried to use the 1/32 ACE F-16XL kit and the 1/32 F-16A/C kit to provide the parts to stretch the fuselage. Although it is a copy of the Hasegawa kit, it is not as dimensionally correct with this conversion. So, the parts didn't match up as well as I intended. Not sure if I was the problem or not. I ended up trashing what I had accomplished including all the ACE parts. I kept all the Hasegawa parts like intakes and landing gear, tails, exhausts for the time I circle back to this project.
Next time I revisit this project I will be using two Hasegawa kits for donors. So far, I've been able to get those on Ebay for decent prices below $50.00. There are prices on Ebay that are ridiculous (over $100.00) for a kit whose tooling is over forty years old. I'm also looking at getting individual fuselage parts from the Academy kit on Ebay. These may be a better alternative to the Hasegawa kits. There are Sellers that just sell parts or sprue trees for a less expensive way of getting replacement parts. It would be a way to do a two-seater if you want with that option. Your mileage may vary.