MISINI 1/35 F-16 Fighting Falcon Kampfjet Baustein-Set

Order, delivery was OK

Big fan of Misini, esp ships and helicopters. This F16 follows the same quality construction, excellent instructions, no missing parts and fantastic engineering the smooth curves of a fighter jet with bricks. Overall, this took about 4-5hrs to build and every minute was a joy. This model is surprisingly designed to be resilient with the overall structure being rigidly stiff to support the size of the model. At 1:35 scale, this is a big model (esp when you compare typ model planes are at 1:72 or 1:48) so be sure to have the space to display it. Love the details and moving surfaces (eg flaps, landing gears). Given the 1500+ pcs, it’s a more technical build, but I suspect someone who’s patient and detail-oriented can build with ease.

This is my second MISINI set, first being the Ukrainian fighter. SU-27 is a bit of a bigger set (about 800 more pieces), which you can see in the comparison picture.

I would say that about 90% of the set is well thought out, with about 10% that could use some improvement. It was a fun build overall, and it looks really good, especially sitting next to the SU-27. It has some really interesting techniques in places, especially how the wings go together. There were no missing pieces, and the pieces (for the most part) stayed together when they needed to.

A couple of minor quibbles, though. While they did a good job setting the pieces up in an order in the numbered bags, there were some times when some pieces were left over when going to the next numbered bag. They would then be used in that bag's steps (or even 1-2 bags later), which was odd and a few times made me question my sanity as I didn't know if I missed steps or if they just weren't used. Not the end of the world, but it did add some time to building it.

The instructions were mostly well done, with only a few times that I had to go back and rebuild something because I hadn't noticed I put things together a stud or two off. This is, of course, a limitation on just having the paper instructions and I have gotten a little spoiled being able to use an app and spin the instruction step around in 3D for the name brand sets.

There were a few points, though, that I was heavily tempted to glue pieces together.. There's still a spot now that I am still tempted to do so. There is a section at the very front of the wings where the section is held on by 2 studs, and then oddly has a circular 1 stud plate that is wedged between part of the wing and the body that makes that section pop off any time it's touched (and happens on both wings).

I also had one of the plastic rod pieces break when I was trying to assemble the wheels, as the piece it had to go into was a bit too tight and when I pushed on the rod to get it to go in, it broke. Still was able to use it, although it did look a tad off. Thankfully I put the wheels up into the body for display, so it's not even visible, but be careful when trying to make the landing gear sections.

Overall, though, it is definitely a very nice looking design that scratched the building set itch well!