[MOC] General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon - Alternate Build of 2 x 31160 Race Plane

[Wurger49]

My second design takes us back to the current age, the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, now part of Lockheed Martin, is one of my favourite single engine fighter jets. It has frameless bubble canopy, cropped-delta wing incorporating wing-fuselage blending. A blended wing body has no clear dividing line between the wings and the main body of the craft. Not only it looks cool with the 10x3 curved wedges around the cockpit, it reduces drag and creates more lift.

A conventional tri-plane tail arrangement is built with two tiled horizontal stabilizers and a brick built vertical stabilizer. The wings uses 12x6 wedge plates, the 72° angle is too high compared to the actual wings of the F-16, ideally the 63° angle wedge plates should be used. Though I think 12x6 wedge plates will be perfect for F/A-18 wings! Wingtip rail launchers are represented by 1x5 smooth end technic plates.
 
The air intake is built using 4x1 inverted curved slopes, it’s also not the right shape but it will have to do. At least the tricycle landing gears are at the right places and the overall shape of the model is close enough to a F-16.
 
The 45° cut tiles in white, dark azure and dark blue gave me the chance to try out many different splinter camouflage patterns, I tried to emulate the camouflage used by the 64th Aggressor Squadron from the USAF, those patterns replicate the ones deployed on Russian fighters like Su-35s.
 
The F-16 model is a bit smaller compared to the P-38 Lightning I have done, using about 100 less pieces. However, it’s more solidly built and great for swooshing around.
 
I kept the black display stand as it is, so you can build a spare stand and use it for your other MOCs. The F-16 looks great in-flight on display, you can easily remove the landing gear pieces from the model if you prefer to see it flying.

Instructions are on Rebrickable: https://reb.li/m/216286