Forum: General F-16 forum

Hello All, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I recently purchased a very large hand painted wood model of Tail number 85-572 with the tail designation SP. I bought the model at a silent auction charity event at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Long Island NY. I reside in FL so getting it here was a challenge in itself. The model is beautiful and I am trying to determine it's origin as well as that of the actual aircraft.

From what I have read on this forum it seems the aircraft was involved in a mid-air but survived and was put back into service. I purchased the model for my 5 year old son's room and plan to hang it from the ceiling. I would like to know the history of the model and aircraft so I can explain it to him.

Our family is Air Force. My father retired from the 89th and was Air Force II flight crew (707). Unfortunately a knee injury prevented me from following in his footsteps but I am hopeful that my son will catch the bug and I am seeing very positive signs so far. I love aviation and the Air Force and am a graduate of Embry-Riddle. I would truly appreciate any information anyone may be able to give. I have photos of the model that I am happy to email. I have a feeling it came from a base or officers club somewhere. It will be well cared for and if he shows no interest down the road I will be certain it gets back into the "right hands"

Thanks in advance for any assistance and kind regards,

Mike

F-16.net Sponsor

Hate to say it but many of those companies simply slap a number/tail flash onto the model regardless of it's authenticity.

You may notice that in the serial database here that the real 85-1572 is a "D" model which is a two-seater. (your model is a C or single seat version)

The other thing that modeling companies are even less likely to get correct is the inlet size and nozzle configuration.

The real 572 would have a General Electric (engine) nozzle.

Your photo looks like the longer Pratt & Whitney (engine) nozzle.

Looks like a nice example to hang from a ceiling, just don't much faith into it's technical or historical accuracy.

Merry Christmas!
TEG

(edit - typo)

It looks more like a A-model F-16 by the tail not a C-model.

TEG, Thanks I suppose that is proably the case but it doesn't look like it was done by a modelng company. A lot of imperfections and somone painted it by hand which I think makes it even better even if it is inaccurate. I just found it odd that they would pick the SP desgination and have an actual tail number. Thanks to both of you for your reply. My son loved it none the less and maybe one day I will figure out where it came from. Does anyone know if 1572 is still flying?

Merry Christmas,

Mike

You're very welcome.

Some Viper Googling reveals that 85-1572 was still active at Edwards AFB.

http://www.skippyscage.com/aviation/ca/ ... /index.php (Slide #18 to be exact)

also

http://www.eschki.ch/didbesa/imgview3.php?id=814

Merry Christmas Thumb

TEG

TJStoney wrote:

It looks more like a A-model F-16 by the tail not a C-model.

It's a C/D tail minus the upper UHF antenna. Note the little micro blister near the base. A/B's didn't have that. But at this point, why pick nits?

LinkF16SimDude wrote:

TJStoney wrote:

It looks more like a A-model F-16 by the tail not a C-model.

It's a C/D tail minus the upper UHF antenna. Note the little micro blister near the base. A/B's didn't have that. But at this point, why pick nits?

Your both right ... It's some sort of AM/MLU without AIFF. TEG got it right as well, It's not 1572!

Thank you all for your replies. I truly appreciate all the technical information and while I am a little disappointed about the accuracy of the model I am very happy about my son's reaction. He was very happy and it looks great in his room and no matter the accuracy if it give him the Air Force "bug" down the road I will be happy.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all.

Thank you again,

Mike

Lucky kid... I want one!

(Even if the tail flash/number isn't 100% accurate)

All I got was shirts and socks!?!

Crying or Very sad

TEG

VarkVet wrote:

LinkF16SimDude wrote:

TJStoney wrote:

It looks more like a A-model F-16 by the tail not a C-model.

It's a C/D tail minus the upper UHF antenna. Note the little micro blister near the base. A/B's didn't have that. But at this point, why pick nits?

Your both right ... It's some sort of AM/MLU without AIFF. TEG got it right as well, It's not 1572!

Is that the rudder-actuator on the ADF, or do I have my blocks/variants crossed??

Nope. The ADF blister was much bigger. The C-model micro blister was related to the ASPJ (IIRC) that never got fielded. There is also a small ram air scoop near the front of the fin root (not pictured on the above model) designed for ASPJ cooling. GD/LockMart never bothered to delete it. It wasn't bothering anything and it was cheaper to just keep the tooling they had.

I think the blisters you are referring to were needed when the flight control accumulators were relocated from in front of the vertical tail base to one on each side of the vertical tail base .

On the ADF. Yes indeed.

And on the C/D models. I think the reason the blisters were smaller on the C/D models was that there was a bit more room for the accumulators but the skin panel still had to be altered slightly.

Yeah. That makes more sense than the ASPJ supposition earlier. Thumb

Forum: General F-16 forum

Aircraft (SP) 85-1572