While perhaps not the most desirable of all action figure-scaled airplanes, this one might well be one of the rarest.
For many years now, I’ve heard mention of this strange 12-inch figure-compatible plane on various message boards. Usually mentioned alongside the Fairland Toy F-22 Raptor, this is possibly the other boxed plane people remember seeing at JC Penney as they purged their toy aisles. It was likely released around the same time, late 1990s-early 2000s, and supposedly at U.S. locations of the former department store titan. But it is an increasingly difficult toy to find information for.
Part of this comes from its odd name. It is neither F-16 nor Strike Eagle, and it doesn’t carry any specific brand on it. It doesn’t resemble any real or fictional plane with significance, but once I finally found some pictures, some pieces started to fall into place. Then dumb luck and a good search combination found me one on eBay!
The body is actually from a much older toy, one I’ve also reviewed — the great Action Man Cherilea Jet. There are some slight mold changes, like the canopy attachment points and the vertical tailfin, but otherwise, yeah, it’s our guy.
The Peterkin version does make some interesting changes though to the wings. Adding hinges to the mounts now gives them the ability to change geometry, turning the original Folland Gnat-based plane into some kind of bastard prototype. And that’s kind of awesome. While not nearly as sexy as the Skystriker, it does give this plane a more dramatic look. The nice thing about these features — the canopy, wings, and landing gear — is that they are all good, tough, and simple, meaning should you find one at a flea market or something one day, it will likely still work.
Unlike the F-22, which is very big, heavy and has some decent panel detailing, the SF-16 is light, hollow, and almost devoid of details. Its size does make it a lot more manageable, and very similar to my other jets like the HMAF Harrier, but I can’t help wishing more of an effort was made to bring the mold out of the ’70s.
And no, those awful 1990s-vintage JPEG printed-out stickers definitely don’t help. Some of this can be improved with some paint and marker work, like I’ve done on my Cherilea, so maybe there’s hope to bring it more in line with some effort. Initially, I wondered if I could make this into one of the few but distinctive swing-wing aircraft, like a MiG-23, Tornado or F-14, but I’m thinking the sheer amount of stuff I’d have to add would outweigh the end result, and steal any of that classic charm the plane has from its predecessor.
This is an interesting toy to review because it’s not really something I’d recommend out of hand to most people. If you’re a vintage Joe or Action Man collector, this thing is a sweet find and an awesome counterpart to the Irwin Panther. For a more modern collector, I would honestly tell you the time and effort (and money) is much better spent on the Harrier.
But if you were to come across one on the cheap somehow … it’s worth a second look.