F-5B of 602d TFS at Bien Hoa, 1966 1/48 Kinetic

[Yeoman1942]

Well spring has supposedly spring and the cricket season is finally getting underway. As a result I have decided to put the Chu Lia Phantom on hold as I will have less time and don't want to stall on a big build. I wanted something smaller and I could do with a break from Light Gull grey and White, lovely though it is. So after a failed ebay attempt at a Corsair I went back to the stash and pulled out the Kinetic F5B I bought a while ago. It gives me a chance to practice the SEA camp scheme so when I finally land a corsair or an F100 I should be well practiced.

 

A bit of background on the F5 in USAF service in Vietnam.  I thought incorrectly that the USAF didn't use the F5 in combat, but the Skoski Tiger program was a real combat test of the F5. In October 1965, the USAF began a five-month combat evaluation of the F-5A titled Skoshi Tiger. A total of 12 aircraft were delivered for trials to the 4503rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, and after modification with probe and drogue aerial refueling equipment, armor and improved instruments, were redesignated as the F-5C.[58] Over the next six months, they performed combat duty in Vietnam, flying more than 2,600 sorties, both from the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing at Bien Hoa over South Vietnam and from Da Nang Air Base where operations were flown over Laos. Nine aircraft were lost in Vietnam, seven to enemy ground fire and two to operational causes.[59][60] Although declared a success, with the aircraft generally rated as capable a ground-attack aircraft as the F-100, but suffering from a shorter range,[61] the program was considered a political gesture intended to aid the export of more F-5s than a serious consideration of the type for U.S. service.[58] From April 1966, the aircraft continued operations as 10th Fighter Commando Squadron with their number boosted to 17 aircraft. (from Wikipedia) As well as the F5A Skoski Tigers there were 2 combat capable F5B's. After the trial the aircraft became the first modern aircraft operated by the Vietnamese airforce.

 

On to the kit. the Kinetic kit gets generally good reviews, with only the join between the front and rear fuselage sections attracting any criticism. It seems to be a common failing of this sort of two seat conversion kit. I  managed the Cougar, so this can't be any worse, we'll have to wait and see.

 

A shot of the end opening box. Fortunately I kept the box from the Skyhawk an the sprues were a nice fit in the top opening box.

 

Sprue shots

Two seat fuselage

 

Tiny wings

Rear Fuselage

Few bits of flash, but nothing serious

 

Weapons, fuel tanks  and other bits and bobs

 

Overall nicely moulded with fine lines. 

I am going OOB for this one as I want to work on making my own seatbelts and painting the IP's. I have been hitting the aftermarket add ons a bit too much lately and want to see what I can do myself. The only purchases the AK paint set, it will come in handy for the Corsair and the Hun I have my eye on, so is good to have in stock.

I have always got good result with the AK paint sets, so hopefully this will be the same.

 

Thats it for now, I have got some photo's of the progress so far, but will post them later.

 

Thanks For looking 

 

Yeoman

Edited April 28, 2018 by Yeoman1942
spelling

[Yeoman1942]

First proper update.

 

I had a quick look at the instructions and decided to ignore building the front landing gear as it looks like it would all go in at the end of the build. Once the gear bay was cleaned up it was on to the cockpit and the instrument panels. 

 

Every thing was popped on a couple of coffee stirrers ready to prime.

 

I masked the clear part that forms the divider between the front and rear cockpits with Tamiya tape. The instructions were a bit vague on the colour , so I am going to go for Dark Gull the same as the rest of the cockpit and see how it looks.

I assume the square shape is some form of HUD or gun sight, so I'll keep it clear for now.

 After priming the IP's got a coat of Nato Black and once dry I gave them a dry brush with Light Gull grey and then a second of Aluminium. Over all I am happy with how they look. I am not sure what to do with the instruments them selves, but given how much will be visible I am probably going to leave them as is.

I repeated the same process with the side panels. I had a tiny spot of over spray, but the dry brush knocked it back and once I have everything together I will put a couple of washes on to pick out the detail and dirty every thing up.  Hopefully it should look ok.

IP's and joysticks in place.

Next up I started assembling the front fuselage, as you can see there isn't too much space in front of the wheel bay for weight, but I should be able to cram a fair bit above the bay and under the cockpit to push the centre of gravity forward and avoid a tail sitter. 

Given the shape of the space the weight is going to come from the self-adhesive lead. Its thin, malleable and stays where you put it. The instructions don't specify how much weight to use, so I will pack it in until I am happy.

 

Everything together and we finish the update like this

I lost a bit of detail sanding seam out, but managed to put it back in with my smallest RB micro saw. It was a first attempt, and maybe a bit deep, I can tidy it up with some Mr Surfacer.

 

Thanks for looking in

 

Yeoman

[Yeoman1942]

Second update

 

The instructions have you move on to the intakes, and the design of the F5 shows through in the kit. The intakes are tiny, so much so that they make the A4 look big. There were a couple of nasty ejector pins on the inside of the intakes and even my smallest sanding stick was too big. I was a bit stumped until I found my old rat tail files that were perfect for the job. A quick squirt of primer followed by some white and we got here.

nice and smooth where it counts.

Next up were the tiny front fans. They could be 1/72nd they are so small. Not the best photo but a coat of aluminium does the job as I doubt much will be seen once everything is together.

 

Moving back along the airframe to the burner cans. It is slightly strange as on part is the back plate and a burner, while the other is just a burner. Apparently it is an alignment thing, but it does make for a quick and easy way of building the assembly. Paint wise its Mr Hobby burnt iron. I really love this paint. Brushes straight on without primer, self levels and looks great. If all paint was this easy to brush paint I would go back to brush painting full time.

There was more flash on this kit than anything I have built since restarting modelling, nothing that can't be sorted quickly. Here is the rudder pre tidy up

 A quick trim, sand and glue and the rear fuselage was coming together well. 

The instructions look off as they appear to show you fitting the cans flush to the rear of the fuselage when n fact they go on the parachute housing. Easy to sort, but takes a bit of checking. You also need to fit parts 41 and 40 to fill in the gap. I suspect that this is to allow for different variants, but it could be a lot simpler.

The "missing" part that the later stages have you fit these underneath which is just wrong.

All together ready for the bottom of the fuselage. Again I am sure its a way of getting the max mum variants out of one set of moulds, but it does seem needlessly complex and prone to misalignments.

I have left the clear parts off until I have painted everything

The wings went together well, even when I managed to put a glue finger print on the front slat when I forgot the way capillary action worked. The tab system on the flaps and slats is really nice and it allows you to align every thing easily. Definitely a win for the designers.

All ready to get everything put together and take on the dreaded joining the fuselage.

True to the review it was a proper git of a job. Everything was too tight, and fouled on other parts. On reflection I think I may have been better off building each side of the fuselage and then gluing the whole lot together. Still you live and learn. The best alignment I could get was this

 

Out with the filler and the sanding sticks and I got to this

Bit more work required, but its not looking too bad. The under side needed quite a bit of sanding to get everything flush, but I am quite pleased with how things have come together. Total build time has only been about 4 hours, which given the issues I have had with joining the two halves is not too bad.

 

In terms of size the F5B is only the same length as the A4, which itself is no giant of a kit. I will do a side by side picture when I get a chance. I think the area rule narrowing makes the F5 look quite elegant, and the two seat version really does look good.

 

That's all until the weekend, with a fair wind I will get some paint on and can start on the camo. It's all down to the weather. The better the weather the more cricket gets played and the less time I have for modelling.

 

Thanks for looking 

Yeoman

 

 

[Yeoman1942]

Thanks for all the likes, its great motivation to keep pressing on with this tricky build.

 

The joints continue to be a pain, so its been a day of fill, sand, prime repeat. It has been a slow process, and I have got a reasonable finish, but boy it has taken a good few cycles. Its probably me, but the gaps have really taken some sorting out.

 

I had a look at the gaps after leaving things for a week, and the filler had struck a bit, so I put on some more filler. to give me something to sand back.

 

 

Followed by sanding ad Mr Surfacer 1200

A few times to build up the base and sand again, this time in the sun.

Back in the paint bay for a second shot of primer leaves the fuselage like this

I have lost a bit of detail, but at least the kit is smooth. Fortunately I am not doing a NMF. The SEA  cam should break things up nicely.

I built up the wing tip fuel tanks so I could get a single even coat over the whole thing in one go. The tip tanks are also designed on an area rule principle, hence the funky shape. It certainly adds an interesting shape the aircraft. It also helped break the monotony of sanding and filling. Not perfect, but good enough to move on for me.

Bits and bobs were next, pylons and elevators primed and ready to go. I will build these as sub assemblies as I did with the A4, as this seemed to work pretty well.

 

More stores and the start of the seats. I have repeated the tissue and PVA routine on the seat cushions, as it adds a bit of texture for the dry brushing to pick up and is more in reaping with fabric than the moulded square.

I want to keep the Mk82's for a later build, so its rocket pods and drop tanks. I am probably not going to fit any thing to the centre pylon as I think it unbalances the look of the plane. Not sure how historically accurate that is, but hey this is meant to be fun.

If I get any bench time tomorrow or Monday (its a holiday in the UK, I will get the seats finished and primed and possibly get some primer on the under carriage and doors. With a bit of luck I may even get a pre-shade on and a start on the cam. We will see.

 

I did a quick couple of shots of the F5 next to the A4 as I found the size comparison surprising. Assuming the are both to scale the  F5 crams a load into a really compact package.

 As you can see length and wings span are pretty much the same.

 

Thats all for Now and Thanks for looking in

Yeoman

[Azgaron]

Nice work so far! Looking good!

 

Håkan

 

[Thomas2542]

That was a nasty gap to fill. Looks like you got it pretty good though. 

Should look great with the camo on

[Yeoman1942]

thanks for the kind words, Thomas and Azgaron. It's been a big gap to fill, and I think its about 50 50 between me and the kit. I am still thinking that building the fuselage into two halves first may have been a better plan, but its too late now.

 

Weather has been too nice in the UK for modelling today, so no progress. Maybe I'll get some time in the morning as its a public holiday.

 

Cheers

 

Yeoman

[Yeoman1942]

Micro update this time as I haven't had much time to build this week.

 

It was a case of going backwards to go forwards. I picked up the F5 the other morning and it caught the light and it revealed a seam gap that I hadn't spotted. I gave 1/2 a thought to ignoring it and cracking on, but Could let it go, so back to the filling and sanding. The join near the intakes also looked worse than I remembered, so they got another going over.

 

Better at the rear. more work required up front.

 While I had the sanding sticks out I took out a small seam along the cockpit coaming, just to be thorough

 

So other than one last go at the sides of the intakes and a blast of primer I should be ready to move forward again.

 

While I was at the bench I masked the canopies up. Usual routine with the Tamiya tape, worked well even with the slightly soft framing. I was a bit over enthusiastic with the sander and put a couple of scratches into one canopy but I got them out with some micro mesh. 

Ready for some primer along with the seats.

 

I'll finish the sanding (hopefully) and get a final coat of primer on tomorrow. Then its on to the preside and cam.

 

Sorry for the slightly boring and limited update.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Yeoman

[Azgaron]

Nice work! Looking good!

 

Håkan

 

[Yeoman1942]

Cheers Hakon, its been a struggle, but hopefully I am on the last leg

[bar side]

Nice one.  I have only ventured to an old ESCI F-5A kits, which build up ok but make these gaps look like child’s play!

[Yeoman1942]

Ah ESCI kits.I " fondly" remember them from when I was a kid in the 80's. I only bought them when I couldn't afford Tamiya or Hasegawa.  The quality was always a bit iffy and as a kid I didn't know about filler (other than miliput and I still can't use that) and sanders were confined to the contents of my dads tool box, and as a result they were on the course side.

[Yeoman1942]

Time for the main weekend update.

 

I finally beat the gaps into submission or as close to submission as I was going to be able to get them in the time I have available and my sanity will allow. So a final blast of primer and its time for a preshade with Extra dark Sea Grey.

 

Hopefully some will survive the paint process, but it should add a bit of variation to the colour.

Next up I started with the light grey from the AK set, which goes on well, if a little tin straight from the pot. a nice even coat covering a multitude of sins.

I may give it another coat, but for now I am happy to mask it up and press on as I want to get on to the camouflage and Sunday is looking like a no Modelling day.

 

I have used the white tack worm technique for 2 colour schemes, so i want to see how I get on with the three colour SEA. The idea of this build is a practice for the corsair I am hoping to win on Ebay tomorrow. I have had trouble in the past with gaps between the colours, which is not too hard to fix on a two colour scheme, but may be an issue with 3. If it doesn't work then plan B is to make the masks out of Tamiya tape and leave each of the colours covered until the end.

Plan A worms in place for the tan areas ( I usually start with the lightest colours first)

Tan in place with one area missed. I made a mistake trying to tell the difference between the 3 shades of grey on the instructions.

Round 2 on with the Medium Green

And finally the Dark

The more observant amongst you will spot the slightly blotchy finish and the gaps in the colours. Looks like I am going for plan B. I'm off to order more tape and to have a go at blowing up the paint guide to make some more masks. At least the existing colours will make sure I put the colours in the right place.

 

Thanks for looking 

 

Yeoman

[Azgaron]

A pity with the splotchyness! 

What I usually do when I use tack worms, is to paint the brightest color without masking (except areas like the underside), and paint a little more than needed.

Then mask off for the next color, using worms, and I usually cover painted areas with tape. Repeat same procedure with next color.

This way you get soft demarcations without gaps where paint is missing.

 

Håkan

 

[Yeoman1942]

Hi Hakon

 

Thanks for the tip. I think I am going to free hand some prime to enlarge the Tan areas and then follow your technique. That way I should able to cover the darker colours without getting a shadow. 

 

Regards

 

Yeoman

[Azgaron]

You're welcome! Glad I could help!

Good luck with the painting!

 

Håkan

 

[Yeoman1942]

After2 weeks I have finally got some time at my bench. 

 

I first popped some nato black over the instrument coaming, so I could fix the wind shield  and help with lining up the cam on the rest of the canopy.

 

I used some grey primer to cover green so I could expand the Tan areas while still keeping the colour consistent. I left the rear canopy mechanism out as I thought I would be able to fit it later. This proved to be a good idea as it allowed me to fit the rear canopy with white tack. The expanded tan looked pretty even, so it was time to break out the white tack sausages and the masking tape.

Ready to mask.

Once masked up I put a general coat of the medium green.It was definitely easier to get the shapes using thinner bits of white tack and masking the entirety of the shape rather than trying create the shape as a negative. Probably easier to show rather than explain.

I wanted to avoid the gaps I got last time, so laying down a complete coat of the medium green to provide a good base for the dark.

 

More rolling and masking ensues to give the outline for the final colour, the dark green.

 

On with the dark

I am not sure how much difference there is between the two shades, but we will see once the masks come off. 

Once last shot before the big reveal, fingers crossed.

 

Much better this time, few touch ups required, but overall I am happy with there result. It is a great looking scheme and the AK paint set does look right to my eyes.

There is a bit of glossiness to the finish, but I am sure that once the clear coats (gloss and matt) bit of a wash and some fading with oils it should all even out.

As you can see there is a good contrast between the two greens. All in all good practice for the Corsair that I won on Ebay. Amazingly the thin coats of colour have not totally obscured the preshade. I will enhance this with the oils, but I definitely have a much better idea what I need to do to make a good fist next time out.

 

Further progress this week is weather dependent. If its good further progress will be limited due to Cricket commitments, but if the forecast rain happens then I should get the various bits of the under carriage and the wheel wells. All being well I can sort the bang seats as well.

 

Many Thanks to Hakon for the tip on the masking, you really gave me the right advice at the right time. 

 

Thanks for looking

 

Yeoman

[Azgaron]

You're welcome! Glad it turned out so good!

 

Håkan

 

[Yeoman1942]

Thanks Hakan, One of the great things about this site is the way people are so willing to share knowledge and experience. I am sure there are many models that only get finished due to the Britmodeller community

[Azgaron]

A good community sure helps!

 

Håkan