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RF-5E Malaysian Air Force


Jabba

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This will be my entry for this GB. I had originally intended to build this as an aircraft from the Singapore Air Force until I realised that it would be out of the scope of this GB. Luckily this kit does come with markings for the Malaysian air Force which was the launch customer for this aircraft. It will be built OOB, but I do have some spare parts from an earlier build of a F-5E, but I doubt that I will use any..

 

The kit box

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The contents.

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The instructions and decals.

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Edited by Jabba
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Glad to have you with us Jabba and with a very nice kit of a classic aircraft.

I've been having a bit of a look at Malaysian RF-5's and it seems that you can finish it with either the square or round national markings as both were carried during the eighties, though they were delivered with the square ones.

Are you aware of this site?  http://www.the-northrop-f-5-enthusiast-page.info/

 

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The cool markings on the box top are Taiwan (Republic of China). I have those in a 1/72 set.

 

That would surely also fall into the GB rules and was probably one of the main potential flashpoints for a conflict in Asia in the 80s (and still now). 

 

You don't want to build those markings? 😉

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3 hours ago, bianfuxia said:

The cool markings on the box top are Taiwan (Republic of China). I have those in a 1/72 set.

 

That would surely also fall into the GB rules and was probably one of the main potential flashpoints for a conflict in Asia in the 80s (and still now). 

 

You don't want to build those markings? 😉

As nice as those Taiwanese markings are they don't fit the timeline of the GB as they were not delivered until 1997, though a Taiwanese A/B/E or F fits perfectly.

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14 hours ago, modelling minion said:

As nice as those Taiwanese markings are they don't fit the timeline of the GB as they were not delivered until 1997, though a Taiwanese A/B/E or F fits perfectly.

Ah yeah good point, I didn't think of that. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

A quick small update in that most of the Fwd fuselage had been built up. At the moment I have left off the glazing and the gun panels, the latter mainly in case weight is required.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

In this update, I have started to build the rear fuselage and wings. I have also been trial fitting this with the fwd fuselage. In the last picture is some thing that arrived in the post yesterday to cover up the see through intakes. More soon.

 

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22 hours ago, modelling minion said:

 

I like the look of those FOD covers, an excellent idea that saves time and effort going into the intakes which can be vert tricky to get looking right.

 

 

It really does hide the worst part of this wonderful kit. To be honest I would have thought that AFV may have done better to start with or at least made some sort of alteration when people building the initial kits or reviews pointed this out

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Craig.

 

Another small update. After determining that no weight is required for this kit I have fitted the gun bay doors, which was a slight pain in the derriere especially the upper panel. I do not know why model companies do this as there is nothing in this kit at least that would be fitted into the bay. I would rather they let you cut out the bay panels from a solid fuselage, whilst supplying a set of open panels. I have also started to build up the fuel tanks. After seeing a picture on the Asian Arms web site showing a RF-5E with the larger tank under each wing and the smaller one on the centre line, I have gone with that. I will be fitting Sidewinders to the wing tips, but that will be later.

 

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I never understood why AFV had separate access panels for the guns but nothing inside of them, I guessed that they ran out of money or realised that the extra parts and design would make the kit too expensive for the majority of us, and they are a bit of a pain to fit too but it looks like you've got yours sorted.

I like your tank load out, something a bit different as you usually see the smaller tanks fitted under the wings, good choice.

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Thanks Craig. Having looked properly at the actual picture it shows the aircraft with 3 large fuel tank, but as I only have 2 I will do it as stated. Almost ready for painting now, a few more touch ups and I will be there. You may notice that I am filling in the outer wing pylon fitting holes. In most of the pictures that I have found of RF-5Es it only show the aircraft with the centre line pylon fitted. So having opened up these holes beforehand I felt it better to fill them in now. Better to have opened them in the first place and not require them than the other way around.

 

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Another small update. Paint has been applied, and still have to apply a second coat to the darkest grey (Actually Lt Ghost Grey) and then a bit of touching up. I am actually finding this scheme quite attractive for an all Grey paint scheme.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Having a bit of trouble with village photos at the moment, as it took several visits to the site to upload these 3 pictures. Anyhow having been away in the land of plastic, resin, beer and e-day (Prague) I have now got back to work on this one. Before I went away I managed to add the U/C and the major decals. Since coming bac the smaller decals have been added, which to be honest were not that many. Still a bit of work to do, but coming along at a pace.

 

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