Rob K. Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Hi, Purchased an inconspicuous box containing an F-5a from Tiger Hobbies in 1/48 scale. Want to create an NF5-A, but the 1/48 KInetic Kit is hard to come by these days and expensive. This Kit was £10 with £3.60 postage. For this price the contents did not disappoint at all. Some of the panel lines are a little deep, but not as bad as I anticipated reading some of the reviews. Nevertheless, I am going to fill and re-scribe some of the panel lines. Filling the panel lines with a mixture of CA glue and gunmetal pigment: After 2 hours of filling and sanding, the fuselages are ready to scribe. Due to the sanding the remaining panel hatches and smaller features are now also a little toned down. Removed antennas to facilitate easy sanding. to be reinstated later. Just contemplating which of 4 schemes to go for not entirely sure: (Anyway long way to go still....) Decals from "Dutch Decal" are on the way from Germany by post. Another decision to make is whether to get a resin cockpit set or just the ejection seat or do some detailing myself. Some internet browsing to be done tonight. Going to take my time with this one. Need to research what differences there are with the NF-5A version compared to the regular F-5A's. The chaff dispensers to the rear of the fuselage is one unique feature from what I gather (and are included in the kit). To be continued...... 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Excellent choice of subject! I'm biased towards either the classic grey / green scheme, or the definitive scheme as per the lead bird. Main external differences between the F-5A and NF-5A were that ours were fitted with arrester hooks, more powerful engines requiring F-5E style louvre-type intakes in the fuselage sides, manoeuvring leading edge flaps and later on the chaff / flare launchers on the aft fuselage. In the cockpit a prominent rolling map display was fitted on the left side of the instrument panel. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainpeden Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 I suggest you make with the cockpit open, the Perspex has a weird shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 (edited) From a thread on a Dutch modelling forum, some things to keep an eye on apart from what @Hook already posted: Throttle quadrant is placed too far back. Otherwise an acceptable cockpit and that goes for the canopy mechanism as well. Intakes are... let's leave it at not fitting. The general shape is not quite right (a bit too fat rear-end and the nose is not long enough) but as bang for buck goes, it does the job. The other alternatives are double or triple the price. Edited December 12, 2019 by alt-92 references Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted December 13, 2019 Author Share Posted December 13, 2019 9 hours ago, alt-92 said: From a thread on a Dutch modelling forum, some things to keep an eye on apart from what @Hook already posted: Throttle quadrant is placed too far back. Otherwise an acceptable cockpit and that goes for the canopy mechanism as well. Intakes are... let's leave it at not fitting. The general shape is not quite right (a bit too fat rear-end and the nose is not long enough) but as bang for buck goes, it does the job. The other alternatives are double or triple the price. Thanks everyone for your feedback. I am going to see if I can find an accurate drawing to see what is possible to correct some of the shape issues. Luckily the kit comes with the louvre style doors and an arrestor hook. (Perhaps the original boxed Turkish version was a NF-5). Will have to dig into the leading flap issue to see if anything needs changing on the kit. Will follow the advise to leave the cockpit canopy open and to hide the basic ejection seat, will insert a pilot figure in the cockpit. Decided not to go for the resin upgrades, but see if I can keep it relatively cheap and produce something half decent with my (basic) skill sets and perform some improvements myself. Thanks all and any advice is welcome. Rgds 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 Looking forward to the results, NF-5s are underrepresented these days - even in 1:72 there's only the ESCI kit from 25+ years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 2 hours ago, Rob K. said: Luckily the kit comes with the louvre style doors and an arrestor hook. (Perhaps the original boxed Turkish version was a NF-5). We did deliver quite a few NF-5A/B's to the Turkish (and Venezuelan) AF. The giveaway are the chaff / flare packs, these were a uniquely Dutch mod. Cheers, Andre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vingtor Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 6 minutes ago, Hook said: We did deliver quite a few NF-5A/B's to the Turkish (and Venezuelan) AF. The giveaway are the chaff / flare packs, these were a uniquely Dutch mod. Cheers, Andre The chaff/flare packs were also used on Norwegian F-5s. Nils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 8 minutes ago, Vingtor said: The chaff/flare packs were also used on Norwegian F-5s. Thanks for the correction! Cheers, Andre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted December 21, 2019 Author Share Posted December 21, 2019 Happy Holidays, Some progress made with the cockpit......... Rgds 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 The nose appears a little toy like in my opinion where the gun barrels leave the top of the front fuselage. Decided to replace the kits guns (cannons) with some brass rod. Covered the brass rod in some petroleum jelly. Inserted the brass rod into previously drilled holes and started filling the area with a mixture of CA glue and gunmetal pigment. After some sanding, priming, filling, sanding............ and so on, I managed to hopefully make the nose look a little better. Guns (cannons) are not glued yet, but can be removed and fixed at a later stage. happy Holidays.🎄🎆 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share Posted December 27, 2019 Joined fuselage and wings and scribed and primed for check up. Some further corrections and filling to be done on the panel lines, but the deepest trenches are gone. Will try to do some riveting as well. Regards 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted December 28, 2019 Author Share Posted December 28, 2019 Re-scribed again some of the panel lines which didn't come out great the first time. Used the riveting wheel for the first time. Guess it is ready for the paint shop....... Rgds, 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted December 29, 2019 Author Share Posted December 29, 2019 Decided to go for the three tone grey camouflage scheme. Some minor airbrush touch ups to be done before clear coating . Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted December 30, 2019 Author Share Posted December 30, 2019 Little more progress with the clear coat and decalling. Will seal the decals tomorrow and start the panel wash/weathering once dry. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 Happy New Year Panel washes done and flat coat applied. Getting there. 😓 uploading the picture ,made me realize perhaps I need to tone down the panel-wash a bit. Hmmm..... what to do..... Have a great 2020 Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Looking great! Panel lines seem ok from some distance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 43 minutes ago, exdraken said: Looking great! Panel lines seem ok from some distance Thanks Exdraken, hopefully managed to down the panel lines a bit with some tamiya pastels. Some further progress: RGds 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 And the finished product......... Thanks for watching. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Yay! Good to see a Gilze-Rijen 316 Squadron NF-5 once again. (and now I'm in a quandary whether I should tell you the Falcon crest should face forward instead...) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 13 hours ago, alt-92 said: Yay! Good to see a Gilze-Rijen 316 Squadron NF-5 Or... a 313 Squadron one from Twenthe. Like this one. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Op verkeerde been gezet /caught wrong-footed by a incorrectly attributed f-16 pic. I'll pack my and get my Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob K. Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 21 hours ago, alt-92 said: Op verkeerde been gezet /caught wrong-footed by a incorrectly attributed f-16 pic. I'll pack my and get my Never mind alt-92, I indeed think I may have the crest the wrong way on Starboard side, however I have a spare crest and may replace and seal together with and when my next project (f-15D) is due for the same treatment in time. Thanks for the observation 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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