Kittyhawk 1/32 F-5E - NFWS (Top Gun)

[Baldy]

When this kit was first announced I was exited - I love the F-5E. I’ve seen scores of them over the years - mostly aggressors - the 527 AS at Alconbury, VFA-127, VFC-13 and VMFT-401 at Yuma. I have even more in my collection including 64/65th AS Nellis aircraft and the NFWS from Miramar. Literally hundreds of different schemes over the years.

 

I bought the kit as soon as it appeared but a few reviews and close inspection of the plastic revealed all was not rosy! Well this is after all Kittyhawk! Endless to say - the lovely picture of an early F-5E out of Luke AFB is not attainable out of the box - it needs a bit of work!

 

Unperturbed I set about building an early NFWS (Top Gun) F-5E using the Furball decal sheet and planned for it to be ready for SMW 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the formation of “Top Gun”. I failed miserably!

 

So as not to bore those who are not interested I have added a list of modifications at the end of the post - it was a lot of work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The F-5E evolved as time went on and various aerials, sensors and aerodynamic mods were scabbed onto the basic airframe. Why oh why didn’t KH do the same!? A classic miss of a golden opportunity! It’s almost as easy to update the ancient Hasegawa kit than correct this one!

 

Since this is not a review I will leave it at that but here is a list of the modifications I made to backdate the kit - most of which will be necessary to model any of the aggressors until the F-5N (which is what the kit really is) came along.

 

My main reference was the excellent build on LSP here

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/78413-132-kitty-hawk-f-5e-kicked-up-a-notch-oct-319-finished/

I will however point out that my build was not quite as involved as that one.

I chose F-5E 169881/543 - mainly because I found a number of pictures of this aircraft, (a couple are in the photographic section of this site) including a shot of the underneath. I chose to depict the aircraft a little later without the (IMHO) naff looking heart and diamond in the paintwork.

 

List of modifications made

 

Starboard cockpit side console was moulded reversed - carefully cut off and glued back the correct way and tidied up.

 

Seat was assembled as per photographs and not the instructions. The cushion is shown in the incorrect place on the instructions.

 

RWR sensors on nose filled with superglue and removed.

 

Slots for the rear RWR sensors filled

 

All gun doors closed up which involves reworking the latches.

 

Fill sand and rescribe longitudinal mould flaw on fuselage sides.

 

Chaff and Flare dispenser mountings removed from underside of fuselage and U/C door

 

UHF Aerial on fin tip removed

 

Slot for VHF aerial filled on spine.

 

Refuelling ports are on the wrong side. Moulds were taken and the ports filled. Holes drilled in correct position and covers moulded and fitted.

 

Rivets added to hot areas at fear fuselage and afterburner units. Archer rivets used.

 

LEX modified to earlier shape

 

Flaps and Ailerons modified to allow the correct droop.

 

Master pitot probe fitted. No appropriate pitot included in kit for the “Standard” nose

 

Resin A/B cans were poorly moulded on my example so I made a lining tube to give impression of “double skin” to exhaust

 

Under fuselage pylon reprofiled - it simply doesn’t fit!

 

Starboard side AOA panel scribed and AOA probe scratch built

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

 

 

[Vultures1]

Absolutely superb F-5!  Great work, excellent attention to detail and a really useful list of the mods you've made - well done

[ForestFan]

Wow!

[SAT69]

It's always fascinating to see someone take a difficult kit (and Kittyhawks are nearly always difficult) and make a masterpiece out of it. Thank you for showing what can be done and for the list of changes needed and accomplished to make it happen. Absolutely superb!

[JohnT]

Thats a really nice F-5 you have done there.  Many thanks for taking the time and thought to pass on the changes and updates/fixes required to those of us who are less knowledgeable on this kit

[Alpha Delta 210]

Stunning result. Your hard work really paid off.

[paulsbrown]

That's a great paint job. Looks fantastic.

[phildagreek]

That’s fantastic. A real top result after all the work you’ve put into it.

[F-32]

She's a real beauty!

[Nev]

Now that is *very* nice

[RMCS]

Superb