Northrop F-5E Tiger II

[Robert Stuart]

Saw this listed on eBay for £9.50, but thought the vendor might have his/her own web shop, so had a look for that ... bought it direct for £7.99.

 

 

[stevej60]

Look's interesting Robert I love these HB kits warts'n all just got their F-22 Raptor new for just over a tenner great kit will follow with interest.

[Robert Stuart]

Thanks Steve,

I'll be keeping an eye on your F-15 build too

HobbyBoss have an interesting reputation for their kits, (not sure that I've built one before).
There are a few build reviews of this model around - known issues are fuselage fit, and the decals may be thicker than they seem at first, we'll see what else I find.

 

[PlaStix]

Hi Robert. Great to have you taking part in this GB! And looks like an interesting kit too.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Robert Stuart]

Sprue shot ...

 

Not much to remark on here, on-line reviews of the kit often mention the pilot and the panel lines.

Essentially, the pilot would give Igor a run for his money in a beauty contest.

And, the panel lines are heavy-handed, even for people who like panel lines.

Not often mentioned (or I haven't noticed): Trumpeter have ignored the blow-in doors.  These would require two additional parts, or a different approach to moulding the fuselage.
I'll decide later whether they worry me enough to do something about the doors.


Colour options:

 

 

Options: US Navy in tan/brown, US Marines in greys, Brazil in green/brown (not quite) SEA colours and Switzerland in modern greys.
I'm pretty sure which I'll go for ...


Decals:

 

I'm not entirely convinced by that yellow, but otherwise, the decals look good and thin.
One build that I've read suggests that they may not be as thin as they appear.  We'll see ...

[PeterB]

On 5/13/2021 at 9:07 PM, Robert Stuart said:

Thanks Steve,

I'll be keeping an eye on your F-15 build too

HobbyBoss have an interesting reputation for their kits, (not sure that I've built one before).
There are a few build reviews of this model around - known issues are fuselage fit, and the decals may be thicker than they seem at first, we'll see what else I find.

 

Hi Robert,

 

I have built a few of their cheapies and there have been one of two problems - lack of undercarriage doors on their P-40C and perhaps on their Spit V according to some sources though mine was ok, thick and slightly oversize canopies on both of the above, but the most irritating problem was the decs. They came off the backing sheet pretty quickly but you had to be very careful placing them as they stuck instantly and any attempt to position them caused them to tear. Also, the numbering on the decal instructions bore no apparent relation to that on the sheet as I recall. Other than that they were nice quick builds and look ok. Some of their research is a bit iffy - the Ju 87D is supposedly a D-3 but clearly a D-5 with the extended wing and cannon (so that they could re-box it as a "G" perhaps as the 37mm cannon are on the sprue) and their P39N and P39Q appear to be identical when in real life there were a few differences. Nothing major and maybe they have got better over time as the ones I built were I think some of their early releases.

 

Yours will hopefully be problem free.

 

Pete