HobbyBoss F5E Tiger II 1/72 with RMAF decals

[brinjal]

My 6th build. Out of the box, I was excited to have a pilot figure. The kit was easy to build, but still took me 3 weeks, although I blame work for the past week.

 

I decided early on that I will be doing the original early 80s RMAF silver scheme, and I completed the paint job after just 4 days. The majority of the rest of the time was spent googling and looking at pictures. 

 

The kit itself costs less than 5 euros. For me, the panel lines were satisfactorily sufficient at this price. The fit was good until the pylons, which took several tries and I still have the starboard wing bomb slightly off. I decided to include a full load of 3 fuel tanks, 2 mk 82 bombs and 2 sidewinders. I saw a rare photo that this RMAF plane, in this scheme, had 3 external fuel tanks. In reality, because it was mostly doing recon and bombing missions on the communist hideout over the malaysian/thai border jungles, it probably does not carry the sidewinders and the two fuel tanks on the wings. otherwise, there was also a gap on wings (towards the end) to the fuselage, but it was symmetrical. 

 

The other problem is that the front canopy is too short. 

 

The decals were by Salmonball. They were unbelievably great. moves well, sticks well, comforms well. The good thing about the decals is you actually get two sets instead of one, because newer gunship grey paint schemes had completely different markings, even the shapes. And the decal had all of them. 

 

I was pleased to be able to finish it in an open canopy, although the mechanism detail was non existent. The landing gear bays had some nice details in it, i might still add some colors to them. 

 

I am also pleased that the overall paint job took only 7 thin coats and look as good as the F86 (thicker coats) I did before, and maintained most of the panel lines. 

 

Finally, this was a patriotic project, I wanted a model from my own country's air force. And that the plane in this scheme (during around 1983) actually carried out missions means even more. I'll be doing a F/A-18D hornet which participated in the 2013 Lahad Datu Stand Off next. 

 

Its a subject that I had very little knowledge prior. so any comments would be greatly appreciated. Probably not as accurate as some other kits but it was dirt cheap (both the kit and decals). 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wulfman]

Nice work !

 

Wulfman

[Luke1199]

Looks great! Not a scheme you see every day, great work