Alconbury Aggressor.

[modelling minion]

Hi all,

 

Seeing as I'm co-hosting its about time I started up a thread for my entry into the GB. Like quite a few others here I shall be using the AFV Club 1/48 F-5E as the basis for my build and other than aftermarket decals and a resin seat I shall be building it OOTB.

 

My choice of subject is one that I have been wanting to do for a while, an aggressor from the 527th TFTAS based at RAF Alconbury. I am of an age that I have very clear memories of these at various air shows in the UK, including Alconbury itself, and was fascinated by the various exotic schemes the aircraft wore. I was even lucky enough to see a couple of them plying their trade in a mock dogfight with a couple of RAF Phantoms, no guesses as to who had the tighter circles! Enough of my prattle here are the usual box and contents pictures;

 

 

Quite nice box art, though sadly not from the 527th.

 

 

The contents still mostly sealed in their bags except for the cockpit which has been given some paint.

 

The decals by Two Bobs that I shall be using, there are 5 options on the sheet, two in slightly different multi coloured camo and the other 3 in an all over grey scheme.

 

And the one I shall be building is the one in the middle in the picture above, bort number red 53 in the snake scheme, a classic scheme for the ALconbury aggressors.

 

The only problem I have with these is that I want to build all the different schemes used and with the cost of these kits thats not financially viable!

 

Really looking forward to getting started on this one.

 

Craig.

 

[Robert Stuart]

Good to see your plastic Craig
This will be fun to watch, given it is a little different from a certain Alpine Tiger.

And, looking at the distractions, I'd have been tempted by the VFC-13 scheme in that box.
Understandable, though, wanting to build a machine you've seen in life.

[lasermonkey]

I grew up not too far away from Alconbury and used to see the F-5s every day, along with the Rf-4Cs and Wyton’s Canberras. I shall look forward to seeing this one.

 

I hate to admit to still being a trifle miffed that Two Bobs never came through on their 1/72 Alconbury sheets, even though they said they would, even if there isn’t a great kit in the scale. 

[modelling minion]

14 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

Good to see your plastic Craig
This will be fun to watch, given it is a little different from a certain Alpine Tiger.

And, looking at the distractions, I'd have been tempted by the VFC-13 scheme in that box.
Understandable, though, wanting to build a machine you've seen in life.

Its a scheme I have wanted to do in 1/48 since these kits came out, I did a couple of the Airfix and Italeri 1/72 kits in Alconbury schemes many years ago but need to go up a scale now. Not that there aren't other great aggressor/adversary schemes out there and I have decal sheets for lots of them too!

14 minutes ago, lasermonkey said:

I grew up not too far away from Alconbury and used to see the F-5s every day, along with the Rf-4Cs and Wyton’s Canberras. I shall look forward to seeing this one.

 

I hate to admit to still being a trifle miffed that Two Bobs never came through on their 1/72 Alconbury sheets, even though they said they would, even if there isn’t a great kit in the scale. 

You were lucky to grow up close to two such great bases, a real shame that they are long gone.

I don't understand why Two Bobs never released them in 1/72 either, I am sure that they would have been good sellers.

 

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[Col.]

Cool subject choice Craig and a lovely kit  

[modelling minion]

11 hours ago, Col. said:

Cool subject choice Craig and a lovely kit  

Thanks mate, can't beat an aggressor and as you say the AFV Club kit is a good one.

 

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[stevej60]

Look's a cracking kit Craig,look forward to progress.Great schemes

Too!

[modelling minion]

5 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Look's a cracking kit Craig,look forward to progress.Great schemes

Too!

Cheers Steve, I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into this one mate.

 

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[jackroadkill]

I'm looking forward to this build, Craig.  Do you reckon this kit is as good as it's touted to be?  I'm tempted to give one a try.

[modelling minion]

18 hours ago, jackroadkill said:

I'm looking forward to this build, Craig.  Do you reckon this kit is as good as it's touted to be?  I'm tempted to give one a try.

Thanks.

Yes it is a good kit, I built the F-5F a few years ago and it turned out well. Due to the amount of options available from the kits there's a lot of alternate parts to fit but if you take your time and clean the parts up (there's some flash on some) and test fir then a good model can be made from it.

 

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[modelling minion]

Time to prove that I have actually made a start on my build.

One of the curiosities of this kit is that it is designed with separate panels for the gun and ammo access on the port nose but absolutely nothing to show off if you have them open, so closed they will be, unfortunately they are not the best fit and took a bit of trimming and sanding to get them in place but they are in now;

 

A little bit of PPP has filled a tiny gap left by the fitting process.

As you can see by the overspray in the picture above the cockpit has been given a coat of black to act as a base for the Dark Gull Grey which will be added later;

 

The cockpit tub and resin seat got the same treatment;

 

The centreline tank and one of the AIM-9's have also been built;

 

I have only built one AIM-9 as in all the pics of aircraft from the 527th that I have seen they only seem to have one training missile fitted and sometimes not the centre tank either.

I am pleased to say that the separate vents on the rear of the fuselage fitted very well, with just a tiny bit of PPP needed on one side;

 

I have added the fuselage intakes too and they are a perfect fit too.

Next job will be to get the cockpit finished and the rear of the fuselage finished and the wings added.

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

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[Robert Stuart]

Looks good Craig, I'm taking notes, given I have a similar kit to build.

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, Robert Stuart said:

Looks good Craig, I'm taking notes, given I have a similar kit to build.

Thanks Robert, although I am sure you don't need any help from me.

 

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[81-er]

That's a good start, Craig. Unusual that they provide the option of open covers, but nothing under them. Very odd indeed.

 

James

[modelling minion]

31 minutes ago, 81-er said:

That's a good start, Craig. Unusual that they provide the option of open covers, but nothing under them. Very odd indeed.

 

James

Thanks James, yes it is strange to have separate covers with nothing to show under them. I believe they were meant to have representations on the guns and ammo feed but the cost of tooling them would have pushed the cost of the kits beyond what AFV Club wanted, not that they're cheap!

 

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[Sam]

Hello Craig!

lovely livery. Blue-Tac say hello 😜

Will keep looking!

Sam

[modelling minion]

11 hours ago, Sam said:

Hello Craig!

lovely livery. Blue-Tac say hello 😜

Will keep looking!

Sam

Thanks Sam, and yes Blu-Tak will be my friend on this one.😁

 

Thought I would make the most of staying out of the heat outside and have cracked on with the build, not that it wasn't hot inside as it got up to 30.5 degrees inside yesterday! Made the paint dry quickly though which was good for progress.

 

The rear fuselage area is pretty much complete now with just a bit of joint tidying up to do and the tail fin to fix in place, it is only pushed into place to check the fit in the pictures below;

 

A look at the very nice detail on the undersides;

 

The rest of the time was spent on finishing the cockpit area and the seat, which I think are pretty much done now;

 

 

The two parts which make up the instrument panel have also been painted;

 

So the next job is to tidy up those seams on the rear fuselage and to get the cockpit assembled and fitted into the forward fuselage.

 

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

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[jackroadkill]

She's coming on really well, Craig, and is going to look fantastic.

[modelling minion]

11 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

She's coming on really well, Craig, and is going to look fantastic.

Thanks Jack, very much appreciated.

 

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[Robert Stuart]

That 'pit looks good, Craig.
Nice to see the rear end with a tail fin; still got to add mine.

[Filler]

Great choice Craig and a great start, especially with the cockpit painting. Very precise work! It's the same box and decals I have and even the same scheme I would choose. The big difference is that you will actually build yours!! It does look a relatively straightforward kit and a quick-ish build, compared to say a Hasegawa or Kinetic Hornet. Is that how you're finding it?

 

One other question I have; I assume that this boxing has the correct nose cone in it for the Alconbury F-5s, does it not?

[modelling minion]

1 hour ago, Robert Stuart said:

That 'pit looks good, Craig.
Nice to see the rear end with a tail fin; still got to add mine.

Thanks Robert, the kit cockpit is pretty good although the replacement seat is better than the kit parts.

The rear end has gone together with no fuss at all.

19 minutes ago, Filler said:

Great choice Craig and a great start, especially with the cockpit painting. Very precise work! It's the same box and decals I have and even the same scheme I would choose. The big difference is that you will actually build yours!! It does look a relatively straightforward kit and a quick-ish build, compared to say a Hasegawa or Kinetic Hornet. Is that how you're finding it?

 

One other question I have; I assume that this boxing has the correct nose cone in it for the Alconbury F-5s, does it not?

Thanks.

It is a pretty straightforward kit to build, when you look at the breakdown of the parts it can seem quite daunting but it is well engineered and theres nothing that a bit of basic modelling can't deal with. I haven't built a Hasegawa Hornet but I have got part way through a Kinetic one and this is head and shoulders above that in terms of fit and ease of build, I will never touch another Kinetic Hornet again but would happily build more AFV Club F-5's.

 

And yes this boxing has the correct nose and LERX for the E's that were based at Alconbury.

 

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[Jabba]

Nice choice and a good start there Craig. The Alconbury F-5Es did not normally carry the centre line fule tank unless they were on their travels to foriegn parts, or at least I did not see one as they used to scream over my room when I was based at RAF Wyton. My room was directly under the flight path when all Alconbury aircraft were landing in a certain direction, but not as noisey as the RF-4Cs.

[modelling minion]

2 hours ago, Jabba said:

Nice choice and a good start there Craig. The Alconbury F-5Es did not normally carry the centre line fule tank unless they were on their travels to foriegn parts, or at least I did not see one as they used to scream over my room when I was based at RAF Wyton. My room was directly under the flight path when all Alconbury aircraft were landing in a certain direction, but not as noisey as the RF-4Cs.

Thanks Jabba, and thanks for the info. I need to decide now whether to fit the tank or not. I went to see the RF-4C's leave for the States and can attest to how noisy they were.

 

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[modelling minion]

A little bit more work has seen the cockpit finished off;

 

 

And with that done I can now set about getting it fitted into one of the cockpit halves (along with some weights) and then close the nose assembly up.

 

Thanks for looking and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

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