F-5E Força Aérea Brasileira

[81-er]

After much procrastination as well as allowing myself to be distracted by other builds, I’m back on the F-5. Pylons have been installed and primer has been applied:

 

 

 

It wasn’t until after the primer was on that I realised I’d forgotten to mask the two lights under the fuselage, so I’ll have to paint those in with a bit of Molotow chrome after the rest of the paintwork is sorted.

 

The base coat of FS 36622 for the camouflage is now on, using AK RC254. This is my first experience with the AK Real Colours, and I’m impressed:

 

 

 

I’m somewhat less impressed that the fuselage seams have made themselves apparent again, and I’m just going to give up and live with it now. I’ve already been through 4 rounds of filling & sanding, with two different fillers. I can see it taking me until the end of the GB to get them to disappear and it’s just not worth it.

 

Next job now will be masking for the next colour of the camo, FS 35414 light blue.

 

James

[modelling minion]

Good to see her back in progress James and looking very nice too.

I know where you are coming from with the recurring seams, sometimes you just need to know when enough is enough.

That paint does look very good, a lovely smooth coat.

 

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[jackroadkill]

She's coming along very nicely.  I'm looking forward to the finished result.

[81-er]

Thanks gents  I'm hoping to get her masked for the next colour tonight, and maybe even spray it if time allows

 

James

[Robert Stuart]

From the photos, that looks very smooth and sleek.

James, if the lights are retracted, I'm pretty sure they fold forward, hiding the reflector.  See image in this link
https://www.airteamimages.com/northrop-f-5_803_chile---air-force_130282.html

 

[81-er]

Thanks for pointing that out, Robert! Saved me a bit of work there

 

James

[Wings unlevel]

20 hours ago, 81-er said:

I’ve already been through 4 rounds of filling & sanding, with two different fillers

I didn't mention this in my build thread I don't think, but my seams emerged to be just visible too, after I'd done with painting and clear coating... 

 

Yours is looking terrific though James, great to see it getting done.

[81-er]

Glad it's  not just me then lol! And thank you. Life interjected and masking didn't happen last night, hopefully tonight.

 

James

[81-er]

Quite a mission last night in masking for the next colour of the camouflage. This was made harder as the profiles & plan views shown on the decal sheet don’t actually align! I’ve only been able to locate two images of the actual aircraft I’m building (FAB 4857) while she still wore this scheme, both from the starboard side. The best photo I can find is halfway down this page, showing her and 4870 together and captioned as them both being in the original USAF colours. What is evident from the photos is that the decal profile isn’t 100% accurate, though the images do show her camo to be well worn.

 

I can find decent images of 4859 in this camo (as well as the 3-colour blue she’s wearing in the image over the one of 4857 on that page), plus a couple more of USAF aggressors in this scheme. What those show me is that no two aircraft have the same pattern, so I’ve decided to just use the decal sheet profiles as a guide, and tweak to suit.

 

Massively long-winded intro over, on to some progress. It was gone 11pm when I finished the masking, so I left spraying the FS 35414 light blue until this morning. It’s not looking bad:

 

 

 

It’s an interesting shade, somewhere between RLM65 and the green-cast duck egg blue the Israeli’s use. That ties in with the images I’ve found, so I’m confident I got the right shade. I rather like it as well. I managed to knock off the two outer pylons while masking, but that’s a bit of a blessing in a way as all of the pylons are the FS 36622 grey base colour so it saves some masking time.

 

My next task will be masking for the FS35164 intermediate blue.

 

James

[modelling minion]

She's looking really good James.

As you have discovered its very rare that aircraft painted in the same scheme are identical so don't get too hung up on trying to be perfect with the masking.

 

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[Robert Stuart]

Ah, masking, I don't envy you that task, but it looks as though you've done a good job there.
Two more colours to go?

[81-er]

Thanks gents. And yes, two more to go

 

James

[81-er]

I’m working from home today, so I was able to mask for the FS35164 intermediate blue over lunchtime, then took a couple of minutes to spray it during a “tea break” End result is looking pretty good:

 

 

 

 

This is the first model I’ve used AK Real Colours on, and I have to say I’m impressed. The last colour to go on will be FS 35109 Aggressor blue, once I get a chance to mask up for it.

 

James

[Robert Stuart]

Looks promising James, you are steaming through this now.

[modelling minion]

Very nice James, the AK paints look like they're going on very well.

 

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[81-er]

Thanks Craig  They really are very nice to use, if a little smellier than the acrylics I've been using. Not as bad as the Alcald though 🤣

 

I managed to mask for FS 35109 Aggressor blue last night:

 

 

 

It was well gone 11pm by that point though, so I made sure everything was set so I could quickly spray it before I left for work:

 

 

 

I’ll let that harden up while I’m at the office, and hopefully I’ll have a chance to unmask it when I get home.

 

James

[Wings unlevel]

19 hours ago, 81-er said:

then took a couple of minutes to spray it during a “tea break”

I’m sure “studies have shown” breaks like these are good for productivity! 🤣

[jackroadkill]

Oooh, I'm looking forward to seeing what she looks like once the masking comes off!

[modelling minion]

Yes I'm very much looking forward to the big reveal.

 

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[81-er]

2 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

I’m sure “studies have shown” breaks like these are good for productivity! 🤣

They are. Very productive for increasing my build rate 🤣

 

1 hour ago, jackroadkill said:

Oooh, I'm looking forward to seeing what she looks like once the masking comes off!

 

1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

Yes I'm very much looking forward to the big reveal.

 

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Same here! I'm hoping I haven't had any massive paint bleed disasters, and that the colours look ok when all together

 

James

[Robert Stuart]

The big reveal today (Saturday)?

Looking forward to this

[81-er]

You beat me to it while I was typing it up

 

Time to unveil the result:

 

 

 

 

 

On the whole, pretty pleased with that. I’m going to extend the green-blue (FS35414) further forward on the starboard intake, plus a bit more of the darkest blue (FS 35109) on the top of the starboard fin to better match the two photos I do have. I’m also going to extend the grey-blue (FS 35164) forward on the port intake, and the FS 35109 back a bit further on the fuselage above the trailing edge of the port wing.

 

Overall, those are minor, and mostly down to me trying to guess where I’d masked delineations as I built up the masking in layers. Not quite so obvious where the colour ends if that tape is under at least one other colour of paint!

 

The corrections shouldn’t take too long though, then I can get the NMF for the hot end painted. After that, decals, paint the undercarriage doors & legs, fit those, matt coat, and I’ll call it done. I’m not sure if I’ll manage to get the drop tank and ordnance done by the deadline, but I’ll try.

 

James

[jackroadkill]

That looks very cool indeed.  To keep within the Brazilian theme, the camo looks like Max Cavalera's shorts, circa 1998!

[Robert Stuart]

Like those colours James, that looks good.

[modelling minion]

Oh yes James, very smart indeed and I love the colours.

 

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