chuck540z3

Your work is beautiful and although I initially thought the tail camo was a bit too hard edged, when compared to the print of what the real deal looked like, I think you absolutely nailed it. Those tires/wheels are spectacular as well. As for the accuracy- or not- of the leading edge slats, as they say in Jersey, "Fugetaboutit!", as it appears you are. I'll bet 98% of those who view your model now or in the future will never question the slats position, including me. For the puttied seams, I would take a look at what Matt at "Doogs Models" has done below. Rather than apply a putty seam, he masked off the areas that were not puttied, then sprayed a putty coat. Doog's ME-262 Cheers, Chuck

Thanks Brian. Despite the misgivings of this kit for accuracy, ill fitting parts, mold flaws and poor (and wrong) instructions, I have to remind myself that we modelers should be happy that Kitty Hawk (KH) has created this kit (& F-5F) in the first place. If you wanted a 1/32 F-5, the old Hasegawa kit used to be the only option and it is truly bad. At least this kit gives us a fighting chance to create a really nice model of this iconic and very popular fighter. On the positive side, this kit has: 1) Generally well defined and clean panel lines 2) Good to excellent rivet detail 3) Good overall shape 4) Lots of options to create a specific version with a variety of load-outs 5) Lots of decal options, although I have no idea yet how good the decals are 6) Good plastic that sands and re-scribes easily Also, the front intake parts have a very specific ridge on the inside/back that indicate that something should have or will fit onto it one day, like maybe intake parts? There is no reason for this ridge to be there, so this kit just might improve in the future once these shortcomings are fixed. In the meantime, seamless intakes and likely a new resin cockpit will become available, even if KH doesn't change a thing, to make the kit better. Cheers, Chuck

Thank you Gentlemen! Thanks Marcel. I never would have tried this on a larger jet, like my big Eagle, because you can actually see quite a bit inside those big intakes. These tiny intakes mean that you can get away with minimal detail, because you can't really see much of it inside, even with a flashlight. In any case, even crude intakes are better than nothing! A bit of an update, but more of a warning. I am currently detailing the upper fuselage before I glue the entire fuselage together and along with moving the fuel caps to the port side, I've been scratching my head on how to deal with those circular windows just in from of the engine vents on each side. These windows indicate the level of some kind of fluid, but the kit instructions don't have clear windows for them. A review of other builds of this kit indicate that nobody is using an alternative, so the circular depressions are left as is. After looking hard at where all the clear parts go (GP Series), I think I have figured out that many parts are miss-labeled and therefore not missing. So here is what I've found by looking at the GP sprue below: 1) On the bottom of the forward fuselage, the instructions tell you to place two GP-9 circular lens into the openings in Step 22. These lenses are too small, so you should use two GP-1 lenses instead. 2) Now we have two small GP-9 lenses for the sides, which fit perfectly in the holes in front of the engine vents in Step 17, which are not mentioned. 3) The instructions tell you to use the GP-1 lenses for the navigation lights on the bottom of the wing in Step 19, but nothing for the top of the wing. Since there are four GP-7 lenses, which are almost identical to the GP-1 lenses, these should be used instead for the bottom AND top of the wing. 4) The remaining error is that the instructions ask you to use the circular GP-7 lenses in the vertical stabilizer in Step 21. This is wrong (and we used them already above), because they are rectangular shaped and should be GP-5 instead. In Summary: 1) Step 22. Use GP-1 instead of GP-9 for the bottom lights on the forward fuselage 2) Step 17. Use GP-9 for the side lenses just forward of the engine vents. (Missing in instructions) 3) Step 19. Use four GP-7 lenses instead of two GP-1 lenses on the end of the wings, top and bottom. 4) Step 21. Use GP-5 instead of GP-7 lenses on the tail. 5) Kitty Hawk instructions should be scrutinized thoroughly before gluing anything. Hope this helps! Chuck

Wow! You can see how dangerous that would be if it hit somebody. Likely certain death. Incredible nonetheless. Chuck

While I realize that a video like this might be old-hat to a lot of you guys, I had no idea that remote control jets were as sophisticated and fast as they are- and this sucker is big! Any intel on engines, cost, etc. of this amazing hobby? Check out the low pass at the 2:26 mark. Incredible. RC F-104 Starfighter Video Cheers, Chuck

Now the intakes present a much bigger problem, because they don’t exist at all and so far, there are no after-market ones available. Phase Hanger Resin is making some, but after at least 10 attempts to contact them and get a real date for delivery, I gave up and for the first time, tried to make some of my own. With small engine intakes and a fairly straight forward trajectory, I found some 5/8” OD/1/2” ID PVC pipe and gave it a whirl. Let’s call these “Econo-Intakes”, because they are nowhere near as good as resin ones, but they are better than nothing- and waiting for some to show up one day (or not). I started with a few tools to shape and bend the plastic pipe. The pliers on the right give an intake opening similar to the kit plastic and the awl-like gizmo on the left (it’s really a wine stopper) should spread the pipe enough to get it around the engines. After a lot of trial and error using a heat gun, I found that the pipe will become very flexible when heated and you can shape it. The pipe also has a bit of shape memory, so by re-heating the pipe, you can get it to go back close to where it started before heating. So here is Proto-type Econo-Intake #7, which worked out quite well. In order to get the intake to fit over the gear well, you need to sand down both the bottom and top so that it will clear. This was done using a sanding wheel on a Dremel tool, which made quick work of the plastic. Other parts were heated and shaped accordingly, but you have to be careful to let the pipe cool before it touches the kit plastic. While the outside of the pipe is quite rough, the inside remains very smooth. The fronts are a bit rough right now and everything is still only dry fit. After the top fuselage has been cemented to the bottom, I will sand and shape them super thin so that they are one smooth unit with no gaps. When the front portion of the intake is installed, it will be tough to see this join anyway. This front piece has lots of issues to deal with anyway, so I plan on making everything smooth as one unit and, well, seamless! From the front you can see the intake fan, which is really hard to photograph. I’m leaving these intakes white, so no need to paint them. That’s it for now boys. Next up will be clean-up of the “Econo-Intakes”. Cheers, Chuck

Thanks Bryan! The answer is yes, as I will show again below. Peter, you make me blush, especially coming from the Master! Feb 12/19 Thankyou Gentlemen! With the front fuselage done, it’s now time to attack the rear fuselage. Before I go any further, many of the modifications I’m making I found in the LSP Kitty Hawk F-5E SIG thread, so thank you to everyone who pointed these out before. You guys tell me what’s wrong with this kit, and I’ll try to show how to fix them! My jet doesn’t have the chaff and flare dispenser (B12), so the raised panel should be removed and the two small holes filled. At the rear of the fuselage are 4 raised lumps. Two should be there and two should be sanded down. As mentioned earlier, I rescribe every panel line and re-punch every rivet to enhance detail, so I also always use a dark wash to see if I goofed up somewhere. For all my criticisms of this kit, the bottom detail is excellent. I was also going to hide the landing gear bays with closed doors, but with this fine detail, I’m having second thoughts. I may jazz this stuff up some more and leave it exposed. The top of the fuselage, however, isn’t as well detailed and it has a few errors. The engines have nicely formed intake fans and compressors, but there’s lots of crap in the way and ink marks for some reason, so I’m not sure why KH bothered. There is a fix, however. Eduard supplies flame tube screens to cover all the warts and some nice detail for the compressor face. Some engines have this screening and some don’t and I found a pic of a jet that had one of each, so anything goes. All painted up and ready for assembly. With the exhaust extensions dry fit, most of the seam lines are covered. And no ugly seam lines on the sides either.

Thanks Guys! Looking at my close-up pics, I see some remaining flaws, which I have just fixed. Next up, seamless intakes for $3.20 US. I haven't actually made them yet, but I think I know how after a little experimentation. Wish me luck! Cheers, Chuck

Just for laughs, I put on the canopy to see how it would fit. Almost perfect! Very surprising, since a canopy closed option is not available without extensive modifications, that are not described in the instructions. The fit is so good, that I think I will be using the canopy to seal the cockpit, using masking solution as the “glue”. Next up, the engines. I have a few surprises that I think you will like, but like everything in my builds, this will take a while! Cheers, Chuck

February 9/19 Time to finish off the front fuselage once and for all, with the windscreen and gun doors installed permanently. In sort of random order, let’s start with the glare shield and HUD. The Black Box (BB) resin kit doesn’t come with a HUD, so you are asked to create one from scratch. While there are lots of options to do this, the kit HUD isn’t too bad, although it’s a bit too thick, so I went with it. It needs to be sanded down from the sides, however, because it’s about 10% too wide. Unfortunately, the BB assembly that holds the HUD is crude and not uniform, so you need to use a filler of sorts to get it to lay straight and flat. I tried a number of water-based glues to do this, but all failed due to their thickness, which quite frankly made a big mess. Thankfully, clean-up was easy with water, so that I could start all over again- about 5 times! The solution, although it was a big risk, was to use thin CA glue instead. There are no ways to start all over again with CA glue on painted resin, so I sucked up some courage and taped the HUD in place, then oozed from the sides some thin CA glue on a microbrush. As hoped, the glue worked perfectly, running down the HUD assembly by capillary action, while creating a strong bond. Normally you wouldn’t risk using CA glue on clear plastic for fear of fogging, but in an open environment, the CA fumes won’t hang around, as they would in an enclosed canopy. For the circular glass lens behind the HUD glass, I used a drop of Future/Pledge mixed with a little clear green acrylic paint. The entire glare shield was then dulled down with Tamiya pastels, to create a bit of a weathered and rubberized look. On the left side of the HUD should be a shielded gizmo that I found was an “AOA Indexer” from references. While the BB kit was missing this feature, the kit has this part, but it is very crude with a big seam line running through it. Cleaning it up and adding some brass for the shield on the top along with an Airscale placard, it turned out pretty good. After it was assembled, I drilled a hole and inserted it beside the HUD. Note the big gaps along the gun door to windscreen panel lines. More on that later. Another view from the top. Another part supplied in the kit and BB resin set is the compass on the windscreen on the right side. Both are crappy, so I made one myself from styrene rod and more Airscale brass bezels and decals, with a wire attached to the back. For the compass holder/bracket, I modified an Airscale bezel that had an extension that I cut out, bent, then glued to the windscreen. The compass was painted black, while the bracket was painted cockpit gray, after masking off the entire windscreen and painting the front gray and the rear black on the inside only. Dry fit, albeit a bit crooked. Now it looks more the part than the kit offering. Now the gun doors. As mentioned earlier, they are made to be in the open position, so they don’t fit at all. The door latches are also made in the open position, while the surface is lumpy, due to the ribbing on the inside. To fix this, I sanded the surface smooth, then carefully trimmed the latches, scoring a cut on the inside, then pushed them into the open holes. A view from the inside, showing the ribbing and the latches closed on the top panel and still open on the bottom panel. Before getting active with gun door modifications, I glued the windscreen in place to protect the HUD, etc. The windscreen and canopy are not very well cast, with lots of marbling in the clear plastic. After polishing both with Tamiya polishing compounds, they are better, but the real flaws are within the plastic, so you are stuck with what you get. From a distance like this, the flaws are invisible, so “good enough”. Note that I did not paint those areas under the windscreen that are in contact with plastic, to ensure a strong bond that won’t let paint get into the windscreen area. Using a sanding stick only, I carefully sanded down every panel to get them to fit, starting with the bottom gun door glued closed. This took a long time and some of the panel line gaps were tight while others were too large. The big gaps were filled with CA glue, then sanded down and rescribed, creating a more uniform look like the real deal. After a lot of work, I’m pretty happy with the clean and uniform look now.

Totally agree. It's like Usain Bolt sprinting against the stereotypical modeler- and that visual isn't pretty! Stereotypical Modeler

Great job! Your gun door fit is really well done. I'm building the same kit, so I know most of the challenges and that's a big one. Cheers, Chuck

I can't believe I've never looked at this thread before. I'm not a big Mosquito fan I guess, but your modeling is incredible! Excellent, detailed work Anthony. Love it all. Cheers, Chuck

Cockpits are amazing. Really top notch modeling in every way. Cheers, Chuck

Gorgeous! Cheers, Chuck