HobbyZoneUSA

I have something that I may try on the next build for trunking, but I'm not convinced that it is mission critical either. While it was a bit of a surprise to see that open cavity of the rear fuselage, once that was painted black, the view down the intakes isn't much different than the Hasegawa kit with the blanked-off intakes, and nobody has ever done aftermarket intakes for the Hasegawa F-5E to date.

The project is getting closer to primer!

The Kitty Hawk 1/32 F-5E is moving along much faster. The front and rear fuselage are together and the backdates are completed now including the early LERX, the removal of the ventral chaff/flare mount, and rear RHAW antenna mounts.

Finally have the forward fuselage of the Kitty Hawk 1/32 F-5E assembled! This was a bit more complicated than it needed to be, and it takes a little patience, but it does go together. Now I can start on the rear fuselage and wings.

Slowly making progress on the Kitty Hawk F-5E - the forward nose section now has thin Evergreen strip styrene filling the slide mold tracks and that will be blended smooth shortly. Meanwhile, it was time to close up the gun bay doors. While I thought the doors were positionable, they were designed to be displayed open. The latches are molded open on the upper door halves which were removed and will be filled in with Mr.Surfacer 500. The upper and lower door halves required a bit of trimming to get them to close properly, but now they are closed.

From the Czech Republic, we now carry the GreenStrawberry line of science fiction detail sets. We're still adding the new sets to the database, stay tuned! From the Ukraine, we are expecting the Foxbot line of decals which include the 'digital' Fulcrum, Flanker, and Frogfoot decals and masks in 1/48 and 1/32. These should be here in the next week. From Russia, Begemot is sending over their newest release - 1/32 USSR AF insignia type 1955 decals. From Poland, Brengun has sent over a selection of kits, details, and diorama accessories in 1/32, 1/35, and 1/48. These will be online shortly. We're fully stocked on the HobbyZone series of modules including the latest OM13 Sprue Racks which have been popular as well as the S3base adaptors which turn the S3b/s wall paint racks into vertical storage modules complete with magnets to work with the other worshop modules in the series. We carry the full range of modular workbench products, portable work surface products, paint racks, specialty tools, and other hard-to-find products. We do not play the in-stock/backorder game in our store. If you can order it on our website, we have it in stock, and all orders received before midnight will ship the following business day. Our online store is set up to ship anywhere in the United States. APO/FPO and Canadian customers, please email us at sales@hobbyzone.biz if you also wish to order (the online store isn't set up for those destinations, sorry).

The cockpit is touched-up, the nose gear well is assembled with the structure of the gun bays (which will remain empty for this build), and now to look at another backdating item. The RHAW antennas on the nose have large recesses on the insides of the nose which will leave holes when the RHAW blisters are removed. I filled the recesses with cyano, then used my Sujiborido course file to plane the surface smooth, removing the RHAW blister. You can see the cyano that fills the hole from the inside. The whole process took just a few minutes and the nose/radome are test-fitted before I go back and fill in the slide mold track on the lower sides of the nose.

Thanks. The best way to critique your own work is to publish photos and then look at them. I already see a few touch-ups that are going to happen very soon.

Progress continues with the Kitty Hawk 1/32 F-5E. I was going to really super-detail the cockpit, but I will save that effort for the next builds. First I want to get this one completed to sort out any issues before really getting into the AMS detail mode.

So between painting sessions in the cockpit of the KH 1/32 F-5E, I started on the other fixes and backdates to render a 1970s era F-5E. Here is the central fuselage that sits behind the canopy. The fuel filler caps were molded on the right side of the spine rather than the left, and the antenna base in the center needs to go. I dug out my trusty Waldron punch set and found a punch the same diameter as the fuel filler caps. I punched out four disks, two to fill in the right side holes, two to serve as new filler caps. I used a pin vise to drill out pilot holes for the new refueling points followed by a drill bit that matched the diameter of the Waldron punch that was just used. After opening up the two holes, I used a chamfering tool to bevel the edges of the holes, then glued the disks into place as the new filler caps. I also opened up the hole for the antenna, inserted sprue stock, and glued the hole closed. I used my Sujiborido course file to remove the excess plastic in the old filler holes and the antenna base, then applied Mr.Surfacer 500 to find any imperfections. When all of that is sanded and polished, the spine is now corrected and backdated.

Stop that! I had to break for a cigar after seeing this one...

No, didn't see that one. Since I'm still in the build stage, I'm consolidating and prioritizing the details that I want to fix between what I found and the extensive breakdown here in the forums on the kit. The instrument panel is circa 1970/80/90, so I won't be doing the F-5N this time around. That means I have some bodywork to do with the RHAW antenna removal and relocating the fuel fill points to the port side of the dorsal spine. Flipping the right-hand side console around was easy, but these parts are molded thin in many areas and are somewhat delicate.

I've been looking forward to the release of this kit from Kitty Hawk, and after going through the kit during my first-look over on Cybermodeler, I am still hopeful that this kit can render any one of the seven decal subjects in the box. The main issue I have is that the kit tries to capture the features of all seven subjects without being able to render any of them straight OOB. More recently, I found the discussion thread looking at this kit and there are some sharp engineering eyes that have poured over the plastic. Like every kit out there, this one isn't perfect, but it is time to put it to the test. Since I can't do much with the nose section without the cockpit installed, I initially thought about using the Verlinden cockpit, but decided to build this as much out-of-the-box as possible. The revelation that the right side console was backwards was interesting, but I flipped it around using a razor saw. Another revelation described in that thread is that the cockpit tub is too shallow and as I mentioned above, I could see that comparing it to the Hasegawa kit. What's interesting is that the ejection seat is not compressed to compensate, rather the bottom portion of the seat frame was eliminated. From the seat pan to the headrest, the height is right. Look here at the kit seat compared to the seat from True Details, TAC Scale Dynamics/CAM, and Verlinden. These all align with the kit seat but they also reveal that the survival seat pan and a few other areas need some work. Interesting that the resin pilot from Kitty Hawk has his legs up a bit to compensate for the lower ejection seat. Here is the figure seated in the Verlinden seat, so the proportions are good. Aside from leg position, the backpack parachute extends down too low on the figure. The chute fits into the rear of the seat atop that bolster behind the seat pan. The instructions have you put the seat cushion for the survival kit in the back of the seat and is actually molded to fit back there. I relocated it and the seat looks better. Here's the corrected KH seat cushion and I've also trimmed the backpack parachute of the pilot to fit over that rear bolster in the seat. With the seat completed, the rest of the cockpit tub goes together with the usual test-trim-test-glue routine. There's a bit of flash on many of the parts, and some of the parts are molded quite thin, so care is required not to damage the assemblies. Here's the tub with pilot dry-fitted ready for paint.

So I couldn't wait to get this kit on the bench. Since I can't do much with the nose section without the cockpit installed, I initially thought about using the Verlinden cockpit, but decided to build this as much out-of-the-box as possible. The revelation that the right side console was backwards was interesting, but I flipped it around using a razor saw. Another revelation described earlier is that the cockpit tub is too shallow and as I mentioned above, I could see that comparing it to the Hasegawa kit. What's interesting is that the ejection seat is not compressed to compensate, rather the bottom portion of the seat frame was eliminated. From the seat pan to the headrest, the height is right. Look here at the kit seat compared to the seat from True Details, TAC Scale Dynamics/CAM, and Verlinden. These all align with the kit seat but they also reveal that the survival seat pan and a few other areas need some work. Interesting that the resin pilot from Kitty Hawk has his legs up a bit to compensate for the lower ejection seat. Here is the figure seated in the Verlinden seat, so the proportions are good. Aside from leg position, the backpack parachute extends down too low on the figure. The chute fits into the rear of the seat atop that bolster behind the seat pan. The (whatever-it-is) in the rear of the KH seat doesn't belong there because the pilot will sit too far forward. Interesting that the (whatever-it-is) is the correct shape for the bottom seat pan with the cut-out between the legs, which would replace the seat block currently in the seat pan. Good thing I haven't glued those seat inserts into place.

I found this thread after posting my own findings on Cybermodeler, my compliments for the sharp engineering eyes! I've noted some of the other oddities of the kit you folks have found like the off-sides dorsal fuel fillers, thanks for that. On the subject of cockpit depth, I was doing some comparisons against the Verlinden 1739 cockpit tub for the Hasegawa E-model and you can see that the KH tub is a few millimeters shallow. Since it will be a little while before Harold can develop a masterpiece replacement, I'm thinking this one is going to get the Verlinden tub, which doubles as some serious ballast in the nose. Backdating the kit to one of the 425th TFTS birds (or a 65th AGRS bird during ACEVAL/AIMVAL) will require the removal of the forward RWR blisters as all have previously noted, but what I also found is that the plastic isn't very thick there so we'll be filling holes where the blisters once resided. No biggie, but thought you'd want to know.

Hi Gerhard, when we first released the PS01, we did receive a great deal of international interest, but for whatever reason, the cost of shipping is high, and when passing that information along, everyone agreed and we have not sold a single jig outside of the US for that reason. That said, we do sell these through our eBay store and they have a (relatively) lower cost shipping option which has seen a few PS01s go to New Zealand, Germany, and elsewhere. For HobbyZone USA, the cost of postage to the eBay shipping hub is minimal, so that might be an option.

Interesing, but I'm happy with the PS01 for my purposes.

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The dimensions for the PS01 are on our website so you can gauge whether it will hold a given model. I've had everything from a 1/72 P2V-7 Neptune to a 1/28 T-34 Mentor in it, including the 1/32 F-35A and Fw 190D-9, but the 1/48 Ju 52 had too great a wingspan for the jig. The short answer to your 1/24th question is: it depends on the dimensions of your model. As for availability outside the US, at present no. These are currently made exclusively for HobbyZone USA and we don't ship outside North America (sorry). At some point, HobbyZone.pl may offer these globally, but I have no idea when that might happen.

In your example, you'd tape or rubber band the nose into the front cradle, lock your wingtips into the wing jigs using the magnetic clamps, allowing the tail to sit out in space. The tailplane cradle can then be adjusted to hold both of your horizontal stabs in position whilst the glue cures.

When I assembled the Hasegawa 1/32 Fw 190D-9, I was impressed with the engineering of the wing/fuselage join such that the model didn't need to sit in the HobbyZone USA PS01 Aircraft Jig. After painting was finished and the decal process started, that's when I ran into problems - the constant maneuvering of the model to apply decals was going to damage the landing gear. The solution? Remove one arm of the PS01 and use the remaining jig to cradle the model while I rotate it around to apply decals! No landing gear were harmed in the application of these decals!

New in the store: From HobbyZone.pl, we have the new OM13 Sprue Organizer, OM14 Storage Hutch (which was previously called OM13 while it was made exclusively for HobbyZone USA), and a new adaptor to convert the S3b and S3s Paint Wall Racks into vertical paint modules atop the modular storage system (S3base). The OM14 is in stock, the OM13 and S3base will be here (hopefully) by the end of the week. From Begemot, we have the 1/72 MiG-29SMT, MiG-29 Family Pt.1, and MiG-29 Stencil decal sets as well as resupplies on the popular 1/48 Su-35S sheet. All are online now. From Shimomura, we have the new Alec Pin Wheel chamfering tool and a resupply of the Pro-25G Hypergate Cutting Saws and the Funtec Carbide Scraper. These are here and in the store now. From ResKit, we're expecting the new 1/48 CH-53/MH-53 wheels, F-4B/N wheels, F-4C/D/E wheels, F-100 wheels, F-106 wheels, and AH-64 wheels. We're also receiving a resupply of the popular F-102 wheel sets as well. These will be here hopefully by the end of the week. We carry the full range of modular workbench products, portable work surface products, paint racks, specialty tools, and other hard-to-find products. We do not play the in-stock/backorder game in our store. If you can order it on our website, we have it in stock, and all orders received before midnight will ship the following business day. Our online store is set up to ship anywhere in the United States. APO/FPO and Canadian customers, please email us at sales@hobbyzone.biz if you also wish to order (the online store isn't set up for those destinations, sorry). For more information, visit our website at HobbyZone USA (www.hobbyzone.biz).

That's how I build as well Theo. I'm not sure about this one either but I'll give it a whirl anyway.

Here's a sneak peek at HobbyZone.pl's latest creation, the OM14 Sprue Organizer Module. This is designed to work with the modular storage system and sit atop the storage modules using the magnets that are included. We'll pass along the release date and pricing when it becomes available. What do you think?

HobbyZone USA is the largest importer of the HobbyZone line of hobby workshop products in North America, and is a veteran-owned small business. Our online store is set up to ship anywhere in the United States. We carry the full range of modular workbench products, portable work surface products, paint racks, specialty tools, and other hard-to-find products. We do not play the in-stock/backorder game in our store. If you can order it on our website, we have it in stock, and all orders received before midnight will ship the following business day. New in the store: We've just received the latest shipment from Begemot Decals that now expand our selection into 1/72 subjects, restock our 1/48 and 1/32 sets, and adds the latest release with the Cold War Red Star set in 1/48 and 1/72. All of the Begemot Decals have free shipping in the US. We've also just received another resupply from HobbyZone that includes a new batch of PS01 Plane Stands. These are made exclusively for HobbyZone USA as are the OM13 Storage Hutch modules. We've also expanded our selection of specialty modeling tools from Japan including some new Alec scrapers that are designed for the model car modeler, and some high-end Tungsten panel line cutters. The details for these are online on the store. All of the Japanese tools have free shipping in the US. The latest shipment from ResKit has arrived to include additional 1/48 modern French AF armaments and Bf 109 crew figures. We just received word that they've released new wheel sets in 1/48 for the F-4J/S, RAF Phantoms, F-111/EF-111A, F-101, and F-102. These next releases will arrive sometime in February. All of our ResKit sets have free shipping in the US. Finally, the Academy 1/35 M1A2 SEP V2 TUSK II kit has arrived in the shop. This is the ultimate version as it has the SEP Version 2 details as well as the option for applying the TUSK II supplemental armor to the sideskirts and turret. This kit is also the first with the T158 individual track links as an option to the standard 'rubber band' type tracks. We'll be receiving the new Academy 1/35 Panzer IV Ausf.H which is an all-new-tool release and looks great! For more information, visit our website at HobbyZone USA (www.hobbyzone.biz).