Malcolm

Fantastic collection! Cheers Malcolm

LOL! Like some others here I too find it amusing that many are now seeking out these kits which were slated so much in the past. Most of the bashers probably never built any anyhow. It would be nice to, hopefully, be able to get hold of some of the kits again but some like the Jaguars are absolute rubbish. I have build KH kits a few and in the main they can be tamed (the F-5 can look really nice but with a LOT of work) but the jag is an insult - a mere caricature at best. I wouldn't get another one of those if it was free! Cheers Malcolm

Absolutely beautiful Hurricane! Very useful WIP - thanks. Cheers Malcolm

Absolutely superb build and finish Rene. Simply stunning! Cheers Malcolm

Superb work - they all look great! In what way is the Mirage 2000C a pain to build? I am looking to build mine soon - yours looks fantastic! Cheers Malcolm

Lovely build and finish. I agree with the comment about the long nose - it was a beautiful looking jet. I hope you don't mind me asking but what paint did you use for the EDSG? Cheers Malcolm

Lovely Mirage. Nice build quality and colours. I too have built the IIIE and enjoyed it very much (It looks very similar to yours!) and I look forward to the IIIC in the stash. I agree with the build problems - I dispensed with the photo etch part at the rear altogether. The nose cone is annoying but not too difficult to fix. Cheers Malcolm

Beautifully built model Alain and super paintwork too. Can't say that I agree with the "most elegant" - I always think the IIIE has the most Gallic charm. Cheers Malcolm

Superb! Beautiful build and finish! Cheers Malcolm

That looks great - love all of the Mirages and this is excellent. Cheers Malcolm

Beautifully built and finished Dora - Very nice weathering. Cheers Malcolm

That looks great Neil - excellent job on scratching the changes. Very well done! Cheers Malcolm

Great build - beautifully detailed and finished. Cheers Malcolm

Absolutely stunning Mig-15 Petr - exquisite natural metal finish and superb weathering. Well worth all the difficulties in the build. Cheers Malcolm

Superb build Chuck - I have followed your build with great interest and have used it partly as reference to build my own F-5E here - You will see that I have credited you in my comments so thank you - I learned a lot! Cheers Malcolm

Superb paintwork Mike - a beautiful and well presented model. Cheers Malcolm

Miroslav that is fantastic! Beautiful finish and weathering. Lovely colours and superb presentation too! Cheers Malcolm

Hello Ray Yeah - I noticed too late that I was in the wrong forum and I was hoping that you would correct me. Thanks. And thank you for your kind comments too. Cheers Malcolm

Hello all. This is my first post on this great site so I hope you will be kind to me. When this kit was first announced I was excited - I love the F-5E. I’ve seen scores of them over the years - mostly aggressors - the 527 AS at Alconbury, VFA-127, VFC-13 at Fallon and VMFT-401 at Yuma. I have even more in my collection including 64/65th AS Nellis aircraft and the NFWS from Miramar. There were literally hundreds of different schemes over the years. I bought the kit as soon as it appeared but a few reviews and close inspection of the plastic soon revealed that all was not rosy! Well this is after all Kittyhawk! Needless to say - the lovely picture of an early F-5E out of Luke AFB is not attainable out of the box - it needs a bit of work! Unperturbed I set about building an early NFWS (Top Gun) F-5E using the Furball decal sheet and planned for it to be ready for SMW 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the formation of “Top Gun”. I failed miserably! So as not to bore those who are not interested I have added a list of modifications at the end of the post - it was a lot of work! Colours were from Mr Paint (FS 36375 Light Ghost Gray) and Testors and Mr Paint (FS 35109) which were virtually identical - I already had the Testers version but found it difficult to spray so resorted to the Mr Paint version. The F-5E evolved as time went on and various aerials, sensors and aerodynamic mods were scabbed onto the basic airframe. Why oh why didn’t KH do the same!? A classic miss of a golden opportunity! It’s almost as easy to update the ancient Hasegawa kit than correct this one! Since this is not a review I will leave it at that but here is a list of the modifications I made to backdate the kit - most of which will be necessary to model any of the aggressors until the F-5N (which is what the kit really is) came along. My main reference was the excellent build by Chuck on LSP here: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/78413-132-kitty-hawk-f-5e-kicked-up-a-notch-oct-319-finished/ I will however point out that my build was not quite as involved as that one and nowhere near as good. I chose F-5E 169881/543 - mainly because I found a number of pictures of this aircraft on the web including a shot of the underneath. I chose to depict the aircraft a little later without the (IMHO) naff looking heart and diamond in the paintwork. The main changes I made were: Starboard cockpit side console was moulded reversed - carefully cut off and glued back the correct way and tidied up. Seat was assembled as per photographs and not the instructions. The cushion is shown in the incorrect place on the instructions. RWR sensors on nose filled with superglue and removed. Slots for the rear RWR sensors filled All gun doors closed up which involves reworking the latches. Fill sand and rescribe longitudinal mould flaw on fuselage sides. Chaff and Flare dispenser mountings removed from underside of fuselage and U/C door UHF Aerial on fin tip removed Slot for VHF aerial filled on spine. Refuelling ports are on the wrong side. Moulds were taken and the ports filled. Holes drilled in correct position and covers moulded and fitted. Rivets added to hot areas at fear fuselage and afterburner units. Archer rivets used. LEX modified to earlier shape Flaps and Ailerons modified to allow the correct droop. Master pitot probe fitted. No appropriate pitot included in kit for the “Standard” nose Resin A/B cans were poorly moulded on my example so I made a lining tube to give impression of “double skin” to exhaust Under fuselage pylon reprofiled - it simply doesn’t fit! Starboard side AOA panel scribed and probe scratch built Added Eduard Seat Belts - I was losing the will to live by then and couldn’t cope with sorting out a harness from the kit etch parts. Cheers Malcolm