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1/32 Kitty Hawk F-5E Kicked Up A Notch. Oct 3/19. Finished!


chuck540z3

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Thank you everyone for your kind comments!  As shown throughout this thread, this kit isn't for beginners and it fought me every step of the way, but part of that fight was self-induced.  As much as I love the gloss black finish, I will never do another one.  The shiny gloss finish is a dust magnet and painting it without finding crap in the paint was nearly impossible, so I had to sand and re-paint several areas as much as 4 times!  Looking at my pics, I can still see some flaws, but that's mostly because of close-up macro photography that shows every tiny thing.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with it and it will be fun to take to the next model contest.

 

1 hour ago, Squizzy said:

Just awesome, you keep taking things to a new level Chuck. 

I can't wait to see what's next, guessing it'll be a prop aircraft next as per your normal rotation. My fingers are crossed for a corsair! 

 

Thanks, you are correct, but no Corsair.  As much as I love the aircraft and know that the Tamiya kit is awesome, it has been done too many times, much like my Spitfire.  My focus now is on building models that are not as well known or maybe hard to build, much like this kit and my Trumpeter A-10C and P-38L.  My next model is a bit of both, so I will be building this bad boy into a Canadian Harvard Trainer.  Not very sexy, but I grew up with Harvards loudly buzzing overhead as a kid and there are lots of local flying examples for me to use as references.  I have already ordered a few aftermarket things like the Alley Cat rear window conversion and the Eduard Big Ed kit.  If anybody has any tips or advice, I'm all ears!

 

jpW0IV.jpg

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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1 hour ago, periklis_sale said:

Excellent build my friend

You are an inspiration

 

I thing if you dont mind as I might ne wrong

If you flip the seatbelts onto of the seat shouldn't the buckles look the other way? The way they look now is their front face whilst you should be their backside?

 

 

Good eye and you are correct!  I struggled with this feature, because on the real deal below, those seatbelts actually go through a loop and not a "y" at their attachment to the seat back, as I have done.  In this pic they are twisted with the buckle to the back as you suggested, but they could also be twisted the other way.  I tried them that way and I couldn't see much of the buckle, so for "artistic sake" I kept the buckle detail outside.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

QO029K.jpg

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Chuck, just catching up on your progress and finish. The result looks pristine and beautiful. A huge achievement since the gloss black finish will show anything and everything that isn't perfectly built.

 

I really like your vinyl trick on the inside canopy, will need to remember that one. Good thing that you didn't rush the end, something I very often end up doing and just did again with my F-16D. 

 

Cheers,

Marcel

 

 

 

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Another stunning model Chuck !

 

Thank you for explaining in detail HOW you do things.

 

Your builds are an inspiration and are great tutorials. If you ever want to combine them in a book, a nice title would be "Scale model aircraft Chucked Up A Notch"

 

Sincerely 

 

Pascal

Edited by Pascal
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Hi Chuck!

OMG that is stunning!!!  I have been really enjoying this thread from day 1.  I have not much more to add than how fabulous your build is.  Thank you for showing us how you did things along the way, much appreciated!

 

As for the T-6, there will be a lot of work for you there to bring her up to your standards.  There is a chap on here called "Sir Blue Henry" or similar and funnily he is a local modeler for me.  But he knows his T-6's and has been working his way through the issues.  It's one I want to do as well, but depending on how far you want to go, there is a lot of problems with this kit.  You will also need Harold's prop replacement, I brought an AM engine (Vector I think??) and depending on the version, possibly Ali's Harvard cockpit glazing set.

 

Anyway....that F-5 is just amazing!

 

 

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  • 7 months later...

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

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2 hours ago, Malcolm said:

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

 

Thanks Malcolm.  So often I see other builds of the kits I've made here with identical modifications, etc. that I did before.  I'm glad that some of my work is copied, which is a compliment of it's own, but your tip of the hat is much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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