1/32 F-5E Kittyhawk Double job

[tchwrma]

Hi, folks!

In this group I intend to mount two kits in parallel, the two being 1/32 Kittyhawk F-5E.
The only differences will be in paint and decals. Both will be from the Brazilian Air Force, in the aggressor standard that they have had since their purchase in 1988 until 1996/1997, when all had already repainted in gray.

 Here, the two versions of paint job:

 

 

The top one is the 4870, the FAB's only F-5 that used the Snake camo. The bottom one is of historical importance, as it is the 2nd prototype of the F-5E to be manufactured. It is the 4857, which received the nickname of blue 57.
Both operated at the Canoas air base, where they are still fully operational, after modernization.

 

 

Here, the two kits:

 

 

And some afters to enhance the kits (photo of the sets to one aircraft)

 

 

At this time the Cockpit sets from Eduard are on their way to my home.

 

Soon, the first photos of the double job.

 

Paulo

Edited March 9, 2019 by tchwrma
Spell check

[Out2gtcha]

Awesome! Will follow along

[themongoose]

Super! I’d been expecting to see more of these. My wife had just lookd and my stash tonight and she commented on how she lved the blue aggressor camo! Will watch this one for her lol

[tchwrma]

6 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said:

Awesome! Will follow along

Be my guest!

Paulo.

[tchwrma]

2 minutes ago, themongoose said:

Super! I’d been expecting to see more of these. My wife had just lookd and my stash tonight and she commented on how she lved the blue aggressor camo! Will watch this one for her lol

 

This plane was ever my favorite. Finally I will do it.

I hope she continues to enjoy the painting when I finish it, because these two planes were heavily repainted to cover service and service door openings, getting a bit out of the original pattern of when they were delivered. I will do so at the end of the use of the camo scheme, just before it becomes grey.

 

Paulo.

[Mr b]

Nice. Great to see a twin build of a wonderful jet....

 

The camo schemes look very nice indeed....

 

rgds

 

 

[LSP_Ray]

Nice subjects! Look forward to the build(s).

[tchwrma]

Thanks, friends!

 

The first update:

I intended to use the verlinden cockpit set, or at least part of this. Besides the fact that its developed for the Hasegawa kit, its a wonderful set. Nothing new, its a Verlinden set.

I will use the cockpit tub, the seat, and the lower part of the pfront panel. The rest will be completed with kit's parts.

 

Observing the tub, i discovered that the part behind the seat is completely wrong. I decided to mix it with kit parts.

The first attempt, still crude, in a dryfit:

 

 

 

In the second attempt, mnore kit parts:

 

 

 

 

 

The second seat:

 

 

1st cockpit interiors:

 

 

Here the gun gas  vent ports closed:

 

 

The second  kit:

 

 

Wheel and airbrakes bays:

 

 

Correction of the side seams, still waiting re scribbing and re riveting.:

 

 

 

 

More to come...

 

By the way, a secret revelation. I'm not assembling two tigers. in meantime, I'm concluding a third one. This time an old Hasegawa kit, tottaly re scribbed and rivetted. It also being modified by scratch to be an Brazilian first lot plane, with the extension on rudder and refueling probe.

 

 

Actual status:

 

 

 

Thanks for your patience, Paulo.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by tchwrma
wrong picture posted.

[LSP_Kevin]

Terrific work, Paulo! And so fast, too.

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

Very nice indeed! 

[tchwrma]

Thank you, boys.

The cockpits are raw, yet. will be improved. I posted the photos to show the progress.

Paulo

[tchwrma]

Some updates:

 

Here, I need to post my thoughts on the Kittyhawk kit:
Despite being the best F-5 kit on the market, the kit has several bugs, some hard to believe. It took me a lot of time removing seams and injection marks. But I managed to make the kit presentable in those respects. The most annoying thing was correcting Kittyhawk's unbelievable decision to split the rudder into two parts in the middle of one of them. This, coupled with the poor fit of the small part, does a great job of filling and sanding the splice. And to make matters worse, on the other side of the rudder there is a recess on the surface of the part, in the exact local of the split, which requires more filling and sandpaper. after correcting all this, I will have to rescribe and rivet practically the whole tail, to take it to the correct shape. There is still a round embossed panel at the tail that I can not figure out where it came from, because it does not exist in any photo or in any F-5 design. More sandpaper ...
the fittings are very bad, but it's still easier to fix the kit than to rescribe the panel lines and rivets, as is required in the old Revell kit.

I will not describe the other errors of the kit, because they are already known by all, thanks to the comments posted on the topic where the kit was studied.

 

Now, the updates:

First, the corrections maded in the cockpit tubs. I believe they are now closer to the originals.
Still need to paint and add details and aging, but are already in the correct form.

 

 

The assembly is already well advanced. Soon we can reach the painting.

 

 

 

Here the results of the Chaff bump removal:

 

 

And the cuts maded to take the Leading edges to the correct shape to the Brazilian jets.

 

 

Tail:

 

 

The sides of the fuselage uppes sides with the corrections and instalations needed:

 

 

Here one attempt to get a acceptable panel. I'm drilling the holes, to after use the suppied decals from behind, to mada the job. If the cockpit PEs arrive here at time, I will replace the upper part of the panel with them.

 

 

In the nozzles, I decided to improve the interior. as he did not want to buy the PE set, very expensive to use only this piece, I decided to do the piece in scrarch.
For that I used aluminum from a can seal:

 

 

Then, I scribbed the internal lines with the rear of one blade:

 

 

Then, I made the rivets:

 

 

This is the final part:

 

 

Then using a round tool to made it round:

 

 

and the application on the kit parts:

 

 

The final results:

 

 

These parts not need to be glued becaus they will be fixed by the nozzles.

 

One of the modifications that intrigues me most is the surface of the metallic finishing pieces in the nozzles and the plates to their rounds.
They should have a metallic finish and have positive rivets, which does not exist in the kit, except for the resin nozzles supplied with the kit.

 

I tried several solutions, including aftermarket positive rivets set, which proved to be useless, because the rivets applied thus disappear when they are painted. They are very thin.

The best solution was to pass the riveter hard on the part and instead of sanding the excess plastic, I simply applied a piece of bare metal foil, which left the part with the desired finish and the positive rivets.

Here the tests maded in the nozzles of the hasegawa kit, quite modified in scratch and using some parts of both kits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More to come...

 

Thanks, Paulo.

Edited March 19, 2019 by tchwrma
Spell corrections

[Out2gtcha]

Nice!

[LSP_Ray]

Great work!

[tchwrma]

2 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Nice!

 

3 minutes ago, LSP_Ray said:

Great work!

 

Thanks, folks!