Why so little A/M for Kittyhawk F-5 kits?

[seiran01]

I'm surprised at the relatively few options for aftermarket for the recent F-5 kits... am I missing something? Have any new resin or decal sets been announced? 

All I can find are an eduard PE cockpit set, resin intakes and exhaust from Phase Hangar, random wheels and one or two parts from KASL.  What surprises me the most is the scarcity of decal sheets for the plane - I can think of a Matterhorn sheet of Swiss aircraft, an FCM sheet, and a single aggressor/adversary that Profimodeller makes. All other F-5 sheets seem to have sold out long before Kitty Hawk put their plastic in our hands.

 

Come on someone (Furball? Fightertown?), how about a sheet of modern Sundowner adversaries including the splinter scheme, Pak-FA and CONA (WWII USN) scheme    Much to my surprise, the CONA bird is still wearing the 3-tone camo scheme according to a recent photoshoot I saw.

[John1]

Not an expert but I’d suggest the lack of aftermarket bits for a kit boils down to 2 options.  Either the kit doesn’t need extra bits or they don’t think the kit will sell well enough to make it worth their while.  

[Dave Williams]

16 minutes ago, John1 said:

Not an expert but I’d suggest the lack of aftermarket bits for a kit boils down to 2 options.  Either the kit doesn’t need extra bits or they don’t think the kit will sell well enough to make it worth their while.  

Of the two choices, it’s the latter.  It certainly does need some some extra bits.

[BloorwestSiR]

I haven't tried this company yet but the have some camo masks listed for the F-5E and F

 

http://www.advmodprds.com/f532.html

 

 

[Basta]

It's an obscure subject, too. Another way of saying that it's not an F4. I don't think the average modeler even knows that the plane exists, though it has an interesting history. 

 

So not much interest from the AM cos. However, Eduard will reliably make PE for literally anything. 

[Tony T]

We certainly need seamless inlet ducting (well, any, really, seamless or not).

 

Everyone wants to do something different, making 1/32 F-5E decals an even tougher to shift proposition than usual. I was hoping Two Bobs would scale up the Alconbury Grape aggressor scheme, but no joy so far (so I have yet to buy an F-5E).

 

When I can get the right decals and inlet ducting is out there I will definitely buy one. 

 

Really waiting for the Thunderstreak and Jaguars. The Jags will be bought irrespective of AM, although some has existed for years — Kits World decal sheets and Res Kit wheels! Ironic, isn't it?! 

 

Tony 

[jenshb]

F-5E intakes are available from Phase Hangar Resin.

 

https://phasehangarresin.com/collections/32001-1-32/products/32007-f-5-tiger-ii-full-depth-intake-kittyhawk

 

The absence of a resin cockpit that would correct the too shallow floor as well as add detail is strange.  I would have thought Aires for example would be all over it as they do an F-5E cockpit and wheel wells in 1:48.  As South Korea also used the F-5E/F, I would see Wolfpack Design as a possible candidate for a cockpit...

[chuck540z3]

I'm very surprised as well for all the reasons you describe.  I finished this kit 9 months ago using a rare Black Box cockpit that is made for the Hasegawa kit and I was sure a new resin 'pit would be ready for this kit by now.  Decals were also a challenge and I had to use a mixed bag of OOP decals and paint masks to get something close to the real deal.  The kit fought me every step of the way, however, so maybe that's why the aftermarket community is avoiding this particular kit, because it's too hard for the average modeler?

 

In any event, this is how mine turned out...

 

Kitty Hawk F-5E/N

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[Tony T]

10 hours ago, jenshb said:

F-5E intakes are available from Phase Hangar Resin.

 

https://phasehangarresin.com/collections/32001-1-32/products/32007-f-5-tiger-ii-full-depth-intake-kittyhawk

 

The absence of a resin cockpit that would correct the too shallow floor as well as add detail is strange.  I would have thought Aires for example would be all over it as they do an F-5E cockpit and wheel wells in 1:48.  As South Korea also used the F-5E/F, I would see Wolfpack Design as a possible candidate for a cockpit...

 

Thanks. It still looks like a £125 bird with a kit from China and inlets from America.

Awful pretty but I'm beginning to understand why the Czechs aren't biting.

 

Tony 

 

 

 

[Juggernut]

14 hours ago, jenshb said:

F-5E intakes are available from Phase Hangar Resin.

 

https://phasehangarresin.com/collections/32001-1-32/products/32007-f-5-tiger-ii-full-depth-intake-kittyhawk

 

The absence of a resin cockpit that would correct the too shallow floor as well as add detail is strange.  I would have thought Aires for example would be all over it as they do an F-5E cockpit and wheel wells in 1:48.  As South Korea also used the F-5E/F, I would see Wolfpack Design as a possible candidate for a cockpit...

Has there been any use of these on the Hasegawa kit?  I’d be interested if they cn be fitted to the Hasegawa kit.  

[themongoose]

On 7/25/2020 at 9:07 PM, Juggernut said:

Has there been any use of these on the Hasegawa kit?  I’d be interested if they cn be fitted to the Hasegawa kit.  

I’ll let ou know. I assume they do though because i mated up the fuselage from my Hasegawa kit to the KH kit when looking at the cockpit and it lined up perfect.

[Derek B]

It is surprising really considering that Hasegawa and Revell 1/32 F-5E kits seem to be snapped up pretty regularly when on sale from what I can see. Something that has been missing (and much wanted) for a long time now are good basic, but accurate, F-5A and B variants (and, by extension, T-38) kits; this would then open up the market for many accessories and decals for all F-5 types (including the F-5E). As an primarily export MAP aircraft, there are many non-US Countries eager for such kits.

 

Derek

Edited December 4, 2020 by Derek B

[thierry laurent]

The fact a kit "needs" or not aftermarket has close to zero impact on the fact sets are actually released! If you are not convinced, have a look at the numbers of sets released for Tamiya WW2 LSP.

 

For a reason I cannot explain, the problem seems to be actually linked to some kit companies that do not attract products from aftermarket companies. If you look more closely you will see that the problem is not limited to the F-5 kits, you can say the same for close to all the large scale kits released by KH: F-86, OV-10, T-6, Kingfisher, Mirage...

 

Globally the amount of aftermarket sets that were released for their kits is ridiculous if you except Eduard that is releasing photoetched sets for close to everything!

[thierry laurent]

One thing that makes me wonder is the lack of FOD covers and this also applies to the Hasegawa  release of the F-5!

[chuck540z3]

2 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

If it was a sure thing, somebody would do it.  I honestly think a lot of people have (like me) become very wary of KH in general, and are not necessarily willing to have to end up spending a lot of money on a kit that's going to fight them every step of the way. 

 

Totally agree.  Even with a good resin cockpit, intakes and maybe exhaust (kit one has problems too), there are a ton of other issues to deal with.  Mismatched panel lines (especially from front to rear fuselage), gun doors that are hard to close cleanly, no ladder, no AOA vane, fuel ports on the wrong side and instructions that have a 1/3 of the clear parts mislabeled, this kit is a handful.  This is why you rarely see one built here or the RFI forum, so I think investing a lot of money in aftermarket products for this kit  is a poor investment.  Same can be said of the KH T-6/Texan kit, although a decent canopy would probably sell quite well (Alley Cat version is no better).

 

Cheers,

Chuck