MSRP: $49.95 USD
Classic Airframes has started its line of F-5
kits (long overdue I the modeling world) with the F-5A. The kit has
marking for three air forces, USAF, South Vietnamese (Southeast Asia
schemes) and a silver-colored Spanish Air Force Freedom Fighter. The kit
is multimedia, with the wheel wells, cockpit, seat, speed brake and engine
exhausts in resin, with the rest of the airframe being injection molded.
Construction started with the cockpit. Some
mold blocks were removed from the seat and cockpit. These were then
primed and painted along with the instrument panel. I really like the
detail level in the cockpit and on the seat. They are as good as most
aftermarket sets, especially the casting. The fuselage halves were
cleaned up from the sprue attachment points. Most of you will be aware of
this, but this is a limited run kit and the sprue attachment points are
substantial compared to Revell or Tamiya. I used a small saw to cut them
loose and sanded the stubs - and the halves were good to go. I added
weight to the nose- don’t want a tail sitter. The cockpit and resin nose
gear well fit into the fuselage, and the fuselage halves go together
well. However, I used Tamiya thin glue and managed to slightly misalign
the halves which took a little filling and sanding to get right. I would
use slower setting glue next time. The resin main gear well was sanded
loose of its pour block and fit OK. I aligned the back underside of the
fuselage and there was a slight gap between it and the resin insert.
Filled the gap with Elmer’s Glue and wiped with damp cotton bud (always
wanted to say that) and it was good to go.
At this point, I ran into two problems.
First, I wanted to add the wings. I glued the top and bottom halves
together and there was a minor seam but no biggie. However, when I wanted
to add the wing to the fuselage, the tabs in the wing were oversized to
squeeze into the hole in the resin part of the fuselage. A little sanding
and grinding and I had an OK fit and a little putty and sanding later, it
looked good. The second issue was at the rear of the fuselage where the
afterburner cans meet. There is a housing above the cans and no part to
cover this. It leaves a hole into the back of the fuselage. I used
plasticard and plugged it. It’s nice to realize that I can still put
things together that aren’t a perfect fit.
The rear stabilizers are attached by
drilling holes in the fuselage and gluing them in- I drilled holes but
used brass rod to help attach them as they might have been weak. I added
then intakes that required a slight fine-tuning to get them to fit well
and re-scribed panel lines. After this, a good sanding and priming later,
I was ready for some paint. I used Xtracolor sand, dark and light green
from the Vietnam era to do my plane. I chose the South Vietnamese AF and
it had a very attractive band around the back of the fuselage. Paint went
on great and being Xtracolor, no prep was need. Decals went down great
with no problem (other than my own misalignment of the bands which shows
at the top). I flat coated the kit and wanted to try something
different. I have been reading Brett Green’s book on building BF110’s and
he actually sprays the panel lines with a thin wash solution. So I tried
it with a very dilute solution of Floquil weathered black (very dark gray)
and slowly went through the panel lines with my Sotar 2020 airbrush.
Looked OK, so I flat coated with Dullcoat and then added the canopy,
undercarriage, etc. A note about the landing gear: they are all butt
joints - I pinned them in palace for strength.
This build was a blast! I know some
people will be turned off by the slight issues with the fit and the like
but it is nothing the average modeler (which I am) can’t overcome easily
and end up with a great kit. I would make only two suggestions to Classic
Airframes - first, I would resin cast the wheels as I think they would
look better. Also, a better drawing of the way the canopy sits on the
back of the cockpit would have made things a little easier - but nothing a
few looks at the Internet didn’t solve. I would like to thank Jules
Bringuier and Classic Airframes for not only the kit but their efforts in
supporting the subjects that modelers really want and getting them to us. |