f5guy

Hi guys! I got the basic pattern down on #31. There is still a LOT of touch up and pattern adjustments to be made though. Having very few photographs to work from, especially for the top and bottom patterns, and the fact that the scheme changed quite a bit in a short amount of time, makes it quite tricky. No 100% accuracy guarantee's here, but I'm doing what I can 🤣 I'm hoping to have it done in a few weeks, and then move onto #20 and finish out this build by the end of the year. As a little teaser, I've decided that my next project thread will likely be to build an F-5E/F

Thanks for the kind comments guys! Now regarding the F-5F..... Does anyone have good pics of the upper and lower surfaces of this jet in its later Topgun or VFA-127 years? I've found a few pics from Dave Baranek online, who was a Topgun pilot and took a lot of pics, but they're not quite what I need, although they are a lot of help. The reason I ask is that I have Furball Decals sheet 48-056 "Topgun Tigers & Talons" (highly recommended by the way), which has the paint scheme for this jet. However, comparing it to later pics shows that while the side views are generally the sam

The F-5F is up next. I have only a few things to touch up and she's ready for paint 👍 Fred.

Hello again everyone, Okay, #46 is done! I had no real issues with the build, and the paint scheme was a relatively simple one. I ended up using decals from two different Twobobs sheets, one Fightertown sheet, and a couple of different misc. number sheets. As usual I used a Wolfpack resin seat, and Reskit 3D printed intakes, which I highly recommend. You might notice that I chose not to model the aircraft with the one color replacement rudder as seen in the Chuck Stewart book mentioned at the beginning of this build. I feel like it breaks up the continuity of the paint scheme, and I d

That's a fact..... modeling will definitely force one to use their thinking meat from time to time 🤣 Thanks! Fred.

Hello again everyone, As you can see I've made some progress on #46. However, in the process of putting the nose wheel on I made a boo boo..... I didn't test fit the nose wheel (dummy!) before gluing, and it didn't sit all the way onto the hub. I tried to remove it, but in the process broke the hub completely off. Knowing that this would forever be a weak point on the model, and knowing that I'd be forever re-gluing it, I decided to source a new nose gear leg from the F-5F kit that I already had painted up and ready to go. I then drilled out the broken nose gear hub from the problem

Hi Jeff, I think I only paid about $30 through Squadron on sale. But then 25 years ago $30 was actually a quite a bit of change. I'm slowly making progress on this one. The kit reminds me a lot of BPK's 1/72nd 737's..... they look great when finished, but are a bit of a chore to get though. Thanks for checking in, Fred.

Hi everyone, A quick update on this build.... For whatever reason, the kits rudder does not extend all of the way down to the tail sponson, so a new one had to be made. I used several layers of scrap plastic to do so (pic 1). And the result (pic 2). This kit is a real slug fest, but should be quite eye catching when done 👍 Fred.

Hi everyone, Now that I am retired, I finally had some free time to make the local model club meeting for the first time in 15 years. They are currently having a "Trash Hauler" group build that includes all variants of any cargo aircraft. I decided to jump in with this An-72 build after considering several other options first. To that end, I have been chipping away on this build for the last several days now. I got the fuselage halves together after a LOT of gap filling super glue and accelerator (pic 2). In the side view you can see that I added the APU vent towards the r

Thanks Jost 😉

Hi Steve, No regarding the base. A buddy of mine who has a small business making bases did it. My original plan was to do a couple of USAF aggressors taking off from Nellis, but my buddy had some great pics of NAS Fallon's runway 31, so we decided to go with that. Perhaps I'll do the Nellis project in the future. Thanks, Fred.

Okay guys..... this one is done! Here's a few pics of the two Tigers together on the base. Eventually I'll put a wood frame around the base, and probably a some sort of plaque or patch to go with it. But for now, it's done! Thanks for sticking with me on this one 👍 Fred.

It looks great like all of your builds Jost! You have much more patience than I do 🤣 Fred.

Thanks Steve! I'm glad to have it done 👍 Fred.

Okay guys, I'm calling this thread finished! Black 25 is done, minus the ACMI pod and training AiM-9, which I will add shortly. Once that gets done I'll post some pics of both jets on the base. Thanks for sticking with me! Fred.