Dave Williams

IMHO, the 1/32 MiG-29 SMT is a pretty decent kit. Not perfect, but one of their better ones. They’ve stepped up with their new Mig-29 series (A,C,UB, and SMT) over their older K and M kits.

They brought it on themselves. Declared themselves “essential” when they weren’t on any list of essential businesses made by the state or federal government. The founder apparently said that God told him it was OK to stay open. No sympathy whatsoever.

Your copy of the 1/32 KH F-5E must be vastly different than mine. About the only optional part for other versions that I see in the box is the radome. What are all of the other versions you can build OOB, without any modifications to the kit? In the what’s wrong category, let’s not forget to mention some of the various errors, like the shallow cockpit, reversed right side console, fuel filler ports on the wrong side of the spine, and lack of intake ducting, allowing you to see into the big empty fuselage, except for the engines just sitting there.

I guess “Hobby Boos” on the decal sheet is short for Hobby Boo Boo, which is appropriate, considering that each engine row is missing two cylinders.

That is the original Leading Edge Wingroot Extension (LERX). Later in life, many aircraft were fitted with an extended LERX, as in the kit. The kit also has RWR blisters molded on the sides of the nose and rear fuselage, a vent molded into the left rear side of the canopy, and a chaff/flare dispenser molded into the belly. There were many small differences in F-5s used by different countries at different times in life, but other than the two types of radome, KH missed them. The kit in the box only represents one configuration (technically two since you get both radomes), so some modifications are needed to make many of the F-5Es flown by different nations. In fact, I believe all of the decal options in the kit require some modification to the plastic to be accurate. KH made a lot of errors in the kit. Aside from configuration issues, the cockpit is too shallow, and the two refueling ports on the spine just behind the canopy are on the wrong side. Also, although full engines are included, there are no intake ducts or covers, so you can look down the intakes into the big empty fuselage with a couple of engines just sitting there.

South Vietnam received some F-5Es in late 72 or 73, but rarely used them. They were still there and captured when the North took over the South. So, yes there were some F-5Es in Vietnam at the very end, but they were not USAF aircraft.

Are you talking about the F-5E on the box art? That’s not an aircraft used in Vietnam. It’s a US based F-5E that happens to be in SEA camouflage. USAF F-5Es weren’t used in Vietnam. In fact, the first F-5E didn’t fly until August 1972, near when the war ended. The Skoshi Tiger program just used earlier Tiger IIs like the A, B, and C models.

No, two completely different kits.

Sorry, I didn’t think people were going to be so pedantic about this. Forgot people lose their minds when talking about AMK. I was referring to operational F-14s, not test aircraft, but I sure most people knew this and were just posting to be contrary. I’m out.

Really? The post directly above mine said that it’s “only weapons for the “Cat”. So, in fact, someone DID make that supposition, and that was the post I was replying too, not your post.

Except the F-14 never carried AIM-120.

Given the length of wait time for the 1/48 kit, plus all the grief that kit got, I wouldn’t bet on them upscaling the kit to 1/32. Much more likely a aftermarket set of just the missiles for the Tamiya or Trumpeter kits.

Commerce still continues and stuff still gets delivered.

A lot of people like Hobby Easy, but I can’t get the checkout to work for me, and the website is also very slow for me. I usually use Lucky Model, but one tip with them is to only order in stock items. You may be waiting a long, long time before getting a backorder, usually longer than they estimate.

Just reading through Floyd’s build of the KH 1/35 MH-60L kit in the Dec 2019 issue of SAMI, and it makes reference to a detail set which is used in the build for an OGS bird. Does anyone know if/when/where this set is available? Thanks.