Italeri 1/72 F-5F

[Jay Chladek]

By the look of it, she now has the enlarged LERXs as per the F-5E Swiss Tiger changes:

http://www.italeri.com/scheda.asp?idProdotto=2549&idCategoria=1&idSottocategoria=3

Cheers,

Andre

Yeah, they added the LERXs but kept the original nose. That is good because trimming/sanding the LERXs back to stock F-5E/F configuration is not that difficult. I suppose if one were crazy enough, they could do a nose chop and swap with the later pressing Italeri F-5Es to put duck bills on their F models (and save the old nose to swap back onto the E model).

I love the marking options they give you on the decal sheet, especially that "Snipers" jet with the tiger stripes on the rudder. Beautiful choices!

Edited May 10, 2016 by Jay Chladek

[achterkirch]

Found a picture of a NASA F-5F online. Here ya go guys!

http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/crgis/images/f/f2/PicNorthropF-5FTigerII.jpg

http://www.lockonaviation.net/html/fleets.php?fli_shortname=nasa

Scroll down some and you'll see a few picture of it.

Edited May 10, 2016 by achterkirch

[Jay Chladek]

Found a picture of a NASA F-5F online. Here ya go guys!

http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/crgis/images/f/f2/PicNorthropF-5FTigerII.jpg

Yup, that's the only picture we've seen of it (same picture found in the WAPJ issue). Hey Mike, I don't think that is flat white. It is a jet that was originally used by the 425th TFTS when it was based at Williams AFB. The squadron moved to Luke when they converted to F-16s in 1989 (when NASA got the F-5F). Given that the plane still has the low vis USAF insignia on the wing, it looks to be painted in that very light funky gray coloring that the 425 put on all their jets and the black canopy frames. All the stencils and rescue markings look identical to 425th markings (only the fuselage insignia has been removed and the NASA meatball put there). So I don't believe NASA would go to the trouble to paint everything that was gray in white while keeping all the original stencils (and an insignia on the wing) on the bird. That is at least one improvement we can both make on our next models (even if white looks nicer).

Edited May 10, 2016 by Jay Chladek

[Lord007]

Finaly we will have the F-5F again! Let´s hope Italeri re-launch the F-5B as well

[f5guy]

After looking at the sprue shots in the link, it looks like they may have tried to add the wing root LEXs to the model, but they didn't do a very good job. They're not square at the front like Italeri has it. Also, the nose cone is still the old style round version, which makes every marking option supplied in the decals incorrect. All of the jets that they give you decals for have the wing root LEXs, and duckbill nose cone. The kit looks to be a bastardized hybrid of sort of new style LEXs, and old style nose cone. Pretty half assed if you ask me :soapbox:/> Fred K

Edited May 13, 2016 by f5guy

[Jay Chladek]

Wait, I thought the VFC-111 jet still lacked the duck bill? At least it didn't have one when it first appeared in those colors (partly because it didn't come from the Swiss).

[Mike J. Idacavage]

Great call Jay!! :thumbsup:/> Methinks you may be on to something here. I had thought that the NASA F-5F was a semi-gloss white but the new photos that achterkirch (Thanks!) posted has me thinking the same as you. Cool!! This may be another reason to do another F-5F for the NASA collection.

Have fun modeling

Mike

:cheers:/>

Yup, that's the only picture we've seen of it (same picture found in the WAPJ issue). Hey Mike, I don't think that is flat white. It is a jet that was originally used by the 425th TFTS when it was based at Williams AFB. The squadron moved to Luke when they converted to F-16s in 1989 (when NASA got the F-5F). Given that the plane still has the low vis USAF insignia on the wing, it looks to be painted in that very light funky gray coloring that the 425 put on all their jets and the black canopy frames. All the stencils and rescue markings look identical to 425th markings (only the fuselage insignia has been removed and the NASA meatball put there). So I don't believe NASA would go to the trouble to paint everything that was gray in white while keeping all the original stencils (and an insignia on the wing) on the bird. That is at least one improvement we can both make on our next models (even if white looks nicer).

[Rex]

"At least it didn't have one when it first appeared in those colors"

That is great news, Jay.

That means that I can just go ahead and build OOB, with the proper decals. Probably with the tail sunrise painted on, after reading Paul's comments.

[Jay Chladek]

That means that I can just go ahead and build OOB, with the proper decals. Probably with the tail sunrise painted on, after reading Paul's comments.

I suppose, but remember Paul was using an aftermarket sheet for his build, not the Italeri kit decals since this version of the kit didn't exist yet. I've got a feeling these might work better, although there is good satisfaction in properly painting on unique aircraft artwork and the sundown logo can look incredible if masked and painted on right.

[Rex]

I have the same sheet as he had,,,,,,,,and an old Italeri F-5F.

Combine that with your "nose version" info, and that makes me good to go.

If I buy any more of them, they'd be the new version, and then I'd have to do the "nose-decal version" dance.

Thanks to you and Paul, I got enough info from this thread to just go ahead and do what I have in the stash already.

edit: I should add that the long time it has taken me to do VFC-111 is not intended to offend F-5 fans,,,,,,,it is just that the 2 previous VF-111s are much sooner on my squadron list.

Edited May 14, 2016 by Rex

[niki4703]

All the stencils and rescue markings look identical to 425th markings...

Hey guys,

Any chance there is some 1/72 source for those 425th TFTS markings?

Cheers,

Niki

[Jay Chladek]

Hey guys,

Any chance there is some 1/72 source for those 425th TFTS markings?

Cheers,

Niki

Good question as I've come up blank. What did you use for the stencils on your NASA bird Mike? I'm also trying to figure out what color these 425th jets were. It looks kind of close to some of the Malaysian schemes, but I haven't been able to nail it down.

[Johnopfor]

Republic of China and South Korea, for starters - and Austria, if you want to be pedantic, since they leased a number of Swiss F-5E's as a stopgap between the Draken and the Eurofighter.

Cheers,

Andre

Mexico, Honduras and the upgraded Brazilian F-5EMs have the "sharknose" as well.

Edited May 15, 2016 by Johnopfor