Kinetic F-5A/B

[randypandy831]

I know there was a thread someone put up about the build process on this kit but I can't seem to find it. 

 

For anyone who has built this kit regardless of if being a single or tandem seat bird, what construction problems did you encounter? Is there any tips or tricks you have on tackling this kit? 

 

thanks! 

[Colin K]

Biggest tip I can give is this one.  Put a piece of sprue between the tabs on the front half of the fuselage.  This way, when you join the front and rear halves, you will get the best fit and no need for putty, at all.  I have done this with both the A and B.

[Jay Chladek]

For me, I glued the rear fuselage halves to their front halves before gluing the sides together (or at least before putting the bottom pieces on) and the result was a much improved fit that didn't require any filler in that section and only a tiny bit of sanding. I did have to add a .010 shim to the seam where the intakes were added to the fuselage and between the lower wing/landing gear section and the lower nose transition segment. Doing that tightened up the seam rather nice and made it look instead like a natural panel line.

 

The fit of the jet exhausts was a bit more "Monogram" than "Tamiya," but doable. The insert panels on the fuselage and the nose for the multiple variants also benefitted from sticking some .010 shim stock behind them to get them to fit flush and level with the rest of the panels. The only bit that caused me some issues was the wingtip tanks on the F-5A as Kinetic give you two tanks for the same side. So one needs to be modified so it looks mirror image. On the F-5B they fixed that with a new molded tank. Of course, if you do a variant with the wingtip sidewinder rails, it is not a problem at all.