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1/32 Kitty Hawk F-5E/N: "Kicked Up a Notch"


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October 3/19

 

 

After “only” 9 months, which is a record for me, I have finally finished this model.  For step by step details on how I did it, I have a fairly long build thread here:

 

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/78413-132-kitty-hawk-f-5e-kicked-up-a-notch-sept-2419-final-details/

 

This kit is a real challenge if you want to make it as accurate as possible, with a random mix of highly detailed parts and parts that don’t fit at all.  There are inaccuracies all over the place which I tried to fix, with some panel lines deleted, others added, and every single panel line and rivet was rescribed and re-punched.  After market kits used were mostly made for the Hasegawa kit as follows:

 

- Black Box Resin Cockpit Set (32010) for Hasegawa

- Eduard PE Exterior Set (32426) for Kitty Hawk

- ProfiModeler Brass Pitot Tube (32266) for Hasegawa

- ProfiModeler Resin Wheel Set (320273) for Hasegawa

- Zactomodels AIM-9L/M Resin Missile

- Hasegawa Kit Boarding Ladder and AOA Vane (both missing in KH kit)

- Archer Resin Decal Rivets, which were used extensively on the rear engine area

- Airscale Instrument Brass Bezels and Decals

 

The BB cockpit fit surprisingly well with a number of modifications, while the ProfiModeler wheels required spacers to fit the kit landing gear and the pitot tube had to be ground down at the rear to fit flush.

 

My goal was to create one of the gloss black Adversaries of the VFC-13 Fighting Saints that were fashioned after the “Mig-28” of the movie “Top Gun”, but nobody makes bright red decals for this subject in 1/32, so I was forced to go with a mixed bag of the following which created a bit of a “what-if” for squadrons:

 

- Kit Decals.  Not many, because they are thick and often show white film underneath.

- ProfiModeler (32286).  Red Star on tail and “01” on nose.

- Two Bobs Bad Boys Sundowners (32-040), hence the VFC-111 squadron instead of VFC-13

- Maketar Paint Masks (USAF Stars and Bars, Vol II, 32-066)

 

One big shortcoming of this kit is the engine intakes, which really don’t exist at all beyond the front openings.  Although resin intakes are apparently now available, I made seamless intakes out of ordinary PVC water pipe which turned out fairly well.

 

Now several pics of just about every angle possible.  With the super clean and shiny paint job which is typical of these jets, I didn’t see the need to dirty up and weather the landing gear wells, mostly because they will rarely be seen again.

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

 

 

 

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Edited by chuck540z3
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Awesome as usual Chuck!! at the beginning of the build I thought it would look like a toy at the end since you said it was going to be shiny and clean! but you managed to make it look really nice! even tho is not my kind of build, I can not but admire (again) your work! you are such a source of inspiration and information! and I thank you for that!....So what's next? following your tradition is gonna be a prop one! whatever you have decided, I'll be following for sure!

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Thank you everyone! 

 

18 minutes ago, Bravosierra001 said:

I am not really into clean builds... But that is an awesome build. That has to be one of the smoothest finishes I have seen. Great job all the way around.

Brandon

 

Generally speaking me neither.  Having said that, this bird needed to be kept clean, as shown below.

 

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Thanks,

Chuck

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Thanks Guys!

 

32 minutes ago, dsahling said:

Beautiful plane Chuck, very nicely done.  Now apologies if this has been asked already, but what are you thinking of doing for your next project?

 

Dan

 

Thanks Dan,

 

Although a struggle at times, the models I am most proud of are the difficult ones, like my Trumpeter A-10, P38, and now this Kitty Hawk kit.  That’s also why you don’t see them very often!

 

Since I always alternate between jets and props, my next challenge will be this one, slightly modified into a Canadian Harvard in yellow.  This will be my first non-combat model ever, although it is obviously associated with same in its training role.  I have already ordered a few after market kits and it’s my plan to super detail it.

 

jpW0IV.jpg

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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Exceptional work Chuck.  I should have read this thread before your 'In Progress' thread because in this thread you answered my question of what prop job you were going to tackle next.

 

I look forward to following along this next project.

 

All the best, my friend.

 

Mike

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Thank you everyone for your kind and encouraging responses.  As I do at the end of every build, I write a magazine article on what I’d did directly from my WIP thread, which is one of the major reasons I do them in the first place.  Reviewing this build from start to finish confirms that this kit is a real challenge to just put together and even more so to correct many panel lines and other details.   Still, I’m pretty happy with the end result, which could never have been done with the old Hasegawa kit, so we modellers should be happy that this kit exists at all as a good platform to create a decent 1/32 F-5E.  What we now need is a good resin cockpit, because the Black Box one that I used is super rare and almost impossible to find.

 

The gloss black finish is another big challenge and although I’m also happy with how it turned out, I’ll never do another one.  As expected, the glossy finish picks up any crap that might be in the air due to static electricity, which forced me to sand down and repaint several areas many, many times.  Even after dusting off the model the best I could, you can still see bits of dust everywhere in my close-up pics above, so that will never go away.  The other major shortcoming of this color on this model is the total lack of available red decals, as I described above.  Even after making do with an assortment of decals and painting some with masks, I’m missing a few that should be there, like the big “AF” at the top of the tail.  I suppose I could have found a way to paint those too, but there comes a time when you just don’t care anymore and need to move on to another project.  As mentioned in my WIP thread, my next challenge will be another Kitty Hawk kit, in this case the T-6 Texan that I will modify slightly to a Canadian Harvard.  After building nothing but iconic fighters for so many years (F-4, F-14 and F-18 twice), I need a new challenge with glossy yellow wings, where the dust should be less noticeable.

 

BTW, my Spitfire will be featured in the January and February Fine Scale Modeller magazine (2 parter), while my Eagle will be on the cover of a new FSM book on Modeling Aircraft, also in February.  I’m really looking forward to see how these articles turned out!

 

 

FSM Modeling Aircraft

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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