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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

KH Northrop F-5N Tiger II WIP


Guest DannyVM

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Guest DannyVM

Time to start on another project. One of my all time favourite aircraft. The Northrop F-5N Tiger II. This one will be in U.S. Navy Aggressor adversary colors from VFC-111 'Sundowners' which wasn't my first choice. 

Kitty Hawk didn't took any effort to put an early Northrop ejection seat or dual pilots with both early style and late style helmets into their kit. So i will go for the Navy scheme which wasn't my very first idea to do so. Still, i find it an spectacular scheme for sure. Kit will be build with the help of the Eduard Big Ed set, and along the way i will see what's needed to be changed.

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Nice to see that KH included two pilot's into the kit, but sadly they only have the early style HGU-26 helmets which are not suitable for a U.S. Navy F-5. I will see if i can modify a figure to a suitable F-5N pilot.

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This is the color scheme i will do. Still not my favorite, but on the other hand, i like the camouflage scheme with the tail art.

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Guest DannyVM
8 hours ago, smitty44 said:

Get 'er done! WHy not something off the Furball Aero sheet, Danny?

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Smitty, great idea mate, i didn't thought about that one.:thumbsup2:

The VFC-111 color scheme's are great, but everyone uses them, so this decal sheet will surely give me the opportunity to build something different. I all ready ordered one. Thank's mate.:)

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Guest DannyVM

Ok guy's, let's give it a try, hopefully with a nice end.....B)

I've heard that the right hand cockpit console was reversed molded. Sad to see in first person this was true. Still no problem at all, i will use the Eduard colored pe, so problem will be easily solved.:thumbsup2:

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First thing to tackle, the ejection seat. With the help of some Eduard pe and some part's from the spare box, thing's look's so much better.:construction:

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A dry-fit into the two fuselage half's, thing's went really nice.

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I removed all of the detail from both cockpit side consoles, due to receive the colored pe in a later stadium. Also the detail after the ejection seat was gled onto the cockpit tub.

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For now, i'm busy to add some scratch wiring. 

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That's all for now.

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Guest DannyVM
18 hours ago, harv said:

Really looking good Danny ! Nice to see pics of the pit being done. I have a "F" waiting in the wings.......harv:popcorn:

Thank's Harv. The seat need's some extra attention regarding the seat cushion. I'm not really convinced by the look's of it, so i will take another trie.

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Good choice on the Furball sheet and the Big Ed set!

A small primer on Naval Fighter Weapons School F-5E/F Tigers:
Covering a period of 11 years (1976-1987), the Furball sheet invariably depicts very early F-5E models whereas the KH plastic is representative of late F-5E airframes. During the early 1980s, some of the aircraft were modified with shark noses and enlarged LERXs. The Furball sheet labels such aircraft accordingly. So you might want to watch out...

Furball 1976, 1977 and 1980 marking options: Early Northrop seat.
Replaced by the Northrop Improved Seat during 1981/1982.
Technically speaking, and only in case you'd like to build one of the very early pre-1982 Top Gun Tigers, you'd need an early ejection seat...

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Features of Naval Fighter Weapons School/Top Gun F-5E models:
(or how do they differ from the KH kit plastic)

  • No RWR antennas/fairings (sand down and fill the fwd blisters and cut the rear fuselage RWR fairing mounting plug)
  • No vertical tail VOR/ILS antenna (integral part of the kit's vertical part, a sanding stick will do the job in no time)
  • No canopy ECS vent (careful filling and sanding)
  • No ventral chaff/flare dispenser (omit parts B12/B37)
  • Early nose landing gear strut and wheel doors (not included in the kit, but part of the Eduard Big Ed set)
  • Depending on the selected marking option, the kit plastic may require backdating - installing the original ogival pointed radome (part E72) as well as cutting back the kit wings LERXs to replicate the original smaller area LERX.
     

RWR blisters, etc.
(No RWR equipment on NFWS Tigers)
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The blister's plastic is paper thin, hence requiring some minor filling.

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Piece of cake...

Vertical tail VOR/ILS antenna:
(No VOR/ILS on NFWS Tigers)
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Another walk in the park...

Canopy ECS vent:
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Not present on USAF/NAVY/USMC F-5E airframes. Exception: ex-Swiss AF F-5N aircraft.

Ventral chaff/flare dispenser:
(not present on any USAF/NAVY/USMC F-5E/F aircraft. Exception: Early NAVY/USMC F-5N aircraft)
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Later F-5F style NLG strut and wheel doors:
(NFWS F-5Es inavriably had the early NLG door assembles)
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Eduard to the rescue:
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NFWS F-5Es invariably had the early NLG doors.

Backdating the F-5E/F LERX configuration:
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Kitty Hawk: enlarged LERX

Original LERX design as used on early F-5E/F airframes with pointed ogival radome:
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Just cut along the dashed red line, a few subtle strokes with the sanding stick, and Bob's your uncle.

HTH

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Guest DannyVM

Ivan, a very big thank you to point all the differences out.  The Furball decal sheet isn't delivered yet, so i'm still in doubt which color scheme i will chose. Still, your feedback will be very helpfull.

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Guest DannyVM

Time to show you guy's some more progress.B) Still, i'm working on the cockpit, especially the turtledeck behind the ejection seat.

When i looked at some photo's, i noticed that there where item's missing regarding to included kit's part's, so i tried to replicate in a certain matter. It's not the real deal, but it will be close enough to give the aft section of the cockpit a more or less realistic appearance.

Like i said before, i wasn't really convinced about the appearance of the ejection seat, and due to some help of a fellow LSP member i did some tweaking regarding the back seat and the cushion.

This is like it was before....

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And after the mod.

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Look's far much better in my eyes.:)

I did some extra wiring, and placed some extra rod's there where they supposed to be.

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Thank's for watching.....:D

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Guest DannyVM
2 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Danny

Very nice work and detailing on the Office - the PE and your details make a huge difference

Keep 'em comin

Peter

Thank's Peter. At the moment i'm busy to give the ejection seat some details, that said, there are lot's of thing's in this kit that aren't very clear. Instructions are full of mistakes, certain sprue numbers don't correspondent with the instructions and even the Eduard instructions aren't very clear and in some point's wrong. Look's like this kit and the Eduard stuff needed to hit the market very fast.:rtfm:

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Guest DannyVM

I found some time to make some progress to the F-5E Tiger II cockpit. Extra detail was added to give the canopy mechanism a more realistic look. Also the whole cockpit is painted for now, still some minor tweak's to do before enclosing the cockpit into the fuselage half's.

Close-up of some extra detail added.

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Dry-fit into the fuselage half's to see nothing is in the way for a proper fit.

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Part's, ready to receive their black primer.

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And the base color.

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Ejection seat after receiving the paint and the seatbelts, which are still unpainted.

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Ejection seat after painting of the seatbelts.

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And finally the cockpit after receiving a wash.

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Greetz

Danny

 

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