CF-5A Freedom Fighter Kitbashed 1/48 Monogram F-5E

[Crimea_River]

Well, after a two week vacation and some time spent over last weekend, I can show a bit of progress in the cockpit area. Many details have been added to the Monogram kit cockpit tub. Starting with the "Before" picture shown earlier in post 59, the pictures that follow show various shots of the cockpit as it exists today featuring:

- added scratch built foot pedals measuring about 2mm square made from plastic card complete with separate edges.
- added map case to the right of the seat
- seat belts made from the foil on a wine bottle neck
- oxygen hose/radio wire added to the right of the seat
- 2 red "Remove Before Flight" tags added to instrument panel
- Throttle knobs added with card and stretched sprue.

More detail needs to be added on the left side of the seat where there is another hose of unknown function and various other wires.

Next in line will be the area behind the seat which I'll need to hurry on if I hope to make the deadline. LOTS left to do!

 

[rochie]

looking good Andy

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Wow Andy, that just magic..............

 

[Wayne Little]

Andy...good work mate!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks gents. Appreciate it.

 

[Catch22]

Very nice!

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very nice.

 

[Airframes]

Very nice work Andy. That other hose you mentioned is probably the connection for the 'G' suit.

 

[B-17engineer]

Nice Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys.

Very nice work Andy. That other hose you mentioned is probably the connection for the 'G' suit.

Terry, that occurred to me last night as well after I posted. Now that you say it, it must be so!

 

[T Bolt]

Very nice work Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Glenn. Next up, after finishing the seat details, will bulkheads and spaghetti behind the seat.

 

[Crimea_River]

Work continues with adding the bulkeads behind the seat and starboard side panel details.

The image below shows the starboard details to be replicated. There appears to be a flimsy panel with cutouts for hand access, the canopy lock lever and, just in the top right of this shot, a cutout with a cockpit light.

Below is tonight's pic of the partially completed details added to the model. First off, the cockpit tub was temporarily glued in and the outline traced to mark the positions of the elements to be added. After removing the tub, I cut and added the rear bulkheads and made up the starboard side wall with canopy lever and cutouts. The cockpit light is yet to be added in the rectangular hole.

This fiddley work will continue over the weekend and I'll post updates as they become worth while. Thanks for checking in and for your interest.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[B-17engineer]

Great!

 

[Airframes]

Nice work Andy. Boy, there are some rather crude fittings on the real thing - or are the exposed bolt-heads, screws and flimsy panels part of a 'patch-up' job on a static exhibit perhaps ?

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. These panels show up in several reference pics. The sample above is from an in service Spanish plane. Here's another of a CF-5 on display.

I suspect there have been a few scraped knuckles closing the canopy!

 

[Airframes]

Ah Ha! Sussed it! It's really an up-graded Trabant, isn't it ?!! (great pic BTW)

 

[T Bolt]

Nice work Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Glenn.

Too nice a day today to be holed up in my basement to prgress anything. A couple of Margueritas down the hatch so far and maybe another to go.