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

Very nice work Andy! Are you wishing you had decided to build the canopy closed yet?

Thanks guys.

Glenn, I almost invariably have my cockpits open for viewing but, to be honest, the thought did cross my mind to leave it closed. However, I think the pit is one of the most interesting parts of the model and should be part of the display.

So.....no Bus issues then....and the work continues...?

Yup, sanding scribing, sanding, scribing.....you know the drill.

Evidence of the true kitbashing nature of this build follows:

With the fuselage halves together, some more butchery was needed as can be seen by the below comparson shot of the Monogram and Italeri tail section underside. Italeri, or rather Testors, got it all wrong with the flat section all the way up to the tailpipe. Monogram depicted the correct arrangement with the shallow trough that gradually formed toward the twin pipes.



I therefore cut off the relevant piece of the Monogram part and cut a matching hole in the Testors section and glued the former into position as shown below. Unfortunatley, there is a slight step due to a small variance in the widths of these parts. These will be easily fixed with putty.



With that done, I decided that the Testors tail fin had to go and that I'd cut in the Monogram one. The challenge here is the gross variation in thicknesses of the two as can be seen in the photo below. (the Monogram fin is on the left). Although the Testors kit correctly flares the bottom of the fin into the fuselage, the fin never tapers to the smaller thickness needed to match the Monogram one.



First off, I had to decide on a cut line so that I could use the full rudder and that would also allow enough area for the flare. I started by cutting the Monogram fin to the desired shape and using it as a template on the Testors fin.



With the Testors fin cut, the difference in thickness was very evident. The Monogram fin is on the right



Fortunately, there was a gap in the tail section halves that I could take advantage of. I squirted in some Superglue and accelerator and quickly clamped the halves together to close the gap.



Next, I carefully drilled some holes in the Monogram fin and inserted some pins cut from steel wire.



After drilling some matching holes in the Testors section, I glued the fin on and allowed it to set. After an hour or so, I proceeded with some sanding and scribing around the cockpit area in preparation for gluing on the intakes since the raised panel lines would be impossible to get at behind the intakes once they were on.



The above shot is how she looks now as I break for supper. Lots of scribing yet to do and there also needs to be some putty added where the tail sections come together.

That's it for today. Thanks for your continued interest.

WOW! Now that's pretty impressive mon ami!

Great work Andy, really looking forward to more.

Very cool!

Crimea_River said:

Yup, sanding scribing, sanding, scribing.....you know the drill.

Click to expand...

Gotcha..

Man.......you are really going above and beyond! Good job!

Ooh! I do like a bit of blood and guts surgery ! Very nice work Andy, impressive mate.

Thanks guys. Back to work today. We'll see if we can get some more done tonight. Will have to in order to make the deadline.

Man Andy! you weren't kidding when you put "Kitbashed" in the title!! Wonderful work!

Long day at work today. Got a little done - more filling, sanding, filling, ...yada yada.

And then, there was this: Partly scribed the underside of the engine area, cut off the arrestor hook hinge from the Monogram kit and glued it to this one (the small bulge on the centerline at left) and cut out the Monogram wheel wells and glued them into the space behind the air brakes.

Putting the wings on will be fun - this weekend's project.

Looks great Andy!!

Thanks H.

Doing good man!

8)

Looks good to me!

Nice work mate. Looks like it's going to end up as a Testogrameri model !

Actually it's a Testitaleriogram, what the doctor does when you turn your head and cough.