1/32 Hasegawa F-5e Tiger II

Gallery Article by Sean Langley on Oct 14 2015

 

      

Here’s my latest: Hasegawa’s classic old 1/32 F-5E, in the markings of the 1o/1o Grupo Aviação de Caça, Força Aérea Brasileira.

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This is a pretty decent old kit. I found few of the fit problems that crop up on the interweb, though I did manage to create a problem of my own and have ended up with a degree of dihedral that shouldn’t be there. Additions are seat-belts (in preference to blowing a fortune on a replacement cockpit), intake guards (to hide the mess of construction seams behind them), ILS aerial, and the fin-root extension. While the centreline tank comes with the kit, only the front ends of the Sidewinders do (the rest is Tamiya with little-lenses), and the underwing weapons are from Trumpeter.

The camouflage is Humbrol enamel, all done with brushes, and the metallic bits are Gunze Mr Metal. The specifically Brazilian markings are FCM, which were a mixed bag. The colours were nice and dense and there were no register problems. But they might as well have been stickers when it came to applying them. Six coats of decal softener, two of Klear, and see what you’re left with. Oh well, c’est la vie. The final finish (you may have heard this one) is Klear, Vallejo matt varnish, and chalk pastels.

'Scuse the Lego!

Sean Langley

Photos and text © by Sean Langley