1/48 Italeri TNI AU F-5E Tiger II

by Alex Sidharta

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  Indonesia Independence Day 2006 

 

This is an old ESCI kit reboxed by Italeri. I have ever built the original kit some 20-25 years ago also in TNI AU (Indonesian AF) marking, but much, much worse than this one. It is said that Monogram/Revell kit has better shape and details but Italeri is not far behind. It has many in-accuracies but still captured the look of a Tiger II.

Along with the Premiere’s Hawk kit, I built this F-5E model in a hurry. I spent 10 days to complete it. There’s nothing special to tell during the process. Filler was used here and there but I think it was still in “normal” amount.  

Painting process was done in 4 hours using Model Master Paints in a single evening. Before I went to bed, I sprayed Future coating for decal preparation.

 

I used Indonesian F-16 sheet from Aztec and some spare grey letter decal and they were all good. Not waiting for long, I sprayed semi-gloss coat to finish it all.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

 

Indonesian Tigers has been in service for more than 25 years. During the time, it shows little variations of the look. But, due to maintenance and repainting process, there’s no exact standard color applied. Some colors are deeper than another.

 

My F-5E model doesn’t match the color of the real aircraft but closely match to another aircraft parked on the shelter… L

 

But, it’s not the point. The most important thing is by presenting this model, I want the men of Skadron Udara 14 (Air Squadron 14) know that I support them in a way I could do.

Alex 

 

Photos and text © by Alex Sidharta