TESTORS 1:48 F-5A FREEDOM FIGHTER

 


Boxart for the Testors reboxing of the Italeri kit

Boxart for Italeri kit - reviewed separately on this site

Reviewer: Sheldon Rampersad  (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:  September 1999

Kit number: Testors - 521

AIRCRAFT
The Northrop F-5A was developed from the very successful T-38 Talon trainer.  The U.S. Air Force funded the initial F-5A aircraft in an effort to make available to friendly foreign governments a lightweight multi-mission aircraft capable of speeds in the area of Mach 1.4.

The F-5A proved itself capable in flight test over Edwards AFB in 1959 and 1960. Soon after, orders for the aircraft came from a long list of diverse nations including Canada, Ethiopia, Greece, Iran, South Korea, Libya, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and South Vietnam.

The late 1960s saw the F-5A serving around the world in the dayfighter defence role. A basically simple aircraft, the F-5A proved to be the ideal machine to bring the supersonic military experience to less advanced nations. In this capacity it worked out well and remained in this capacity through the 1980s, the standard fighter of many countries as more advanced aircraft such as the F-16 and F-5E came into production.

KIT PARTS:
The parts are molded in light gray. They are in a plastic bag in the strong box. The detail on them can only be described as poor! There is a decal for the control column and no cockpit bucket or stick. There is an ejection seat, but barely so. There is no nose gear well…this can be fixed by scratch building one or closing the well door. The canopy is in two pieces. There is also a mechanism so that the canopy can be open and closed… very cool, but poor detail. There are two AIM-9 B Sidewinder missiles, two Bullpup AGMs and two 750lb bombs.

Decals are included for two aircraft. One is the first prototype 94987 at Edwards AFB, CA 1959.  The second is aircraft 38378 attached to the 10th Fighter Command Squadron at Bien Hoa, Vietnam 1965.

There is also a pilot figure included; probably the best detailed item in the kit.

INSTRUCTIONS:
The instructions come in an eight-page booklet. They contain lots of information on the aircraft and decal application and weathering hint. Due to the lack of detail in the kit the instructions are very straightforward in seven (7)! major steps. I recommend massive amounts of research to build this aircraft. I highly suggest visiting a museum to climb all over and photograph an F-5.

CONSTRUCTION:
A massive amount of scratch building is necessary to obtain a finish you’ll be satisfied with. I highly recommend including the pilot in your kit, he will be necessary to hide the lack of detail in the cockpit area. I scratch built a cockpit bucket and used wire to add detail to the "ejection seat". Wire was also used to detail the gear and wells. After detail was added to the gear the nose gear was cemented to it’s position in the nose of the left fuselage half. The control column and the canopy lever was put into place and the fuselage halves cemented together.

Then in went the seat and pilot. The intakes were then cemented into place…there was a little trouble with the fit so glue the wing on as soon as possible to get the proper alignment. Then the main gear, speed brakes and weapon pylons and weapons went on. The gear can very aptly be described as just a piece of straight plastic. A centerline pylon was scratch built and added. The canopy was then added after this.

I went for the aircraft out of Bien Hoa in 1965 so I camouflaged the aircraft. The recommended colors are dark green (fs34079), medium green (34102), dark tan (30219) and camouflage gray (fs36622). Then the decals were added. They went on pretty easily and without trouble. To enhance the detail extra stenciling and painting would do the trick.

OVERALL: 
This kit was a massive disappointment. The detailing was poor and the only thing to save it was massive scratch building and it still wasn’t all that in the end. It is far too easy to build out of the box and I would highly recommend it for beginners only (out of the box).

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Photo Credit: TESTORS web site

Official product photo of the Testors model