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ITALERI 1:72 NORTHROP F-5A FREEDOM FIGHTER |
Reviewer:
Paul Wherran (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:
23 December 2003
addendums in text supplied by Albert Farrugia
Addendum at end of review about Dutch F-5's by Anders Svennevik
Italeri #1231 F-5A Freedom Fighter – reissue of Esci kit
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.
This kit comes packaged in the now new style of blue bordered Italeri box. This is the first Italeri kit I have built where the parts are bagged, and the clear parts are even bagged separately. There is no wonder then that this is undoubtedly the reissue of the Esci kit, which is a very good kit from all reports. The moldings are clean and the panel lines are engraved. There are just over 90 parts in total of which three are clear with a two-piece canopy.
Addendum supplied by Albert Farrugia - The kit is the same one as one of the Esci versions. There were two versions of the F-5A issued by Esci. One contained the full sprues and had decals for USAF, Royal Dutch Air Force and an SRF-5A in the Spanish air force which is the same kit reissued by Italeri. The other one only had limited stores, supplied without the refuelling probes, no RF nose etc. and was available with Norwegian air force decals etc.
A ten page A5 foldout sheet provides the basis for the instructions, with multi lingual support. A sprue diagram, history overview, alphabetic labels for Model master paints, three view diagrams and naturally the construction sequence make up the bulk of the instruction sheet. Inset diagrams are provided for some parts of the assembly, such as the angle of the tailplanes and undercarriage door depictions. Further colour options are given on the bottom of the Italeri box. The assembly steps are straight forward to follow although it is best to read ahead, particularly given this kit covers a few different versions of the Freedom Fighter. The instructions fail to mention nose weight, holes to be opened in the rear fuselage part (5B) to accommodate parts and even quote the wrong set of decals (misprint on item) to apply on one version. But all in all they are fine and for the most part clearly spell out which items to use for which version.
The cockpit is assembled in a tub which has side panels and console detail provided by way of decal, along with rudder pedals. The main instrument panel looks okay and also has a decal for the console. The simplistic ejection seat and control column completes the interior as supplied by the kit, although a seat harness comes on the decal sheet also. Further cables, wires and the like need to be added by the modeller. The cockpit tub fits inside the forward fuselage halves without too many problems, although as mentioned nose weight should also be included. The forward fuselage join is good but a couple of gaps need fixing with filler. The nose cone was also affixed and because of its uneven shape you need to ensure it is correctly aligned, but even the best efforts will result in some remedial filling and sanding afterward to get it to blend in nicely.
The main fuselage section can then be assembled and in my case I decided to also add the intakes and wings as soon as the two fuselage sub-assemblies were mated together. They go together very well but I still needed to sand the join lines to blend it all in together. Of course the intakes then need to be added first since the sharp leading wing root sits up snugly against them and will make installation very tricky later. Again a small amount of filler and some sanding was needed to completely blend the intakes into the fuselage. The lower wing piece is then installed upon which the two upper halves are afterward. A small amount of filler was applied to the gaps, but I think it is possible not to need any filler.
I fitted the underwing pylons, ready to take the ordnance later, as well as the rear exhaust pipes, which have no depth other than their parts size (as is the case with the intakes, it must be said), tailplanes and wingtip fuel pods. All these parts fit without any significant problems to report. I left off the undercarriage, nose probe and main canopy til later. These also all fit quite well, and an opening hinge is supplied to allow the cockpit to be displayed open. Weapons options include sidewinder missiles, underwing bombs and drop tanks, and a large central fuselage fuel tank which does not fit very well with lowered undercarriage.
Four options can be chosen, all F-5A of course, but in their designations denoted with each air force represented (see also addendum at bottom of page). These are:
NF-5A of the Netherlands 313th Sqn, finished in a basic two tone grey camouflage scheme (see addendum below).
An RF-5A of Spain’s Ala 23/212 Escuadron, finished in an upper dark green, earth and sand brown camouflage over white undersurfaces.
A CF-5A from Canada’s 419th “Moose” Tactical Fighter Squadron finished in a two tone dark green, sea grey upper camouflage over neutral grey undersides
Finally, the version I chose was the USAF F-5A from 4053rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, based at Vietnam in 1966 and obviously used in the early stages of that conflict. This aircraft has a typical Vietnam era upper camouflage scheme of Dark Green, Olive and Tan over aluminium undersides (see addendum below also)
Addendum supplied by Albert Farrugia - One problem which seems to be endemic with some Italeri kits is the camouflage scheme. It is my experience that any Italeri scheme should be checked with references for accuracy. In this case, all F-5A references I have regarding the Royal Dutch Airforce show the F-5A in the three colour scheme as applied to the f-16.i.e. FS 36375 undersides with FS 36118 and FS 36270 top sides. The Italeri instructions completely miss the lower colour. For more details please check photographs on the World Aircraft Information Files as well as Air International entries regarding the F-5.
Also, on the USAF version the underside was FS 36622 not aluminium (I'd still check references, as my information does not necessarily agree with this but could also be wrong - Ed).
The sheet is quite comprehensive with a full range of stencilling along with the various roundels and individual codes and stencilling for each version. They are in excellent print register and are suitably thin although do have a bit of excess carrier film. These Zanchetti produced decals were easy to apply and bedded down very well with setting solution.
I’m no real expert on the F-5A, particularly if there are any subtle differences between the versions of the different air forces supplied by this kit. It’s quite easy to find info on the USAF version so obviously my comments are best attached to that version. The kit in my opinion replicates the aircraft very convincingly although it is a couple of millimetres over scale in measurements of length and span. The main components look right, perhaps the supplied stores are not completely accurate as touched on in the notes above. See addendum below for further comments.
The finished product looks all the part of a USAF F-5A and it would need a very very good kit in my opinion to beat it. Whilst a little bit of putty work was needed for an optimum looking finish, overall the construction process was very straight forward. The different decal options, a well supplied decal sheet add to what is already quite a decent kit and I’d certainly be happy to recommend to all levels of modelling skills.
The plastic, as supplied in the box, is for a Dutch NF-5A. The Dutch NF-5A has small louvres (Venetian blinds) on the rear fuselage and tear drop shaped ECM fairings on the fin. ECM fairings with this shape are unique to the NF-5, while the louvres are present on Dutch NF-5s and Canadian CF-5s but no other F-5As.
To build an early F-5 from the other countries in 'Aircraft History' these two items must be removed.
Norwegian F-5s were the first to be fitted with a tailhook, though this was retrofitted to earlier F-5s. Those delivered, for example, to Libya did not have the tail hook, if they were retrofitted I do not know.
Initially all F-5 were visually identical, with the exceptions noted above. Later many were updated both externally and internally. Norwegian F-5, for example, got a new F-16 like cockpit, they were used as lead in trainers for the F-16. They got flare pods, like the ones in the kit. ECM fairings were added to the fin, though of a different shape from the Dutch, while the nose ECM fairings were also different, and different on the one and two seaters respectively. Building updated F-5As requires close reading of ones references as most of the users had their own unique projects for updating their F-5s.
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