Ok, since the Harimau is nearly completion, I think I have some extra time to build another model to contribute to the 50th Merdeka Event. This time it will be an OOB F-5E Tiger II aircraft.

The model used for this build is a 1/72 scale F-5E Tiger II from Mini Hobby Models. First impression on this model kit? It's an "ok" model kit but upon further builds, there are more and more problems arise. At this, I would like to thank Aidy for pinpointing me the errors on this kit because I wouldn't have realize it as I'm not an aircraft modeler. I don't know much about airplanes so I would like to apologize in advance for any mistakes on the terms used.

This is actually build one and a half years ago and has been incomplete except for the seats has been painted and dry-brushed (not very nicely though) and the fuselage, wing, tail and others has been attached. Here are some pictures of it.

This are the completed cockpit. I was thinking of detailing it but it might took me a few years more by doing this. :lol: So, I just build and paint it as instructed. Some drybrushing is applied.





Here's error number one. The canopy sits too low when placed on the body so what I do is I cut some plastic strips and glue it onto the clear parts. Another thing is the front part of the canopy is way too small and it leaves a huge gap when attached according to instruction (about 2mm gap). To tackle this, I do as what Aidy done on his F-5E's canopy, by adding a palstic sheet underneath and shaped to size. All this will get the sandpaper and Autosol treatment to get its shine back.


Error number two. The wing is placed way back from the air duct. To correct this, I cut some of the wing stub and this corrects the problem (sorry, no progress on this). Shown here is the corrected wing placement.


By the way, the missile rack for the sidewinders is molded upside-down on the left (how is this possible? I never want to know :lol: ). That's error number three. What I do is I cut off the wing tip and glue it back a little step down and sand the imperfections.

Since I will be building the usual RMAF aircraft, all the missiles will not be attached except for the sidewinders. So, I have to fill the holes for the missile placement. What I do is I put some superglue to fill it and then when it has hardened, I fill it with putty to seal off other imperfections.


That's all for the current progress and as always, comments, suggestions and criticisms are appreciated.

:D
you're on a roll druid... :D

at this rate you can still contribute at least 2 more for the GB :)
anyway... your cockpit it far far far (by a few thousand miles) better than mine.. :D

good job ...

kuman

Hahaha... if you read the third paragraph of my longwinded "story", this is a very long delayed progress but it has been completed partially and the reason for this build is put on hold in the first place is because of the canopy and it will continue be put on hold if not for this groupp build... :lol:

The cockpit is my first time lah, you have to look it in real life and you will see how terrible it is... :lol:

Oh yeah, before I forget, I will be building this in landing position with the canopy open.

I build one , I totally screw up the windshield.. Hope yours come out good... :P

Well Masterqq, guess what? I screwed-up the front canopy as well... <_<

I think the fault lies with me overly sanding the canopy and making it too thin. When I tried applying Autosol on it, it breaks about a few mm's above the new frames made using the plastic sheet. <_<

Since no spares are available, I'll be making an extra canopy using clear resin and since I'll be making it, I might as well correct it.

Druid,

When you received the parcel, you will find a "nice picture" on the project you are working on.
I just reliased I sent you the last copy! :o

Can you scan and post it/them?
Thanks. :D

Oh, ok. I'll scan it and post it in here. Thanks.

These are the scanned images from the pictures that I get from MiG21

Updates on the F-5E. I have applied a layer of white primer and painted the lines on the body. It has also been applied a thin layer of silver paint. All that it needs now is a few layer of silver paints and decal to complete it.

This is my first aircraft after a loooong time so please bear with me. :D

Top view




Rear view



Bottom view



Close-up





Since this and the Harimau is nearing its completion, maybe I can squeeze one more build for the Merdeka GB... :D

druid_99

Nice progress. you are getting ahead of me on the tiger, I got the camo colors all wrong, and I will have to repaint it, come to think of It, I should have painted it all silver.

.. and you gonna put in the MB339 too.. :D nice choice..

Hehehe... well, the silver will need a few more layers.

Yup, you got it right Masterqq, I will try to squeeze one more build for this Merdeka GB. The Aermacchi MB339... :D

Hi all,

Some update from last night. I have painted the final layer of silver paint on the F-5E. During the painting process, I accidentally drop the plane onto the floor, luckily only the front landing gear broke but it is easily repaired. No other damages detected.

Shown here are the pictures of the painted F-5E in silver. Does it look too shiny to you guys?

The overall plane.



Top view.


Close-up.


Ok, since this is my first plane ever that is nearing completion, can you guys help me? What should I do next and how do I get to do it?

Look ok to me now... do a dull coat after decal if necessary.

For the Next step, If this is mine, I will
0) Fix that dern Canopy.. make sure the front winshield fix.
1) Paint the Back on the nose and Steel on Engine
2) Decal
3) Panel line wash
4) Dull coat to seal decal and wash

Please check the front gear door, did you get it terbalik?

Thanks for the tip Thomas. I appreciate it.

0) For the canopy, I will be making a new one from resin and get it corrected once and for all.
1) Note that. Will do it during the holidays.
2) Noted. Have it prepared and ready.
3) I will need to get some assistance on this. Maybe I can seek advise from Aidy if I meet him tomorrow.
4) I will have to look for Humbrol's Matt coat that I bought at MH last year.

As for the front gear door, it is not terbalik, the angle I took the picture make it look terbalik.

It seems that the stupidity gremlin is messing with my builds (need to put the blame on others... :lol: ).

I was trying to do the blackwashing on the F-5E and happily I used Revell's paint for it. I should have used oil paint or just drawing pen but noooo.... I wanted to try this and the Revell thinner reacts with the clear coat... <_<

The black wash is terrible that I have to strip off the paints and redo the plane all over (only the effected parts). I sanded the paints and since I'm doing that, I might as well cover all the minor gaps that I found.

The front view. Note the putty lines across the front to the side of the cockpit.


The rear view. I filled the gap on the tail flaps as well.


I also added the seat harness using masking tape. This will be hand painted when all the other paintings is done.


Comments and criticisms are welcome. :D

No wonder I'm finishing my builds more often nowadays, my stupidity gremlin has apparently followed YOU home! :lol:

Too bad about what happened. Did you decal before you washed?

Hahahaha... hopefully the gremlin is only affect once on this build.

As for the decal, I have not decal before the wash. Lucky for me (and you :lol: ). I will only apply the decal after the wash and touch up after that.

Ok guys, it's been quite some time I haven't update anything on the F-5E and from the last post, I mentioned that I messed up the paint and had to repaint it again.

Well, I've done that and currently it has got a new layer of paint on top. I've also mentioned that I broke the front canopy when I wanted to clean and lengthen it.

Since the paint is already done, all that it needs now is a new canopy and I'm going to make a new set for it. This is a new task for me and I'm going to show you guys how I decided to tackle it. If I mess up, at least there is something to be learned for me and you guys. :lol:

I will be building the front part of the canopy and I think that I might as well rebuild the whole canopy (front plus the rear) and I'm going to to that. This is a step by step on my experiment in building a canopy with resin.

First of all, I need to create the master for the mold and because the MHM's is useless, I will need to rebuild it using epoxy putty. In doing that, I fill in the cockpit with Blue Tack and shape it according the actual look of the intended canopy but reduced 2mm from the actual size. I apologize for the lack of picture in this stage.

When that is done, I put some gold Bare-Metal foil to make it easier to remove the epoxy when it has harden so that the epoxy won't pull the paint when removing.

After that is done, I mix the two-part epoxy and mix it thoroughly. Then I roll it into a cylindrical shape and flatten it on a plastic sheet (glass is preferable). When it has been flatten I left it to partially harden before I can cut it and make a canopy master out of it. When it has partially hardened, I cut it to desired shape and carefully slid a knife under it and slowly remove it in order to not damage the epoxy and place it on top of the Blue Tack on the plane.

The picture below shows the done part. Note the gold BMF where this will make the master to be easily removed.




This is the overall look of the plane with new coat of paint and refined panel linings.




When that is done, I left the canopy for a few hours to let it really harden before I can remove and clean it. When it has harden, I carefully remove the epoxy from the body of the plane. This picture was taken this morning around 6.15am. :lol:



After removing the epoxy from the body, all that I need to do is to remove all the Blue Tack's that is attached to the epoxy as well as the BMF and now I have a base for the master copy of the F-5E canopy.



All that I need to do now is to refine the shape, scribe the lines and cut it into two so that I can build the canopy in open or closed position. That's all for now.

wow.. man you build you own canopy.... :o

good effort, But I feel the master look abit over size to me, expecially the windshield..

see this..

Thanks Thomas,

Actually I purposely build the master to be bigger because I will then sand it and clean and redo it to actual shape before I cast the copy.

The ones I shown is only the basic master without the cleaning done whatsoever.

Actually, the canopy provided by MHM is also incorrect, that's why I opt to rebuild the whole canopy. I will rebuild it until it looks like the picture you've provided.

:rolleyes:

ohhh this is how we make our canopy....

great one Imran.. will continue to watch this :D

Lan

Just to remind you one thing,you should make the canopy slightly bigger about 1/2 mm :) ,because if you cast it out the product might be shrink.Unless you make canopy open.

One more thing, your thinkness must be equal.Other wise you get minifine effect ;) .But again thats is only 1/72 scale :D ....you can try your luck.Good luck :D


my two cents.
dremel

I will be making it slightly bigger but again, the shrinking will happen if the catalyst is mixed with the resin at a recommended ratio kan? If I were to speed up the process with adding more catalyst in the resin I don't think there will be any shrinking problem kan?

Tapi apepehal pun it will be slightly bigger lah... just to be on the safe side...

Thanks for reminding me dremel.

Some progress.

I have filed, sanded and smoothed the master canopy and this is how it looks like currently.

Anybody has comments on the shape or anything, feel free to suggest as I need as much input as possible to make this corrected canopy. Sorry for the bright pictures though...

Note to self... never use flash when taking close-ups... let me rephrase that... never use flash when taking model pictures.... EVER!!!



Front view... the canopy is placed slightly senget... it actually fits...


Side view... the lines is not scribed yet.


The canopy...



All it needs now is more cleaning and then panel lines before I can cast this. :)

:D

Refering to the first picture....

...Arghhh the eyes... that are 1 powerful flash...... arghhh...

also i have to agree on the Note to self part :D

overall is nice imran.. now waiting to see how this will look like after casting :D

Lan

Good job druid99,

you got the shape just right,keep it up bro..... :)


dremel

Thanks dremel,

I should make it a bit bigger as you said but I think I'll try making this using resin first. Kalau tak jadi, at least I can ask you to vac-form it for me kan? Hehehe...

No problem bro,just let me know :)

dremel

A bit more update here. I have made the lines on the canopy.






The canopy still needs a few lines before I can get it casted. I have also cleaned the inner side of the canopy so that after the canopy is casted in resin, there will not be much clean up to be done.







Again, any comments or criticisms or any information on the look or shape of the canopy that I missed are welcomed. :D

good job Im, :)

One tips,

-Apply aerosol no5 p/s primer and polish it up by using car wax.Car wax will replace release agent.

-Double check your thinkness too.before you start with mold.


good luck

dremel

Thanks for the tip dremel. I have to keep that in mind. Balik nanti nak kena singgah hardware store lah beli primer... :)

Any other comments on the shape or lines or bulges that I miss? I don't want to rebuild this thing again after I have cast it in resin. ;) By the way, I have also scribed more lines on the canopy.

Just one comment: You gotta cast extra one for me.. I need to replace my Crappy MHM windscreen too... :D

No problem... hahaha... But you have to ask from Kuman lah if I went back to Kulim... :lol:

One final update before casting.

Got all the panel lining done. Highlighted using pencil for ease of identification. Looks ok to me. What do you guys think?






Comments and feedbacks are welcomed. :lol:

Imran...

lets bring the "master" to the production factory....

looks perfect from my end.. :D

Lan

Nothing wrong that I can see. You may cast when ready...:)

Thanks for the comments Kuman and Poohbear...

Any more comments? I'm going to close the commenting session by 5.00pm today and I will try to get the mold done and copy produced during the weekend.

look damn good..

one thing... I feel that the windshield frame is a bit thick, maybe you wanna make it to that same size as the canopy one.. then it will be perfect...

Points taken and noted Thomas. I feel the same way too about that. I'll make the necessary changes.

Thanks.

Ok guys... it's been quite some time since the last update.

The mold for the canopy is already completed and I have test it to make sure that the resin is able to flow nicely with the thickness of the canopy. By the way, the canopy that will be shown is fresh out of the mold so it has not yet been cleaned or sanded and polished to show the clarity.

Below are the test copy of the canopy. You notice that there is a big hole in front of the canopy, this is a result of air bubbles trapped in the mold. Reason being I wanted to make a copy for testing fast that I added a little too much catalyst on the resin and the bubble is not able to went up and it's trapped inside the mold.





The resin is a bit opaque because the shelf life is almost over. I'll get a fresh batch from my friend if he still has it to produce a clearer one. Bear in mind that this is only for testing purposes.





That's all for now.

Looks like a bird strike. :lol:

Hope the tiny bubbles won't be a problem.

Keep it up then :)