With its F-5 looks and F-16 performance, would the F-20 have really been Eagle Fodder?

The Monogram F-20 kit is not a bad model, but it leaves room for some improvements. The kit is easy to build and has raised scribing. The cockpit is well molded with a nicely detailed main instrument panel and multipart ejection seat. The landing gear, speed brakes, and cockpit canopy can all be built either open or closed. Unlike the older F-5E kits from Monogram to which this kit shows definite lineage, the canopy actuating mechanism is better molded and even looks somewhat like the real thing.

When I built this model, I was in the stage of modeling where no kit could be built simply out-of-the-box. I just had to change something. I made the following changes and updates to the model.

• I added minor cockpit detailing using fine brass wire.
• I "production-ized" the airframe.

• I added various antennas using thin sheet styrene.
• I scribed the spillway for an aerial refueling point on the aircraft spine.
• I added the aerial refueling flood light (like on the F-16) in the leading edge of the vertical tail.
• I added reinforcing bulges to the upper wings that match the same details seen on the Hasegawa 1/72^nd scale F-20 kit.

• I drilled out the ECS intake on the front of the vertical tail base and opened the ECS exhaust ports on either side.
• I added a Hasegawa weapons set AIM-9J Sidewinder to the wing tip. I wanted to add an ACMI pod to the other wing missile rail, but at the time I built the kit there were none available (and I did not feel like scratch-building one).

The model is painted mostly in Testor's Model Master enamel paints.

The camouflage is my personal favorite of the various early aggressor schemes, known as "Blue Glop". The colors are Dark Blue (F.S.35109), Intermediate Blue (F.S.35164), and Medium Blue (F.S.35414). The Dark Blue is a Humbrol color. The rest are Model Master. Since the time when I built this model, Model Master now includes the Dark Blue color in their paint line.

The decals come from SuperScale decal sheet #48-053, F-5E Tiger II Aggressors. The markings represent how aircraft were marked in the 64^th and 65^th Tactical Fighter Training Squadrons (TFTS) of the 57^th Fighter Weapons Wing (FWW) based at Nellis AFB, Nevada, circa 1988. I decided to use low-visibility national insignia, but retained the rest of the markings as seen on the F-5E's. The aircraft data markings come from various sources including a SuperScale sheet on the F-15.

As is common for me with my models, I added my own name as the pilot. This was done one ... letter ... at ... a ... time using N-scale railroad lettering decals. It is amazing how easy it is now to just print up a pilot's name on my computer and apply it as a single decal. Time and technology certainly do march on...

For weathering, I used my typical style of thinned down enamel paint washes and air brush shading. I finished the weathering with some dry brushing to pop out the surface details. For a more complete discussion of what I do to weather my models, see my posting on "Weathering Aircraft".

The pictures seen in this posting are from a few years back. This model was a part of the "great avalanch of 2002" where I slipped on the steps and tossed five models to the base of the steps. Three of the five faired OK, are already fixed, and are again sitting on my display shelves. However, the F-20 was not one of those "lucky ones".

The F-20 currently looks like this...