Classic Airframes' 1/48 Scale
F-5B Freedom Fighter

by John Valo

Classic Airframes' 1/48 scale F-5B Freedom Fighter is available online from Squadron

For a look at the contents of Classic Airframes' 1/48 scale F-5B Freedom Fighter, see the in-box review elsewhere on HyperScale.

The Nato Allies version of Classic Airframes F-5B features the markings of European NATO air forces, namely Spain, Greece and Turkey.

As has been said in other reviews of this kit, the kit features cleanly molded and crisply detailed plastic parts, and some really outstanding resin details - the cockpit is most impressive.

Construction is very straightforward, after the requisite cleaning up of resin pour stubs and removal of ejection pin marks.

The cockpit, as stated before, is very impressively detailed and fits well.

The front instrument panel fits flush with the forward coaming when it should actually tuck underneath. I didn't think this was a big enough issue to mess with, as the finished product is impressive enough, but I'm sure the true aficionado will correct this.

The parts fit is very good which allows rather rapid assembly. The wings are simple affairs, and the stabilators are single-piece assemblies. The landing gear is interestingly engineered to simply drop in place and glue, but effectively detailed. The droppable speed brake is a nice touch, with nice detail on both the brake as well as the fuselage recess.

The canopies are clear enough, but a dip in Future improved them quite a bit. The windscreen will need some filling to amend the gap between it and the fuselage recess. I used multiple applications of thinned Krystal Kleer smoothed out with a wet cotton bud. The instructions are a bit nebulous with regard to the exact positioning of the canopy hinges, but a quick glance at some photographs put me in the right ball park.

I liked the stark attractiveness of the Spanish bird, despite my usual aversion to metal finishes.

I used a combination of SNJ and Testor's Metallizer to finish the model.

The decals (multi-lingual!) are nicely printed, but the candy-stripe pitot decal was a bugger to apply.

I finally attached one end of the stripe with a dot of superglue, then wrapped it around and applied another tiny droplet to attach the other end.

A little finessing here and there, a dab of Super Set, and it was a done deal.

Classic Airframes' F-5 series are nice, relatively simple models that really show off the reason for the use of multi-media parts to achieve a superior level of detail. I would recommend this kit to any jet fan who wants to take a stab at a multi-media kit.

 

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2004 by John C. Valo
Page Created 12 July, 2004
Last Updated 12 July, 2004

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