BF-5D Freedom Fighter "TLEU"

[Spey_Phantom]

in some of my old books, i read that Belgium planned to buy 106 F-5A/B's together with the Dutch. but eventually they chose the Mirage 5.
so for this, i decided to take out a stashed 1/72 KP F-5B and maki it in Belgian markings.



the decals i will be using are from the the matchbox 1/72 TF-104G kit, witch comes with Belgian markings.

since this will be a 90's upgraded version, i will adding e few extra's including:

-2 ejector seats and rear instrument panel from a revell 1/72 F-105G.
-Aerial Refeuling probe leftover from a 1/72 revell Tornado IDS (RSAF)
-scratchbuild front instrument panel
-2 HUD's
-2 weapons pylons from a mastercraft 1/72 F-16A
-2 mortars from a revell HCMS Snowberry, for use as dummy practice bombs

Back History

in 1967, Belgium allong with the Netherlands was looking to replace the old F-84 with a new supersonic fighter. the requirement asked for a low cost platform that could perform Air Defence, Ground Attack and reconecance missions.
in the running were the BAe/Breguet Jaguar, Dassault Mirage 5, Northrop F-5A/B and the Chance A-7 Corsair II.

in 1969, the Choice fell on the F-5, a choise that was kinda pushed by NATO itself, as most other NATO members also used the type. the first of 106 BF-5's (witch B stans for Belgium) arrived in february 1971. the order cosisted out of 63 BF-5A singe seat fighters, 16 BF-5D 2-seat trainers and 27 BF-5R recon planes.

Units operating the F-5

BF-5A units: 1 & 2 squadron (Air Defence) and 8 Squadron (Ground Attack)
BF-5D units: 8 squadron (as trainers, in adition to there flight of ground attack BF-5A's)
BF-5R units: 42 squadron (NOTE: the BF-5R was infact the RF-5A with an other designation in belgian use)

in 1991, the Belgian F-5's were sent to Incirlik in Turkey to protect the airspace over the turkish border, just as the Gulf War was getting hot. they seen no action and went home after the iraqi air force was all but destroyed.

that same year, a joint Belgian/dutch/spanish/norwegian/turkish program was set up to upgrade the early model F-5A/B. this became known as the TLEU program (Tiger Life Extension Upgrade) witch included a new cockpit, similar to the F-16, HOTAS controls, Guided weapons compatibility (AGM-65 & GBU-12), night vision and new General Electric J85-GE-21B engines as in the F-5E. Belgium planned to upgrade the remaining 96 aircraft to this standard, but at the end of the cold war, this was reduced to 60 (40 BF-5A, 12 BF-5D and 8 BF-5R).
the upgraded fighters served the Belgian AF up to 2004, when they were replaced by 24 multirole Gripens.

[Draken35]

Once again, a very interresting project, Nils!

[Spey_Phantom]

the first update is in.

one thing i can say if you see this kit in store, its only good as a source of spares and ideal for kitbashing, but you wont win awards with it. the PM kit has very wel NO detail, No cockpit and on various points is inaccurate.
unfortunatly for me im a sucker for cheap, large kits  , if you see this kit in store, please concider the Revell or Italeri versions 

anyway, the fuselage halves are put together, the cockpit will be build arround it, one note is that the kit will need putty, and lots of it 
the refueling probe is already fitted, as are the wings ("we need more putty, captain!").

more progress tomorrow.

pictures:

[Weaver]

Nice project Nils! 

The Revellobox F-5B is nothing to write home about either, as I can personally testify....

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE

instruments have now been installed, allong with the front HUD.
since the center-cockpit instrument bulk was to small, i made it wider by sculpting on some putty  
i also added some F-16 MLU features such as the IFF bird slicer antennas.
for better aerodynamic flow, i fitted a pair of stabilizer fins under the tail.

weapon stations have also been fitted now, she's almost ready to head to the paint shop.  
all i have to do now is do some work on the landing gear  

EDIT: sorry for the bad quality of pictures, my brother took my small camera with him for the weekend, wont have it back till tomorrow and i still havent got the hand of macro shots with my new camera as its quite a heavy piece.
there will be no work in it tomorrow as im going to leopoldsburg for the Belgian Defence / Land Component open days 

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE

ive been looking at finishing this bird for a while now, as all my current WIP models appear to stacking up, so no new projects until the current ones are finished 

anyway, the entire top of the aircraft was painted about 4 weeks ago, today the undercarriage, wheel doors and wheels were painted. the bottom of the plane is now also painted in light grey.
so this model should be done by tomorrow 

[Draken35]

She's coming very nice, Nils...

I have found an article in French on the Internet giving the complete list of the candidates that were unsuccessfull against the Mirage V, here is it:

- Northrop F-5A Freedom fighter
- LTV A-7A Corsair II
- Douglas A-4E Skyhawk
- Grumman A-6A Intruder
- Lockheed F-104H & F-104S Starfighter
- SAAB J 35 Draken
- Fiat G.91Y
- Breguet-Bac Jaguar (that will become SEPECAT later)
The last two were at this time prototypes.

Well, some nice what-ifs to build... 

[Spey_Phantom]

its FINISHED.

just to bad about the thick canopy of the model, it just seems to absorb the glue 
the practice bombs are a couple of mortars from a 1/72 HCMS Snowberry 

[ysi_maniac]

She's coming very nice, Nils...

I have found an article in French on the Internet giving the complete list of the candidates that were unsuccessfull against the Mirage V, here is it:

- Northrop F-5A Freedom fighter
- LTV A-7A Corsair II
- Douglas A-4E Skyhawk
- Grumman A-6A Intruder
- Lockheed F-104H & F-104S Starfighter
- SAAB J 35 Draken
- Fiat G.91Y
- Breguet-Bac Jaguar (that will become SEPECAT later)
The last two were at this time prototypes.

Well, some nice what-ifs to build... 

Inspiring 

[ysi_maniac]

Hi Nils, you cannot go wrong with F-5. Love your model