Luftwaffe Northrop F-5L

[nönöbär]

Hi,

The Luftwaffe Notthrop F-5 is now completed. In the end, I had some trouble with the decals as they desintegrated into nothing when in the water, so I had to go to plan B and take some other ones which are a bit too big.





The model:
The kit is a 1/72 sclae PM-Model, which is very basic, just about 20 parts. I added some additional pylons with bombs to it and did not attach the wingti fuel tanks.

The story:
In the late 1970s, the Fiat G91 was the primary CAS aircraft in the German Luftwaffe.
Looking for a replacement, (in real life, this was the Alpha Jet), the Luftwaffe evaluated several types and finally decided to get the F-5L, an upgraded version for the Northorp F-5 A.
One of the reasosn to choose the F-5 was that Germany already operated the T-38 Talon as its primary jet trainer in the USA.

Not equipped with the wing fuel tanks, but with improved avionics, the aircraft was ment to be used in a dual role.
First, close air support and in a second role, as a light fighter aircraft.
The first aircraft were delivered in 1982 and was used at the Jagdbombergeschwader (JaboG) 41 in Husum, JaboG 43 in Oldenburg, and JaboG 49 in Fürstenfeldbruck.
A total of 175 planes were ordered and used by the Luftwaffe until the early 1990s when it had to reduce the number of aircraft after unification.

Most F-5L were then sold to other operators like Turkey and Switzerland, a few were bought by Austria to replace the Saab Draken.

[Nick]

That's a very nice model! I see what you mean by the markings being too big, is it possible to replace them later?

[Steel Penguin]

nice looking, and the markings do goive it a certain bold apperance.

[NARSES2]

I like that 

[Weaver]

Nice idea - well done.

[kitbasher]

That's nice.  And ya know, don't anyone rubbish stuff like PM 'cos it's ideal for whiffing.