Portuguese Tiger

[DogfighterZen]

Well, i have another whiff on my hands and seems that i'm going to finish this too before the first whiff i started... 
I dind't want to build anything until i get an airbrush but after recently finishing two of my real world builds in an effort to clear the bench and move on, i looked at the Tiger and just had that feeling that it was time to set it free! 
I have the back story started but there is still much to be done to the kit itself...

In 1979, a lot of advanced soviet fighters were being sold to other countries so , the U.S. president Jimmy Carter ordered the secretary of defense to change the foreign arms sales policy and start to lift its restrictions of advanced avionics and weapon systems on export versions of U.S. jets. The allies of the NATO countries welcomed this decision as a lot of them were looking to buy new weaponry.
The PoAF's was one of the allies looking for aircraft but because of a low budget and their old F-86Fs that had to be retired in 1980, they were forced to make a decision. Their options were to either go with 44 refurbished ex-U.S.Navy A-7As and 6 TA-7s or just 20 A-7s and 35 F-5s. As they already had experience with the excellent T-38s that were in service since 1977, they chose to ask Northrop for an interception/air superiority dedicated variant of the F-5, with beyond visual range capability and more powerful engines. At the time, the F-5G, which later became the F-20 Tigershark, was already being developed but the design was not even ready for testing so a new variant of the Tiger would be born.
With the new J85-GE-25 engines that could produce up to 6.000lb of thrust on afterburners the speed and performance of the Tiger was closer to contemporary fighters like the F-16 and Mirage 2000 but still falling somewhat short in power.
Also new was the General Electric AN/APG-67 multi-mode radar and hotas, ring laser gyroscope navigation system and most of the avionics that made it into the F-20. Air refueling probe, Ford Aerospace Tigerclaw cannons and this Portuguese variant would also have a IRST sensor in front of the windscreen...
This was to be called the F-5P Tiger II.

And this is how it was when i pulled it off the stalled builds pile...



Can't do much about the cock pit now but i'll have to scratch up a new HUD...



Painted the aft fuselage/nozzles area with Tamiya's XF-10 Metallic Grey and attached the stabs and fin, puttied the fin and intakes and now i'm waiting for putty to cure so tomorrow maybe some PSR and canopy masking.
This is it for now.

[Dizzyfugu]

Cool. Maybe also add a fin fillet - as on the Brazilian F-5Es? Changes the profile considerably and is quickly done with a piece of styrene sheet.

[Captain Canada]

"pulled it off the stalled builds pile"

Love it !

Glad to see her resurrected. Love the F-5 family. I like the story as well. makes sense and it would have meant more and longer-living F-5s !

[DogfighterZen]

Cool. Maybe also add a fin fillet - as on the Brazilian F-5Es? Changes the profile considerably and is quickly done with a piece of styrene sheet.

This complicates this Stan's simple plan of building it OOB... but I have to admit that i already thought of adding the fillet... guess i was being lazy and just needed that extra push... Thanks, Mr. Dizzyfugu!
It was simple to make the fillet and it does add a certain something to the looks, so here it is. Maybe just a little bit taller than the real one but it close enough for me. Only one problem, though... now you got me thinking of bigger wings and stabs.. 

"pulled it off the stalled builds pile"

Love it !

Glad to see her resurrected. Love the F-5 family. I like the story as well. makes sense and it would have meant more and longer-living F-5s !

Thanks Captain! I've been thinking about the scheme too and i'm sorry if i'm disappointing you or anyone else, but i just fell in love with another Brazilian scheme on their F-5s... This has less colors but i really like the combination.


And this also adds a few things to the back story...

With the good experience of the initial F-5Ps, in 1985 the PoAF decided to buy a few more aircraft before production was shut down and the last F-5P was delivered in 1989. In Cooperation with the Brazilian Air Force, beggining in 2001, the F-5Ps went through a modernization program developed by Embraer and Elbit Systems to bring capability up to date with the most advanced avionics available for the Tiger. These modernized aircraft were the re-designated F-5PM. 
More pics soon.

[Captain Canada]

Nothing wrong with that pattern or colour scheme....looks great. That is a very nice pic...thanks for sharing it !

[DogfighterZen]

Nothing wrong with that pattern or colour scheme....looks great. That is a very nice pic...thanks for sharing it !

No problem, it's just beautiful isn't it? That's why i'll have to try the other scheme on something else... or another one of these, who knows? 
Anyway, on this one, got home from the band's rehearsal at 1am and managed to sand down the intakes, fillet and the rest of the filled areas.



It's 6.30 am so i'll call it a day... Busy day later on but will try to put on all the small sensors and decide if this will be my first aircraft on dirty configuration... 
Suggestions are welcome...

[Dizzyfugu]

That looks cool. The Brazilian scheme loosk nice in person - used it on my "Libellula" whif (FS 36173 & FS 34092).

[DogfighterZen]

That looks cool. The Brazilian scheme loosk nice in person - used it on my "Libellula" whif (FS 36173 & FS 34092).

That's a nice Libellula! And thanks for the references on the colors. 

[DogfighterZen]

 Hey guys, back with some progress on the Tiger... I starting to think that i should have called this, Pimp my Tiger build! I'm looking at it as if it was a real F-5 with car like tuning done on it, bumps and lumps all over... 
While digging in my spare bits bag for something that would save me from scratching up stuff and found this to house the new IRST21...



Added some stuff to the cockpit, oxygen tube for the pilot from streched sprue, new HUD made from plastic bits and a square of clear plastic sheet from the cover of the aires F-22 resin nozzle set. The back of the cockpit seemed too empty so i scrounged some landing gear legs from the bag and cut them up to simulate something like the canopy actuators.
Also found a small lump of plastic, origin unknown but i found a use for it and as i've never liked the refueling probe sticking out to the side but didn't want the Tiger to lose this capability, i had to make it retractable. To do this, it still has to be left outside of the fuselage so, this is how i figured it would be best to have it done. Chip away the center of a sprue rod with the x-acto blade and sand... it turned out that i had to finish it with putty...



Re-shaped the nose a bit to a cross between the pointy and the duck like nose radome, clear bit for IRST will be added later.



Test shot with canopy placed, not glued, just to get the feel of the thing...



Considering my skills, i can say i'm satisfied at the moment. It's almost ready for the scheme, just have to touch up the painting of the pilot and cockpit,attach the windscreen. I'll have to sort out the equivalent XF numbers for Tamiya colors of the FS numbers Dizzyfugu shared cause those are all i'll have access to for some time.
And i still haven't decided if i'll stand this one on it's wheels with open canopy or let it fly... 

[Captain Canada]

Looking good ! Love lumps and bumps

[DogfighterZen]

Looking good ! Love lumps and bumps

Did some more sanding on the nose and i'm happy with the way it looks now, more platypus like. This also means that these tigers were modified to the F-5N standards as the U.S. Navy modified theirs.

[DogfighterZen]

Hey guys, i've managed to get some painting done on the tiger a few days ago. I went to my local hobby shop and they didn't have the exact Tamiya XF number for the gray that matched the FS reference that DizzyFugu shared but i thought that the one i ended up buying was close enough.
Ok, moving on to the tiger, this is how it looks now, what do you guys think?






Sorry for the quality but pics were taken with my phone as don't have any other camera at the time.
This was my first camo ever, freehand brush painted. I know it's not an excellent job, but it was the best i could do. I did have to touch up some bits as the brush seemed to have a will of it's own sometimes and pics always show more than my eyes can see...  
I'm actually rather pleased with it so i guess i'll be trying more camouflaged stuff in the future.
I still have to attach refueling probe, antennas, canons and i'll be leaving the landing gear aside as this kit doesn't provide the auxiliary air intakes, not even the panel lines on the rear fuselage and those are always open when the aircraft is taxying, taking off or at low speed flight for additional air flow. I think i'll try giving it a coat of a product equivalent to Future and the likes. I've never done it before the decals so another first for me. Future and Clear aren't sold here in Portugal,  Ultra Pro is the name of the stuff that some Portuguese modelers started using and spoke wonders of it, so i bought it and tested it on a canopy and other parts. The canopy was white on the inside  because i used CA glue and didn't know i had to let it rest for a minute 'till the vapors cleared away. I it now almost completely clear, not totally cause i also used too much of the stuff and it flowed inside and dried up rock hard. Here's photographic evidence:

Before:



After:



Not too bad, is it?   So i'll be using this stuff before decaling, just have to choose the squad that it would've been operating in.
There's also a new twist to the whole thing... Imagine that, if the Portuguese had an exclusive armament contract with Raytheon because of the A-7's, and afterwards, the F-16s. Instead of having Rafael missiles, the F-5PM would operate the AIM-9X, AIM-120C and D, and all the other weapons that the FoAP already used from Raytheon. I thought of this simply cause i think it makes some sense as the PoAF has never had any Rafael missiles before and i really don't think they would've used them, even if they had the F-5s and had them modernized. The FIAR Grifo-F X Band radar is compatible with the AIM-120s but i don't know if it is with the 9x. Still if it controls the 120s it should be able to control the 9X, i guess...
Anyway, in this reality, it would because i really didn't wanna try to modify 9s and 120s to have Python and Derby missiles as this would make it a bit different from all F-5s out there... If you're whiffin, whiff it for real!!   I know it could be done but, as i already had a pair of converted 9Xs and i'm just too lazy, its easier to change the story than it is to create convincing fins for the Pythons in 1/72. Maybe someday...  
That's it for now, more coming this weekend.

[kerick]

Looks awesome to me! Hand painted camp works just fine.

[DogfighterZen]

Looks awesome to me! Hand painted camp works just fine.

Thank you, Kerick!  I was a bit scared of trying my first camo paint job on this model but thought, what the heck, ain't gonna be perfect anyway so, might as well get on with it, even if it doesn't come out as i expected! Thought about using blue tack type stuff to outline the green areas but i figured that would only work with an air brush so i chose to go free-hand. I've had to touch up a few areas but, trial and error, that's the name of the game, right?  I can say i'm pretty satisfied with the results for now.
Been getting some last bits of paint on it before the varnish for decals placing, tail and intake lights, different gray on a few bits,nothing much. Normally what i call "pube painting"...

[Captain Canada]

Really coming along now ! Love the camo, really suits it. Love al the lumps and bumps too....my kind of aeroplane !