1/48 T-38 and F-5E/F

by Peter Marshall

--------------------

 

OK, ok, so I got a bit carried away with the aggressor schemes.  There are another three F-5Es in build but they fell behind a bit so you might see them later, if they work out ok.  These two F-5Es are very poor (Kiddyland) rip-offs of the Monogram kit, the "48th T-38" is Fujimi's and is neither an accurate T-38 or 48th scale and is a truly dreadful kit from the dark ages of modelling.  But it was an airframe to stick the lovely "snake" scheme on The other two schemes are "Frog" (which supposedly was never used, tho pictures exist) and a Navy "Blue" scheme (the Navy doesn't seem to have official schemes or names for them).  

Click on images below to see larger images

The Mexican F-5F was irresistible, after I saw the Aztec decal sheet with the tigers on the tail.  Aggressors and Tigers, nothing better  It's the Monogram F-5F kit of course.

The wings with the bigger LERX and the flatter nose came from the c**p Kiddyland kits (at least they had the decency to include some extra bits that they had molded themselves).  The tail extension was just cut from sheet card and sanded to some sort of shape.  The rocket pods(?) were made from some cluster bombs and the AIM-9 came from a Hasegawa set (as did the other AIM-9s and the ACMI pod on the Blue Navy a/c).

Click on images below to see larger images

The silver F-5F was painted with many coats of Alclad II, I haven't dared seal the decals as I think it'll ruin the shine.  Maybe the decals will fall off in time but we'll see.  The "50" on the nose and the tail number on the "Frog" scheme are my first attempt at home made decals too.  Exciting stuff....  The T-38 is the new Sword kit, MUCH nicer than the Fujimi  Decals are from TwoBobs (as are the the ones on the other T-38), the only thing added was seatbelts and mirrors.  Other decals are from Superscale, old sheets, where ever I could find them.  Hope you like them!
Peter

Click on images below to see larger images

Photos and text © by Peter Marshall