News items from companies due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is drying up giving me time to do some building, something I have not done for a while. I thought I’d build AFV’s 1/48 scale RF-5E Tigereye as I have a soft spot for reconnaissance aircraft. The AFV RF-5E looks good in the box, detail is generally excellent although there are a few places where the detail has a kind of smudged look to it. I’m not sure about the breakdown of the parts, it seems overly complex. I don’t want to reveal the internal detail of the camera bay as there aren’t any parts included in the box, except for the access hatches

I thought I’d start off by attaching the auxiliary air intakes on the side of the fuselage and the air intakes. Fit is pretty good, the sprue attachment points trim off easily enough. Just need to blend the join so it likes similar to the panel lines. The plastic is soft and responds well to Tamiya's extra thin glue.

The lower and upper wings were joined and then attached to the fuselage' the air intakes and the LEX were also added. There are photo etched parts representing the perforated bleed air panels in the intakes. These were fitted into their respective recesses.

The two access panels for the gun bay were glued into position. Fit is not bad, each panel just needed the sprue attachment points removing.





There is no detail whatsoever in the camera bay in the nose. The instructions simply advise you to paint the internal area black. The large clear plastic panel allows a view into the bay, so I decided to scratch build the cameras and other equipment found in the bay. The nose is made up of three main parts and I joined the lower part of the nose to the left side. The front undercarriage bay was also added.

Great start so far Tim.
I can't believe they didn't include anything for the camera bay.
I shall follow your build with interest.
Andy

Thanks Andy, great to have you along

Cockpit was built up, painted and fitted today. The raised instruments, switches, etc makes it easier to detail. I did not realise the seat had four recessed ejector marks until I saw the image. They need filling and sanding or maybe attach a thing sheet of plastic sheet over the offending marks.

Nice progress Tim, following along as I have one of these plus several other AFV F-5’s in the stash.

thanks Luciano. Really like the F-5, and the AFV kit is going together very nicely...

The forward fuselage was glued together, but the seams will need some attention. Test fitted the forward fuselage with the rest of the fuselage once the glue had set. Not bad….

Forward fuselage was glued to the main fuselage. Join is not bad but I still thought it needed filler. So protected the detail with masking tape and applied a few coats of Mr Surfacer 1200 with a tooth pick. The joins on the nose were also filled and sanded.

Attached the clear plastic part covering the camera bay. There was a bit of a gap so I used Tamiya tape to protect the clear plastic from the Mr Surfacer 500. The smaller glazed area was also installed. I found the clear plastic was a tad too big so it needed trimming down a bit. While the filler was curing I made some straps for the ejection seat. Used the foil from a wine bottle. There are a few scuffs from handling the straps so I will touch them up later.

Happy with the joins, the kit goes together very well. The canopy was the only snag really, it needed a bit of filler carefully applied. I used Mr Surfacer again using a toothpick to carefully apply it. I decided to use the Eduard paint masks for the canopy and Master details brass gun barrel and pitot tube. Super glue was used to attach the brass parts. Tamiya tape was used to mask the glazed bit of the camera bay.






One thing that is obvious is the shallowness of the main gear bays.

Applied primer and mixed up Tamiya paint and started to apply the camouflage

Sprayed the model with a few coats of Kleer before masking of to apply paint for the bare metal areas. I was going to use Alclad II for the natural metal parts, but didn't have any thinners to clean my airbrush. So used Vallejo Model Air Aluminium instead. Very impressed with the results.

Decal time, hate putting them on, but makes a massive difference to the look. Decals went on very well after a few coats of Kleer and liberal amounts of decal softener. Just two decals to apply around the underneath of the engines. I applied a bit of weathering to the rear, but to honest ROCAF seem to keep their aircraft immaculately clean. Rear jet pipes are not glued in place hence the slightly sagging look.

Right I'm calling this one finished. I was going to add the large fuel under the fuselage, but thought it spoiled the look of the aircraft. Im not a fan of hanging lots of ordnance on my builds. Pretty straightforward build, just needed a bit of filler here and there. The decals are not great and took a fair amount setting solution applied over a glossy surface. The included boarding ladder is a nice touch. I would definitely recommend the kit for any one wanting to build a quarter scale F-5E or RF-5E.
Thanks for looking in

Excellent build Tim, she has come out looking great.
I shall expect to see more builds from you now as you have done your first in a while.
Andy

Thanks Andy, you know I think I seem to remember you sending me this kit many moons ago

Well I reviewed one in 2010, and as I no longer have it, either you have it or the Ex got it .
Andy

Beautiful build Tim, makes me want to get mine out but no, to many things on the bench already.

Andy, I don't thing you gave it to me although I do have one, and most of the rest of the range plus some AM decal sets.

Really nice outcome. Agree with Andy you need to get back into building some more kits . Maybe a WW2 prop for a change ?
Richard

Thanks guys its much appreciated