1/48 Fujimi CF-5D

by Dan McWilliams

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

 

This old kit by Fujimi is a bit of a funny combination.  The exterior shape of the CF-5D (dual in Canadian Forces parlance) is pretty good, but the cockpit detail is totally lacking.  I flew these aircraft more than 20 years ago as part of my basic fighter pilot course, and I wanted to have one on my shelf.  After looking at the frankly laughable representation of cockpit panels and pilot figures, I hunted around for help.  Thanks Spooky!  He sent me an F-5E model, in the hope that I could salvage some cockpit parts for the front seat, and I had been thinking of scratch-building a blind-flying hood to cover over the back cockpit.  Somebody with more patience and talent than me could probably have made it work, but I am sad to say that didn't happen.  Look for the Tiger II model built OOB here on ARC.  I ended up taking some of the Hobbycraft Tutor cockpit parts that were rendered useless to me after using Wayne Hui's resin set for the Tutor, and using them cut in half to represent some semblance of cockpit detail - but promise not to look too closely!

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

The Fujimi pilot figures were hugely different in size.  One guy was a dwarf, and the other one looked like an NBA player.  I used a Hasegawa pilot, plus the smaller Fujimi guy for this build.  I experimented with paint here.  This is the first time I have used buffing metallizer from Humbrol.  You can see it prior to buffing in pic 05.  For the funny quasi-metal paint that "natural metal" CF-5s had, it does a pretty good job.  I have included a pic showing some natural metal jets together for comparison.  The Tutor and CF-104 use Alclad II, while the T-33 uses Bare Metal Foil.  I find all 3 methods provide interesting results, but I still find natural metal finishes to be very difficult to make look realistic.  My hat is off to those who spend endless hours staining the bare metal foil, or spraying individual panels with different shades of metal paint.  Maybe when I finally retire, I might have time for that...

The two CF-5s side by side contrast the kits from Fujimi (this build) and Classic Airframes (the camouflaged single).  The Classic Airframes jet had a superb cockpit and very poor airframe detail (missing drag chute cover, poorly fitting wings, etc).  Somebody with more patience and budget (maybe me in a few years) would be well served to buy a Classic Airframes kit for the resin details, and try to wedge it all into the Fujimi airframe.  Don't know if it would work - the fuselage sizes look somewhat different to me...  In any case, I finished this off with Leading Edge's excellent Aluminum/Red CF-5 decals, and if I don't look too closely I can escape into reveries of my first flights in this fun little training fighter.  It was a real handful for me to transition into a jet that flew 50% faster on final approach than the Tutor (typical approach speeds about 175 knots), and the biggest eye-opener was getting into a world where flying the jet was secondary to employing its weapons.  Not my proudest build, but still nice to look at from a reasonable distance.

Dan

Photos and text © by Dan McWilliams