This
kit from AFV has been out for a little while now and they are already well into
their follow up variants. There’s something about this little aircraft – it
has seriously good looks and AFV seem to have made a very good choice of subject
in which to enter the aircraft kit market.
The real F-5E represents some nice design work given its subsequent long life in
one form or another. Small and relatively economical to manufacture it still
looks hot even by today's standards. Given that it has been sold to a diverse
number of airforces world wide you get some great choices in exotic markings and
then on top of that there's the aggressor squadron choices. Already the after
market suppliers are providing enhancements to the kit – good times.
Click on
images below to see larger images
I've
tried to provide quite a few close-ups here so you can get an idea of how
crisply molded this kit is. There is plenty of surface detail present which
really compliments the model as it is such a clean uncluttered airframe. High
quality tooling is what people are coming to expect as standard and this kit is
no disappointment. There’s not much in the way of extra attention to what’s
going on under the surfaces though, with empty gun bay and unresolved intakes
but hey there has to be something for the resin guys to do doesn’t there? And
I can imagine AFV was feeling a little pressured to get this kit out to
market…
There
have been plenty of comments on the net regards inaccuracies in shape and
overdone this or that but what you have here is a great effort by AFV in a
highly competitive and demanding market and we are already seeing some fantastic
built up examples by people giving the kit a good go. It’d have to be a great
rut breaker of a model – small and relatively straight forward – and what
could be a very attractive end result.
As
stated above you will have a vast array of markings options in which to pimp out
your F-5 but out of the box your options begin with:
-
US
Navy VFC-13
-
Royal
Malaysian Air Force 12 Squadron
-
Singapore
Air Force No 144 Squadron
-
US
Air Force 64th FWS 57th FWW
So
in summary I’d say most F-5E fanatics will already have this kit but if
you’re thinking about picking it up – then do so because it’s reasonably
priced and will look fantastic built up – and yes you may actually finish it.
This
kit can be purchased here: http://www.hlj.com/product/AFV48102
Nick
Moore
My
thanks to HobbyLink
Japan
(http://www.hlj.com/)
for providing this review sample.
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