Global Scale Modeller

I thought I'd join the feline group with the AFV club 1/48 scale Swiss Northrop F5E Tiger II.
Kit number AR548S06.
So lets jump right into this kit.


I chose this aircraft because I thought I'd like to attempt something striking and the Swiss aerobatic team scheme seems to fit the bill. It might also be a good chance to try using gloss paints for a change, and i think these group builds can motivate me to give things a try. The decals are certainly going to be a huge challenge for me as they seem rather large, very matt, look liable to wrinkle with large carrier films, and trimming is going to have to be done.
However, I've thought about photocopying the decal sheet onto a Tamiya masking sheet to see if I can make a masking set and just use paints.


So here are my goals.

1) Enjoy this build.
2) Paint the whole model in its red and white scheme.
3 Try to sand and polish the paint as needed.
4)The kit will be built out of the box to keep cost down and hopefully we'll have something looking like this.



So far the one thing I have noticed with this kit is how they sliced and diced the kit, with the fuselage cut into 4 sections, so this is a bit unusual.The sprue photo's should give you an idea of how they did it.
1 nose cone
2 The cockpit frame made up of four sections.
3 The upper fuselage is one piece, and sits on top of a complete wing section.
4 The rear engine housing also connects to the back of the fuselage.

Here are the other sprue to the kit.
The decal sheet looks rather daunting.You'll notice how the large white and red decal is rather stylised to give it a blurred effect towards the rear instead of a crisp white swiss cross.
I'd prefer not to go down that road, but would like a crisp white Swiss cross.So I intend to mask this off, and see how that works

Other sprues on the kit

It's taken a while to get some work done, but I've started.
So we start with the cockpit, a simple glossy grey paint, followed up with some black panel liner to try and highlight the console.Finally any excess is mopped up with a cotton buddy and some enamel thinner.
Way easier than trying to paint every detail.
A couple of button single out out for some yellow and red for something extra to look at.

Finally completing the cockpit tub, With some dry brushing with some metal paint,but again singling out a few switches for some interest, and some satisfaction at finally managing to get started.

The forward section of the kit is in four parts.
Two main sides.
One lower part and finally the nose cone.
There is an option for access panels for the weapon bay and I chose to keep to closed.It was a bit tricky to fit,I flied a bit too much off.Ouch! So far the kit is showing itself as very tight fitting which might mean very little filling is required.
And so we put the put the tub in.

Great to see that you've started on this one mate - it's a great looking plane in a really eye-catching colour scheme.

I've got a load of photos of the Patrouille Suisse from airshows so let me know if you need anything for reference and I'll see if I can find something that might help.

So far I've tried a test piece to see if I can try and paint the Tiger without using the decals, and it seems do-able.

I photo copied the decal sheets, cut them out to give me a template.I tacked it onto the tail part, then I used Tamiya white masking tape, to get the curve I was looking for.
For the white cross I thought I would try and cut the white cross out from the decal sheet as it is smaller, and easier to handle, and place it on. Personally I thought it turned out better than I thought.And I might use this approach if i ever have large decals again.

It''s been slow progress, and right now I've had a we set back so I'll take this opportunity to try some sanding and do some touch ups. Two steps forward and one back, but this gives me chance to try sanding for the first time.
Otherwise I'm pretty happy with what I've tried so far.

Hopefully I will get the main fuselage painted white this week.
To get a smoother finish I used Mr Hobby white glossy with Mr Hobby levelling thinners, with about 25% thinners.
Very smelly so please use a mask and have some ventilation.

Beautiful paintwork

Hope you can get that damage sorted without too much trouble.

Wow, trouble right at the start of the build.
Not a good sign but it's only your first date could run like a dream from now on.

Well,it seems I'm having a lot of trouble with the paint and masking.
I've repainted the tail, but when I took off the tamiya tape it seems to have left some residue.
Not sure why? Could be the paint hadn't cured fully?
Anyway I'm going to try and polish that out.
In the first picture I tried to sand it out with 1200 grit, and it did a better job than I thought.
Next I re-masked and re-shot the red and white.
Finally,I took off the Tamiya tape, found some residue and a thumb print, and used 3000 grit Tamiya sponge and wet polished it.

Since I've never done sanding before, this turned out better way than I thought. Yes. it seems to have lost its polish but hopefully the final gloss coat over the decals with reboot the gloss.

Not sure I can paint this whole plane, but I'm going to give it a go.
I've started the main fuselage and as a test I'm doing one side first, to see how the red goes down over the white.