#10 - OTDAEABT 2 - Maly Modelarz F-5 E Tiger II

[Gharbad]

I checked out Konradus's list of designers, and this is my 7th Bohdan model I have a bunch more too... I'm considering another one as my next model. He seems to design subjects I like.

Anyways, I got one side done.

Here's the skeleton of the engine. Again its size didn't really match, so it took a bit of trimming (since I cut oversized now) to get it right. It turns out the dashed lines on the fuselage don't mean anything. You can't follow them except very roughly.
[Edit!! I forgot an important detail! The cut out for the wing support is wrong. He mirrored it vertically around the former. I had to cut out new holes for it right below the old ones - the new hole is hidden in the dark in this photo.



To skin it, I edge glued one skin to the previous. The instructions suggested you put little strips of paper on each former, but considering one of the formers ended up no where near the edge of the skin made that useless.
It came out pretty well I think. You can see how the engine intake is made up too. Doesn't look very realistic, but it looks pretty good.



Trying it on, you either leave a gap, or you have more misalignment. I chose a filler strip that I will paint later (the white part touching the fuselage). This is loosely sitting there, I'll glue it after I paint it.



Common sense tells me I should do school work tomorrow instead of this, but maybe I'll fit something in.

[Gharbad]

I quickly made the measley engines before finishing for the day.

[NOBI]

I heard in another forum that build MM's F-5E is like a pain in ass but you can make it look good, wait for your progress :-)

[Don Boose]

You are surely doing some major surgery here, Kuba. It's fun to watch. Educational. And your airplane is looking really good.

Don

[Gharbad]

After a school work break, I got back to the F-5.

I finished the other engine. This one fit a bit worse, but whatever.
I also started the wings while letting that stuff dry. You can see it's made the exact same way as the vertical stabilizer.



I got both wings now - they just need to be trimmed marginally to better fit the fuselage.



The horizontal stabilizers are slightly different than the other surfaces, since they're just a skin glued onto a former. The cut out is for the supports obviously.



Here's a dry fit. They're supposed to be held only by the support without touching the fuselage. I guess the real ones pivot on a shaft.
[Check out the crazy image artifacts on the engines!]


Here's a loose dry fit with all 4, and the scale cube! I dug it up from my drawer. I should remake that, it's pretty crummy. The intakes I'll glue once I paint, which I'm saving for much later when it's essentially done - I don't want to mix the colour twice.

[Don Boose]

Wow! You are really truckin' on this build, Kuba. And I must say that it looks mighty fine.

Don

[outersketcher]

I've been reading your posts and wanted to say how much I appreciated your clear, well-lit photography. The fuselage skinwork looks great!

David

[Don Boose]

And you have somehow magically made all the color pattern mismatches disappear!

Don

[Gharbad]

Thanks Don & David

Though now both those things come bite me - my clear photography can show off the color mismatch I caused.
Keep me away from paints, because honestly, I'm lost when mixing them. I can't even get close and I don't have the patience...

But first the front landing gear.



I guess I'll take a close up later on. Here it is being held just by the cork.



So here comes the horrible paint... I did the engine intakes, and the front little wing extension parts. Actually, I lied - the photos hide the awfulness of the paint. It almost blends in here...



Maybe I'll paint over it again later.

[Don Boose]

Well, if I look REAL hard, I can see the very slight difference in shade just above the intakes. Looks like an excellent use of paint to me.

Don