F-5E Tiger II of the Mexican Air Force

[MassterOzymandias]

In my first GB in this forum, I'm very excited to announce my entry:
Created in 1982, the combat squadron and air patrol of the Mexican Air Force is kept in operation to protect the Mexican air space with F5 - Northrop jets from the U.S. The emblem of the squadron is inspired in by the Prehispanic Aztec Tiger Warrior.
In this year, Mexico commemorated the centennial of the Fuerza Aérea Mexicana (Mexican Air Force). I will build the HobbyBoss F5-E Tiger II in 1/72 scale with decals from Aztec Models for the mexican version.
Here are the images:









Greetings from México!

[Goose]

Hello,

Interesting build. Pay attention and be careful with those decals becoz a friend of my club tried to build the f5E in 1/48th scale fro afv, it was all good till he began the decals session. they react quite badly at the micro set and sol. He explained us that their very very fragile!

good luck

Goose

[MassterOzymandias]

Hello,

Interesting build. Pay attention and be careful with those decals becoz a friend of my club tried to build the f5E in 1/48th scale fro afv, it was all good till he began the decals session. they react quite badly at the micro set and sol. He explained us that their very very fragile!

good luck

Goose

Thanks Goose. I use the Microscale products so I'll be careful with the decals. Thanks again for the advice.

[MassterOzymandias]

I started the kit with the cockpit in the same scheme of the FAM

The kit provides this pieces for the cockpit



Priming



The decals for the panel and sideboards are too flat, so I decided paint them.



Zoom to the Control panel



The seat and the sideboards



Pilot and cockpit ready.

[Nige201980]

Cracking start on the cockpit mate.

[MassterOzymandias]

Cracking start on the cockpit mate.

Thanks buddy. I will upload more pics

[MassterOzymandias]

I continue with this funny building.

I put the cockpit in the fuselage and looks well for me



In a dry building, I looked the diferences between the kit and the real Tiger in Mexico. Before of this, the unions of the fuselage need a sanding a lot and repaneling





The kit is perfectly for the most of the modifications. The only thing that I need is cut the tail for put the extension like the mexican version. I made it with plasticard.

So, the F-5 looks like this with the parts of the mexican version





Tomorrow I will work in the landing gear and the last details before painting work.

[Gav0909]

Looks good, nice work on the various Mexican specific parts there, they really add to the model.

[Danta2er]

the tiny cockpit looks terrific and I really like all of the Fuerza Aérea Mexicana details

[Homerlovesbeer]

Fantastic job on painting all the instruments and dials....really nice!

[MassterOzymandias]

Looks good, nice work on the various Mexican specific parts there, they really add to the model.

the tiny cockpit looks terrific and I really like all of the Fuerza Aérea Mexicana details

Fantastic job on painting all the instruments and dials....really nice!

Thanks pals! I'm glad that you like it!

[MassterOzymandias]

After a long long time, I completed the fuselage build with the lex addition









After that I primed with grey and I did the preshading with a brush





Using a newspaper and masking tape, I covered the fuselage for paint the landing gear pits and nozzles with Tamiya chrome silver





And the magic begins with the paint work I used Tan (a mix of tamiya browns and buff) and forest green (a MIG paint)









The next layer is the dark green camouflage with tamiya paint. I paint the radome with a green mixed with "eye size"

[MassterOzymandias]

Almost in the deadline, here the photos in the finishing touches before the final reveal.

The layer of gloss varnish for the decals







Putting the decals for the mexican versión: F5-E with registration number 4001 and serial number 81-0632 in the Santa Lucia Air Base flew by Squadron Leader Julián Carlos Calls Barbosa in 1992.











After that I sealed the decals with gloss varnish

[MassterOzymandias]

Now the dark wash...







After a few minutes, I rubbed the aircraft with a paper towel









And that's all. I will post the last pics in the final reveal tread. Thanks for following this build. Greetings from Mexico.

[MassterOzymandias]

Ups I think I fall.