1:48 F-20 Tigershark - Nozzle Set Closed (GE YF404-100 / for Freedom Model Kits)

The best aircraft nobody bought

The Northrop F-20 Tigershark was developed with the maker's own money as the successor to the successful F-5E type. The fundamental change was the powerplant: in place of a pair of weaker engines it received a single General Electric F404, which gave the machine thrust comparable with far more expensive fighters. The prototypes flew with the powerplant designated YF404-GE-100, and the first of them took off on August 30, 1982.

The aircraft was fast, cheap to operate and needed only a few tens of seconds from the order to take off. Even so it did not succeed. The countries it was offered to had meanwhile been given permission to buy the F-16, two of the three examples built crashed on demonstration flights, and in November 1986 Northrop ended the whole program.

The closed position of the petals

This variant captures the exhaust in its constricted state, that is how a machine with the engine shut down looks standing on the apron. The petals are together, the diameter of the opening is the smallest possible and only a little can be seen inside. It is the choice for a model built on its landing gear, with the covers in place and with steps leaning against the side of the cockpit.

The part replaces the kit piece, which tends to be split along its length and carries a joint line around its whole circumference. The replacement has no seam and its petals are thinner than an injection mold can hold. Before gluing, all that is needed is to cut off the casting residue and level the surface on a file.

It pays to seat the finished part only once the rear fuselage has been sprayed. Metal shades are hard to protect with a mask in this spot, and on a constricted nozzle the transition between the airframe color and the metal is very short.