1:72 Northrop F-5 Tiger II Worldwide Collection Pt1

A small fighter with an enormous list of users

The Northrop F-5E Tiger II grew out of a plain requirement: to build a supersonic fighter cheap to buy and to maintain, so that the allies of the United States could afford it. It followed on from the older F-5A Freedom Fighter, at the beginning of the nineteen seventies it won the international fighter competition and it spread to dozens of countries. It is powered by two small General Electric J85 engines and the machine is agile enough that the US Air Force and Navy still use it today for air combat training in the adversary role.

It is precisely this spread across the whole world that makes the type a feast for collectors of markings. Every air force repainted the machine in its own way, so desert and mountain camouflage, sober two-tone grays and striking national colors on the vertical tail all stand side by side.

What the sheet is for

• the first part of a selection of finishes of the type from various corners of the world
• 1:72 scale for the widespread kits of this fighter
• one more part with the same focus follows this one
• suitable for models in camouflage and in single-color finishes alike

In 1:72 scale a finished model measures about twenty centimeters and the markings take up a large part of its surface. It therefore pays to assemble and spray the whole airframe including the drop tanks and the external stores before you reach for the tweezers. Once the build is finished it is hard to work under the wings and on the tanks, and at a compressed viewing angle a marking is easily settled crooked. Small stencils are better left for a day when your hand is steady.