Slavo Hazucha The 4-ship formation looks awesome already! And so does the metal base on the trainer - hope you´ll enjoy!
I admire your consistence in not choosing a "preferred child" and going steady with all 4... I can´t imagine bringing up the patience & discipline to do one step 4-times before moving on to the next one... If you carry this through the stencils, it´s worth a medal!
8. September, 18:41
Erik Leijdens Thanks Nathan, Clifford, Alexander and Slavo!
@Slavo, yes it IS very tempting to finish the "preferred child" first, but that will be a MOJO killer I think to finish the others. I'm even thinking to start a little kit on the side, just to finally finish something this year..
8. September, 19:02
Erik Leijdens Dry fitted the Dutch Orpheus recce pod. Looks nice under the 104
Slavo Hazucha Great looking pod - and as far as my humble recent experience goes, working with the lovely fine engraved lines & rivets on the actual plane should be just as much rewarding in result...
Arjan Ouwendijk Erik, a little late I know but you made a truly beautiful model....I also like this camouflage. There is however a small mistake in the kit and that is the nose gear leg. Kinetic supplied 2 nose gear legs but only the F-5A leg is correct for that type......the made up CF-5/NF-5 leg is incorrect. Originally the first generation F-5's used the leg that was installed vertical under the nose area and the fork section angles back a few degrees. On the CF-5A and NF-5A they installed a nose leg that had the fork in a straight line with the main leg body but the whole gear was angled forward. This leg was later installed on the second generation F-5 namely the F-5E/F. It had also the hike/de-hike provision built in. I still remember doing retraction tests of a hiked nose landing gear and we always had to watch the retraction sequence closely as sometimes the gear retracted before it was fully de-hiked.....which causes a big mess ofcourse
Another thing I'd like to point out is that the leading edge flaps only had 2 positions.......the manoeuvring flaps position was built in on the trailing edge flaps and had 3 positions. I don't know why everyone is always talking about the 3 position leading edge flaps but this is not correct.
Once again, a gorgeous model!!
Regards, Arjan
3. August, 19:48
Erik Leijdens Hi Arjan! Thanks for your comment! And a nice on too, never noticed that the fork should be in a straight line! Something to keep in mind when building another NF-5A
10. August, 20:20
Jos Jansen Me too Anne, Erik NF-5A is probably one of the most finest Northrop I ever saw...and that's a compliment mate . After finishing my F-14, it's NF-5A time...!
Alec K Good for you in getting it finished. The paint looks super
21. June, 11:52
Erik Leijdens After two+ years this one is done. Will put it away in the cabinet and never look at it again. It just didn't worked out the way it was supposed to be.
26. June, 20:48
JD Thanks for including how much time it took you, now I don't feel too bad about how slow I am! Things will get done...eventually
26. June, 21:06
Patrick Hagelstein And what again was wrong with it?...... As I can only see a beautiful aircraft!
Erik Leijdens Well Patrick and Neuling; First, this kit is not very clever engineered. Fiddly undercarriage which broke several times, and you haven to place them early in the build. Also I totally screwed up the initial paintjob, resulting in second layer of paint on top the first. Some decals ripped, I just left them off. I'm Just not very pleased about the overall build progress. But from a distance it looks fine..
27. June, 11:18
Patrick Hagelstein Maybe that's why the pictures were taken from a distance??? I get your point and agree that a complete repaint doesn't always show up that well on close scrutinization... Either way, just looking at the final results, not thinking back about all those issues, it's still a result many of us look at in awe! Don't be too hard on yourself!
28. June, 03:20
Erik Leijdens Thanks Patrick . I will post some close up pictures today. They are bit far away now indeed
+
12+
. After finishing my F-14, it's NF-5A time...!
Either way, just looking at the final results, not thinking back about all those issues, it's still a result many of us look at in awe! Don't be too hard on yourself! 
