Gary Wickham has
already presented on of the kits from Freedom models with his X-47B build
recently. When they released another kit he was keen to see how this new
company has progressed – let’s take a look at what he found with their latest
kit – the new 1/48th scale F-20 Tigershark…
Freedom Model Kits
New tool initial release
Kit No# FD18002
1/48th scale
Available from Freedom Modeller’s Distributors Worldwide
Price ¥6,210/ USD $52.01/ €45.83 from Hobbylink Japan
Freedom
Models has just released its second aircraft kit in 1/48, the ill-fated Northrop
F-20 Tigershark. Freedoms first kit was the futuristic looking X-47B UCAS in
1/48. I found this a fascinating subject and eagerly built that model (see
here) and had an enjoyable time doing it.
I was therefore quite keen to see what Freedom Model Kits (FMK) had
planned for us next and this time around they have chosen to stay on the “path
less travelled” and give us another subject a little out of left field. Well
done I say, we need more manufacturers to be a little bold and not just keep
pumping out more F-16s and Bf-109s.
The Northrop
F-20 Tigershark (initially F-5G) was a privately financed light
fighter, designed and built by Northrop. Its development began in 1975 as a
further evolution of Northrop's F-5E
Tiger II, featuring a new engine that greatly improved overall performance,
and a modern avionics suite including a powerful and flexible radar. Compared
with the F-5E, the F-20 was much faster, gained beyond-visual-range air-to-air
capability, and had a full suite of air-to-ground modes capable of firing most
U.S. weapons. With these improved capabilities, the F-20 became competitive
with contemporary fighter designs such as the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting
Falcon, but was much less expensive to purchase and operate. (Source:
Wikipedia)
Much of the
F-20's development was carried out under a US Department of Defence (DoD)
project called "FX". FX sought to develop fighters that would be
capable in combat with the latest Soviet aircraft, but excluding sensitive
front-line technologies used by the United States Air Force's own aircraft.
Northrop had high hopes for the F-20 in the international market, but policy
changes following Ronald Reagan's election meant the F-20 had to compete for
sales against aircraft like the F-16, the USAF's latest fighter design.
The
development program was abandoned in 1986 after three prototypes had been built
and a fourth partially completed.
The Freedom
Model Kit F-20A is packaged in a fairly standard configuration which each of
the 4 main and 8 smaller weapons sprue sealed in their own protective plastic
bags. A small photo etch fret is provided along with a 10 page monochrome
instruction booklet and separate glossy 3 page colour painting and markings
foldout.
Two decal sheets are provided with the larger sheet
containing markings for each of the 3 prototypes and the smaller sheet contains
a myriad of assorted national insignias/roundels to get modellers started with
their own “what-if” version of the F-20.
Despite Freedom providing the markings for the first
prototype it’s not really possible to build an accurate model of this specific
aircraft (with what’s provided in the box) because the first prototype had the
cockpit (seat) and canopy of an F-5E. The later prototypes were fitted with a
new, larger canopy and updated cockpit and ejection seat. It is only these
later parts that are included in the FMK box. To their credit, FMK do provide
both the longer (fitted to first aircraft) and shorter (second/third aircraft)
noses in the box.
Martin from Freedom Models recently commented on that “There
are so many aftermarket companies and I believe one may be looking at providing
the correct canopy for the first prototype, 82-0062 in due course. Why wasn't
it provided? Well someone holds the answer to that and it isn't me I am afraid.
The canopy issue did come up at development pre tooling.”
This photo clearly shows the visible difference between the
first (closest to camera) and later prototypes canopy (note the framing and
amount of glass).
So before we get to the blow by blow look at the sprues, I’m
always most interested with any new kit just how well it actually fits
together. You can say what you like about what’s in the box but it’s not really
till you get the parts off the sprues and start fitting them together that you
actually get a feel for a kit.
One thing I immediately noticed when working with the parts
was how things had improved since the X-47 kit. The surface of the F-20 parts
is much smoother (exhibiting almost none of the roughness I found on the X-47).
This is by design as Martin from Freedom Models explains “We took on board the
constructive comments from the X-47B and changed our decal supplier and
injection moulding company. We also invested heavily into the moulding
technique and plastic. This way we are able to provide the modeller with nice
panel lines (crisp and consistent throughout the kit), nice rivets both
positive and negative.”
The clear parts fit very snuggly, so if you plan to build
the model with the canopy closed you won’t have to worry about gaps or
misalignment.
The surface detail (rivet and panel lines) is nicely done
and should look just about right under few coats of paint. Of course the main
reason for dry assembly is to check the fit and the general engineering (the
way the parts are designed to come together). For the most part the fit of the
parts I assembled was very good. The intakes are a bit fiddly and will need
some pre-planning to paint and assemble in the optimal sequence and I’m not
convinced that the mounting pins for the horizontal tails are sturdy enough for
the task.
The F-20 had an all moving tail hinged at the central point.
The FMK kit provides quite a short stub for the hinge which fits into a hole in
the fuselage. I’d be inclined to replace this stub with a longer section of
plastic (or brass) rod for more strength and rigidity.
The main wheel well
and airbrake interiors look to be adequately detailed and with careful paining
will look great.
SPRUE A
This sprue contains the main lower fuselage section. FMK has
chosen to mould the wings integral to the fuselage (much like the much older
Revell F-5 kits from memory). The horizontal tails, engine nozzle, nose wheel
and strut, tail hook along with several pylons are also included on Sprue A.
The primary design change between the earlier F-5E and the
F-20 was the use of a single General Electric F404 engine that was originally
designed for the F/A-18 Hornet. The new engine provided 60% more thrust
compared to the combined output of the F-5E's paired General Electric J85s.
SPRUE B
This sprue contains the main fuselage halves, vertical tail,
flaps, main gear doors (open or closed option), airbrakes, intakes splitter
plates and intake interior and finally the engine exhaust trunking.
SPRUE C
This sprue contains the main fuselage halves, vertical tail,
flaps, main gear doors (open or closed option), airbrakes, intakes splitter
plates and intake interior and finally the engine exhaust trunking.
The F-20 was to be fitted with a UpCo Stencel S-III-S
ejection seat. This particular seat is best known for its use in the USMC AV-8
Harrier aircraft but versions of the seat have been used in such aircraft as
the Alpha Jet, F-16 FSED prototypes, the A-7 Corsair, the Argentine 1A-63, the
YF-17 prototype, the Northrup F-20, the Beech Starship, and the Scaled
composite ARES.
The plastic seat provided by FMK is actually very detailed.
I compared it to a resin seat from Black Box and I think it stands up pretty
well. As I’ve mentioned before if you plan to build the first prototype A/C
then you would need to replace this seat (as well as the whole cockpit and
canopy) with a set from an F-5E kit.
The kits main wheels are pretty traditional in that they are
moulded in two halves with a join down the canter line.
Royale Resin is an after-market manufacturer who specializes replacement resin wheels for aircraft models. Doug has sent me a sample of his
new wheels for the F-20 kit and as you can see they are a definite step-up when
compared to the plastic parts.
The gear wheels from Freedom
The Royale Resin wheels are a straight drop in for the kit wheels.
SPRUE E
This sprue is
relatively small and contains the forward fuselage halves, cockpit tub,
instrument panel and shroud. Two canopy hinge mechanisms are provided, one for
open and the other for closed.
Even though (in my opinion) the moulded detail on the IP is more than adequate for hand painting, Freedom have provided a full set of cockpit decals which you can use.
If I were to use the decals I’d probably cut out each “panel” and place it separately as the background grey colour has not come out too convincingly on the decal.
The rest of the cockpit "tub" could either be left as is or superdetailed but at least what is there is 3D
The forward frontal fuselage inside and out shows some fine detail as well
SPRUE M1 (x2)
The remaining plastic sprues, M1 thru 4, are dedicated to
stores and weapons. Sprue M1 contains the wing pylons with sway braces. Two 150
gallon drop tanks are also provided.
The raised ribbing
and the fins on the tanks look a bit pronounced to me when compared to photos
of the real aircraft.
SPRUE M2 (x2)
This second weapons sprue contains parts to make 4 x AIM-9
Sidewinder missiles. The Freedom instructions indicate that you can make up a
9L from part M2-1 but I believe this to be a mistake. The shape of the forward
fins on part M2-1 looks more like those found on the AIM-9N/P, whilst the fins
on part M2-4 look correct for an AIM-9L/M.
SPRUE M3 (x2)
This sprue contains the parts for assorted launch rails for
use with the air-air missiles provided. A combination of LAU-115B/A and LAU-127.
LAU-115/A and LAU-115A/A are rail launchers designed for carriage and launch of
AIM-7 missiles from F/A-18 aircraft.
The LAU-127 launchers may be attached to the sides of the LAU-115 for carriage of AIM-9 or AIM-120 missiles. (Source: fas.org)
SPRUE M4 (x2)
This final weapons sprue contains parts to make 4 x AIM-120
AMRAAM missiles.
SPRUE K
This clear sprue contains the canopy, windshield and
assorted lights and lens. As you can see the parts are free from blemishes and
do not even have a seam that needs to be removed ;-)
SPRUE PE
A small PE fret is provided that contains detailing for the
canopy frame (grab handles and mirrors), intake splitter plate and main
undercarriage supports.
Markings and Decals
Only three airframes were ever built of the F-20A. During
the various stages of the FX program they were painted in different schemes and
Freedom have provided decals for all three schemes worn by the demonstrator
jets.
•82-0062 (Northrop
serial number GG.1001) - crashed at Suwon Air Base, South Korea on October 10,
1984. Pilot killed.
•82-0063 (Northrop
serial number GI.1001) - crashed at CFB Goose Bay, Canada on May 14, 1985.
Pilot killed.
With the arrival of the second prototype both airframes were painted in a more subdued grey scheme.
•82-0064 (Northrop
serial number GI.1002) - California Science Centre in Exposition Park, Los
Angeles, California.
The final paint scheme that was applied to the F-20’s was a dark grey metal-flake colour. I have seen mention that this was actually a BMW automotive paint which Northrop used as they felt it the BMW colour implied “quality”.
Freedom provide markings to reproduce any of the prototype
schemes for each aircraft. It’s worth noting that the decals are very thin
which is a notable improvement from the X-47 kit which had very thick decals.
It’s good to see a kit manufacturer listening to the feedback from modellers.
CONCLUSION
Freedom Model Kits continue to impress me with their
releases. I like that they are going off the beaten track and give us subjects
out of left field. They have certainly taken on board the feedback from their
customers around their first kit (the X-47) and that’s a great sign because if
you ignore your customers then they will start to ignore you.
Freedom have already announced the next kit based on this mould,
the two seat F-20B/N, which is purely a what-if as no prototypes were ever
built.
Gary Wickham
Many thanks to Freedom
Model Kits for the review kit.
Those with sharp eyes will have noticed that Sprue D is missing. I suspect it will make an appearance in the upcoming two seat F-20B/N kit that Freedom has just announced.
Appendix (Instructions)
