Other Bits & Pieces
Landing gear - The nose wheel and leg for the nose gear came from a Mongram F-5E, with the torque link reversed,
and a new yoke for the nose wheel built from scratch. Unfortunately, the F-5A's main gear legs and wheels were
totally different than the F-5E's, so I was unable to use these goodies from Monogram's kit. Thankfully, Italeri's
main wheels are accurately sized and shaped, and surprisingly well detailed. These were used together with improved
main gear legs that were also based on the Italeri parts. All landing gear doors are from Monogram's F-5E, as is
the emergency arresting hook that was transplanted under the rear fuselage of my model.
Canopy - The windscreen and canopy hood are copies of the kit parts, vacuformed over the kit parts using ten-thou
clear butyrate and a homemade vacuformer. Black Box's resin detail fit perfectly into the inside of the new canopy
hood, something that would have been impossible with the thick kit parts.
Refuelling probe - This was scratchbuilt to match photos, from plastic sheet and tube, and the tip of a refuelling
probe from a Monogram F-104.
Belly tank - As I couldn't find a tank of the right shape and size, a new one was made by joining together the ends
of two drop tanks found in the spares' box. Unfortunately, I have no idea what kits these came from! The pylon also
came from the spares' box, and was modified to the correct shape.
Model and photos by Dave Askett.
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