Portman Productions Inc.

[Duke Maddog]

Stuart, all progress is great progress! I'm thrilled to see you making some; I only wish I could make more progress on mine. Hopefully this weekend will push me far forward.

[KennyX]

Hey Stuart! Your F-5C looks like it’s coming along nicely. With regards to fit, your Kung Fu with fills looks way better than mine. I absolutely suck at fills, I’ve been using putty and am thoroughly frustrated with the shrinkage that happens. I’m going to try that stretched sprue and CA method you mentioned, next time. And your fills are looking good.

I also like what I’m seeing with your 1:72 project. And as to control sticks, I’ve been known to break them too LOL, pitot tubes too!

I’m glad to see you’re doing well! Cheers buddy!!

[Stuart]

Thanks for looking in Kenny - Yeah I'm really enjoying this F-5C. The Tanmodel kit is maybe not the best, the fit is pretty poor in places but I'm having great fun putting it together. I've noticed over the past six months or so that I'm really enjoying the whole seam removal process - maybe I'm a bit odd. I'm certainly a builder rather than a painter.

For gap filling I ted to use pretty basic stuff - tube glue is great if the fit isn't brilliant in the first place. Bog-standard revell putty is good as well as prefect plastic putty for the fine gaps. For the big stuff like on this I tend to like evergreen plastic and Tamiya extra thin. Needle files really help too.

Cheers Dude!

[Medicman71]

I hate dealing with seams. Nice work on the ones on the F-5.

[jkim]

Very nice work! The cockpit looks fabulous! Some challenges on the bottom fuselage and intake seam but hopefully it all works out in the end!

[Stuart]

I hate dealing with seams. Nice work on the ones on the F-5.

Thanks Medic!

Very nice work! The cockpit looks fabulous! Some challenges on the bottom fuselage and intake seam but hopefully it all works out in the end!

Thanks John! I actually wish I'd spent a bit more time on the cockpit now - I wasn't expecting to enjoy this build as much as I have done - despite all the fit issues.

I've progressed on the fuselage and intake seams - rounds I and II are done and hopefully I'll only have to do a final fill/sand round after primer just to tidy up the last bits.





As you can see, the next bit of fun is going to be sorting out the fit of the leading edge extension. This is going to be another round of evergreen strip and extra thin I think. I also need to find some references of how the intakes blend into the upper wing. There's just a big gap there at the moment and that can't be right.



But it does look good with the wings on!



Thanks for taking the time to look in folks!

[KennyX]

Yeah buddy she looks great with the wings on!

[speedgraflex]

Catching up tonight, Stuart! Great work so far! The wing join is... well, I think that is going to take some ingenuity to fill and I am looking forward to seeing your solution. The only walkarounds I found with an all-too-brief foray on google were for an FA and an F5-N, and I don't know how relevant the images were to this design, but I noted that the wing fits flush to the fuselage on both; with this gap, you may have to create a triangular plug for both sides, or I was wondering if some Extra Fine Milliput would be easier to use as a fill.

[KSaarni]

Looking good !
And indeed, those wings turn it from a missile to a real fighter!

- Kari

[Stuart]

Thanks Gents!

Catching up tonight, Stuart! Great work so far! The wing join is... well, I think that is going to take some ingenuity to fill and I am looking forward to seeing your solution. The only walkarounds I found with an all-too-brief foray on google were for an FA and an F5-N, and I don't know how relevant the images were to this design, but I noted that the wing fits flush to the fuselage on both; with this gap, you may have to create a triangular plug for both sides, or I was wondering if some Extra Fine Milliput would be easier to use as a fill.

Thanks Bruce!
I’ve been having a look on line as well – it does indeed sit flush. I think I’m going to tackle it with evergreen plastic strip. I’ll shim the gaps (probably from the bottom), melt it in with extra thin and then trim and sand when dry. Any leftover gaps etc. I’ll hit with Perfect Plastic Putty.

I’m thinking about trying some Mr Surfacer on the fine scratches and what-not. I’ve never used it though so I’m not sure how it’ll work.

Cheers!