Kit Info
Manufacturer: Hobby Boss
Scale: 1/48
Media: Injection
Parts: 490+

The Subject
In 1987, the Grumman F-14A received its first major upgrade in the form of the F-14A+. The original TF30 engines were replaced with the F110, which provided a significant increase in performance, range and reliability. With these new engines, the F-14A+ could take off from the carrier deck without afterburner. The other major upgrade was internal, with the installation of the ALR-67 Radar Homing and Warning (RHAW) system.

38 new aircraft were manufactured and 48 F-14A’s were upgraded into the B variant. The F-14A+ was officially redesignated F-14B in 1991. F-14Bs will serve with distinction (with further upgrades) into 2005 with VF-11 Red Rippers and VF-32 Swordsmen being the last 2 US Navy squadrons operating the variant.

The Kit
Since the 1980s, the best 1/48 scale F-14 you can get is from Hasegawa. The Academy and Revell offerings cannot begin to compare with it. It’s detailed, the shape is accurate and once completed, it simply catches attention on any display case. Now there’s a new entry that’s trying to dethrone it, and it’s Hobby Boss, a Chinese company.

Variants of the F-14 were a simple reboxing of parts by Hasegawa with some added parts. The effort, to me, is half-hearted as Hasegawa doesn’t include all the tiny details that make the variants different from the F-14A. Now Hobby Boss has released the F-14B. Since the base kit is the same as the first release, this preview will only look at whether they have captured all the minor detail changes from the F-14A.

The biggest and most obvious difference between the A and B variants are the engines and Hobby Boss obviously has gotten this right. I’m not sold on the complete engines though. While it’s nice that you can display the engines separately, how many modelers would really actually do that?

Here’s a list of items they got it right for the F-14B:

1. The GPS dome on the spine
2. A reinforcement plate surrounding the step of the rear cockpit (this surprised me)
3. Correct beavertail with sensor blister
4. Correct NACA gun vent doors
5. Correct nose gear doors with sensor blister

In addition to the above, Hobby Boss has included all the weapons that an F-14B can carry and various others that it won’t. Also included are:

1. The AN/AAQ-14 LANTIRN pod that hangs off the starboard pylon
2. The new BOL AIM-9 sidewinder pylons
3. The bomb racks attached to the belly AIM-54 Phoenix pallettes.

In order to replicate these on the Hasegawa, you’ll need at least 3 boxes of their weapons sets.

The parts breakdown is very similar to the Hasegawa offering. There are however some differences. One, the wings can sweep in the Hobby Boss. Unlike Hasegawa however, they don’t include the parts to lower the flaps and slats. They also do not include the wing glove vanes as separate parts. Hobby Boss however, does give you the option to have the inflight refueling probe open and extended.

From what I’ve read so far on the Internet, the Hobby Boss kit fits quite decently. Frankly, this is more than I can say about Hasegawa’s F-14 which has fitting issues in the cockpit, front to rear fuselage and intakes.

Now the general consensus of the Hobby Boss F-14 is that even though it’s right up there, the Hasegawa F-14 is still slightly more accurate shape-wise, especially around the intake area. For me though, ease of build trumps the minor (for me anyway) issues with the intake.

The kit comes with 2 marking options:

1. F-14B, BuNo 161435, VF-103, 2000
2. F-14B, BuNo 162919, VF-74, 1992

There is also 2 sheets of stencils.

Conclusions
While the Hobby Boss does have a high MSRP, on the streets it’s quite competitive compared to the Hasegawa offering. And we haven’t included the cost of the minor scratchbuilding involved and the weapon sets you need to get to arm the F-14. Being a mold that has been redone over and over again, the latest Hasegawa F-14s also suffer from flash of some form on the parts.

If it turns out the Hobbyboss F-14 is really an easier build, I think the only conclusion is: if you want the best 1/48 F-14 Tomcat, get the Hobby Boss.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Scale: 1/72
Media: Injection
Parts: 150 (75 x 2)
Price: IDR 308,000 (est. USD 35)

The Subject
The Lockheed Martin (was General Dynamics) F-16 Fighting Falcon is one of the most produced combat aircraft in the world today. Originally designed as lightweight day fighter, it has evolved into an all-weather multirole aircraft.

The F-16A/ADF (Air Defence Fighter) was a special variant developed for the United States Air National Guard to fulfill their air interception mission. Modifications include upgraded avionics, a spotlight near the cockpit and the capability to fire AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. The ADF were slowly retired from US service beginning in 1994.

Under Peace Caesar, the Italian Air Force leased 30 ADFs in 2001 to fulfill their air defense requirement pending the arrival of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The lease was for 5 years with the option to extend to 10 years. The ADFs were taken out of storage, refurbished and delivered in 2003 to 2004.

The Kit
Hasegawa has been doing something new with their kits lately. They’re packing 2 of the same kit together and adding new decals to them. With this release though, Hasegawa has finally released the ADF variant which prior to this, was only available from Fujimi in 1/72 scale.

Now Hasegawa sometimes has the tendency to just repack their existing kits and call it XXX variant without bothering with adding the parts needed to make said variant. So at first I was a bit wary. What a pleasant surprise though…

Each F-16 kit comes with not just an additional tree of ADF-specific parts, the set also includes PE parts to simulate the reinforcement plates that were put onto the F-16A/ADF airframes.

The new parts include: new vertical fin with a bulge on the base, IFF ‘Bird slicers’ on the nose in front of the canopy, LAU-137 rails for AIM-120 AMRAAMS and AMRAAM missiles themselves. Both LAU-137 for the wingtips and the outboard stations are included.

Also typical of Hasegawa, they have included all the parts from the original kits, so you can build a Block 15 F-16A out of the box. Nice. One minor mention is unlike previous kits, Hasegawa actually bothered to bag the canopies separately, thereby reducing the occurrences of the canopy being scratched while being transported.

The kits are showing their age with some flash here and there but the details are still crisp. If memory serves me, they will pretty much be shake and bake kits too.

This set is a combination of 2 special schemed Italian Air Force Vipers. And they are very colorful:

1. MM7249 37th Stormo, 10th Gruppo
2. MM7240 37th Stormo, 10th Gruppo

Stencils included are only for those that appear with the special schemes. Atypical of Hasegawa printed decals, the whites do appear white although they are abit thick compared to those from Microscale or Cartograph.

All in all, a very nice set of kits with very nice markings. With the OOP status of the Fujimi F-16A/ADF, this set is currently the only game in town for this F-16 variant. Being a ‘photo’ box cover, this is most likely a limited production from Hasegawa, so grab one while you can.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Morr Models
Scale: 1/72
Media: Resin
Parts: 39
Price: USD 104.95

The Subject
The atmospheric booster was an optional attachment to send VF-1 Valkyries into space orbit. The booster is discarded once the Valkyrie reaches space. Advances in technology will eventually enable future variable fighters to reach orbit unassisted and render this equipment obselete.

The Kit
I’ve had this kit for awhile now and have only gotten to previewing it now. I purchased this online from the Starship Modeler Store. It’s sculpted by John Moscato, who goes by the nick ‘Captain America’ in the Macrossworld Forums.

If the booster doesn’t look familiar to you, it’s because it appeared in the Macross TV series for less than 20 seconds onscreen. I vaguely remember the scene where a couple of these are launched into space. I don’t even remember if any of the protagonists were actually piloting them.

The kit comes in 39 pieces. It also comes with 2 small decal sheets and a letter-sized double-sided instruction sheet. First impression of the kit is that it is BIG. Parts are also in both white and tan resin for whatever reason.

The thruster bells are all one piece affairs with the smaller rockets all molded within them. You will need to attach the booster rings and the vanes separately. One very nice feature is the kit comes with 2 extra pieces of the rings and the vanes each. Just in case you screw up.

Casting details are not as crisp as those from the established resin companies (NeoGrade, SMS etc) but considering its source as a home-casted product, I’m perfectly fine with it. Nothing that some finesse, putty and sandpaper can’t fix. The rivets are abit too shallow for me so I might just fill them up with epoxy and rescribe.

The VF-1 kit will need to have some parts replaced with resin pieces. These are mainly the intake/leg section as they need to fold a specific way before they can be fitted on the booster.

I dry-fitted the intake to the Hasegawa part and the fit is very good even without clean-up.

The instruction sheet is very clearly done by a fellow named ‘Tyranus’. There’s also a handy guide on which parts you need to leave out on the Hasegawa VF-1. 2 things I noticed from perusing the instructions:

• You can probably build the Valkyrie separately and keep it in subassemblies before attaching the booster around it. Nice.
• My copy of the kit seems to be at least the 2nd production run as the sheet indicates that the thruster bells are separated differently from my copy. In the sheet, the thruster bell has the vanes attached already while the connecting point to the booster is separate. Chance of the vanes breaking while in transit in my copy is lower.

The decals look to be ALPS printed although the backing is thicker than what I’ve seen. The colors are also washed out, especially the red on the UN Spacy chevron. I’ll see if I can replace them.

By now you’ll realize that this is NOT a complete kit as you will need to add a Hasegawa VF-1 Valkyrie kit as the command vehicle. It also doesn’t come with a stand so you’ll need to figure out a way to display this. John Moscato actually has 2 additional options for this: the Launch Pylon and the humongous Launch Vehicle (which doesn’t come with the Launch Pylon). Some might not like this but I’m fine with it as it allows me the option to totally splurge or just get the booster and find another way to mount it by itself.

I’d like to end this preview by quoting Tyranus’ last sentence in the instructions:

‘Nuff said!

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Akohobby
Scale: 1/100
Media: Resin
Parts: 49 + 30 Metal parts
Price: USD49.00

The Subject
The RGM-79L GM Light Armor was developed for hit-and-run raids and serves as a fast attack unit for the Federation Forces. It mounts the minimum amount of armor giving it better acceleration and maneuverability. Most notable about this variant is the lack of armor on the shoulders and ankles.

The GM Light Armor carries a beam gun that’s similar to the RX-78-2 Gundam. It is more powerful than the GM’s standard beam spray gun but holds less shots. Many former pilots turned mobile suit pilots favor the GM Light Armor due to its similarity with fighter aircraft.

The Kit
The RGM-79L is part of the MSV line, which was an offshoot series of mobile suits designed by Kunio Okawara (the principal Mecha designer for Mobile Suit Gundam). MSVs are official mobile suit variants that help to expand the metaverse and to help sell more model kits. Curiously though, there never was any model kit for the RGM-79L in any scale. Until now.

I pre-ordered the kit so I paid slightly less than retail for it. When it arrived, it came in a plain black thick cardboard box. Nicely wrapped in bubble wrap were:

• 49 cream colored resin parts
• 30 metal thruster and beam gun parts
• Decal sheet
• Instruction manual

As mentioned above, the MG RX-78-2 Gundam ver. OYW kit is required as a base. The conversion changes the following from the kit:

• Head
• Chest
• Shoulders
• Beam saber
• Pelvis
• Legs
• Beam gun

It looks like this when completed:

I was very excited when Akohobby announced that they were developing this kit. After prototype pictures popped up, showing a conversion kit for the MG RX-78-2 Gundam ver. OYW (which IMO, is one of the best kits in the MG line), I decided I had to have one in my collection.

Molding for the resin parts are nice and flash free. The pour stubs are not located in any important areas and the parts themselves have nicely done panel lines to complement the existing OYW kit parts.

A very nice surprise is that the visor is molded with clear resin but the modeler has to figure out by themselves how to ‘glam’ that part up. Akohobby used their own ‘Aurora’ visor sticker for their sample kit. For whatever reason, Akohobby chose not to include a small sheet of visor sticker with this kit.

The metal parts are also very nicely casted and gives the whole kit a more polished look. Interestingly, the beam gun’s barrel is also a metal part and is superbly detailed.

The decals are nicely printed. Quality-wise, they are on par with Samuel Decal offerings. The markings come in various colors to suit various color schemes and there are 2 different unique unit markings provided.

While it’s certainly possible that Bandai will release their own version of the RGM-79L (with the RGM-79 v2.0 as a base), I have a feeling it will have a very old school look. Akohobby gave their RGM-79L a modern flavor without overly changing the basic look and design. The design is clearly not for everyone, but it will be a unique addition to anyone’s collection.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Akohobby
Scale: 1/100
Media: Injection
Parts: 60
Price: USD16.50

The Subject
The RMS-154 Barzam is a mass production mobile suit based on the RX-178 Gundam Mk. II. It was introduced in UC 0088 but was not a successful design and was only produced in limited numbers.

The Refined Barzam is a variant of the RMS-154 which appears as a bridge between the Barzam and the Gundam Mk. II. It is armed with the weapons from the Gundam Mk. II, with the exception of the addition of a grenade launcher for the beam rifle. It also mounts the Gundam Mk. II’s backpack and shield.

The Kit
I really don’t like the design of the original Barzam. However, along came Hajime Katoki who redesigned it and came up with the Refined Barzam, which is vastly improved. Unfortunately, it was a minor design that appeared in Gundam Sentinel (a Side Story) so the chance of it ever seeing plastic form from Bandai was slim. Then came Akohobby who announced that they were producing a plastic conversion of the MG Gundam Mk. II. Said conversion kit was to be the Refined Barzam. I pre-ordered as soon as I could!

When it arrived, it came in a plain brown cardboard box with no markings whatsoever. Inside we get:

• 2x injection plastic runners (total 60 parts)
• 1x (very) small metal ring *
• Decal sheet *
• Instruction manual

* Included in pre-orders only

As mentioned above, the MG Gundam Mk.II kit is required as a base. The conversion changes the following from the kit:

• Head
• Chest
• Pelvis
• Legs

It also comes with parts for the beam rifle’s grenade launcher.

Molding for the parts are nice and flash free. Like their previous products, the plastic is of a more brittle quality than what Bandai produces. However, they are still nice and come with details that will complement the other parts from the base kit.

Based on my experience with the Powered GM conversion, this particular set being a first run kit, the fit should be quite good.

The decals are nicely printed. Quality-wise, they are on par with Samuel Decal offerings. The markings are for units based on the Asteroid Pezun, where part of the Gundam Sentinel story is based on.

As a pre-order bonus, the kit comes with a small metal ring, which is supposed to go onto the tip of the grenade launcher. It looks like it can go onto the pelvis too though. It’s really small but is very nicely done. Makes me curious about Akohobby’s other metal offerings.

The Refined Barzam is a very esoteric design. It also happens to be very unique, a combination of Zeon and Federation design. The kit is also very nicely done and I’m glad I pre-ordered this.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Scale: 1/72
Media: Injection
Parts: 285 (95 x3)
Price: IDR520,000 (est. USD53)

The Subject
The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to attack both ground and aerial targets. Its primary missions are fighter escort, fleet air defense, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), interdiction, close air support and reconnaissance. Its versatility and reliability have proven it to be a valuable carrier asset.

VFA-195 Dambusters is an F/A-18C Hornet squadron stationed at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan. It is 1 of 9 squadrons in Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) that provides power projection for the United States. The squadron earned the nickname Dambusters on May 1, 1951 after its aircraft successfully destroyed the heavily defended Hwa Chon Dam in North Korea. It has seen service since World War II and has been involved with almost every major US military operation since.

The squadron currently flies off USS George Washington (CVN-73). ‘Chippy Ho’ is the squadron motto.

The Kit
Hasegawa has recently started to pack 2 or more kits into one package, with the selling point being that the aircraft in the set are somehow related. This set includes 3 F/A-18Cs with 5 marking options (though with enough stencils for only 3 Hornets). The markings are all of the VFA-195 colorful CAG bird in its various special markings through the years.

The aircraft itself is the old Hasegawa mold, which by my reckoning is almost 20 years old. Hence, all the issues from that release applies to this one i.e. soft engraved panel lines, lack of cockpit detail, weapons that are under-detailed (only Sparrows and Sidewinders though) and fitting problems with the intakes. On the plus side, it comes with all the parts to backdate the C into an A variant, which is a nice touch.

The whole point of this preview though, is the huge decal sheet that comes with the set. It measures slightly more than an A4 sized paper. Saliva8zc As mentioned above, it has markings for 5 VF-195 Hornets although there’s only enough stenciling for 3 aircraft.

The decal sheet is printed by Cartograf which is generally regarded as one of the best decal printers in the business. Thankfully, unlike typical Hasegawa decals, this means 2 things:

1. The white colors are pure white, not cream colored
2. The decals are super thin and should snuggle down well onto the kit surface

Decal options depict ‘Chippy 400′s’ markings during the following periods:

1. June 1995 – Airliners.net pic
2. July 2001 – Same marking, single boxing version
3. April 2002 – low-viz markings
4. October 2004 – Airliners.net pic
5. October 2008 – Airliners.net pic

The Chippy Ho markings are for the most part, very colorful and big. This should grab anyone’s attention in an ocean of greys that are the color schemes of modern Naval aircraft.

For anyone who’s a Hornet fan or into super colorful CAG markings, this is a must get.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: MAW Decals
Scale: 1/48
Media: Resin
Parts: 6
Price: US$17.99

The Subject
The F/A-18 Hornet has been in service with the US Navy and US Marines for more than 2 decades. Through the years, its capabilities have been refined and upgraded to meet with new mission requirements.

Most of these upgrades are software-related and internal changes. However, once in awhile, modifications involve external changes. One of these is the integration of AIFF antennae. These involve adding 5 blades (commonly called ‘bird slicers’) on the nose, between the canopy and the gun. Late Block Hornets were all duly modified.

The 1/48 Hasegawa F/A-18 Hornet is touted as the best Hornet kit in the market and has been since it has been released. However, out of the box, it renders an early production Hornet. One would have to scratchbuild the AFF antenna. MAW Decals has come along however, to offer a resin version.

The Kit
Now instead of simply molding 5 small blade antennas on a pour stub, MAW Decals has decided to offer the whole Hornet nose! So you basically swap out the kit nose and plonk in this new one.

A late Block Hornet doesn’t just involve the IFF antennae on the nose though. So MAW Decals includes the following along with the nose:

• The front panel of the front landing gearbay
• A modified front gearbay door
• 2 additional UHF antennae
• A GPS dome that was fitted to all Hornets in the 1990s

A small instruction sheet is also included with the locations of the various items. There is also a small decal sheet with what looks to be like wire mesh patterns to put all over the kit. Not being too familiar with Hornets, I’m not too sure what these actually are. But with the attention to detail MAW Decals has done, I’m pretty sure these are accurate!

The resin parts are a white color and the panel lines on the nose itself are very fine. I would have liked for the panel lines to be deeper but it’s a personal preference and an easy matter to remedy anyway. The resin stub itself is at the end of the nose you attach to the kit fuselage so it’s convenient. No fear of losing any details.

One of the UHF antennae and IFF antennae on the nose came bent. This will require some fixing with hot water. MAW Decals packed all the parts in a small ziplock bag and doesn’t secure the pieces in any way so I guess some bent parts is inevitable.

All in all though, this all-in-one package is a welcome addition to my collection. Sure the changes this set does aren’t hard to DIY, but it’s quite convenient. Plus, I’m always glad to support cottage industry items.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Akohobby
Scale: 1/100
Media: Plastic Injection
Parts: 44
Price: SGD22.90

The Subject
The RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom was developed for the ace pilots of the Federation. Performance and capability was upgraded from the standard GM to the levels of the RX-78-2 Gundam operating out of the White Base during the One Year War.

Generator output was increased for the added load the long-range beam sniper rifle produced. The beam saber was repositioned to the forearm for close combat. Additional racks were added for optional weapons and to increase the mobility, the GM Sniper Custom was upgraded with a mass of additional thrusters and verniers. Less than 50 Sniper Customs were built. Each was specifically tailored for its pilot so no two were configured the same way.

The Kit
Akohobby is back again with one of their excellent plastic injection conversions. This time around, they have decided to tackle another GM variant, this time the RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom. Like their previous Powered GM conversion, you will need a base kit to apply this kit on. The GM Sniper Custom requires Bandai’s RX-78-2 Gundam ver. One Year War (OYW) as a base.

Inside the plain brown box are 2 sprues of dark grey injection plastic and a simple A5-sized instruction sheet. The whole set is made up of 44 parts and converts the following portions of the Gundam OYW:

• The head
• The chest and cockpit area
• A new backpack
• Front and rear skirts
• Beam saber housing on the left forearm
• Lower legs
• A huge sniper rifle in place of the beam rifle

The Gundam OYW is actually filled with panel details which the Akohobby replicates on their product. So once installed, they won’t look out of place compared to the original parts.

One minor complain is the lack of clear parts for the head visor. Akohobby molds this as a solid piece like the other parts. The shape itself though, seems to be quite similar to the MG GM kit but I’m not sure if it’s possible to use the part from that kit to replace this one. But it also means you’ll throw away one kit just for the clear part.

The instruction sheet is simple enough with large diagrams showing where each part goes. The sheet also indicates the parts that are included in the base kit by shading them in dark grey. Parts in white are from the conversion kit itself. Nicely done on the part of Akohobby.

Fit seems to be OK as the kit is engineered to be snap fit like the base kit. I must add though that I had some fitting problems with my previous Powered GM build. However, a fellow modeler didn’t which meant either 1) my construction sucks or 2) my Powered GM kit was part of a 2nd or later production batch, which deteriorated the mold somehow. Anyway, I’m sure this GM Sniper Custom set is part of the 1st batch of production run so hopefully, there won’t be any fitting problems.

Using the Gundam OYW as a base means the completed GM Sniper Custom should be just as poseable which should make for an exciting build. Plus, it’s ver affordable! What more can you ask for?

Kit Info
Manufacturer: B-Club
Scale: 1/144
Media: Resin
Parts: 72
Price: ¥7,600

The Subject
The RX-77-3 Guncannn Heavyarms is a heavily modified RX-77-2 Guncannon developed as an outgrowth of the RGC-80 GM Cannon design. The Guncannon Heavyarms is designed as a stand-alone combat unit, unlike the GM Cannon.

Basically a retooled Guncannon, the Heavyarms featured better armor, improved 240mm cannons and a grenade rack. By UC 0085, this successful variant would see limited mass production.

The Kit
B-Club is a subsidiary of Bandai which produces resin kits of generally more obscure subjects from the Gundam universe. Being resin, the products are also considerably more expensive than the injection offerings from Bandai.

It’s also not everyday that they actually reissue old kits since resin tends to do lots of nasty things to the molds. So I was pleasantly surprised they announced the re-issuing of the conversion kit for the Guncannon Heavyarms. Now this subject doesnt get more obscure. For one thing it’s from the Gundam MSV series, which was originally a subline of the original series. When the Heavyarms did get animated it was in some throwaway scenes in Gundam Zeta. The recast for this set has also been long out of production.

Me being a fanatic of the Federation Mass Production Mobile Suits, well… I just had to get it! And so I did, from Hobbylink Japan. This was to be, only my third ever original resin kit. Anyhow, on with the preview!

The kit came in a box about half the size of a small HGUC model kit box but it’s packed the brim with parts. The resin parts themselves came in a sprue-like tree made also of resin. This is the standard B-Club practice. The resin is a dark greyish color which is quite different from what I see in recasts. The molding is very crisp which made me wonder if they actually produced new molds for this one.

The boxart shows the completed kit. Instructions are black and white without actually showing how the completed kit looks like. It’s also all in Japanese but it’s easy enough to figure out from the larger than average-sized drawings.

An interesting addition is a set of polycaps so the kit can be fully poseable. I’m not really sure if the polycaps can hold the kit in any pose since the completed kit is almost ALL resin which should make it quite heavy.

One minor quibble is the lack of any markings. B-Club doesn’t even include a set of stickers. I don’t use stickers on my gunpla but still, this is an expensive item, surely they could have made an effort to include some sort of markings.

Oh, did I mention it needs an HGUC Guncannon to use as a base for this conversion? The sheer amount of parts in this set does make me wonder how much of the injection kit will be used though. The instruction sheet doesn’t give any indication on that front.

Now lately, the trend has been that sometimes (but not all the time) B-Club would release a resin kit, then Bandai would release the same thing in injection kit form. At maybe 25% of the price of the resin kit. This kit, however, should be safe. But of course, never say never.

I’m very glad I have this in my collection. Sure it’s a very obscure subject, but I think it’s a very nice design evolution of the Guncannon.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Wolfpack Design
Scale: 1/48
Media: Resin
Parts: 10
Price: US$20.00

The Subject
The Northrop F-5E Tiger II is one of the most widely used light supersonic fighter aircraft in the world. First introduced in the 1960s, there are currently hundreds still being fielded by numerous air forces. The Tiger II is an improved second-generation of the F-5 Tiger and is used by American Cold War allies. The U.S armed forces had no need for a frontline light fighter but it operated the Tiger II as part of training and aggressor aircraft in limited quantities.

Many F-5s continue to serve as frontline aircraft into the 190s and 2000s and have undergone a wide variety of upgrade programs to keep pace wit the changing combat environment.

The Kit
Wolfpack Design is a relatively new Korean aftermarket company specializing in resin detail sets for the aircraft genre. However, in a short period of time, they have released a lot of detail sets covering NATO-based aircraft, including the Tiger II.

What you get in the box
(Picture from Wolfpack Design’s website)

Now the Tiger II kit itself is a pretty old kit. There have only been 2 manufacturers (that I know of) who has done the Tiger II; ESCI and Monogram (both defunct). Releases since the originals came out in the 1970s have always been one of these two molds, with the Monogram being the better of the two. Being a kit of its time, it has raised panel lines and pretty simple breakdown of parts. But it did build into a decent enough Tiger II as the shape was quite accurate.

The Wolfpack Design F-5E Tiger II Update set does exactly what it says, it provides the parts necessary to update the venerable kit into on of the current versions of Tiger II that are still operational in the world’s air forces including Brazil, Chile, Singapore and the ones operated by the USAF, USN and USMC (a full list of current Tiger II operators can be found here).

The set itself is simple enough. In the sturdy black box is just 10 parts with a full color A5-sized instruction sheet. Parts included are:

• Shark nose radome
• LEX
• AN/ALE-29 Chaff/Flare Dispenser
• Refueling Probe
• Extended tail fin
• 150 gal. Fuel Tank

Combinations of these 10 parts will allow me to build almost every modern derivative of the Tiger II. The parts are molded in a light grey resin and are casted very nicely with absolutely no bubbles that I can see. Resin pour tabs to be removed are all easily cut away and I foresee little trouble in fitting this set to the Monogram kit. Wolfpack Design specifically states that this set is for the Monogram Tiger II. I don’t have the ESCI molding so I’m not sure whether this set will fit.

The instructions are very clear and concise and the best part, it tells you which parts you will need to use for each operator’s Tiger II as not all countries modified their Tigers the same way. Nice.

Unless you’re willing to do some scratchbuilding, I think this set is a must for any Tiger II fan!