Small Scale Military Headquarters

Just wanted to ask if anyone would be interested in a F-5E Tiger II in 1/18 scale, especially with the upcoming JSI F-14.

Would there be interest beyond an Aggressor scheme? How about foreign or others?

In general do you think this would sell?

I love the F-5. This plane has beautiful lines. I would get one in a second in 1:18th scale.

Love the T-38 also! The Talon has trained many pilots over the years.

BBI was going to but cancelled it due to perceived lack of interest, which i can understand.

as much as I like the looks of the F-5/T-38, with prices for new big jets in the $200+ range, I think the chances for a plane that's being phased out around the world aren't good. The F-14 was an exception because of Hollywood and it's long, long run as a mainstay of the US force.

The "next jet" will have to be an A-10 or an F-22, it seems to me. And coming after the F-15 and SU-27, that will be years and years from now.

I would buy an F-5,but I would want the F-15,Su27 first.
Just concentrate on getting those two beauties done,and then I can start dreaming about other aircraft.

ohh yeah I would. Maybe they would paint it all black with some red stars and call it a MIG 28. If they make a couple of Maverick and Iceman figures with the release of the Tomcat,were all set.

I would . And I think there would be many Taiwanese aviation fans wish to have a F-5 in 1/18 scale because the Tiger-II are still served in Taiwan Air-Force .

yawn.......

Reason I'm asking is to gauge interest in a fairly small and simple airplane to make (relatively speaking when compared to the more complex shaped jets and props) on behalf of a person I know who has some major skills to do such an item.

Like I said, the plane is fairly simple to replicate (no complex curves and smallish) not planned or on the radar of the large manufacturers, cost effective to offer to forum members and has semi-universal appeal (or so I thought).

My discussions with this person included the F-117, F-22 and A-4. The first two, although simple in shape would be too large to be cost effective and the A-4, while small enough, is more complex.

Looks like there isn't much interest to make it cost effective....so far. Maybe everyone is hyped for the JSI F-14, F-15, Su-27 and thinking about saving their money.

Anyway, this thread was just a "feeler" to gauge interest in the F-5.

Thanks!

ok trex, now you have my attention . Are you saying someone is considering making a kit of this? What price tag were you guys thinking of? I'm just thinking of, fresh out of the mould, base parts. So basically - unpainted fuselage parts. I can add my own detail parts later on.

Jay wrote:ok trex, now you have my attention . Are you saying someone is considering making a kit of this? What price tag were you guys thinking of? I'm just thinking of, fresh out of the mould, base parts. So basically - unpainted fuselage parts. I can add my own detail parts later on.

Yes, it was one of several ideas we were discussing. This person has the skills to do the complete plane. It would be out of the mold with all the parts to make a complete plane (fuselage, wings, stabs, wheels, canopy, etc.). Judging from his previous works, I'd guess that the plane would be mostly assembled (much like the BBI F-18 and F-16), but you would have to roll your own livery. I'll have to talk to ask him about the exact details.

Prices are still up in the air but what we did discuss was not outrageous. It really depends on a couple of factors, one being the amount of interest.

He does know about this forum and I'm sure will read this thread. If there isn't interest then it's no big deal. Nothing's been finalized, we were throwing around ideas and he is confident he can do this as well as some other things we were discussing.

Like I said previously, he was really confident he could do an F-117 and the F-22....did not seem too difficult from his viewpoint. I just thought these would be too big and cost prohibitive so I suggested the F-5. According to him, modern jets (more angular/less curvy) would be fairly easy to mold. We even discussed the A-10 and he had some pretty interesting ideas on how he would do the most difficult parts like the engines, nose section and fuselage (deep breath Birddog...I told him to hold back to do something more simple) but he'd obviously been formulating ideas on how to fabricate each section.

BTW, he has done aircraft in this size before.

I want an F-5!

I think you would be better off making a A-4 Skyhawk... Al ot more options to encourage a long selling life.

what about a harrier? Also small and probably of greater interest.

aferguson wrote:what about a harrier? Also small and probably of greater interest.

Aferg, that would be a an awesome model and would sell better than an F-5 for sure but it is also much more complex with all the curves and bumps. The areas around engine exhaust nozzles would be hard to replicate. The A-4 would be another popular plane but again...lots of curves and cost/time prohibitive (at least until a process can be figured out to make it less labor intensive).

In any case, I'll throw that at him and see what his opinion is concerning the Harrier.

Off topic, but I was meaning to talk to him about doing a Stryker since FOV dropped theirs....what do you guys think?

The Stryker sounds more appealing than the F-5 (the Skyhawk and the Harrier would be more popular choices, IMO), but I'm not sure wether the armor crowd will read this thread, so maybe you should start a separate poll about it.

I still want an F-5!

I like the F-5. Would be a decent choice.
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Its funny because I just saw a Navy aggresor one on static display at Thunder Over Michigan a couple of weeks ago, and pondered this very question. Just wish they had a vendor there selling em.

I would love a T-38 I had many pilot friends who trained on it when I was in the Strategic Air Command.

I would paint it black with red stars and call it a Mig and have Maverick and Goose take it down with my JSI 14!!! Hooyah!!!

I would end up with several(cost pending)but how about making a F-5A,and split the mold just behind the canopy,then You could make a B(two seat)plug and thus have more sales...
an F-5B painted white to represent the T-38 talon is close enough for me.
This was a non biazed suggestion from an ex F-5B Crew Chief..
Brgds Tiger1

Ya, the F-5/T-38 has a lot of possibilities including repaints as a Thunderbird and I like the 2 seat trainer mode.

But, first things first ...A-10!