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jorge rivas krause
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Northrop F-5E Tiger II, Adversary – VFC-13 Fighting Saints

February 20, 2021 · in Aviation · · 28 · 2.8K

Fighter Squadron Composite (VFC-13) Saints is a US Navy fighter squadron that provides adversary training for U.S. Navy air wings at NAS Fallon, Nevada. The unit's mix of 23 F-5E, F-5F, and F-5N aircraft are all painted in a variety of colorful adversary schemes of blue, gray, or brown camouflage.

The HobbyBoss kit was released in 2011 but is a re-box of an old Trumpeter kit from 1999, But for just $12 Australian dollars is a real bargain!. As usual, I've done some modifications and added rivets.





Thanks for looking and I hope you guys like it!.

Jorge

Reader reactions:
15  Awesome 1 

15 additional images. Click to enlarge.


28 responses

  1. An incredible build, Jorge.
    Never saw an F5 in this scheme, but it looks fantastic.
    Your paintwork and weathering is great.
    I do remember the F5 when our airforce used them, the NF5, N for Netherlands.
    A beautiful small aircraft.

    • Thank you, John, I'm glad you liked it!
      Yeah, this squadron in Nevada has many different colourful Aggressor's schemes and they look awesome (like the reference photo I've posted).

      The airforce of my country (Chile) still has some units but they are all painted grey...But they have replaced them mostly for F-16's.

      cheers

  2. Very beautiful build. The F-5 is such an elegant small jet.

  3. That’s a pretty awesome model! Amazing paintwork, very striking colors, thumbs up!

  4. Very nice Jorge, Excellent paint work and build.

    I've always liked the F-5 / T-38. I think that if the US Air Force had not had a bunch of interest in only operating multi role large fighters, we would have seen more of these in use. The F-16 was built because of all the "heavy" fighters and the need for something more like a traditional dogfighter.

    • Thank you, Carl, glad you liked it. Me too, the F-5 is a nice-looking small fighter. Even if you don't see it as much in the US, you can see it in many different airforces all over the world...

  5. I saw an F-5 fly at Oshkosh in 2019, it's still a very capable jet.
    Looks great in these USN aggressor colors.
    Beautiful model Jorge.

  6. I love the F-5 in the aggressor scheme. You did a great job with yours. Really nice paint work.

  7. Like it? Love it!
    Great looking model Jorge - one of the few times when being an 'aggressor' is so well liked.
    Seeing your F-5 reminds me that the F-5 has always been a favourite of mine.
    Thanks for posting.

  8. Beautiful paintwork. I like the scheme a lot.

    • Thank you, Tom. Yeah, I was between the blueish aggressor scheme or this one. After inspecting the kit I realized the blue one had some incorrect decals and some missing markins, hence doing the brown one ?

  9. Great job on this model.

  10. Nice! This is a great little kit, awhile back I did one in black like the one in the original Topgun movie.

  11. Jorge, really nice paint work there mate. Beautiful job!

  12. This is a wonderful model, Jorge! I so much love the aggressor schemes and you chose one of the most striking. Excellent painting skills!
    The F-5 is a beloved plane: HAF flew F-5As for many years and with no less than 7 camo variations and a commemorative scheme!

  13. Fantastic paint job, it really flatters the lines of this aircraft, definitely liked.

  14. A real beauty! Love that Aggressor scheme - I have another 1/72 to do in a multi-tone brown Sundowners aggressor squadron scheme - similar but some different shades.

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