1:48 150 gallon underwing fuel tanks (F-5E/F/N, F-20, AT-3) (2 pcs)

Fuel under the tiger's wing

The Northrop F-5E Tiger II came about as an undemanding combat aircraft that was cheap to maintain, for the allies of the United States, and it went into service in dozens of countries from Norway to Taiwan. Its weak point was always a modest range, and so drop tanks were hung under the wing practically every time the machine left the area of its base. The same tanks were shared by the two-seat F-5F, the modernized naval F-5N, the F-20 Tigershark prototype and the Taiwanese supersonic AT-3 trainer.

Box contents

The package holds two castings in the shape of a slim spindle with a pointed nose and four fins at the rear. The main benefit is that the casting has no parting line down the middle of its side: the tank comes out of the mold whole, so there is no filling and sanding of a seam, which on plastic parts usually scrapes away the fine riveting around it.

Fitting

The tank hangs on a pylon and has to be parallel with the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, or it will visually warp the whole model. Gluing both sides at once and leaving the model standing on a flat board until the glue has set works well. Before that it is worth checking whether the particular machine in the particular period carried tanks under the wing, under the fuselage, or both at once.

A small thing that changes the silhouette

A pair of spindles under the wing lengthens the aircraft's shadow and gives the finished piece the look of a machine ready for a long mission. Without them a light fighter looks more like a museum exhibit than a weapon in service.

Painting

The tanks were often in a different shade from the aircraft, because they moved between the machines of a squadron. Spraying them separately and gluing them on at the very end therefore makes sense not only technically but also visually.