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I picked up the new Freedom Models F-20, and it's an absolutely gorgeous kit. Since this was a quick build to see how it went together, I thought I'd have some fun and do a What If scheme. One the possible buyers for the F-20 was the Air National Guard, so that's the direction I went. I grew up in upstate NY, so I decided to go with a unit from there. I thought about the 174th out of Syracuse, but decided to go the interceptor route and settled on the Niagara Falls unit. The kit goes together with little trouble. The intakes are the only area that I experienced any difficulty. I had a set of Niagara Falls markings from their F-4 days and went with those because they fit the tail nicely. Since it was an ADF unit, I added the bird shredder antennas on the nose. Everything else is OOB. I continue to experiment with new painting techniques. The one I tried this time seemed to have mixed results. I will buying another F-20 to do in the red/white scheme. It's a great little kit.
I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so
On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3
Thanks for the kind words. The F-20 was Northrop's in-house development of the F-5 series. It was originally the F-5G. They were competing with the F-16 for foreign sales. According to the pilots who flew both, the F-20 was actually the better airplane. The Air Force had already invested in the F-16, so they essentially killed the F-20 program. Whenever Northrop pitched the F-20, the F-16 was put forward. The two US users that considered buying it were the Air National Guard and the Navy to use as adversaries. Between those two, there are many, many "what if" schemes that could be done.
Wonderful build of a unique aircraft, great job!
Toshi
On The Bench: Revell 1/48 B-25 Mitchell
Married to the most caring, loving, understanding, and beautiful wife in the world. Mrs. Toshi
The F-20 is a great canvas for "what if" schemes. Very nice work on the new release of this bird.
F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!
U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!
N is for NO SURVIVORS...
- Plankton
LSM
Good looking build.
Back when I was in the 44th T.F.S. I was talking to some of the visiting Aggressor pilots and they were hoping they could get the F-20. No such luck.
BishThat's a nice looking build there, I like the subtle finish. I am not familiar with this aircraft. That's an odd looking nose, reminds me of the MiG 27.
That's a Mig-28!
Modeling is an excuse to buy books.
Very nice indeed. beautiful finishing.
GMorrison Didn't you see "Top Gun"? That's a Mig-28!
Didn't you see "Top Gun"?
Marc
Pretty bird!
John
To see build logs for my models: http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html
Probably the best looking F-20 Ive seen so far. The weathering is so convincing you can almost believe this was derived from an actual ANG unit. Excellent build!
Ah, if only fate favored the F-20.
No bucks, no Buck Rogers
Yes this is a really nice model. Super job on photography too.
That big single burner can sure makes for a beastie!
GMorrisonDidn't you see "Top Gun"? That's a Mig-28!
Its a MiG-28G
[URL=http://picasion.com/]
On the bench:
Tamiya F4U-1 Kenneth Walsh
That's a nice build. The F-20 would have done well.
In Top Gun the enemy airplanes were T-38 and F-5A.
Chasing the ultimate build.
It was a joke.
Obviously no F-20's: two out of the three ever built crashed and killed their pilots, sadly.
It never went head to head for USAF acceptance against the F-16. It was a competitor for a version of the FX, a program to design a fighter that could be sold to our frontline allies in Europe, and if shot down and confiscated, wouldn't give away any meaningful technology. It competed for that against a downgraded F-16.
The F-20 was not fly-by-wire. it was an old fashioned haul it around fighter with a big engine and guns. Totally useless as a fighter bomber. It carried the same maximum bomb load as a Harrier.
It was a nice airplane, but had no serious place in the future of aviation technology.
GMorrison The F-20 was not fly-by-wire. it was an old fashioned haul it around fighter with a big engine and guns. Totally useless as a fighter bomber. It carried the same maximum bomb load as a Harrier.
That's probably why the old fighter jocks liked it better than the F-16. "We don't need any digital fly by wire. We want to do things the old fashioned way!" It would have made a great Adversary for the Navy.
IIRC Chuck Yeager loved the F-20 and thought the Air Force should have gone with it.
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