Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA3303 Northrop RF-5E Tiger Eye 5501, 83-0085, ROCAF, Hualien 2008

1/72 scale pre-finished.

Die-cast metal with a minimum of plastic.

Professionally painted.

All markings are pad applied for superb results.

Crew figure.

Comes with display stand.

Landing gear can be displayed up or down.

Extremely sought after by collectors.

The Northrop F-5 tactical fighter was designed as an extremely maneuverable, supersonic fighter with a high rate of reliability at a low operating cost. The F-5 first flew on July 30, 1959 with the first customer delivery in 1964. The last of more than 2,600 F-5’s was produced in 1989 and about two-thirds of these are still in service with 26 countries more than 4 decades later. The F-5 was manufactured by Northrop Grumman and under license in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.

August 1997 the ROCAF began to receive their single-seat RF-5E’s to replace the aging RF-104G. Seven low-hour F-5E’s were converted by Singapore Aerospace and given the name “Tigergazer”. To accomplish this, existing radar and one M39 cannon were removed and the nose extended 8 inches. Six openings were added for the new cameras and ballast added between the engine exhausts to balance the additional weight of the new nose. RF- 5E 5501 serial 83-0085 and formerly F-5E 5315 was assigned to 401st TFW, 12th TRS “Tigergazer” at Hualien Airbase.

Specifications Northrop F-5E Tiger II Crew: 1 Dimensions Length - 47 ft 4.75 in (14.45 m) Wingspan - 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m) Height - 13 ft 4.5 in (4.08 m)

Powerplant 2 X General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojet Dry thrust - 3,500 lbf (15.5 kN) per engine Thrust with afterburner - 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN) per engine Internal fuel - 677 US gal (2,563 L) External fuel - 275 US gal (1,040 L) per tank in up to 3 tanks Weight Empty weight - 9,558 lb (4,349 kg) Loaded weight - 15,745 lb (7,157 kg) Max takeoff weight - 20,486 lb (9,312 kg)

Performance Maximum speed - 917 kn (1,060 mph, 1,700 km/h, Mach 1.6) Range - 760 nmi (870 mi, 1,405 km) Ferry range - 2,010 nmi (2,310 mi, 3,700 km) Service ceiling - 51,800 ft (15,800 m) Rate of climb - 34,400 ft/min (175 m/s)

Armament Guns - 2 X 20 mm (0.787 in) Pontiac M39A2 Revolver cannons in the nose, 280 rounds/gun Hardpoints - 7 total (3 X wet): 2 X wing-tip AAM launch rails, 4 X under-wing and 1 X under- fuselage pylon stations holding up to 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) of payload. Rockets 2 X LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19 X / 7 X Hydra 70 mm rockets, respectively) or 2 X LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19 X CRV7 70 mm rockets) or 2 X LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4 X Zuni 127 mm rockets) or 2 X Matra rocket pods (each with 18 X SNEB 68 mm rockets) Missiles: Air-to-air missile: 4 X AIM-9 Sidewinders or 4 X AIM-120 AMRAAMs Air-to-surface missile: 2 X AGM-65 Mavericks Bombs: A variety of air-to-ground ordnance such as the Mark 80 series of unguided iron bombs (including 3 kg and 14 kg practice bombs), CBU-24/49/52/58 cluster bomb munitions, napalm bomb canisters and M129 Leaflet bomb and laser guided bombs of Paveway family. Others: up to 3 X 150/275 US gallon Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight or extended range/loitering time. Avionics Emerson Electric AN/APQ-153 radar on early batch of F-5E Emerson Electric AN/APQ-159 radar on later production F-5E