AREA 88: "The Olive Grove" (F-5A)

Greg Baker
For some strange reason, I felt the need to scribe some panel lines... so with my T-62 vs. Jeep project almost done, I got a head start on this one. As usual, I've got an unusual project in mind. In the Area 88 manga there's a chapter that's sort of an interlude after the unit reforms at the training base in Greece. Shin's flying a borrowed F-5A with a bad fuel pump and he's forced to make an emergency landing in an olive grove. He calls for a pickup and then spends a pleasant afternoon with the beautiful farmer's daughter. Their tea and conversation is interrupted by Mickey in a CH-54 Tarhe transport helicopter.

Greg Baker
It's a neat little chapter, and a bit of a turning point in the story. For those familiar with the anime, it comes right after the Japanese deserter, moments before facing the firing squad, challenges Shin on whether it's better to live with blood on your hands, or die with clean ones. So when the farmer's daughter discovers Shin's a mercenary she throws the "sorry for landing in your field" bouquet of roses in his face. He's got all kinds of excuses, but nothing to say. It's the start of the story arc where he realizes he actually is a mercenary, not just a dumb kid who drunkenly signed a recruitment contract.

Alec K
Taking a seat on this. Cool story 👍

Greg Baker
Welcome aboard Alec... but right out of the box we hit a snag... this thing is GIANT. It's not 1/144... more like 1/120. So that's not going to work. So change of plans... I'm going to repurpose the half built F-5E I had in a shoebox back into something like an F-5A. I'm not going crazy and trimming nanometers here and there... but I'll reshape the wings and some of the other more glaring differences.

Matthew A
That is a big fella

Greg Baker
Yeah. Hey Matthew, I don't suppose you have a good resource that compares the external (i.e. visible) differences between an F-1A and a F-1E do you? I'm not going to get too nit-picking, but at the moment, my only real plane is to trim the wings (done!) and add fuel tanks to the wing tips. Is there anything else major that needs to be done? As I said, assuming I don't want to trim the fuselage or wings by a few nanometers to maintain scale...

Matthew A
I'll have a look. And let you know tomorrow.

Greg Baker
No rush. That would be super helpful, but I've decided to put this one one hold for a bit. I still need to build two Kfirs for my DC-10 project and a I know what happens if half the project gets too far out in front of the second half... it tends to stall the whole thing. That's somewhat the danger here too as I don't yet have the CH-54 in my possession, and I started wondering if I might want to use the F-5 as cargo... so best to wait until I can see all the major pieces in front of me before I make too many decisions.😉

Matthew A
I do plan to convert 1:72 kits to look like the inaccurate Aurora 1:48 kit. Why?! I hear you cry. Because it's the base kit for most of the fighters in Gerry Anderson's Stingray/Thunderbirds/Captain Scarlet/Joe90.

Matthew A
The most visiable difference between the A and E in 1:144 is the spine. Will send pictures and plans tommorrow. Just be glad you haven't chosen 1:32. F-5A conversion (Belcher Bits BB19, 1:32)

Greg Baker
Oh, that's cool. I'll keep an eye on your timeline so I don't miss it. I appreciate the "Dummies guide to scaling back an F-5". I'll be back on this project before too long... once the CH-54 arrives in my hot little hands, I'm sure I won't be able to resist. In the meantime I started poking around the Dragon Kfir kits. This new build will be a bit of a challenge because they will be displayed inverted... so I'll have to pay a lot more attention to the underside than usual.😉

Matthew A
AGGGGGGGGHHHHH my laptop has died

Matthew A
There will be a delay as I cobble something together. In the meantime this might interest you ghostmodeler.blogspo..-n-205-proposal.html

Matthew A
You've made me want to build a Revell 1:144 one now

Greg Baker
DO IT! They are a beauty of a kit. 🙂

Matthew A
Bought a Revell F-5E with free postage on eBay yesterday afternoon, and it came this morning!

Nigel
"I do plan to convert 1:72 kits to look like the inaccurate Aurora 1:48 kit. Why?! I hear you cry. Because it's the base kit for most of the fighters in Gerry Anderson's Stingray/Thunderbirds/Captain Scarlet/Joe90."

Oddly enough, I was musing on my desire to build up a F-104...and I really think that it's because it looks like something out of Thunderbirds.

Gerry Anderson was a genius! 😄

Matthew A
The century 21 team did use Starfighters as base kits for a lot of things. World Airforce/ Navy, Eastern Alliance and Aliens all use them.

Greg Baker
There's a reason for that... it LOOKS like something aliens would fly.😉

I'm glad I convinced you to get a F-5E. It really is a nice little kit. Besides this one, I have another in my stash earmarked for another project. The CH-54 Skycrane that's part of this build project is on its way, so I'm itching to get back to this one... especially after the great info I got sent to me.😉

If you take a look at the underside of the Revell kit, tell me if you think it can be converted to the coke-bottle shape of an F-5A.

Matthew A
This is how I will do it [img1] hope it helps

Greg Baker
Oh... that might work. I'll try it! Thanks!

Greg Baker
That worked like a charm, actually... at least I think so. I'm still debating taking a chunk out of the fuselage, but the wings and bottle shape seem to have to worked well enough.

Matthew A
Brilliant 🙂

Greg Baker
Heh, well, I just followed your brilliant instructions. Had to fill in a few gaps where the wings attach, but it's looking enough like an F-5A for my liking.

Matthew A
That does look good and more like the drawings in the manga than the real thing. Well done

Matthew A
This might interest you thedrive.com/the-war..turned-f-5-aggressor

Greg Baker
Oh, that's a neat like Matthew. Thanks! I know mine will be a bit "interpretive" but I'm okay with that... mostly for self-preservation reasons.😉

Matthew A
I think it looks more than just an interpretation - compared to the picture in your project banner it is spot on

Matthew A
Don't forget to remove/putty the louver intakes at the side ofthe engine

Greg Baker
Define... forget...😉

Spanjaard
Looking nice Gerg!

Donald Dickson II
Ooooo, are you gonna do the Sky Crane too???😉

Nils Steyaert
looks good, ive did an F-5E to NF-5A conversion about a year ago, its not 100% accurate but to me it was close enough.

seeing your Area 88 themed builds kinda gave me the idea to do the same.
im currently making a spreadsheet with a list of possible Area 88 themed models. up to now i have about 30 aircraft on that list and the number is growing. unfortunatly i dont have access to the manga's, so im trying to read a few english translated issues online.

keep up the good work 🙂

Greg Baker
Hey Don - yep. The Sky Crane is going to be the star of this particular show. The F-5A is cargo-in-waiting. 😄

And Nils, if you want to compare notes, I'm more than happy to do it. My BIG list of Area 88 1/144 builds is here - strobez.ca/wp/index.php/area-88/area-88-1-144/ - I have all the manga in English (as much as there is... and a wee bit more), Korean (which is how I read it) and Japanese. I'm happy to share some reference images for you.

Also, I've started build a straight-up Area 88 fan site. To get a jump start, I'm basically converting the bulk of the content from the Japanese wikipedia site, so there's a lot that will be in "Google-translate-language" until I have a chance to clean it up and turn it into English.

It's still under construction, but the full list of all the vehicles is easy enough to understand - area88.strobez.ca/mission-briefing/vehicles/. The Japanese wikipedia didn't include passenger planes, so I'm adding those one, but it's otherwise complete (except for a Leopard 2A4 tank)

Greg Baker
Got the canopy hinge scratched up and painted. Luckily the whole thing more or less fits in place. It's my first 1/144 build with an open canopy... it's a little scary.

Stephan Ryll
Very nice progress Greg 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks Stephan. This one is almost done. Just a few more final touches.

Bart Goesaert
looking good... nice desert camo...

Patrick Hagelstein
I just bumped into that Tarhe: following! 😄

Greg Baker
Welcome aboard Patrick. I just started the Tarhe album here - AREA 88: "The Olive Grove" (CH-54 Tarhe) | Album by strobez (1:144)

Donald Dickson II
Ooooooo, a resin Skycrane. Interesting.