Developed in the 1970s as an evolution of Northrop’s F-5E, the Tigershark was powered by a single GE F404, the engine used in pairs on the F-18. The improved fighter’s impressive performance featured speeds in excess of Mach 2 and a ceiling over 55,000 feet. Although the aircraft was never in direct competition with the F-16, the Falcon won the drive for sales and Northrop cancelled the program after making only three aircraft.
The 1/48 scale F-20A is Freedom Model Kits’ second product and replaces Monogram’s Tigershark from the 1980s.
Molded in light gray plastic, the kit includes every available weapon and fuel tank option that would have been used on operational F-20s. All of the ordnance can be changed thanks to rubber grommets set inside the wings. Exceptional engraved detail marks the surface of most of the parts. Some of the steps in the instructions are small, so I found a magnifier useful.
Crisply printed decals provide markings for all three of the aircraft, built in multiple color schemes. As a cool option, a second sheet supplies national insignia for many of the countries who looked to purchase the F-20: Germany, Austria, Japan, Spain, Turkey, Canada, Britain, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, and Singapore. There is no decal placement guide for these, so get creative with the “what-ifs.”
Construction starts with the cockpit, which is cemented into the fuselage’s forward section. The instructions call for neutral gray on the instrument panel top, but I painted it black based on photos. The separate rear section contains the jet pipe, intakes, and vertical stabilizer. The fit is pretty good, except when joining the forward and rear fuselage sections. A slight size difference produces a gap; you can choose to have it on the top or bottom. I chose the underside for easier repair. The gap was big enough that I added small strips of styrene as filler.
The jet pipe has quite a bit of detail but is marred by a noticeable seam after the halves are joined. There is no way to remove the seam without removing detail, so I left it alone. Fortunately, the exhaust nozzle mostly disguises the problem.
A small fret of photo-etched metal provides details but no seat belts. Bummer! That would have made the seat pop.
The kit supplies a ton of options, including: two noses, different nose gear, posable flaps, open or closed canopy, tail hook, closed gear doors, different antennas, and 150- and 275-gallon fuel tanks. Then there are weapons: AIM-9L, AIM-9J, AIM-120C, and AIM-7 air-to-air missiles. Unfortunately, the instructions are unclear on the options, so references are essential.
I built the box-art subject, the second prototype, which crashed during a demonstration flight in South Korea, killing Northrop chief test pilot Darrell Cornell. The gray finish allows the kit’s exquisite surface detail to shine. Instructions show the anti-glare panel on the nose is medium gray, but I painted it with Tamiya NATO black — a closer match to the reference I used.
The model is well engineered and I highly recommend it. There were only a couple of things that needed attention; the gap in the fuselage and the color call-outs in the instructions didn’t seem accurate.
It is a much-needed, up-to-date kit of an interesting subject, and a great sophomore effort from Freedom Model Kits. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the January 2016 issue.