Friday, February 24

AFV Club releases the "Peace Tiger" in 48th...

To add to their family of excellent F-5's in 48th scale, AVF Club has added something no doubt close to their heart, a 48th scale ROCAF F-5E. We look at the kite and what we know about the kit in our preview...


AFV Club releases the "Peace Tiger" in 48th...

F-5E ROCAF
From AFV Club
1/48th scale
Kit No# AR48S12
The Subject: The F-5E Tiger II (ROCAF) Peace Tiger
On February 9, 1973, the ROC government and the US government reached an agreement for the co-production of 100 F-5E. This program was given the codename "Hu An" (Peace Tiger) and was to be undertaken jointly by Northrop and Taiwan's AIDC (then a branch of the ROCAF). The first AIDC-built F-5E was rolled out on October 30, 1974, one day before the late President Chiang Kai Shek's 88th birthday, and was thus christened "Chung Chen", an alias of President Chiang. Production of all 100 aircraft was completed in November 1977.
Later 208 more aircraft were added to the production run in five batches, from "Peace Tiger 2" through "Peace Tiger 6". Complexity of the production work by AIDC also evolved in several phases. The whole "Peace Tiger" program was completed on December 9, 1986, when the final aircraft was rolled off the production line. In total, the ROCAF received 242 F-5E and 66 F-5F. 
Among these batches, Peace Tiger 6 stands out because it is only batch approved after the Carter administration of the US established formal relationships with China in 1979. The succeeding Reagan administration denied Taiwan's request to purchase the more advanced F-16 and F-20 in early 1982, for fear of angering China. To make matters worse, the US signed the 817 Communique with China on August 17, 1982, pledging to reduce arms sales to Taiwan gradually. But in an effort to assure Taiwan's security, the Reagan administration notified the Congress of the proposed sale of 60 F-5E/F to Taiwan two days later. 

 Dated in 2016, at the  Air Force Qingquangang Base Camp Opening Event, the right rear of the F-5E 5272 of the 46th Training Team of the 737th Wing displayed on the tarmac.
The F-5E/F license-building program gave AIDC invaluable experience in aircraft manufacturing techniques and broadened its technology base. It also helped AIDC build up a good relationship with Northrop, which later proved very beneficial for the AT-3 program. AIDC had developed a modern chemical milling facility that could handle aluminum skin panels up to 2 by 4 ft and magnesium panels of smaller sizes. Another advanced manufacturing capability developed by AIDC as a result was the fabrication of bonded honeycomb elements. The fuselage dorsal cover for the F-5E, which consists of nine bonded honeycomb panels, and the honeycomb aileron and flap panels were added to the fabrication work under Phase 5.

The Kit: F-5E Tiger II (ROCAF) Peace Tiger in 48th scale
The kit is not on the AFV CLub website yet, and not with distributors, so we only know what we can glean from the box art.
 This new kit from AFV Club contains:
- Hydra 70 Rockets w opened or closed tails
- All-new tooling of the CBU-100 Cluster bomb (tails can be open or closed)
- Gear doors open or closed
-Optional aux air intake doos in opened or closed position,
- Posable flaps
- New decals for the ROCAF low-viz schemes in the box.

You can find out more about this kit when it comes online on the AFV Club Website