The kit comprises 58 injection molded parts in soft gray plastic, 13 nicely cast resin parts, and separate windscreen and canopy molded in clear.  All panel lines are recessed, but I found it necessary to deepen them here and there.  Stores provided include under wing drop tanks, the tear drop shaped tip tanks, napalm canisters, two bombs and a pair of nicely done AIM-9B Sidewinders with launch rails.  The finished kit compares well in overall dimensions to my references, and has that ‘right’ look.  The clear parts are thicker than the typical Hasegawa or Tamiya offerings, but a good polishing brought out the clarity and they fit quite well.

The cockpit is entirely done in resin, and matches my references very closely.  The instrument panel in particular is quite nice.  I punched out individual decal instrument faces and finished them off with clear gloss for a very convincing looking panel.  The sidewall detail is also well done, and could be a lesson for the bigger manufacturers, who tend to neglect this area.  The only major omission is the canopy control handle mounted on the starboard sidewall, which is pretty prominent in the actual cockpit.  This item can be easily scratch built and added if you are the fastidious sort.  The cockpit tub casting includes the rear decking behind the seat with the complex F-5 canopy operating gear and plumbing details.  The ejection seat is again nicely done, and includes the oxygen and g-suit hoses, but no harness.  I scrounged some belts from an old photoetch set.  Everything fits neatly into the fuselage with virtually no fuss, but the resin cast nose gear well requires careful fitting; I got mine off center just a bit, but not enough to be a problem.   Fit of the fuselage halves is also quite acceptable, but I had some gaps around the separate resin piece which comprises the inner main gear wells and speedbrake well.  This latter resin item, by the way, contains really comprehensive detail and looks great painted and weathered.  No fit issues were present with the rest of the airframe parts, aside from some small gaps between the wing undersides and that pesky gear well piece.  These were easily addressed.  The separate tailplanes are molded in one piece, but without any mounting or locating provisions.  I drilled the tailplanes and inserted small lengths of brass rod, and match drilled the fuselage.

The smaller parts also had few problems with fit.  The biggest glitch I found was that when the resin exhaust assembly was mated to the fuselage a very large open area remained, through which I could peer into the fuselage interior.  This oversight was really puzzling given the overall quality of the kit.  I cut a scrap of .005 sheet to fit and that problem was solved.  I also drilled all three gear struts for plastic rod locators to reinforce the butt joints.  The wheel mounting pins on the main struts were very short, and made attaching the wheels more difficult than necessary.  When I build this kit again I will probably replace them.   The clear parts, as mentioned, fit well, but attaching an F-5 canopy in the raised position is no picnic in any kit.  I covered the canopy interior with a small piece cut from a Post-It note and used CA glue to fix the canopy.  After the glue had time to cure I gently peeled the paper mask off, and avoided the dreaded fogging monster.  The installed canopy with its resin inner piece and the busy looking canopy mechanism gives a good impression of the real thing.