F-15E 1:72 Academy

[helium]

Hello there,

 

this is my very first post at Britmodeller and I am happy to start with one of my favorite planes.

 

I have followed BM now for some time, but have never contributed or submitted anything up to now.

 

Last weekend at the local hobby shop I was able to get the new Academy F-15E in 1/72 and knew imediatelly what to do: 1. Buy it, 2. Join BM 3. Build the F-15 in the STGB (And of course to have a lot of fun in between 1. - 3.)

 

Having lived in the UK for some years and having visited the RIAT several times, I want to build a Lakenheath Eagle. Unfortunately, the kits decals are for the 333rd Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. So I ordered today new decals ...

 

Also I will replace the ejection seats with ones from Quickboost. I also intend to add the exhaust nozzles from Aires, however, I will see how good they fit. After all, they are meant to be used with the Hasegawa kit.

 

I am really curious how the model turns out: this is my first kit of a snap-kit-like type.

 

I wish you all also a lot of fun and many cool looking F-15 by the end of October!

 

Cheers,

Holger

 

 

Edited August 1, 2017 by helium
spelling error

[mungo1974]

Welcome to the GB Holger

 

Looking forward to your build

[PhantomBigStu]

Welcome aboard, watching along, only a matter of time before I pick that one up myself. 

[helium]

Since I am starting right now I just wanted to present you the official picture of the sprues before the mess starts ...

 

 

The kit is ... well ... quite interesting!

 

All surface details are extremely well molded! And there are plenty of them. I think it is a similar level of surface details than the Trumpeter Su-27 series in 1/72. Maybe the panel lines are slightly deeper - but definitely not in a negative way.

 

From that point of view I am really looking forward now building this kit

 

On the other hand: I am really hoping that all the snap-fit connections will be invisable in the end!!

 

Lets see

 

Holger

 

[helium]

I made some pictures to give you an impression.

 

Interestingly, the exhausts are more than simple. Since I try to replace them anyway that would be something I can live with. Also the wheel bay of the main gear cannot match the level of detailing of the outer surfaces by far. I will see, how that big wall in this wheel bay will look later ... or if it can/should be removed?!

 

Btw: I have just learned that a snap-kit is not really meant for dry fitting (was not easy to get the lower fuselage from the upper one )

 

 

[helium]

I did start today on the kit. First I painted some parts in white.

 

Really good is that the rims and the tyres are separate parts. I find it is always diffcult to paint the whilte/black contour at the wheels.

 

 

A bit of a shame, however, is the main landing gear: The surface is good. There is apparently no offset between two halfes of the molding form (I hope you know what I mean: it is really round ) But the two arms which are fixed to the cylindrical portion are modelled as a triangle. I opened it and tried to make it look like two arms, but that is not so satisfactory ...

 

Edited August 15, 2017 by helium

[helium]

And I also painted the cockpit parts in grey and masked those areas off, which will be black and painted them in black. Tomorrow I can then paint the details.

 

The surface details of the parts are impressive. So far it makes fun to build it!

Holger

 

Edited August 15, 2017 by helium

[helium]

While working on the ejection seats from Quickboost (QB 72 142) I realized that they are rather small compared to the ones which came with the kit.

 

I hoped that the ones from the kit were simply too big. However, comparing both with one from Verlinden (No226) I am afraid the Quickboost seats are a bit too small ... I will wait until the cockpit hub is fixed into the fuselage and will see how both seats fit in  If the Quickboost seats look too small, I won't replace the seats from the kit.

 

[helium]

Good evening everyone,

 

I finished the cockpit tub.

 

I have to hand it to Academy: all switches on the side panels and on the instrument panels are made by tiny rods with an indentation on top (according to the online dictionary: a "trough" ) With a small brush it was quite simple to add a drop of colour into the trough.

 

The demarcation between the individual instruments on the side panels was done like a washing with water soluble oil paint (unfortunately, I had not the very same grey tone as I used for the cockpit tub itself. So it is slightly lighter, but that's ok for me).

 

Cheers

Holger.

 

[Jabba]

Good work in the cockpit.

[Vultures1]

Yes indeed, looking very nice

[helium]

Thank you both Jabba and Vultures1! Glad you like it.

 

While dry fitting the tub into the forward fuselage - actually while trying to remove the parts again - I wiped the paint of some of the knobs again 😬 At least now I have already some experience in painting them 😐

[helium]

Some update: I am still working on details and have not yet started to glue the fuselage bits together. So I am still waiting to have an Eagle on the bench and not only parts of it ...

 

First I worked on the intakes. Very positve is certainly, that they extend the full (!) length towards the intake of the real engine. Obviously, they are not seemless. The pictures I found allowed me only to make a guess, where the gunship grey stops and where the white starts. I painted the first fan with Humbrol Gunmetal, which I like quite a lot: after polishing only the front of the fan blades are shining and it gives some depth to the fan (at least that's my Imagination  ) However, as you can see, in the end you see virtually nothing!

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised that I can add "Aires" as tag to my post: after grinding off the struts and projections for the Academy "exhaust can" the Aires Set "7113 F-15E Strike Eagle" seems to fit perfectly. It is officially recommended for the Hasegawa kit.

 

 

I have not yet added the nozzle linkages, but you get what I mean.

 

 

The left is the Aires one and on the right is the Academy exhaust (no ... wait .... I think left side Academy and right side Aires?!  ..... puh, luckily I have written it on the rear of them, so that I do not mix them up  )

 

Seriously, the Academy kit - while being brilliant in my view in many respects - really lacks a proper nozzle for the USAF Eagle. (the ones for the IDF F-15I are certainly fully acceptable) But maybe that was a clever choice of Academy: invest more effort in the main parts of the model and their level of detailing and let the exhausts to be replaced by aftermarket parts, which is easily possible of course. However, this adds of course another 10 pounds or so.

 

Cheers

Holger

Edited August 18, 2017 by helium

[Jabba]

Those Aires exhausts are much better than the kit ones. The strange thing is that the 1/72 exhausts are even better than the 1/48 ones by the looks of what you are showing.

[helium]

Good evening everyone,

 

just a short update. First of all, a quite interesting video on YouTube by someone who build this model and in case you think of buying it (I mean the model, not YouTube - not saying that you would not have the money for that as well ), you can get some idea of the kit itself:

 

 

 

 

[helium]

After some thinking I decided to apply putty to the seems of the intake section. First I thought it would be ok without it and just leave it as is. However, since the seems start quite at the beginning of the intake I eventually decided to tackle this area. Grinding this area will be a bit difficult, though.

 

 

I also improved the front landing gear, that is the landing light. I milled a hole into both lights and painted it with Humbrol 11 Enamel paint. I do really prefer this silver paint over the Revell ones, since it gives a very glossy finish.

 

I dont't know, however, how to model the glass of the light now. Initially, I thought I could use Humbrol Clearfix. However, when trying this method today on the landing gear of an F/A-18F (from Revell which I am building at the moment - really nice kit as well), I observed two things one hour after applying the Clearfix. First of all, the silver color lost some of its gloss, something I could live with. Which I did not like, however, was the fact that the Clearfix shrinked so much that its now basically only a coat on the silver color.

 

Therefore, I will probably leave this at it is currently. After all, it looks better than before and you have to go quite close to see the "missing" glass.

 

Cheers

Holger

 

 

[SoftScience]

You're doing a great job.on the build. All the same, I'm surprised and disappointed in the many over-simplified details on this kit.

 

Academy is capable of incredible fine detail, but then they do something like this. Too bad. 

[helium]

Hello everyone,

 

sorry for the rather long time without updates. I was quite busy at work (the real work, unfortunatley ;-) )

 

Since I decided to have the cockpit open, I had to do (and still have to do) some modifications. Bascially, you need to get rid of the rear cover element within the cockpit at both halves of the fuselage. It will be rebuild from plastic card later on to be fitted to the canopy itself.

 

Also, the rear instrument cover includes already the bridging element, which is in fact attached to both sides of the canopy and should therefore also be attached to the open canopy. Thus, the bridging element was sanded off. I will also make a cut out in the remaining instrument cover and try (at least my best) to create the holding mechanism for the bar which is sometimes used to assist in holding the canopy open. While working on this cover I simply formed the handle bar for the WSO from a cable. (I still need to get rid of the injection molded version of the handle bar from Academy).

 

 

The white plates of plastic card were added, since these areas will later on be partly visible.

 

 

Cheers,

Holger

[helium]

Furthermore, I - eventually - could glue together now the main parts of the fuselage.  I was very pleased with the fit of the parts!! In most areas the fit was amazing. Only where the cockpit section meets the lower fuselage a gap occured.

 

I used a combination of Mr. White Putty and Mr. Color Leveling Thinner. Not only is it possible to thin the putty with this; and in my opinion this kind of putty dries really quickly. But more importantly you can dissolve the dried putty again. So first I applied the putty and let it dry for 2-3 days. Once completely dry and solid, I used a Q-tip dipped into the thinner to simply rub off the excess putty. It doesnt rub off as quickly as for example a layer of paint. But eventually it dissolves the putty. So I got rid of the gap without any sanding. (You might know this method already, but I discovered it just recently).

 

Cheers and happy modelling,

Holger

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PhantomBigStu]

Coming along, good tip about the disable putty, but I have a much simpler solution, use water soluble wall filler, cheap and cheerful

 

As for the kit not yet got myself one, suspect I will though, those panel lines look much better suited to my heavy paintwork than the hasegawa 

[helium]

On ‎10‎.‎10‎.‎2017 at 11:15, PhantomBigStu said:

Coming along, good tip about the disable putty, but I have a much simpler solution, use water soluble wall filler, cheap and cheerful

 

As for the kit not yet got myself one, suspect I will though, those panel lines look much better suited to my heavy paintwork than the hasegawa 

Thanks Stu! I am always happy to learn new techniques!  

[helium]

Hello everyone,

 

finally another update. The remaining time is getting less and less ... so are the remaining parts on the sprues of my F-15 ... however, the time is running out faster

 

To those of you who wants to build this kit themselves:

- The kit really allows to build the F-15K as well. That means in step 7 the antenna part C9 should be used for the F-15E and in steps 11 and 12 the parts C13 and C12 should be used, respectively. The instruction sheet does show the two choices you have in each of these steps, but is silent about which part to use for which plane.

 - There is an ugly slit on the lower left air intake. It looks as if this was made for some kind of load to be attached here (it is next to the slit for the LANTIRN navigation pod). I have no clue, what this is for. Maybe someone knows ... It turned out the small sections of the sprues where it says 'A' for sprue A have exactly the width (at least according to my level of accuracy ) as this slit. So I cut a strip of such a section to the same length as the slit, pushed it in and fixed it using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement

Edited on 27.10.17: I was completely mistaken! The LANTIRN navigation pod is actually build from two parts and each part has a rib for the two slits in the fuselage! Sorry for that!  At least I know now, why it says Please read the instructions well before ..."

 

 

I am also not sure, what the weapons layout will be. The kit provides 14 (!) JDAMs which look to me like GBU-38. I didn't know that the F-15E has so many stations wired for JDAMs. Maybe that is also intended for the F-15K?!

 

Due to so little time left, I initially wanted to use the cockpit glass from the kit and already sew it into two pieces. However, I was so pleased with the very thin vacu part of Rob-Taurus that I decided to use it. It turned out to fit quite well! (It is no. 72042 of Rob-Taurus and recommend for the Hasegawa kit)

 

(the kits part are always the left ones)

 

 

I also added an plate at the rear of the cockpit (the one with the four holes drilled) since this area will be visible once the cockpit is open.

 

And eventually, ready to be painted:

 

 

The F-15C on top is a Hobby Boss: After getting on with my Strike Eagle so slowly, I just wanted to build one quickly with closed cockpit and spending less time on details. Seeing know that I could have easily finished the F-15C in time, I should have made an additional thread for this one (I did, however, forbid myself now to work on the C until I have finished the E  )

 

Cheers,

 

Holger.

Edited October 27, 2017 by helium

[helium]

A short update: I have applied the Gunship Grey (Modell Air from Vallejo). The color went on quite well. I did use, however, 3-4 drops of the Airbrush Flow Improver per 10 drops of Air Color.

 

 

 

Directly after air brushing, which took me around 1,5h since I sprayed only small amounts of color:

 

 

And now drying side by side a family member :

 

 

Cheers,

Holger

 

 

[helium]

 

Hi all,

 

unfortunaley, I may not make within the time limit  I am still trying but I have the choice now, to finish it (whatever it takes) or to do it the way I would be (more) happy with the result... I don't know yet what I will do ...

 

After the gloss cote (all Valeja - with flow improver it works good for me) I started decaling. (Just by the number of "No Step" markings a technician accidentally stepping on the wrong part has probably a hard time arguing with his boss that he didn't know ...  )

 

 

 

 

 

Nearly (!) finished decaling ... The nose is missing, since it is being painted now in a slightly different grey tone.

 

Both decal sets I am using a superb: The Kit decals and the TwoBobs (to make it an LN). Using Microsol they adapt even into the rivets!

 

 

I worked also on the tanks and missiles. But again, time is running out. Still need the gloss cote, decaling, satin/matt cote ...

 

 

I colored the exhaust nozzles but I have to add the nozzle linkages (these rods) ...

 

Cheers,

Holger

[matt_w]

Great build so far!

Ive just ordered the hase F15-E and this has made me want to build it as soon as it turns up from japan... 

Ill be doing a LN jet as well, I'm lucky to live near the mach loop so see them doing their low level training frequently