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F-15C 36 TFW - Hasegawa 1/72 +++ Finished+++


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Evening all,

Well, now that I have finished my Sparkvark, time to crack on with my next project, a 36TFW F-15C. This is my fave all time jet plane; the highlight of Mildenhall airshow was finding where the Eagle was! I have assembled the following for this project....

Hasegawa F-15C

Eduard photoetch, although I will probably just use the HUD frame

Montex masks (really surprised to find that Eduard don't do masks for this kit, or at least if they do, Hannants don't stock them!)

Aires resin exhausts

Two Bobs Eifel Eagles sheet.

Osprey Superbase Bitburg as reference

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I want to build an airframe from around the late 80s to fit in with my EF-111A, and with the A10 and F111F that I want to add to my 80s USAFE shelf. The plane I want to do is this one - 79-025, the 525th TFS CO's plane. Pics are taken from the Osprey book printed in 1989, and captioning the picture as having been taken in 1988. By luck, this is the self-same plane on the Bitburg decal sheet, and although the decal sheet references it as 1991, the markings clearly hadn't changed since they were applied in 1988. So; that'll do nicely!

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Tonight I shall be doing some priming, and having a look at the cockpit and easy to do bits like the pylons and tanks.

Edited by PaulR
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  • 3 weeks later...

Right - better get a move on. This project has been put on ice pending the end of term; now that's all over for another few weeks at least, time to hit the hit the important things in life. Have tackled the cockpit and offs and ends so far. I've since moved on to the main fuselage, and been trying a new way to avoid the awkward seams you get with F-15 models between the forward fuselage and the main fuselage. More later!

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Latest update - fuselage all buttoned up, and seams sanded. Generally a well fitting kit, there are nevertheless some awkward areas to watch that I've hit with every F15 I've built. I'll get the canopy on next, then it will be time to prime and get painting!

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Right - bit of an update! Am aware of the clock ticking on this GB, but think I am now in pretty good shape to finish. Anyway...

Some complicated masking to get that copper coloured canopy framing sorted...

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... a general coat of Xtracrylix FS36375.

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The trick here was the contrasting coat of FS36320. Xtracrylix's version of this is very close to the 36375, as it is in real life, but just too close to be able to see the difference. I needed something that would just have enough of a difference to be noticeable , but not overwhelming. As it happens, I had some Vallejo FS36375. I like the way Vallejo sprays, and remembering that they tend toward the 'dark' I tried this - and to my eyes at least it really works. You can see the results on the fins.

Next was to apply this to the rest of the airframe. I then masked off all the vents and grills that are a characteristic feature of the real thing.

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Masks off! The small circular vent under the rear of the canopy I masked using a small disc from an Eduard masking set. If you look at these, there are often some very useful shapes formed by the reference numbers for each set - just the job for little jobs like this!

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Next up was to mask the fin stripes. Although decals are supplied to do this, I find this is quicker and gives a far better result.

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Finally, I gave the whole thing a very subtle mist of Tamiya XF19 sky grey to blend it all in. Actually, you could probably use this as FS36375 - the difference between this and the Xtracrylix is virtually negligible. I have to say I am feeling really pleased with this so far. The F-15C is probably my favourite jet plane, and yet I have none in my cabinet. I made four or five, and attempted a couple of 1/48 models twenty years ago, and could never capture it to match my 'mind's eye' of the real thing. Now I can airbrush reasonably well, it finally means I can get the result I want. It also doesn't help that the eagle is something of an awkward airframe from an assembly point of view.Compared to the same company's F111 of about the same vintage, it is a lot more work to get all the nooks and crannies sorted out, particularly around the intakes. Not Hasegawa's fault; just a function of the way the real thing is assembled. You can see a small amount of filler at the base of the fins just to tidy up the inevitable join here. Anyway, I have got the undercarriage all done, and the pylon adapters/pitot tubes painted; the plan is to get these attached today, and a coat of gloss on to dry over night so that I can get decaling. The last bit will be the Aires exhausts; tweezers, bright lights and a quiet couple of hours will be needed there!

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Edited by PaulR
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Looking good, especially the differences between the grey colours. I know what you are on about as I had the same promblem in that the colours that I used were so alike I could even see a difference.

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Lovely work Paul, you certainly have a knack for getting the correct colours and shades looking spot on! Will be another cracking adding to the gallery.

Cheers for the kind comments chaps! Am currently decalling at the moment...f15 stencils are very tedious indeed! Paul
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Well, on the home straight! Have spent a therapeutic hour on the Aires exhausts, which I shall prime and paint tomorrow. The main airframe has had a light oil wash, and a coat of Matt varnish, so hopefully all done in the next two days!

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