Jump to content

1/72 Hasegawa F-15C Bitburg MiG killer


Phantome

Recommended Posts

I'm doing a double build this time (on separate threads), one of which is a Hasegawa F-15C Bitburg MiG killer in 1/72 scale. Why this one? Because I want to do one in Mod Eagle and the other in the older ghost gray scheme. Decals will come from the excellent Two Bobs "Eifel Eagles" set.

 

The kit will be the basic Hasegawa kit which I have already built numerous times so this will be a relatively quick and painless build (I also have a lot of time on my hands!). The kit itself has good fit, although the engines are a bit fiddly and the nose section fit with the fuselage has some alignment issues. Surprisingly for a Hase kit, the cockpit has phenomenal detail not least the avionics bay; overall one of the best I have seen in 1/72 scale. The rest of the kit shows some age, although the panel lines are nice and thin, there's no rivet detail at all and there's a bit of flash here and there. Anyway, let's get on with it: first steps were the cockpit parts and painting some of the fuselage interior bits.

 

FkxTH.jpg

 

ZhGnH.jpg

 

gYGtz.jpg

 

z6oAd.jpg

Edited by Phantome
  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, helium said:

Nice choices Phantome!

 

In particular, I am keen to see your Bitburg Eagle (I have the same decals and I am already looking forward building on if these)

 

There's a dearth of decals for an "early" (i.e. 1990s) Mod Eagle scheme, such as those used in Bosnia and Kosovo and which can be reproduced with the Hase kit: building a current F-15C involves scratch-building the angled antennae, ECM stubs, removing the tailhook guard and scratch-building a tailhook. As usual, the resin community seems to prefer selling pedantic corrections to obscure kits in order to cater to the rivet counters than something that IMHO would be more appealing and lucrative like a MSIP II set for the Hase kit.

 

My main issue is what colors to use for the Mod Eagle scheme. In a previous build I used Lifecolor but find it often tricky to use (terrible coverage). I have the Vallejo USAF set that includes both 36251 and 36176. 36251 looks spot on, but I plan to spray freehand the 36176 and Vallejo is not great for freehand in this scale. I will therefore experiment with Tamiya XF-82, which is RAF Ocean Grey. I have found it too blue for normal RAF WW2 use but it might just be perfect for a Mod Eagle. We'll see... ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Phantome said:

 

There's a dearth of decals for an "early" (i.e. 1990s) Mod Eagle scheme, such as those used in Bosnia and Kosovo and which can be reproduced with the Hase kit: building a current F-15C involves scratch-building the angled antennae, ECM stubs, removing the tailhook guard and scratch-building a tailhook. As usual, the resin community seems to prefer selling pedantic corrections to obscure kits in order to cater to the rivet counters than something that IMHO would be more appealing and lucrative like a MSIP II set for the Hase kit.

 

My main issue is what colors to use for the Mod Eagle scheme. In a previous build I used Lifecolor but find it often tricky to use (terrible coverage). I have the Vallejo USAF set that includes both 36251 and 36176. 36251 looks spot on, but I plan to spray freehand the 36176 and Vallejo is not great for freehand in this scale. I will therefore experiment with Tamiya XF-82, which is RAF Ocean Grey. I have found it too blue for normal RAF WW2 use but it might just be perfect for a Mod Eagle. We'll see... ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting to read this about the Vallejo paints. I have just started to use them, since I was amazed that they are ready for Airbrush and many (all relevant?) FS colors are available (Unbelievable, but so far I have always - even when I just needed to paint some details, lets say some landing gears in white - mixed and thinned the colors myself. Either Revell Enamel or Revell Aqua Colors. I have never really looked what other color systems are out there or could be better.) I have not yet tried a free hand camouflage with Vallejo yet. You mean there pigments are not fine enough for that? Luckily, I am building an E-version, so I should be fine ;)).

 

"As usual, the resin community seems to prefer selling pedantic corrections to obscure kits in order to cater to the rivet counters than ..." I agree! It is a pitty that there are no offerings (to my knowledge at least) of e.g wheels for an early F-15A / B in 1/72. If time permits, I will further contribute here with an F-15 A or B (not yet decided) in the air superiority blue and might try to correct then the Hase wheels with putty and a hand drill :D But maybe I have not time and you all will be lucky not to see this "downgrading attempt" - the wheels themselves would certainly appreciate me not having time for this :D

 

BTW: I like your cockpit section 👍

Edited by helium
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, helium said:

Interesting to read this about the Vallejo paints. I have just started to use them, since I was amazed that they are ready for Airbrush and many (all relevant?) FS colors are available (Unbelievable, but so far I have always - even when I just needed to paint some details, lets say some landing gears in white - mixed and thinned the colors myself. Either Revell Enamel or Revell Aqua Colors. I have never really looked what other color systems are out there or could be better.) I have not yet tried a free hand camouflage with Vallejo yet. You mean there pigments are not fine enough for that? Luckily, I am building an E-version, so I should be fine ;)).

 

"As usual, the resin community seems to prefer selling pedantic corrections to obscure kits in order to cater to the rivet counters than ..." I agree! It is a pitty that there are no offerings (to my knowledge at least) of e.g wheels for an early F-15A / B in 1/72. If time permits, I will further contribute here with an F-15 A or B (not yet decided) in the air superiority blue and might try to correct then the Hase wheels with putty and a hand drill :D But maybe I have not time and you all will be lucky not to see this "downgrading attempt" - the wheels themselves would certainly appreciate me not having time for this :D

The pigments are not as fine as Gunze/Tamiya which are my preferred for freehand duties. But by all means try it out yourself, maybe you have a better hand than I do. That said, using lacquer thinner rather than acrylic thinner seems to help.

 

I actually freehanded Revell Aqua a while back it wasn't too shabby. Don't remember what I used for thinner though (possibly distilled water). It's really the thinner that matters in the end...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That sounds interesting! I am curious now, how you get along with the Tamiya paint and will try it on one of my next models. 

 

By the way: I am thinning  the Revell Aqua colors with "Sidolin" window cleaner. Having had a quick search on net just now, I could not find the same product in the UK. It's sold by Henkel here in Germany. I experienced that the color is much more soluble with this window cleaner (it is colorless). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, helium said:

 

"As usual, the resin community seems to prefer selling pedantic corrections to obscure kits in order to cater to the rivet counters than ..." I agree! It is a pitty that there are no offerings (to my knowledge at least) of e.g wheels for an early F-15A / B in 1/72.

FWIW NorthStar,RESKIT,Res-IM and Equipage all do wheels for all F-15 varaints in 1/72...they are all from the Russian Fed/Ukraine etc but are nicely moulded,I've used the 1/48 sets from RESKIT and RES-IM before and I'm currently awaiting delivery off some more for my 3 F-15 GB projects.

 

Just search EBay using 1/72 F-15 wheels and they should all come up.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update... fuselage built and puttied. The JASDF kit I'm building in a separate thread is also at this stage and quite frankly don't remember which of the two this photo comes from!

 

N2S1F.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That WAS quick! Hope you can share a few words on how to best address some of the less than perfect fit of this kit. I built one many years ago and have a second in waiting. I don't want to repeat the mistakes I made the first time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, SoftScience said:

That WAS quick! Hope you can share a few words on how to best address some of the less than perfect fit of this kit. I built one many years ago and have a second in waiting. I don't want to repeat the mistakes I made the first time.

I think the only problematic bit is gluing the nose section with the piece that goes behind the canopy (the red line) and then with the fuselage (the blue line). None of them align, and if you get one right, you'll get the other wrong.

 

My suggestion is to glue them all while the glue is still fresh so you can try and mold them into shape yourself.

 

I also suggest getting the top part right (the red arrow) even if it means some misalignment with the fuselage (the green arrow). This misalignment will be mostly visible on the underside - which means you won't notice it much, especially once painted and decalled. The misalignment near the airbrake (blue arrows) is less problematic although still noticeable: one edge will be higher than the other.

 

yclZU.jpg

 

 

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Phantome said:

I'm eying the one with the "U2" callsign, one of the Mod Eagles

Ah ok cool another William Tell jet like my project,actually met Capt 'Uz' Uzell way back in 1992 along with the other WT'92 pilots @ Bentwaters.

These pics of 0015 may help your project

84-0015

After the Gunnery Meet the tail markings changed back to black,I was told at the time the ATC guys in the control tower at Bitburg struggled to read the tail numbers of the jets in the grey murk that often covered the Eifel region.

84-0015may9384-0015_00

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, had forgotten about this but time for a big update. I actually already finished the aircraft but haven't gotten around to taking pictures of it so these are the last ones: the first just after painting, and the second after a coat of Klear.

 

I was not impressed with Vallejo's representation of 36251. It's too dark and the decals that corresponded to it practically turned invisible. I know that the Mod Eagle stencils are, by nature, very subtle but you can still pick them out.

 

I was, however, much happier with XF-82 as a substitute for 36176. The blue-ish tint came out well, but would have looked better if 36251 was lighter and warmer.

 

I still think the Mod Eagle colors from Lifecolor are the most accurate in acrylic

 

YN3sI.jpg

 

t14yw.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing I forgot to do before priming: painting the canopy black on the outside after masking. I was too lazy to then paint it after built. Maybe I'll remove it one day and do it if I'm particularly bored.

 

Although not evident here, there are only two Sparrow missiles as I only had 3 and figured it would look stranger to have 3 than 2 (I've never seen an Eagle carry just 2). All the missiles came from the spares box, with the Sparrow from Academy Hornet kits and the Sidewinders and AMRAAMs from Revell F-16 kits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...