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Tamiya F-15C, 1/48th Lakenheath Eagles...


Airgunner

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Following a trip to Kings Lynn for my nieces wedding where we saw plenty of F-15s from Lakenheath, my daughter brought me the venerable Tamiya kit for a Fathers Day present. Now, I really don't build jets, especially grey, boring American ones, but she asked the other day if I'd made a start. I said it was next on the pile so thought I better get on with it. I'd already checked the box, and the cockpit details were sparse and the seat rubbish so I invested in the Eduard interior set to liven the cockpit up, an Aires ACES II ejection seat (both really cheap), and some Aires exhaust nozzles as the kit ones are particularly poor. The actual kit itself is typical early nineties Tamiya, great fit in some places, hopeless in other. It also features both raise and engraved panel lines, so all the raised ones will be rescribed. At this point I must say a massive THANK YOU to member Nocoolname who very kindly gave me the long out of print Caracal Decals from the Lakenheath Eagles set.

 

Without further ado, onto the build, starting with the cockpit and seat..

 

 

 

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Nozzles, before and after painting and weathering. They are very fiddly with 16 tiny actuators on each...

 

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Everything installed and fuselage joined. The exhausts were a perfect fit, even though they are designed for the GWH kits but the IP needed a little trimming but it doesn't notice once its installed.

 

Test

 

Nose seam is very poor, so filled with sprue gloop....

 

Test

 

Whilst waiting for that, I rescribed and add rivet detail to the tail....

Test

 

More soon...

Edited by Airgunner
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19 hours ago, Phil Carlson said:

That's not an Aces II seat. It looks like it might be the US Navy's NACES seat.  The rest of it looks great though! Keep it up!!

 

Hi Phil, that's good info, I double checked the packaging and if definitely says ACES II on the box. As I don't build jets very often, one seat looks like another to me, but I'll bank the knowledge. I'll not lose much sleep as this is going to be a relaxation build for my daughter more than anything.

 

17 hours ago, Dr. Quack said:

I'm watching, but.........aaaaarrrrrrrgh!  Marmite!!

 

Have you perhaps found an intriguing modelling use for the stuff?? Does it airbrush well??

Interested Quack.

Hi Doc, I love the stuff, and the jars are very useful to keep white spirit in as I find them hard to knock over.....

 

 

Not much done today as the gloop on the fuselage is still a bit soft, but I did get the undercart built and painted, and also made a start on the fuel tanks..

 

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More soon...

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Another slow news day in Eagleland, but managed to sort the seams on the front of the fuselage once the gloop had hardened..

 

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After a busy few days at work, I’m going onto nights so should get a good few hours at the Chicago tomorrow so I’ll try and push this on a bit...

 

Steve

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On 9/6/2019 at 10:22 AM, Airgunner said:

 

Hi Phil, that's good info, I double checked the packaging and if definitely says ACES II on the box. As I don't build jets very often, one seat looks like another to me, but I'll bank the knowledge. I'll not lose much sleep as this is going to be a relaxation build for my daughter more than anything.

 

You bet! Enjoy the relaxation, and please don't take what I'm saying as any sort of suggestion that you should build your model to suit me. For future reference, Here's the Matin Baker MK 14 NACES seat::

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And here's the ACES II seat:

 

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I'd say that the packaging you got was wrong, unfortunately. Nevertheless, build away and enjoy the time spent with your daughter!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Phil, 

 

Great photos, thank you, will bear these in mind for the next, F-15 I build, and there will be another, maybe not the Tamiya, but I will do another.

 

Wings built, rescribed and rivitted...

 

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I also added the lights near the wingroot, Tamiya just have them as panel lines, but I chopped some clear sprue in there and will polish them up once the glue has set for a couple of days.

 

I am only building the plane clean with only fuel tanks, so needed to make the launch rails for the tank pylons.... a bit of square section Evergreen..

 

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and a couple of bits of etch frame. Should look ok under paint and with the tanks added..

 

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Just waiting now for some bits and pieces to dry then I'll be back at it....

 

Steve

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  • 11 months later...

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

 

I had to put this on hold for a while, but now I’m back to it. All the main airframe parts are assembled and painted,

 

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I didn’t like the contrast between the Light Compass Ghost Gray, and the dark, so I added some sea blue until it looked more like the reference photos I’ve used.

 

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Looks much better I think. Vertical stabilisers also done and decalled. 
 

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Pylons and tanks painted....

 

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Metal bits painted... used a base of Alclad2 Duralumin, highlighted with Polished Aluminium and shared with Jet Exhaust. 
 

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and unmasked..

 

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So that’s where we stand at the moment. The whole lots has now had a coat of Future and awaits decals which will be done today.

 

Thanks for looking, 

Steve

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After five hours, and now nearly boss-eyed, decalling is complete.

 

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And now, after posting that last photo, I’ve just noticed the green stars are wonky. Balls. To late now though, the whole thing is now sitting under a coat of future ready for the bit I hate the most, a wash and weathering. Not sure how to go with weathering, some Lakenheath birds are absolutely filthy, some pristine. I suspect I’ll aim for slightly grubby as I’m no good at the really heavily weathered look..

 

Thanks for checking in,

 

Steve

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Gday Steve, really nice work mate, I have an academy one to do soon, watching your build has me looking forward to this.... Already I've picked up plenty of tips, thanks for the share, good luck with the final run home !!

 

Cheers

 

JJ

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Thanks for the kind comments guys, they keep me going...

 

Washes. Don’t like them because I’m no good at them. There, I’ll be honest. But, the panel lines and riveting are very fine on this kit and after several coats of paint and future, they need some help. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.....

 

 

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Thin oil wash of Payne’s Grey, the underside looks very similar except the wheel bays which are Burnt Sienna. Now to let it dry and see if I can get it cleaned up in an orderly manner.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Steve

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Moment of truth..... remove the wash...

 

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some interesting effects in the last two photos, it looks like the oil wash has reacted with the future, which I’ve never had before. I did leave the wash on overnight, which is longer than normal, but I’ve done that before with no adverse effects. It is less harsh in real life than the photos, and also gives quite a good representation of faded and chipped paint, very similar the the hairspray technique, so I think I’ll leave it rather than fix it.

 

Whilst that was done, I made some nav lights and beacons from clear sprue and Tamiya Clear Red and Green paint....

 

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Thats all for now, thanks for looking..

 

Steve

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On 9/24/2020 at 12:17 PM, Airgunner said:

Washes. Don’t like them because I’m no good at them.


Hi Steve,

 

Have you ever tried Flory Models clay based washes? If not, worth looking into as they are dead easy to apply and to remove with great results (and that’s saying something coming from me!).
 

Eagle looks stunning BTW!

 

Mark

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Hi all, apologies for radio silence, needed to get some golf in before the weather goes belly up.

 

Sidders, yes tried Flory, got on great with it but it seemed to go off in the bottle so the second kit I tried it on was wrecked so I never went back. May have been a duff bottle I suppose.

 

ok, update time. Beacons on tailfins added, and sensors painted..

 

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Wingtip nav lights also done, made from clear sprue shaped in a Dremel.

 

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Landing gear attached....and armament starting to go on...

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Nearly there now... nearly ready for a satin varnish..

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Just a few blade antenna and other sticky out bits to added then it’s will be pretty much done. With a fair wind hopefully that will be tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Steve

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