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F-15DJ desert aggressor-transfer from the Japanese GB

Ralph

By Ralph
in F-15 50th Anniversary STGB

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Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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Afternoon  all, saw this GB go live and was compelled to examine the stash! I have this Hasegawa F-15DJ aggressor, which manages to simultaneously combine my three favourite subjects; the F-15 itself, surely the most beautiful jet ever built, aggressor/adversary subjects and my interest in all things Japanese!

The kit itself is the standard Hasegawa offering, with a new sprue for MSIP mods, plus an Eduard Alq131 and Finemolds AAM5. All good to go to do the airframe on the box! I might we add some resin EJ seats if I can find some in the stash!

Looking forward to this- GBs are definitely an incentive to stay focused on a project!

20220416_163732 20220416_164355

 

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Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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Initial progress. This is not the first Hasegawa F-15 I have built....I can remember this 'new tool' being issued what  1989? That makes it a shocking 33 years old  and what strikes me is just how far ahead of the game Hasegawa were with kits like this. It absolutely holds its own with the much, much newer GWH kit,  and in some respects (thickness of canopy for example) it's still ahead. I'd say the same thing about their 'new tool' (I.e. 30 years old) Tomcats- while marginally bettered by the new Academy kit for example, the latter certainly doesn't look like a 30 year advance. Anyway,  the complex shape of the Eagle makes for some interesting challenges to get a good fit around the transition from forward fuselage to the main fuselage. I glue one half of the forward fuselage to the top half of the main fuselage first, aiming to get a perfect  join in the most visible part. Then(as hopefully you see) it's a case of gradually adding other parts to get a good fit, stage by stage.

20220416_201919

 

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trickyrich Blabber Mouth

trickyrich

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welcome along Ralph and what a awesome looking model you've brought along as well!!

 

I really do like this scheme a lot, I can't believe I've not seen it before. I could certainly se myself doing this scheme if the chance came along.

 

Good luck with the build I think there'll be a lot of interest in this build.

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  • Ralph changed the title to F-15DJ desert aggressor-transfer from the Japanese GB
Mike Constant Member

Mike

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:hmmm: I've just moved this one from the GB it was entered in to general WIP at @Corsairfoxfouruncle's request, but I've also just noticed that it's not his thread, and there's been no activity on it since April.  Am I having a stroke, or what?  Can someone throw some light on what I'm doing here please? :confused:

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Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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Thanks to the mods for allowing this thread to transfer to this GB! I was born 6 months before the first flight of the F-15, so -apart from the Spitfire- is my all time favourite plane. Am going to crack on to get this done;I have another F-15 to if time permits, but really want get this done. Originally started this for the Japanese GB, but work rather got in the way...thanks to Mike for moving it across  and hope that clarifies his understandable confusion!👍

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Corsairfoxfouruncle Blabber Mouth

Corsairfoxfouruncle

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2 minutes ago, Mike said:

:hmmm: I've just moved this one from the GB it was entered in to general WIP at @Corsairfoxfouruncle's request, but I've also just noticed that it's not his thread, and there's been no activity on it since April.  Am I having a stroke, or what?  Can someone throw some light on what I'm doing here please? :confused:

My apologies mike … It was a request initially sent via D/M to me and Enzo and had been handled by Enzo as part of the F-15 STGB. I flagged it as easier to find for Enzo as there was no link. 

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Mike Constant Member

Mike

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2 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

My apologies mike … It was a request initially sent via D/M to me and Enzo and had been handled by Enzo as part of the F-15 STGB. I flagged it as easier to find for Enzo as there was no link. 

OK, as long as I'm not doing things without OP's knowledge, that's fine :)

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Corsairfoxfouruncle Blabber Mouth

Corsairfoxfouruncle

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Just now, Mike said:

OK, as long as I'm not doing things without OP's knowledge, that's fine :)

I apologize profusely as I had no intention of wasting your valuable time. I know youre very busy just running things in general and thank you for everything you do for us middle aged+ adolescents. 

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Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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8 minutes ago, Mike said:

:hmmm: I've just moved this one from the GB it was entered in to general WIP at @Corsairfoxfouruncle's request, but I've also just noticed that it's not his thread, and there's been no activity on it since April.  Am I having a stroke, or what?  Can someone throw some light on what I'm doing here please? :confused:

Hallo Mike,

Apologies for any confusion...I asked the F-15 GB mods if it were possible to move this build thread from the Japanese GB to the F15GB, as it is below the 25%rule and because I am keen to finish it within that GB. Is it possible to move it back to the F-15 GB please? Many thanks, Ralph

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Mike Constant Member

Mike

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1 hour ago, Ralph said:

Hallo Mike,

Apologies for any confusion...I asked the F-15 GB mods if it were possible to move this build thread from the Japanese GB to the F15GB, as it is below the 25%rule and because I am keen to finish it within that GB. Is it possible to move it back to the F-15 GB please? Many thanks, Ralph

😭 give me a minute ;)

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  • 1 month later...
Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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Having seriously neglected this GB (distracted by my CF104 over at the Canadian GB!) I am now finally jumping onto this. First up is the cockpit. I have been respraying this because I didn't like the kit supplied cockpit decals...some awkward masking coming up!

20220919_142343

 

I've been working on some of the smaller parts and cleaning up thd main parts to facilitate a hopefully smooth build-up to the most complicated part -the aggressor scheme!

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Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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Having seriously neglected this GB (distracted by my CF104 over at the Canadian GB!) I am now finally jumping onto this. First up is the cockpit. I have been respraying this because I didn't like the kit supplied cockpit decals...some awkward masking coming up!

20220919_142343

 

I've been working on some of the smaller parts and cleaning up the main parts to facilitate a hopefully smooth build-up to the most complicated part -the aggressor scheme!

I've greesed up the not half bad ejection seats with fine filling belts  which should facilitate dry brushing later on...

20220919_152832

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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OK...starting to come together. Cockpit almost there  and feeling pleased with this. I've attached wings and fin, and you can also see the slightly off-piste way I join up hasegawa's Eagle fuselage sides... one at a time! Doing it this way gives a perfect join, especially using Tamiya extra thin cement. I've also done the canopy internals  and have been experimenting with AK interactive fs30279 and fs30140, which when used with their own brand thinners spray brilliantly. I've tried these out on the horizontal stabilisers. One is entirely dark brown, and the other is a combination...both have had their inner grey panels masked off. More tomorrow...

20220927_202253 20220927_202359 20220927_203919 20220927_203955

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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Better get a shift on! Think I can do this in time for the deadline as have a week's hol; away for the next three days, but am basically in position to get painting....all the basic prep is done on the main airframe, and other bits and pieces (wheels, pylons, tanks etc mostly done. You can sed here the installed arrestor hook without the 'boat tail' removed on later airframes...

20221021_201204

 

Canopy masked off and base coat of Nato Black applied...

20221021_201150 20221021_203938

...and the Alq131 ECM pod sprayed in olive green and glossed. 

20221010_222914

 

I've also glossed the tailplanes ready to try out the decals. Hasegawa has helpfully put large numbers of individual stencils as large decals, but with a large amount of decal film and hence a risk of silvering. Hasegawa's decals have improved no end, so I am going to try the decals out on the tailplanes to see how they perform. If not, it'll be a case of cutting them out individually!

20221010_222745

 

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Ralph Established Member

Ralph

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Having to work hard to have a chance of finishing this in time for the 30th! Basically a whole lotta masking, painting and re-masking taking place....the Japanese paint team must have had a whole lot of time on their hands when doing this for the real thing!

Anyway  painted using AK interactive paint and glossed with Windor and Galleria glass varnish...lots of detail stuff done such as landing gear, pylons  fuel tanks etc...am aiming to get decals on tomorrow.

20221026_230042 20221027_001142

 

20221027_163500 20221027_181518 20221027_210619 20221027_222040

 

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