In 180 seconds to Angels 45 at Mach 1.45

[Wings unlevel]

On 10/11/2022 at 06:17, Sam said:

should be enough foil

Should last you 2-3 builds. 😅

[Sam]

Finally built a HUD which can call itself a HUD. 

 

Coated the glareshield in matte black. 
Then painted the lens with green. After that, applied that shiny foil over the lens with PVA glue. Then installed the HUD frame (PE). 
 

 

I then masked the lens and sprayed the whole thing in matte black, then with satin varnish. While I let the thing cure, I glued the shiny foil with clear curing glue onto the kit film which was provided as HUD. 

 

 

 

Cut the pieces carefully into shape, using a supersharp small scissors. 
 

 

In the end glued the tiny glasses into the frame with PVA glued which I applied using a tiny brush. 
 

Done:

 

 

Yippyyyyy!

 

Sam

Edited November 13, 2022 by Sam

[Sam]

Ready for priming!

 

 

[Sam]

First thin coat is on. 
It is 50% thinner and 50% black primer. Both vallejo. So far only very few spots which need some work discovered. 
 

 

I will let it cure overnight before gently fixing the weak spots. Then I will rub the surface down with a tissue paper and after that spray a second layer, which I plan to be made of 30% thinner and 70% primer. 
 

Sam

Edited November 19, 2022 by Sam

[Dansk]

I love the HUD Sam 👍

[Sam]

And there you go, I screwed that one up:

 

 

Mitigation: scratch off some of the higher edge. Putty. And sand. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

6 hours ago, Sam said:

And there you go, I screwed that one up:

 

 

Mitigation: scratch off some of the higher edge. Putty. And sand. 

To be honest I never would've seen that had it not been pointed out. 

[Sam]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

To be honest I never would've seen that had it not been pointed out. 

It‘s horrible!  And in addition to that the vertical line along the jet intake needs to be filled as well with dropped intakes. When I get home tomorrow I shall tackle that, got my battle plan ready. 😎

Here is how it should look like:

 

As the intake moves down, the line obviously also pivots around. Also note the color difference of the exposed part. 

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by Sam
Typo

[Wings unlevel]

It’s an awkward seam that one (it was the same on my GWH 1/72 build), as it’s not a panel line on the aircraft itself. Good luck!

[Sam]

Ok, here‘s what I did to the ugly seam:

 

Mask and putty:

 

 

I let it cure OVERNIGHT. Then carefully sanded. What a flimsy job, with all the antennas already installed on the bird. Managed to not break anything. 
 

Now it looks more like an Eagle with dropped engine intakes:

 

 

So, that‘s sorted out. 
 

Next up are the elevators, which in the F-15C kit are the ones for the F-15E, but that‘s easy to fix. 
 

Sam

[Sam]

About the elevators:

 

F-15C, completely smooth:

 

F-15E, with extra „ribs“:

 

 

Sanding the kit parts down, they are too thick anyway:

 

 

Sam

Edited November 24, 2022 by Sam

[Sam]

The first couple of thin layers of FS36251 were sprayed. Vallejo, 1/3 thinner with 2/3 paint. 
 

 

 

It‘s starting to look like a grey Eagle 🌞

Edited November 25, 2022 by Sam

[Sam]

And everything is back to grey.

Since I am building a jet of the ANG I decided to not include tonal variety in the paint. Those jets are in tiptop shape and if you walk up to their flightline the machines look all like mint from the assembly line. 
 

 

…. waiting for the grey to cure before the blutac worms come out and I can spray the darker tone onto it. Finally, the  metal parts in the rear engine area will be done once its all under a hardened layer of gloss coat. 
 

Sam

Edited November 26, 2022 by Sam

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Yes ANG chiefs would be very upset of their jet was dirty in anyway. They take massive pride in their birds and are quite dedicated to them. 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Wings unlevel]

Good progress Sam. 👍

[Sam]

Some dark grey has been blown through the airbrush:

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Taking shape now soon we can see the decals. 

[Sam]

The inside of the dropped intakes is in lighter grey:

 

Here‘s the original thing:

 

- and here is the landing gear. It‘s still too shiny, the rubber part will be finished with satin varnish:

 

 

 

 

In order to properly attach the „umbilical cord“ of the 9X to the launcher rail (klear tip will be added to the missile after weathering):

 

 

Sam

Edited December 4, 2022 by Sam

[Sam]

Waiting for the first layer of clear coat to dry. 

 

I really have set my goal to improve my builds, and being patient is a key part there. Waiting can be annoying, especially if there is nothing else to do on the kit in the meantime. 
 

As pastime, I am resorting to planning and constructing the stand, which this time will be a bit different from my usual ones. I am portraying the Eagle at touchdown (airbrake open), so I will build a piece of runway. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

1 hour ago, Sam said:

Waiting can be annoying, especially if there is nothing else to do on the kit in the meantime. 

Sadly this is why I have anywhere from 5-15 builds on the go at any given moment. I need to stay busy or I get antsy. 

[Sam]

2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Sadly this is why I have anywhere from 5-15 builds on the go at any given moment. I need to stay busy or I get antsy. 

I can understand that now. I enjoy the full immersion in just one build at a time very much. But I must admit I get itchy fingers too. 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Sam

[Wings unlevel]

Your patience is paying off Sam, for sure!

[Sam]

8 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

Your patience is paying off Sam, for sure!

I really hope so, when I get home from work we shall see if the surface is ready for decals or if I need another layer of gloss coat. However, I want to avoid building up a too thick layer of varnish. 

[Sam]

The gloss coat had 48 hours to cure. 

I went on masking the rear end in preparation for spraying the metal part. Once completed, I prepped the surface with a coat of gloss black vallejo metal primer. The instructions indicate that one could continue with the metalizing color after 4 hours. However, if I don’t work I rather sleep at night. So it got 9 hours to cure (and me too, yippiii). Next thing this morning was the metalizing: vallejo metal color „dark aluminium“. I will let that cure for about 8 hours before I can mask some of its areas off. I plan to spray another tone of metal to create some variety and represent the possible difference of metal material. 
 

In the meantime, I am tackling the runway stand. 
 

 

 

Sam

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Thats looking good.