A Gathering of Eagles . 1/48 F-15C and F-15E in Heritage/Remembrance Liveries

[LorenSharp]

Sticking everything together  the front part is complete.

Nothing says Love like raised panel lines. 

Working on the back half, nothing has changed from when I first built this plane. Ravine like gaps on a lot of surfaces and intakes that are split with a top and bottom that make filling with anything difficult to sand down and clean up. So Opted for something different. I used some .10 card stock and made new wall veneers to cover the gaps. and being  white  easier to paint. This model also doesn't have the long intakes with the fans at the end. it just goes back about 20-30 mm and stops with a wall. so that got painted black

Attaching the front, Back and wings together, you guessed it... more gaps. not too many on the top mostly around the nose area. but the bottom..

Lots 'O gaps. Time for the masking tape and filler.

[LorenSharp]

These I'll let dry and  then sand down in prep for ding the engine area and the snazzy WWII D-Day paint job. More to come...Stay tuned.

[LorenSharp]

Short little update. Having sanded down all the filler lines I gave everything a pre-shading with black on all the panel lines.

After that I spent a good portion of the day fighting my airbrush and the humidity. Even with a evap filter on the compressor and one inline on the hose I was getting a splotch of water every few minutes on the paint job. tis is a pain if its water acrylics but with Acrylic lacquer it's a a constant paint muck-up especially inside the airbrush. I stripped  down the airbrush 2-3 times cleaning, scouring, and drying. Drained the evaps of all moisture and dried those as well. then put it all back together and 5 min later... splat. water. It didn't help that I got a set of AK 3rd Gen formula U.S . Bomber colours for another build and wanted to try them out on this. Though the bottle says" can be thinned with water all I got was a thick latex that promptly plugged up the works even more. Finally I scrounged for my Tamiya Back-up colours. and everything went on first time without an issue. I think that's been my first really big issue with AK since I started using them about a year ago. But here is the  end result 

I'll give everything a coat of clear gloss lacquer and let it dry overnight then mask off and paint INVASION Stripes!. for whatever reason the decal set didn't come with those so I'll break out the masking tape and see if I can get them on "Old School" then finish up the rear  engine area then panel line highlighting any luck,(yeah, Right) I could have both of these Eagles in their nests by the week end. So stay cool, safe and healthy til the next update.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Well thats looking dang good I really like the colors. 

[LorenSharp]

Thanks Dennis. Now I have another update. After reflection I realized the lighter olive color for the F-15C was incorrect. What I had was too brown. The FS number was pretty much SAC tan, That didn't look right either. So I searched on line for the  actual aircraft and the colour was more of a very faded Olive Drab. That colour I got. So while I was at it I also re-did the green to a more complimentary  camo green.

I let everything dry for a few days then covered with a couple of light coats o clear gloss. then masked all that off to paint the invasion stripes.(The one set of decals, not included. )

 

[LorenSharp]

On the F-15E  I masked off for the high temp metal areas of the lower and upper engine sections. For this I used AK Titanium, Alclad Gold Titanium, and a little bit of magnesium for good measure.

 

[LorenSharp]

In between all the sitting around waiting for paint to dry I crafted my ordinance for the Strike Eagle. I'm going with a common load out for an Afghanistan Ops. circa early oughts,  2 Aim-9 Sidewinders, 2 AIM-120 Sparrows, 2  GBU-12 and 4 GBU-10 guided bombs.

the GBU-10 and 12's I printed out , the Sidewinders I have in the kit and the Sparrows will come from the spares box.

It is surprising that the kit only gives you the Sidewinders. all kinds of bomb racks, just no bombs. At least now I have something to put on the racks.

[LorenSharp]

Painting done.... Check.

Ordinance done.... Check

Now the engines. the "C"'s kit engines I never really liked so I substituted for an Aries set which are really close to the set that comes  with the "E".

Adding those I gave the "E" a panel line wash top and bottom and attached the landing gear  to both along with the bang seats.

[LorenSharp]

Tomorrow I begin the process of adding the decals. The "E" won't be too hateful. The "C" on the other hand will be tricky and involved so it may be a few days before I get those posted. then there won't be much left. add the final little bits and the ordinance and these 2 will be ready for the hangar. So there we have for this round. Until next time, Sy cool, and stay safe. but don't forget to MODEL ON!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks great I thought the original colored looked good but its your build and you have to be happy with it. 

[LorenSharp]

I actually checked the colour callouts on the decal sheet. I figured it was the standard Olive drab/Dk Green /Neutral Gray WWII colours. but the FS numbers didn't look right so I started looking at actual photos of the F-15 and what I've come up with is far more accurate.

[LorenSharp]

I actually checked the colour callouts on the decal sheet. I figured it was the standard Olive Drab/Dk Green /Neutral Gray WWII colours. Looking at that, it didn't look right,  but the FS numbers didn't look right either, so I started looking at actual photos of the F-15 and what I've come up with is far more accurate.

 

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/9906179

https://www.facebook.com/Scramblemagazine/photos/pcb.3321547934538384/3321544984538679/

[LorenSharp]

Finally have gotten to the final stages of the F-15E. I did have to redo the GBUs There were many errors that required fixing but once that was done and I got them all painted up they now will pass a breif inspection.

The AIM-120's I modified from some AIM-7 Sparrows from my stash mostly around the fins. But before attaching those it would be prudent to add all the little bits.

[LorenSharp]

Now to add the decals... and there are a lot of stencils in those decals. Which took me longer that I thought it would. then Mounted the ordinance.

Not exactly thrilled that I had some silvering on come of the decals especially on the tail. I thought I had applied enough coats of gloss before getting the decals applied, but looks like not quite. Can't do anything about it now. after the decals set and dried I gave everything a couple of coats of matt varnish. Now that this is completed I can proceed onto the reason of this build that managed to get itself expanded by a factor of 2. As I make this post I have some of the  decals setting up on the F-15C and with luck I'll have that finished and posted here later on today. So definitely in the final stages. More to come shortly!

[arfa1983]

Awesome work mate! Love the nose art in particular. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks great and Congrats for making the 1st entry into the gallery. Im hoping to start mine next week as Im over-run with builds at the moment. 

[LorenSharp]

Thanks Dennis, I know what you mean. My over run quotient just got run over, backed up on then run over again for good measure.

[LorenSharp]

Now that the first part is finished, time to show how part 2 ended .After lettering everything dry really well I gave the whole lot several good coats of gloss so the decals don't silver this time. and as I thought the decals went on  a lot better but they were very thin.

After those dried I gave the whole lot a coat of Matt clear. I decided not to do any weathering on this on as its Base display/celebration paint scheme. and would have been kept in pristine condition. Although I did read it did make a couple of appearances

at a few competitions during the year it was painted like this.

[LorenSharp]

Then finally adding the last of the bits much like the other F-15, just simpler. No fancy ordinance, just Sidewinders and Sparrows, the canopy, gear doors and air brake.

 

[LorenSharp]

The Eagles can now be  gathered together.

So there you have it. a Gathering of Eagles celebrating and remembering history.

Thanks for following along on this long and winding journey. I had planned to do 2 Eagles, just not in this fashion. But no matter they came out pretty good considering the missteps along the way And I'm quite pleased with that.

Thanks to @Enzo Matrix and @Corsairfoxfouruncle for putting this little build on Now on to bigger history celebrations to complete in double quick time. So until next time(and there will always be a next time isn't there) Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, and Model On!

 

P.S. Gallery update shortly.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Thank you for joining us and building two different but very colorful schemes. 

[SoftScience]

Very classy!