F-15 Lakenheath Hasegawa 1/48

[Colin W]

Real progress now.

Top coat applied over a pattern of black preshaded over the Halfords Grey. 3 colours (shades?) of grey used to break up the otherwise monotonous grey .

 

 

Very similar on the bottom.

 

 

Looks like the nose gear door should be closed so I'll have to add that next in case it won't fit!

[Colin W]

Wheels added and the nose undercarriage door closed. As expected this was a terrible fit requiring sanding and Mr Surfacer 500 to fill the gap.

The bomb shackles are also fitted for the weapons. These will be from the Hasegawa Weapons Set D which has been in the stash since at least 2005 when I used some of the GBU16s on a Tornado GR4. Looking at references for the position of the shackles I reaised I must change the aerial under the nose to a slanted one. Normally I would have expected to have broken it off by now. It seems I will have to deliberately remove it!

 

 

[Colin W]

Some progress on the plane but Ive been working on the weapons for the last week.

 

4x GBU -12 and 2x GBU-10 with 4 AIM-9X and 2x AMMRAM.

Or from a modellers perspective; 82 tiny little decals

 

 

An interesting comparison between the LANTRIN and Nav pods. The kit one's are on the left and the Weapons set one's are on the right. No decals in the kit but 44 decals in the  weapons set.

 

 

[Colin W]

Most of the airframe now completed.

Stores load all done and decalled so just a few more decals to apply and the stores can be added.

I managed to break the nose wheel off of course Grrr

 

 

[Wings unlevel]

Looks terrific with the decals on. Great to see Woody make an appearance in the GB! 

[Colin W]

More visible progress this week with the bombs now installed.

 

Interior, Canopy and engines to do next.

 

 

I thought we were finished on the 16th but it seems we still have 2 much needed weeks!

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

6 hours ago, Colin W said:

More visible progress this week with the bombs now installed.

 

Interior, Canopy and engines to do next.

 

 

I thought we were finished on the 16th but it seems we still have 2 much needed weeks!

 

Yes we have until the 30th. 

[Colin W]

Well I needed the extension but finally finished my first F-15 before the deadline.

Weapons from Hasegawa weapons sets C and D

Decals from Caracal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the comments and notes along the way, especially regarding the slipper tank pylons.

Thanks to @Corsairfoxfouruncle for the origianl idea and for Moderating.

 

 

[arfa1983]

Looks great! I just realised looking at this I have forgotten to add the landing lights !

[Colin W]

57 minutes ago, arfa1983 said:

I just realised looking at this I have forgotten to add the landing lights !

I only remembered when I looked at it through the viewfinder.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Well done sir happy to see this one in the gallery just now. 

[Wings unlevel]

You’ve definitely hit the bullseye here, Colin. Very nicely done.

[Graham T]

Nice result.  I built the original issue of this kit back "whenever".  In those days it was simply their "D" kit with the addition of conformal tanks. weapons etc. & no concession to the differences between the "D" & "E" cockpits.  Do later editions of the kit correct this?

[Colin W]

On 10/25/2022 at 11:57 AM, Graham T said:

Do later editions of the kit correct this?

I suspected this was a D kit upgraded in a hurry based on the prototype E so thanks for the conformation..

In the kit Hasegawa provide new burner cans, wheels and instrument panels for the E. The old D versions are still on the sprues. The old burner cans have the "turkey Feathers" of the old type.

Hasegawa dont provide the correct fuselage pylons (see posts above) which is the biggest ommision. Also missing are the 2 large scoops either side on the fuselage under the wings. The aerial fit is also for the D requiring a few mods to get an E but presumably these have changed over the years anyway.

[Boman]

Hasegawa's F-15E is an update of their F-15D kit, however Sprue E, which contain the rear cockpit parts also contain the F-15E specific parts. Hence a little difficult to advise which came first in this case. 

 

F-15D: 

173178-93-instructions.pdf (scalemates.com)

 

F-15E

533636-34-instructions.pdf (scalemates.com)

 

Hasegawas F-15E will however always be a hybrid E as it is based on their C/D kits. They have however updated and added parts to bring it fairly close to the real F-15E, however Revell's F-15E is regarded as better by many. 
Personally I like Hasegawas F-15 series good kits!