1/72 GWH F-15C Eagle - 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade 2023

[JTninja]

Enjoy this what-if.

 

For a while now, the United States Air Force has been slowly phasing out their well loved F-15C/D's, introducing the Lockheed F-35A into its inventory, as well as the new Boeing F-15EX, for National Guard units. However, these airframes have plenty of life left, so they are mothballed in the Arizona desert at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance Regeneration Group. Here, the well preserved examples will linger for a time, while the rest will be used to pull parts of to maintain the rest of the fleet. 

 

Earlier this year, Russia illegally invaded its neighbor Ukraine, to the outrage of the majority of the world. The Ukrainian Air force, which has been in the process of modernization, was at a significant disadvantage. On paper, they were no match for the vastly superior opposition. Or so we thought. Surprisingly, after more than 5 months, Russia has yet to achieve air superiority, with daily sorties from the Ukrainian Air Force from the various fighters and bombers. Unfortunately, with a much smaller inventory, aircraft losses have been hard to replace, and Ukraine has long been calling for new aircraft to replace their aging fleet. Many countries have offered arms and supplies to help Ukraine defend their homeland, but they have yet to receive aircraft. Instead, countries have supplied replacement parts for their current fleet, while trying to negotiate for similar aircraft to be transferred.

 

However, many countries have agreed, at some point Ukraine will need to upgrade to more modern aircraft, a process that will take a long time. Pilots will need to learn new equipment, ground crews to learn how to maintain them. The United States government is currently in the process of working on legislation that will provide $100 million to train Ukrainian pilots on US aircraft. Notably, Columbus Air Force Base, part of the Air Education and Training Command, is ready to start training Ukrainian pilots, estimating a 3 month period for basic knowledge on F-15 and F-16 fighters. Additionally, the 144th Fighter Wing of California Air National Guard has worked closely with Ukrainian pilots during Exercises Safe Skies (2011) and Clear Sky (2018).

 

 

Now, lets look at a what if scenario.

 

The surplus F-15C/D's of the USAF make for excellent candidates to give to Ukraine, and could start making their appearance by mid 2023. This build will depict an F-15C operated by the 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade, which currently operation Mig-29s. The kit used will be the 1/72 Great Wall Hobby F-15C, which arrived today.

 

 

 

While waiting for the kit, I spend last Sunday painting a discarded 1/144 Academy F-15, which gave me the opportunity to test the paints and camo, which I found to fit the plane quite nicely.

 

 

After washing/cleaning the parts, I'll start preparing the cockpit for assembly. 

 

In the mean time, if you'd like to learn more about the 144th's relationship with Ukraine, here is an excellent article - https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44965/u-s-f-15-pilot-on-what-it-is-like-fighting-against-ukraines-fighter-pilots

 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by JTninja
Title correction

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome along sir. 
 

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 

[JTninja]

Slow start, mainly checking fitment of fuselage parts, looking for any trouble spots. Lots of great detail throughout, pretty impressed.

 

 

 

Instructions called for a metallic green-blue-grey for the cockpit. I used some spare 5-H Haze Grey from my USN builds, and it seems to do the job. Now the decals are going down.

 

 

Hope to get the cockpit finished this weekend, and continue with the main assembly. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looking good I do like the detail on these kits but they are way out of my $ range. 

[JTninja]

Small update. Cockpit is starting to wrap up

 

 

 

 

And my decals arrived from Kyiv, alongside a few candies and a very cool cartoon, depicting the adventure my package went on. 😍

 

 

[Lightningboy2000]

Oh yes! I think I'm going to like this! 

Still in the stages of deciding what to do with one of my Academy or GWH F-15E's but glad you thought of it first! 😉 After my "if only" digital Tornado I think my fellow club members would think I'd completely lost the plot if an F-15 appeared on the club table competition night in digital dress. Mine only took four weeks to do. Just saying! 🤪 

Look forward to seeing this done!

 

Martin 

[JTninja]

This build is still going, though a bit slowly. Over the past few weeks, the nose as been assembled, attached to the fuselage, and the wings attached. I've started painting the engine exhaust, though im not happy with out the white streaks have turned out, might need a redo. The canopy, like many kits, came with a seam right down the middle. I've been putting off this correction for a bit now, as I've never removed one before, but with a few excellent online guides, thats something I started tonight and hope to finish soon with good results. Once the cockpit is enclosed and masked, I can finish filling in seams with sanding, and start prepping for paint.

 

 

 

[Wings unlevel]

On 19/09/2022 at 17:29, JTninja said:

I've been putting off this correction for a bit now, as I've never removed one before, but with a few excellent online guides, thats something I started tonight and hope to finish soon with good results.

Good luck! I’ve just done my GWH F-15E canopy. YouTube, a brand new hobby blade for gentle scrapping and the Tamiya polishing compounds and the seams were as good as gone! (And … breathe out… )

[Johnson]

Nice project!

 

The kit looks very good but surprising that they put a seam along the canopy. Best of luck for getting rid of it, the new micromesh polishing clothes are great and should do the job.

[JTninja]

It's slow going, but still moving forward. I got the lines out of the canopies, though I may have been too heavy with the 800 grit before moving to finer ones, so in certain light there's a bit of haze. 

 

Unfortunately, I've lost the HUD piece that goes in the cockpit. After spending a few days rechecking everywhere, I decided to glue in an F/A-18 one. Most wont notice.

 

 

 

Front canopy glued in place, though the rear edges didn't stay down after gluing. Next is to glue down the rear canopy and plug any holes, so I can start laying some primer to check the puttied seams. 

 

 

[Johnson]

3 hours ago, JTninja said:

though the rear edges didn't stay down after gluing

 

I use PVA to glue canopies on, no chance of damage to the plastic, any excess can be wiped away with water. Dries clear and good for gap filling. A little PVA, applied with a fine brush, would fill those gaps well.

 

Interesting to see your build compared with the 1/72 Hasegawa F-15C I'm doing at the moment.

 

Cockpit and avionics bay look very good, nicely done. I may have to get the GWH kit (even if there is zero chance of me ever building it).

[JTninja]

Got the cockpit sealed up last weekend, and removed the seam from the canopy. Canopy masks fit great. Tamiya primer was laid down, showing some minor errors. A few were fixed, others left as is due to time running out. Yesterday I then laid down some black primer, though my airbrush was really struggling. Last of the black primer should be done today. Then hopefully over the next few days I can get camo started.

 

 

 

 

[Wings unlevel]

Looksing forward to what comes next!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Smooth paint look's good. 

[JTninja]

Inside 2 weeks now, time to push. 

 

Black Primer as the base for the camo

 

 

Painting the shiny exhaust area. Clear coat goes on tomorrow, then I can start the camo. 

 

 

As these pieces are still separate, started the camo by working on the tail and elevators. The darkest color, European Grey I (Hataka Acrylics), appears light in color when wet, but dries darker.

 

 

DNModels masks for Mig-29 is used. The masks are transparent with a smoke tint, which is a little tricky to align over dark paint. The mask cover nicely as long as the surface is smooth, but if there's raised points, it struggles greatly and does not conform well. 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 hours ago, JTninja said:

but if there's raised points, it struggles greatly and does not conform well

I can see how that would be. 

[JTninja]

The silver exhaust area will need a bit of touch up, but hoping I can start covering it up tomorrow.

 

 

Continued laying the camo down on the small parts. As im adapting the masks to fit the F-15, I have to make some modifications to make it look appropriate. Here I use Tamiya tape to both extend the camo, hold down the masks, and close any gapes between masks.

 

 

 

And here we go, all 4 colors done, with little to no touch ups required. The Agate Grey/Light Gull Grey (should be the lightest color) I think its a little too dark compared to photos, but it'll have to work. 

 

 

Its going to be a long weekend lol

[JTninja]

Test fit of the tails

[Wings unlevel]

That is already looking incredible!

[Johnson]

3 hours ago, JTninja said:

Test fit of the tails

 

They look great!

[JTninja]

A comparison between the F-15C and the Mig-29 the masks are designed for. You can really get a sense of the size difference, and why I have to take a few liberties to adapt the pattern to fix the Eagle. Each spray session requires about 2-3 hours of masking before the next color gets sprayed. 

 

 

 

 

 

The past few days my Iwata Neo has been really struggling, leading to quite a few mistakes and splatters on the aircraft. Todays coating of Silver Grey includes to the topside camo pattern, as well as the complete underside, and it did not go well. I broke out a new Paasche H and managed to salvage a decent top coat, though its still far from perfect. Now to start the next batch of masking 🙃

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Sorry to hear about the Neo, Im on my 2nd one myself. They will go through anything for a good long while, then they wont. Its cheaper to replace than fix. I tried it twice on my first Neo but in the end replaced it.  

[JTninja]

Main top color is on, although possibly too thick. Next up is the nose cone, which gets painted Mouse Grey

[JTninja]

Majority of masks are off. Lots of mistakes, with lots of corrections needed, but I'm overall happy with how its turned out so far. Hoping tonight to start painting the landing gear and wheel wells. Should start touch ups to the camo tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Its looking great, I hope it is a pre-cursor to real life. Id very much like to see the Ukrainians get these or other modern types.