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RSAF F-15C Desert Storm.


Jabba

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    For this GB I will be using the G.W.H F-15C kit to make an aircraft from the Royal Saudi Air Force operating during Op Desert Storm. I am using this kit as it is closer to a Saudi one than the Hasegawa kit, although now looking through the kit it does have some things in it that are ony for a Japanese aircraft. But I do think that these parts can be modfied somehow. I was hoping to make the aircraft that shot down the 2 Mirage F1s, but unfortunately I am short on the decal front. I have been trying to find a sheet by Bright Spark decals which would give me the tail numbers in the correct colour, but to no avail so far. So I will be using the Carpena and Superscale sheets below along with the stencils from either a Academy or Hasegawa kit that I have spare, as the stencils that come with the kit sheet are all in Japanese.

 

The kit box.

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The mountain of plastic in the box.

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Instruction sheet.

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Superscale and Carpena decal sheets.

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Hasegawa and Academy decal sheets.

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A small update on my progress. I built up the cockpit and then decided to paint it. It may have been a better idea to paint the parts first, but hey ho. I have applied the decals to the side and front instrument panels as I thought that they looked a little better then me painting them. The intake comes as one part which to be honest is a pain to paint as I normally use a rattle to do white. I still have the fan blades to do, even though I think that they are possibly too far forward being ahead of the main U/C. Finally I have fitted the lower wings to the lower fuselage part, remembering to drill out the holes for the pylons.

 

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I have now got the front and rear halves of the kit together. The front half went together very easily with recesses in the Fwd Fuselage for the cockpit to sit in so that everything lined up well. I have only fitted the fitting frame for the radar so as to add strength to the construction. For the rear half it took a bit of going around and around making sure that the top wing fitted snuggly with the bottom half. I had apply a bit of pressure with some pegs at the rear ends so that they sat well. In the kit instruction it shows 2 nose cones, but only 1 is actually supplied with the other one being cut off. It seems to have some straps on it which I think are only fitted to Japanese aircraft, so these will have to be removed. When I am not sure yet, but they will be removed. I have also done a trial fit with the front and rear parts and they appear to fit well, but that is until glue is introduced.

 

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The front and back parts are now joined together. It was certainly a solid positive fit, although there are a few gaps here and there. I have also fitted the pointy bits at the end of the fuselage. The RSAF got some F-15Cs from USAF stock during the war and had an ECM fit on one of these ends along with a larger bullet fitting on one of the fins. The aircraft that I am building is one of the original deliveries so does not have those features.

 

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Thank you kindly.

 

A few more parts added and some sanding down carried out. I really struggled with the fitment of the air intakes. Whether I glued some of the longer location pegs on the upper/lower fuselage joint when I should of not I do not know. I had to gently force the intakes in and the nsuper glue the bottom area so that it held and then I was able to glue the top part. I think that it is a user problem rather than the kit. I do have an E version of this kit and will not glue the location pegs mentioned and see what happens. Anyhow nothing that a bit of filler cannot solve. I normally do not fit any glass parts until I have finished the main build, but as the windscreen part contains an extention for the fitment of the radar I will have to fit this next.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

All parts added before painting starts. I hope that I do not break one of the rod things on top of the fins. Before I do start painting I will spray the U/C bays white (after masking the surrounding areas) and paint the canopy frame black. I have also removed some lumps on the top and bottom of the fwd fuselage just behind the radome. I think these are a very modern thing as I cannot find any Gulf F-15s with them fitted. The instructions also say to fit some sort of aerial (I think) below the intakes, as again I cannot find any fitted to Gulf aircraft.

 

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On 15/08/2022 at 01:24, Jabba said:

The intake comes as one part which to be honest is a pain to paint

I’ve just started my GWH F-15E and for such a beautifully engineered and detailed kit, this was a real head scratcher. I’m still scratching my head thinking of the best way to paint!

 

Shame the intakes gave you some grief, but overall this is looking really good. Love your subject choice.

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Lt Ghost Grey painted. I have also painted the parts that require this colour on the sprues. Hopefully start on the Dk Ghost Grey tonight. I do hope that there is some difference between the colours as the last time I did this scheme a few years ago there was very little difference between the 2 Greys.

 

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3 hours ago, Jabba said:

Lt Ghost Grey painted. I have also painted the parts that require this colour on the sprues. Hopefully start on the Dk Ghost Grey tonight. I do hope that there is some difference between the colours as the last time I did this scheme a few years ago there was very little difference between the 2 Greys.

 

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Could you add a few drops of a darker grey, blue, or black to change the tone of the paint to make it more visible ? 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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Decalling started. I used the Carpena sheet for most the only ones coming from the Micro Scale sheet being the Royal Saudi writing on the nose as this looked a lot better than the Carpena version, although the green colour looks a little on the pale side compared to the rest. The roundels on the Carpena sheet also looked in better proportion than the Microscale ones, which looked a little on the big side especially when compared to their surroundings. I also got the Eagle on the tail looking in the right direction (Fwd) more by luck than reading the instructions. I shalll hopefully start on the stencils tonight and they should not be as bad as the Phantom ones that I have applied recently.

 

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  • 1 month later...

After a 3 week hiatus due to a holiday in a land down under I have got back to doing some work on this one. I spent most of last week applying the stencils whcih took a bit longer than I would have wshed for due to some tiredness. I used the stencils from an old Hasegawa kit as the ones that I was going to use were of the wrong style for this aircrafts time period. Anyhow they are not all fitted apart for some that go on the fuel tanks. As this model is going to be a replacement for another F-15C on my Gulf War collection, I have borrowed the weapons from the older kit mainly as a time saving thing, but also as they are the same weapons why waste them. I will do a bit of repainting of the Sparrow fins and the Sidewinder fronts as when I first painted them they were Black rather than Gunmetal. I have sprayed the U/C parts and made a slight error by first spraying them Gloos White (appliance white) rather than with White plastic primer. Hopefully no damage done, just pride dented a bit. Since these photos have been taken I have applied a matt varnish.

 

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It has been a bit of a slow week with this one, but  have got some parts fitted. The model is now standing on all 3 legs. I have fitted all the weapon pylons and also the crutches for the Sparrow missiles on the fuselage. One thing that I should have done earleir in the build is to have fitted the closed doors on the Main U/C as it took a while to get these to fit and also required some filling. Not really that good when you have painted and varnished this area. I really do need to get the engines painted as they seem to have eluded any work on them for a few weeks now.

 

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On 30/10/2022 at 01:36, Wings unlevel said:

Looking good Jabba, nice detailing with the Sparrow shackles. Oh, and I hope you enjoyed your travels to these parts!

Thank you, they come with the kit, just require lining up.

 

Sparrows now fitted, hopefully the Sidewinders ove the next day or so along with the fuel tanks and other parts.

 

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