Al's effort at 1/72 twin tail for Pauls Crimbo build

[onemac]

After swearing off 1/72 for life I got interested in Paul's buddy build and having wanted to build a F-15 Eagle from Lakenheath I bought the 1/48 Tamiya F-15 C. Should have read the subject content more thoroughly - especially the 1/72 bit so I purchased a Hasegawa F-15E without reading any build reviews. Mistake number two and by the time it arrived half of December was past. Still, I was confident so I plunged in with both feet.

1. The box and bits:
30_11_18_F-15E_1_72 by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

Soon, very soon I discovered why I hate 1/72.

2. I have small hands:
F-15E_Cockpit_01 by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

The next problem came when I assembled the exhaust cans. It was at this point I looked at sprue reviews and build reviews and discovered that I had not made any mistakes but the individual petals indeed did not fit. Bugger! So it seemed pertinent to order some resin cans and they were nice indeed but again cost me time.

3. Kit exhaust cans:
Exhaust_Cans by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

But I ploughed on with the mainframe and progressed quite well priming with Ultimate Grey Primer then pre-shading with MRP-171 Super Matt Black.

4. Moving on....
Preshading_01 by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

In no time I was ready for the first coat of paint and went with MRP-040 Dark Grey.

5. Looking grey....
11_01_2019_Decals_02 by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

On to the decals and...... yup, I forgot to order the Lakenheath ones in 1/72 Three days later and the Accurate Decals I ordered were breaking up and the realisation that they were not quite to scale dawned. The pic below shows the kit decals and the aftermarket ones with the 'No Step' hexagonals circled in red. Not sure they are both the correct scale but I went with the kit ones anyway.

6. Decal problems:
Decals_01 by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

7. Decalling - the uphill slog:
04_01_2019 by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

By this time I was mixing and matching but finally finished them. The stencils took forever then it was set aside for a day to dry before brushing with sol (and set aside another 24 hours) and finally Solvaset. The decalling took me five days overall but it was begining to look semi-decent. Ultimate Dark Dirt wash followed by a clear coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss and it was ready for weathering with Abteilung 502 oils. A few days drying and a final coat of Testors Dullcote ensued.

Eighteen days after the New Year celebrations the kit was finished. Not my best work but my last 1/72 ever - honest. It was fun though......

8. Finally:
F_15E_Finished_02 by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

9. The end.
F_15E_Finished by Alan MacNeish, on Flickr

Thanks for looking.

Al

[Twokidsnosleep]

Nice work. looks great