Tamiya 1/48 F15C Eagle

[mSetOne]

Got a start on this today, first build in over 10 ten years. Really looking forward to getting back into modeling and stoked to have something on the bench. Looks like a good first build to get back into things, nothing to tricky. Have to admit details on the cockpit was bit of a let down, its all decals should be fun build tho been wanting to build a F15 since I was a kid

[UKguyInUSA]

Sweet! I look forward to watching this build come together.

[mSetOne]

First up, the 6 P's- Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance lol

Studied the plans and changed the paint codes to Mr Hobby so I don't have to keep looking back at conversion charts,


Next a bit of research and collecting of reference photo's. At this stage as I'm getting the cockpit together so I start to gather cockpit pic's but grab any other good photos while I'm at it. I get a folder sorted on my PC and load it up with pics with lots of details to give me a good feel on what everything looks like.

[mSetOne]

So I have to wait probably another 2 days till all my paint gets here, it kind of limits what I can do. So I'm happy with getting the parts for the cockpit together, cleaning them up and gluing what I can. Done a dry fit on this and must say everything is fitting very nice.



Got a start on the wings and cut out the spaces for the hardpoint to attach the ALQ-119 ECM Pod




Few fit issue's on the under side of the wings where, you can see the increasing width of the panel line on the wing

[Goose]

Hello,

Nice beginning, I'm surprised you had to cut out the space it's already cut on mine.

See ya

Goose

[Willem]

Looks a really nice kit. Good luck on your first build in 10 years.

[mSetOne]

Got the inner cockpit together...had a absolute nightmare with it. Didn't like the way the first paint job of the avionics turned out so cleaned it up and did again. As for the actual cockpit of this kit, its rubbish.... zero detail and the the decals of the instruments are crap. The decal for the main front panel doesn't fit and it was all one piece, where it should have been at least 3. I know now why I can't find any close ups of this kit on the net lol. All good tho this F-15 is purely to get me back into modelling and learn new things. Love using the a airbrush for the first time,getting use to doing light even coats and getting the thinning just right.



Got the three fuel tanks glued, sanded and primed. Well stoked got 2 out 3 seamless the other one ya won't even see. Really enjoyed getting things seamless and sanded up properly.



Last thing tonight was getting the intakes together in preparation for the fuselage tomorrow. These still need a tidy up.

[cib2265]

Good work Jimmy - will be watching with interest!

[mSetOne]

So really productive weekend for the F-15 but not much else lol. Learning so much from this build which is what I set out to do. Was really good to meet all the crew on the google hangouts.

Started getting the fuselage together, not really liking the metallic blue in the call out but I'm building this out of the box and really no one is going to see it. I also went through the motions of building and paint things just for the experience like the radar and such



I actually forgot to take a lot of photos lol, the fuselage went together really well apart form one of the wings having a gap. I managed to fill it with PVA glue as I don't have any filler, not the best solution but it should be ok once painted and its on the underside.

While waiting for the glue on the fuselage to dry I moved on to landing gear and exhausts. Didn't like the colour call out of a mix of Gun Metal & Red so just used Mr Hobby Brunt Iron. Landing gear fitted really good, just have few bits to add to them



Again no photos of painting the ejector seat, pilot or masking up the canopy. Wow masking takes some time to get right lol. I got all this in so I could crack on with painting this bird.

Primed and pre shadow.... in hind sight I think maybe I should have done the shading a little thicker and I went for a very dark grey about 70% black 30% white. I felt the base colour was to light for pitch black.



So base coat 90% done, have few spots to touch up tomorrow. Pretty happy with it, first time using a the AB on such a large scale. I defiantly have to make a proper sized spray booth and fashion some sort of carousel for the aircraft to sit on. Also I didn't realize how much paint you can chew through on a bird this size. I was thinning 50/50 but even so I'll be using a whole pot to get this finished. Maybe I could have gone in a bit closer for thicker coverage but preferred to keep the coats light and detail intact.






So yea that wraps up my weekends work, probably won't do much on this during the week as it's been stealing my time away from my studies lol. It is pay week tho so I have to get some clear coat of some sort and make some washes. Thanks for checking the build thread.

[Paul]

Great work jimmy, looking good

[Navcom]

Nice work so far! I've been super impressed with Tamiya models. I'm wondering if this is an older mold set? I was considering this kit but am wondering if another version might be in order after your cockpit description.

Good luck! Welcome back!

[UKguyInUSA]

Wow, she came together fast! Looking great so far

[EagleOnyx]

What are the decals that came with that kit?