Global Scale Modeller

Hello! I'm now working on a couple of kits for a friend of mine that is retiring after 35 years of service in the Air Force. He has worked on three aircraft starting with the F-106A, then the F-16 and finally the F-15A thru D. I'm building one representative of each in 1/72 scale for the retirement gift; only one F-15 though. Ok, the kit is Hasegawas' 1/72 scale F-15C. It's an old mold and there was flash everywhere on the parts. It is nicely detailed and did go together quite well however.



Started with the Cockpit


Seat and instrument panel


All together


These engines are HORRIBLE! What a nightmare! These are easily the worst part of the kit. Atrocious design.


Fiddly nozzle actuator rods installed on the left.


I had to chamfer the tips of the actuators to fit under the engine ring


I needed to shim the rear of the cockpit and sand down the top side in order to get the easiest fit.


It doesn't look like it but I felt this side was the one that would be easiest to sand and adjust. You can see by the speed brake where I had to sand it down.




This is why I had to shim the back side. This joint looked more difficult to get into to sand and stuff than the top side. If I matched the bottom here it created a large step on the top. I guess the angles weren't correct.


I needed a bit of plastic card on this intake. Not too bad really.


A small amount of filler down here

My second attempt at black basing instead of pre-shading. I think I like the results of pre-shading more.




Black basing begun. This is a pain in the rear.


Top side, first color. Model Master Enamel FS36251, Navy Aggressor Gray


Close up. You're supposed to mottle the paint on in widening patterns. I ended up obliterating the black anyway. I won't be doing it this way again.


Second Gray down, Model Master Enamel FS36176 F-15 Dark Gray


Underside


In-flight ops check

Trying something new. This is Tamiya Clear Red. I am trying to recreate heat stress in the panels.




Alclad II Hot Metal Blue installed. I wasn't satisfied. I didn't get it realistic enough




So I lightly went over all that with some Model Master burnt metal metalizer and then buffed it out.


I like it better this way.


Damn overspray...



And that's where she's at now. I'm trying to accelerate this build because I normally take too long. I'm at 4 days now. So it's going well. Alclad II Gloss Klear Kote ALC 310 is wonderful stuff by the way!

I can't seem to find 1/72 scale decals for the 125th Fighter Wing though. I have 1/48 scale, does anyone have any tips as to how I can copy and scale those down for making my own?

Marvellous job!!
love this

see u

Goose

Thanks Goose! Here is a kinda funny thing about this build - The friend I'm building this for is ALSO known as Goose!

The mosr famous nickname coming from the most famous airplanes movie ever done

Indeed!

I bought some decal paper and I am now working on creating and scaling decals for the 1/72 scale. All the fonts and artwork we use was very easy to figure out and scale to size. The hardest part so far has been trying to figure out how to use Photoshop! I created the pilot logo and put my friends name on it. It's only 2mm tall and he won't be able to read it. lol, it's a lot of work but I'm getting the hang of it!

Looks good . Keep it up

I made my first Decal sheet! It turned out ok.

Hey, I have an update on the F-15. My decals worked pretty well. they did end up pretty thick because I had issues with them falling apart when I didn't have a good solid layer of clear over them before applying. I applied the tail flash band over a white painted stripe and that caused the blue portion of the decal to be much lighter than the lightning bolt. They are supposed to be the same exact color. Well, I know for next time I guess.

She's looking gorgeous so far mate....I really like it a lot!

Love the paint job, she looks really nice!!

Thank you! I still need to hang the pylons and missles! I'll never finish it! lol