airsuperiority
Captain
After months of effort, bad luck, spent paint, and terrible messes, I'm proud to present the Revell 1/48 F-15E Strike Eagle.
Background: Of all the fighter jets out there, my favorite is the F-15 Eagle. However since the F-15E came out and is much more advanced in every way, I decided to make this my signature work. For that reason, I had done a lot of preparation for this project, including doing research by looking at photos, buying aftermarket parts, and getting the appropriate color paints because the instructions are sometimes wrong. Other things I prepared for this project included: airbrush, Future floor polish, and super super glue.
fuckups: Despite all the preparation, I still fucked up on this project several times and gotten so tired I put it aside for a while and returned numerous times before finally getting it completed. Sometimes there would be other schedule clashes, and sometimes just simply lack of skills or other various mistakes including blotching up the paint jobs, such as the first few photos with those mess-ups. In fact, I even messed up the final flat coat before I finish, but sometimes that's how you learn. This includes jars of wasted and spilled paint, thinners, masking tapes, etc.
I also did a bit of research from forums and websites and learned how to modify the plane so it comes out as accurate and detailed as possible. For that matter, I had made the following changes or added the following components to this project:
- added shimmy dampener to the nose landing gear
- added 2 structural additions to the nose landing gear
- added a wire to the nose landing gear
- filled the nose cone panel line
- filled all the panel lines on the CFT(conformal fuel tank)
- installed AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Targeting Pod in replacement of the standard AN/AAQ-14 LANTIRN targeting pod
- added the window and painted it for the AN/AAQ-13 LANTIRN navigation pod
- added countermeasures (chaff and flares) to the buckets. The flares are yellow and are installed behind the navigation pod and the chaff installed behind the targeting pod.
- installed the JFS (Jet Fuel Starter). This is the hole behind the Centerline pylon.
- installed the piece for the tailhook
- installed the GPS dot next to the airbrake
- installed the antenna for under the nose and the ECM to the rear port(right-side) sensor
- replaced the old rail launchers with LAU-128 for wing pylons.
- painted the rear of the pylons
- repositioned the front BRU-47 bomb racks on LAU-107 to secondary position for air-to-air configuration
- decals for the BRU-47 bomb racks, pylons, LAU-128 launchers
- installed AIM-9X for most up-to-date air-to-air capabilities
- installed DSU-33 proximity sensors to the GBU-31 and GBU-38 JDAM.
- photo-etched for cockpit instrument panels and canopy rear mirrors
- polished and shine the canopy
- realistic colors for the lights, lock-on lights on canopy frame, BRU-47 clamps, and CFT edges
- installed the auxiliary intake scoops on the CFT for the upgraded F100-PW-229 engines
- Seymour John (SJ) decals as currently only the SJ birds would have all of the upgrades listed above
While the normal payload configurations for the F-15E have never seen a mixture of 8 AAMs (air-to-air missiles) + other ground attack munitions, I modified this plane because I like this plane to retain its air-to-air lethality. After all I collect primarily the contemporary most lethal air-to-air fighters, and having only 4 AAMs (2 Sidewinders 2 AMRAAMs) like the "realistic" payload is simply not threatening enough. For the rest of the ground attack munitions, I installed 3x GBU-31 and 6x GBU-38 JDAMs to give it the most advanced lethality as well.
Background: Of all the fighter jets out there, my favorite is the F-15 Eagle. However since the F-15E came out and is much more advanced in every way, I decided to make this my signature work. For that reason, I had done a lot of preparation for this project, including doing research by looking at photos, buying aftermarket parts, and getting the appropriate color paints because the instructions are sometimes wrong. Other things I prepared for this project included: airbrush, Future floor polish, and super super glue.
fuckups: Despite all the preparation, I still fucked up on this project several times and gotten so tired I put it aside for a while and returned numerous times before finally getting it completed. Sometimes there would be other schedule clashes, and sometimes just simply lack of skills or other various mistakes including blotching up the paint jobs, such as the first few photos with those mess-ups. In fact, I even messed up the final flat coat before I finish, but sometimes that's how you learn. This includes jars of wasted and spilled paint, thinners, masking tapes, etc.
I also did a bit of research from forums and websites and learned how to modify the plane so it comes out as accurate and detailed as possible. For that matter, I had made the following changes or added the following components to this project:
- added shimmy dampener to the nose landing gear
- added 2 structural additions to the nose landing gear
- added a wire to the nose landing gear
- filled the nose cone panel line
- filled all the panel lines on the CFT(conformal fuel tank)
- installed AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Targeting Pod in replacement of the standard AN/AAQ-14 LANTIRN targeting pod
- added the window and painted it for the AN/AAQ-13 LANTIRN navigation pod
- added countermeasures (chaff and flares) to the buckets. The flares are yellow and are installed behind the navigation pod and the chaff installed behind the targeting pod.
- installed the JFS (Jet Fuel Starter). This is the hole behind the Centerline pylon.
- installed the piece for the tailhook
- installed the GPS dot next to the airbrake
- installed the antenna for under the nose and the ECM to the rear port(right-side) sensor
- replaced the old rail launchers with LAU-128 for wing pylons.
- painted the rear of the pylons
- repositioned the front BRU-47 bomb racks on LAU-107 to secondary position for air-to-air configuration
- decals for the BRU-47 bomb racks, pylons, LAU-128 launchers
- installed AIM-9X for most up-to-date air-to-air capabilities
- installed DSU-33 proximity sensors to the GBU-31 and GBU-38 JDAM.
- photo-etched for cockpit instrument panels and canopy rear mirrors
- polished and shine the canopy
- realistic colors for the lights, lock-on lights on canopy frame, BRU-47 clamps, and CFT edges
- installed the auxiliary intake scoops on the CFT for the upgraded F100-PW-229 engines
- Seymour John (SJ) decals as currently only the SJ birds would have all of the upgrades listed above
While the normal payload configurations for the F-15E have never seen a mixture of 8 AAMs (air-to-air missiles) + other ground attack munitions, I modified this plane because I like this plane to retain its air-to-air lethality. After all I collect primarily the contemporary most lethal air-to-air fighters, and having only 4 AAMs (2 Sidewinders 2 AMRAAMs) like the "realistic" payload is simply not threatening enough. For the rest of the ground attack munitions, I installed 3x GBU-31 and 6x GBU-38 JDAMs to give it the most advanced lethality as well.
