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Hello for the 3rd
time! And hello from Singapore!! This is my 2nd 1/48 model and also my 20th in
my never-ending collection of warplanes. I hoped you liked my F-16 and A-10
already here on ARC even though I see them as under the mediocre standard xD So
without wasting any more time, let me present to you my just
completed model of the world's premier air superiority fighter of the 20th
Century, the F-15 Eagle aka 'Baz' of the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
Just a brief history
about F-15s. The F-15 has chalked up an impressive 104 aerial victories
without sustaining a single loss of it's own with over half the kills claimed by
the Israeli Air Force. My F-15 depicts F-15A 'Baz' serial number 669 of the
IAF's 133 Squadron based at Hatzerim Airbase. Not only was 133 Squadron the
first IAF squadron to fly the F-15, it was also the first F-15 squadron to chalk
up the first 3 kills for the F-15 worldwide when 3 Syrian MiG-21s were
downed over Lebanon in 1979. F-15s have also never been shot down in combat since
it's operational history. F-16s have been shot down before but never has an F-15
been blown out the sky by any enemy aircraft or surface-to-air missiles. And
during the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein's fighter pilots just refused to intercept
the Americans as they knew that they would just get blown out the sky by F-15s
if they ever took off and come into contact with the Americans.
Due to it's
impressive air-to-air record which included MiG-29s, no wonder countries are
interested in getting F-15s for their air forces. Besides the United States Air
Force, F-15s are also being used by Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and
Singapore which recently ordered up to 24 F-15SGs which are even more
advanced versions of the F-15E Strike Eagle and are capable of deploying JDAMs,
JSOWs, AMRAAMs, AIM-9X, AIM-7M Sparrows, a 20mm M61 gatling gun and etc.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Ok back to the
topic. I found this Italeri kit to be one of the weirdest F-15s I've ever seen
so far. I was disappointed with the cockpit as it was nothing but decals. The
afterburner cans were terrible, the main landing gear didn't look so
correct to me and the HUD was an F-15E-class HUD which was wrong. I had to
modify the HUD by cutting it into 2 and modifying the 2 pieces so that they look
like an F-15A/C-class HUD. HUD frames were also scratchbuilt to make the
HUD better.
But the main
reason for building this F-15 was not only to have another 1/48 aircraft in
my collection but also to prove myself that I can still build F-15s well as
I screwed by 2 1/72 F-15s pretty badly. Well, I should say that I'm rather
satisfied with the results!  At least this was
also a good practice for me before I start tackling bigger and better models
like Tamiya, Revell and Hasegawa which produces great F-15s.
This model was
basically built OOB. It is armed with 4 Sidewinder and 4 Sparrow missiles for
the standard A2A loadout. Painting was done with paints H307 and H308 for the
basic F-15 scheme. As you know, I'm still young, only 17 and still not so
good at masking and painting yet so pardon my flaws yeah? I also do not
have putty or filler so pardon the gaps in between the joints too yea?  Weathering
was done by smudging pencil dust in the direction of flight. The panel lines
were highlighted using a sharp 2B pencil and excess dust from the pencil being
smudged in the flight direction to add more realism. To conclude it all, the
plane was finished by spraying a layer of gloss to protect the paint.
Canopy handles and mirrors were scratchbuilt to add more detail to the canopy
and the yellow bands on the missiles were painted on as I wanted to depict my
F-15 carrying live rounds. The ailerons were cut and dropped as seen from
reference photos, the ailerons were usually dropped whenever the plane is on
static and RBF tags were made to add extra realism. The IAF and 133
Squadron patches were printed from the Internet and backed with cardboard to
strengthen the paper patches. The decals were from the kit. But I've found the
eagle decal on the inner tails to be bigger than what I saw from the reference
photos.
Well if only this
kit had a proper cockpit, afterburner cans and Israeli markings which also
include the kill marks and that Hebrew phrase seen on the nose of all IAF
F-15s, then I think this can be a kit I'll recommend.
Alright, I think
I'll let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves. Hope you like it! So
from now till I post again - I'll say it would be so soon as I'll be
starting school and get busy and I don't have any models lying in wait to get
assembled so do wait yea? hehe..  - , take care
and God bless!
Cheers!!
Xue
Qian
Click on
images below to see larger images
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Israel Independence Day 2008 
