bikerider Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 (edited) Hello all. Just because I can't seem to only work on one model at a time, I'll join this group build too, in addition to my Hornet. This one will be a F-15DJ in the black and white aggressor scheme. I find the scheme very attractive, and just want to see what I can do to recreate it. The base kit for this is the 1/48 Hasegawa F-15E, and decals from DXM. I will build it without using the conformal tanks. Mostly out-of-box, although I have a set of Aires exhausts. I do most of my builds in-flight, and this kit only includes a pilot about to climb a ladder, so I'll have to find some seated pilot figures from somewhere. Construction begins with the cockpit, which I am not great at, but already into the forward fuselage.More detail work needed here. And main fuselage assembly starts: This kit doesn't seem as complicated as I remember the last Hasegawa Eagle I built being. Maybe I am getting better. K Edited July 25, 2014 by bikerider Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Looking good! Great progress on what should be a cool looking model when you're done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 Closed up the main fueslage. And the landing gear doors. SOOOO much easier and cleaner than what my Hornet required. Next up, cleaning up seams etc., including the intakes. Carrying on.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted August 26, 2014 Author Share Posted August 26, 2014 Progress... slowly but surely. August is nearly gone with much of my time devoted to other life tasks. But some work has been done. Here we go. Found a couple of pilots. They and the seats are in prep phase. Worked on the intakes. I am mostly happy with their condition for now. Worked on the cockpit. I used my normal technique of black base paint then using sharpie markers to pick out the details. Not bad. Not nearly as good as some of the works of art I see on ARC, but hey, I know what I'm not good at. And the wings are on. Thanks for looking! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Great work! How was the fit of the wings and cockpit area to the main fuselage? They caused me some problems for my last Hasegawa Eagle but it looks like you pulled it off nicely. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Great work! How was the fit of the wings and cockpit area to the main fuselage? They caused me some problems for my last Hasegawa Eagle but it looks like you pulled it off nicely. The joint between the top and bottom fuselage halves took quite a bit of sanding so that I could get a relatively gap free wing join. If I remember right, the top half overhung the bottom by about 1mm. Using 100grit sanding stick made quick work of that. As it is, I still have a small gap on the bottom of the wing joint that I have to fill in, and still to smooth out the top wing/fuselage joint to make the seam disappear. My least favourite part of making airplane models... As for the cockpit / front fuselage - what a pain in the ----. I got the front half lined up correctly, glue on and stuck the two parts together. Held it for a few minutes until it seemed good. An hour later I went back to check, and the front fell off. So I repeated the above. Including the front half falling off. Grrr. Not sure what happened. But third time's a charm and after a little sanding / clean-up I got the front to stay on. It's a weak joint, the way Hasegawa has engineered the kit there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Pilots! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted August 30, 2014 Author Share Posted August 30, 2014 (edited) Last night was gap filling, putty and sanding night. Not a favourite event, but nonetheless had to be done. Here is the underwing gaps being filled. Tape down the edges of the gap and Squadron putty - my new fav weapon of choice. Same for the top. A little bit of sanding with the tape still on, some more after, et voila! Not bad. I spent about another hour finish sanding all the seams and joints and am pretty happy with how it came out, although these pics were taken before that and some of the joints may still show. Almost ready to go to the next phase - some re-scribing, completing the cockpit, fiddly bits and readying for paint. Thanks for looking. Edited August 30, 2014 by bikerider Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted September 17, 2014 Author Share Posted September 17, 2014 Good afternoon, and welcome back. Other priorities again. Taking time away from fun stuff! Some progress... Main assembly has continued. Gear doors and other seams / cracks have been puttied and sanded. Including the lines all over the external fuel tank. Cockpit details finalized (in my simple way) and generally, we're almost ready for the paint shop. Just need to mask the canopies. The vertical stabs are not glued on here, that will be done after painting. Thank you for looking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Looking forward to seeing it painted! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Painting begins. Metal parts: Camera from my phone.... sorry for the bad quality. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 The dark grey.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Looking good! The dark grey look quite dark though, but maybe that's just the picture. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 It is a little dark, yes. When I do the lighter grey, I finish with a mist coat over the dark that blends everything together and tones down the dark colour. I've done this on a previous Eagle, and it worked quite effectively. Hopefully if the weekend goes well, I'll have pictures to share by Monday! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Light grey painting. Here we are with - the light grey on the entire underside, and over the top. As I said, I misted the lighter grey over the darker, and it tones down the dark colour and blends everything in what I think is a really nice way. Unfortunately for me, after doing this I found some nicks and small scratches that I don't like. So some touch ups will be required. Then, the masking for the aggressor paint scheme. Carrying on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Very nice, good luck with the touchups! Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ichitoe Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Looking good! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted October 27, 2014 Author Share Posted October 27, 2014 Back to modelling. Although I never really stopped. Had I been making a typical Japanese Eagle, I would have the painting finished and likely even decalled the model. But - I am doing an Aggressor! So that means masking and more painting. And lots and lots of masking. The pictures show the plane masked, and ready for the white paint. All told, this is about 10 hours of masking. I have three different pictures of the plane I am working on and there was lots of back and forth between my work, and the pictures. I am using decals from DXM, and they only include a plan for a black and white single seat plane. I also tried pre-cut masks from a company called J's work - These ended up being more trouble than they were worth. The patterns were either oversized, or undersized, and they did not include the lines over the panels. I don't have any good underside pictures, so the masking there is a bit of an educated guess, a bit following the plans I had. Anyway, I made it through and am ready to go. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 White paint begins. A couple light coats here, done last night. Just before I started I had that, "do I REALLY want to do this?" feeling in my stomach for fear of ruining something going well so far. So I started spraying paint before my mind played more tricks on me. Can't waste all that masking tape after all. I'll check this again tonight. At least one more light coat of white to go. Then, more masking, and some black paint. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
White Wolf Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 That is a LOT of masking...but it's going to be worth it in the end! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted November 9, 2014 Author Share Posted November 9, 2014 Painted the black Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted November 15, 2014 Author Share Posted November 15, 2014 Masking tape off I had to do some touch up - some of the lines in the black and white weren't as smooth as I wanted. But now I'm happy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
speedlimit Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Wow that is sharp painting! Nice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bikerider Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 Thanks speedlimit. Two coat of Future brushed on. Polished with super fine sanding pad. And decaling has begun. Going well! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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