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F-15E finish..glossy? satin?flat? and bombs?


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Hi I'm approaching the completion of my project, but now I'm unsure which finish should I use for the F-15E and the bombs.

First of all, I'm going to spray 1-2 coat of pure Future before adding the decals. After adding the decals, what finishing coat should I use? And composition? ( I hope to be authentic)

Second, I'm also finishing up with painting the bombs(and then will pure-Future it for the decals). For the bombs, I suppose it's flat or satin am I correct? But again because I'm still super new to the hobby (this is my first airbrushed work), I want to hear what you guys have to say for the bombs in terms of the finish.

Thanks!

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1) Did the a/c just roll off of the assembly line (They're still producing Strike Eagle platforms)?

2) Is the a/c about to be deployed?

3) Is the a/c on deployment (Half way through or near the end)?

That should narrow down what kind of paint finish is needed.

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Flat, flat and flat. The F-15E (in all forms)is painted in flat finishes. Even The F-15I with its more colorful desert camo. Although a newer aircraft will not have faded any, it will still be painted in flat paint. As for the bombs, they are flat too, but you can take a little liberty there...The bodies of the weapons are kept out into the weather and elements, and will weather very quickly, and some times get touched-up, or streak, etc. This can make them look different. The guidance sections of the weapons (such as a GBU-12), are kept in climate-controlled, sealed areas, and are not brought out until shortly before making up the weapon. These will appear newer-looking, and may have some sort of a "sheen" on them, even though they too are painted flat.

Aaron

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Flat, flat and flat. The F-15E (in all forms)is painted in flat finishes. Even The F-15I with its more colorful desert camo. Although a newer aircraft will not have faded any, it will still be painted in flat paint. As for the bombs, they are flat too, but you can take a little liberty there...The bodies of the weapons are kept out into the weather and elements, and will weather very quickly, and some times get touched-up, or streak, etc. This can make them look different. The guidance sections of the weapons (such as a GBU-12), are kept in climate-controlled, sealed areas, and are not brought out until shortly before making up the weapon. These will appear newer-looking, and may have some sort of a "sheen" on them, even though they too are painted flat.

Aaron

When a Strike Eagle completes it's tour over in the sandbox, besides the chipped paint, does the paint scheme fade noticeably?

Or are they shaded from the Sun under an overhang like stateside (In my case, Mountain Home)?

Thanks for the insight/input.

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It can be faded. For some reason, I have noticed the most variation in paint weathering patterns on the Lakenheath birds. I'm not sure if it is the rain (or weather in general) in England or what, but they don't stay "clean" for very long. I've seen some that seem to be faded from the sun. The best thing to do is to find a photo of the bird you are trying to model, in the environment you are trying to model it in, and go from there. I can, 100% for sure tell you though, that no F-15E rolls off the line with a gloss or satin finish.

Aaron

ps. The 391st is my FAVORITE squadron of all-time. One of these days I'll make it out to Mountain Home to see them. They come here to local airshows pretty regularly, but I want to see them in "their natural environment"

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It can be faded. For some reason, I have noticed the most variation in paint weathering patterns on the Lakenheath birds. I'm not sure if it is the rain (or weather in general) in England or what, but they don't stay "clean" for very long. I've seen some that seem to be faded from the sun. The best thing to do is to find a photo of the bird you are trying to model, in the environment you are trying to model it in, and go from there. I can, 100% for sure tell you though, that no F-15E rolls off the line with a gloss or satin finish.

Aaron

ps. The 391st is my FAVORITE squadron of all-time. One of these days I'll make it out to Mountain Home to see them. They come here to local airshows pretty regularly, but I want to see them in "their natural environment"

My son and I made it to this year's airshow at MH.

Singapore Strike Eagle pilots train here so there was their a/c on display as well. Very colorful tail artwork, they have!

They even provided the take-off/fly-by/landing demo for the airshow too.

Among other training; Both U.S. and Singapore pilots practice 'urban flying' over the city. MHAFB will notify the local news that it will happen sometime during the week. If you're lucky, you'll catch a pair overhead flying past in an awesome bank turn! And they're definitely flying below 5,000ft.

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Thanks so much strikeeagle801!

And for checksix,

Mine is going to be SJ, I'll say fresh off the line (so it can have all the fancy things I added to it) and on first mission with balanced AA and AG payload.(yea I know that's not really realistic, but then I'm a big fan of air supremacy, so I like aan air superiority theme and load up my plane to the max of its AA capabilities). Some may ask me, why not build a F-15C MSIP II, but my answer is because the F-15E is actually way more advanced than the C counterparts and able to retain the AA combat effectiveness. Plus I generally liked missiles more :sunrevolves:

I thought about replacing the GBU-31s I'm loading on it (2 on wing pylon, one centerline) with HARM for Wild Weasel, but then again I've heard some people say that's too unrealistic.

The decals/styling will remain realistic, while the plane is equipped with all the latest goodies, so the only unrealistic/non-historical component will be the payload config.

If I want to do the flat, how would I go about on the composition? And just to confirm, using pure future for the first coat before the decals is fine right? And will it get clogged up in the airbrush? I'm using a Paasche Double Talon.

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As far as the F-15E questions go, HARM IS actually authorized for use on the F-15E, although I'm not aware that is ever HAS been. The Saudis may get that approved and fly with it, as the new F-15SA's will have the outer wing pylon installed, which USAF F-15E's have never had. This could allow carriage of something like the AGM-88 while still retaining the other hardpoints for bombs and missiles.

If you want to see some accurate load-outs, you should go to www.f-15e.info. They have a great selection of load-outs, and some (especially during Operations Allied Force and Northern Watch) included a misted load of A/A and A/G weapons.

Future most-time can be sprayed straight with an airbrush and not cause any problems. If you do need to thin it a bit, one of the best things to use is Windex. If you want some further advice, it might be best to ask in the Tools and Tips section. I myself am not the greatest working with the stuff.

Aaron

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Thanks so much strikeeagle801!

And for checksix,

Mine is going to be SJ, I'll say fresh off the line (so it can have all the fancy things I added to it) and on first mission with balanced AA and AG payload.(yea I know that's not really realistic, but then I'm a big fan of air supremacy, so I like aan air superiority theme and load up my plane to the max of its AA capabilities). Some may ask me, why not build a F-15C MSIP II, but my answer is because the F-15E is actually way more advanced than the C counterparts and able to retain the AA combat effectiveness. Plus I generally liked missiles more sunrevolves.gif

I thought about replacing the GBU-31s I'm loading on it (2 on wing pylon, one centerline) with HARM for Wild Weasel, but then again I've heard some people say that's too unrealistic.

The decals/styling will remain realistic, while the plane is equipped with all the latest goodies, so the only unrealistic/non-historical component will be the payload config.

If I want to do the flat, how would I go about on the composition? And just to confirm, using pure future for the first coat before the decals is fine right? And will it get clogged up in the airbrush? I'm using a Paasche Double Talon.

Oh; Very nice set up indeed!

This dates back to my childhood model building: I love stencils!

Building a fresh-off-the-line a/c is an excellent excuse to apply 4,500 factory stencils on an a/c build (Hello, late production F-4s!). To my 13 year old mind back then, stencils= super-duper realism! When Revell first released its' 1/32nd scale F-4E with all those stencils, I was hooked for evermore.

I wonder if anyone make a stencils sheet for the Strike Eagle platforms?

Are you going to show pics of your build?

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In fact, I was just checking my GBU-31 which I just applied Tamiya Primer on, and the color and even the texture came out the exact same as the coloured AMRAAM. I wasn't sure if I should apply another coat of 308 until I saw some chipping, which confirmed my decision to spray one extra coat just in case.

Just wondering, so I suppose the pre-decal coat is ok if I use only Future without any mixtures and ratio, right?

Edited by airsupremacist
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  • 3 weeks later...

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