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Revell 1/48 F-15E Mudhen OIF "Shangri La II"


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Hi Guys! After completing my F/A-18, my next project is Revell’s F-15E that I have had in the stash for years.  I got lazy and didn’t do an in-progress thread on the Hornet, so I figured I better do one this time.  After reading reviews of later issues of Revell’s Strike Eagle, I’m glad I got the kit back when it was first released.  My copy was molded in Korea and has very crip detailing with no flash compared to the later copies 10-20 years later that were molded in China and look noticably rougher.  Below are the add-on’s I’ll be using:

 

Aires cockpit

 

ResKit’s wheels

 

Quickboost seats because I didn’t want to mess with the PE seatbelts in the Aires cockpit

 

Quickboost horizontal stabilizers (I might regret buying these since I can’t see much difference between them and the kit stabilizers)

 

Phase Hanger War Reserve Material Drop Tanks

 

Phase Hanger Pylons with LAU-128D/A Missile Rails

 

Hypersonic JFS Exhaust

 

Master AoA probes

 

Eduard Brassin AIM-120C missiles
 
Eduard Brassin Lantirn navigation and targeting pods

 

Eduard Brassin AIM-9L/M missiles

 

Eduard Brassin GBU-12 (not looking forward to building 9 of these bad boys)

 

TwoBob’s Decals OIF Throwback Noseart of the 336th FS

 

Top Detail TD23112  0.8mm Rivets for the CFT pylons 

 

Masterclub MC435055 0.8mm Hex Nuts for the CFT pylons

 

I got the idea to use the rivets from Vedran’s excellent build thread here:

 

http://www.maketarstvo.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=29525

 

I’ll be using his build as guidance, as well as Jeffrey K’s great looking build on Britmodeler here:

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234940521-f-15e-97-0219-148/&tab=comments#comment-2439941


Below is the jet I’m modeling, which is Shangri-La II.  

 

https://www.airfighters.com/photo/239673/M/USA-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-15E-Strike-Eagle/88-1671/

 

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I meant to post more yesterday, but I had problems and couldn't connect to the forums after the first post.  Here's the progress so far.

 

I’ve had the Two Bobs decal sheet since it was first released and I always wanted to do a model of Shangri La II.  I think the Revell kit is a good option for this subject since the Strike Eagles in 2003 had yet to receive many of the upgrades they have today and aren’t included in the Revell kit.  I was going to get the Wolfpack update set for this build, but it is practically made of unobtanium and much of it is not needed for a 2003 era jet.  

To start, I’m deeped all the panel lines with a Tamiya 0.15mm saw.  It's alot of work, but makes applying the panel line wash easier and evens out the panel line depth, since they can be shallow in certain areas due to limitations of the mold design.  The canopy is the trickiest part to engrave the panel lines, but it’s doable with tape and patience.

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Sorry for the multiple posts.  I get a form error if I have too much text in one post. 

 

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I also used the same saw to cut along the sides of the flaps on the vertical stabs and wings.  This looks more realistic since you can see daylight at this joint on the real plane.  

 

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I completely cut out the outer horizontal flaps so I can reattach them in the lowered position.  I also thinned the trailing edges of the wings since they look too thick.  Curiously, the trailing edges of the vertical stabilizers are much thinner.

 

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The fuel dump at the tip of each wing was opened up with a tiny drill bit.

 

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I opened up the regenerative heat exchanger exhaust and used aluminum from a soda can to simulate the louvers.

 

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Edited by Drew T.
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Next was the cockpit.  I had to thin the sidewalls of the kit in the fuselage to get the Aires cockpit to fit.  Painting the cockpit involved priming with black Mr. Surfacer.  I then masked the screens and consoles and painted the rest dark gull gray.  I used some Air scale decals on the seats and instrument panels.  I followed up with an oil wash, clear flat, then some drybrushing with light gray.  Finally, I applied a thin coat of UV glue on the screens to get a dark, shiny finish.

 

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That's all for now.  Next up, I'll work on detailing the nose gear bay so I can get the nose assembled.

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Nice! I've got one in the stash, hoping to build it sometime soon. Your timing is perfect 😉

 

Lovelly pit! I absolutely love the yellow stipped details. Were they decals or do You happen to have a bunch of 1/48 scale mini helpers?

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Thanks guys!  Thadeus, to answer your question, all the yellow and black stripes came from the Airscale decal set for modern cockpits. The have a couple of different sizes of yellow/black stripes to choose from on the sheet.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi guys, finally finished with the landing gear.  This is one of my least favorite parts of a build, so I try to get it done early and out of the way.  I added some detail to the nose gear and nose gear bay, but didn’t try to go overboard since the front nose gear door would be positioned closed.

 

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The main landing gear took more work.  The detail Revell provided is okay and mostly accurate, but definitely simplified when compared with the real thing.  I thought I would go blind trying to figure out where all the linkages are located in photos of the gear bay, but I think I managed to replicate most of it.  Revell completely left off the front section of the main gear bay, but since the front main gear door is normally closed, I just opened up the section that the kit blocked off and added a basic structure to replicate what little of this area is visible.  The detail I added is all made from sheet and strip styrene and stretched sprue.  The wiring is all made from lead wire.  

 

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The landing gear doors were all thinned down to a more realistic thickness.  The brackets on the nose gear door were replaced with thinner sheet styrene and the molded in linages for the main gear doors were removed and replaced with scratchbuilt linkages.

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Next, I’ll paint, decal, and weather the landing gear bays so I can finally start construction of the nose and body.
 

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That's unbelievable work, Drew.   Just how do you do that -- shaping and gluing all those microscopic bits together so clean and straight -- not a single wonky alignment.   Mind if I ask what kind of glue you use to build these things?   Cause Tamiya thin cement would melt those tiny bits right off and gel glue will ooze out.  

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WOW, fantastic work Drew !! LOVE seeing "old school" scratch-building especially when it's done to this caliber.

Here's my question, to you and others I've seen do it, don't those thin pieces of tape become unstuck over time or, does the paintwork help hold it in place ??

Steve

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23 hours ago, crackerjazz said:

That's unbelievable work, Drew.   Just how do you do that -- shaping and gluing all those microscopic bits together so clean and straight -- not a single wonky alignment.   Mind if I ask what kind of glue you use to build these things?   Cause Tamiya thin cement would melt those tiny bits right off and gel glue will ooze out.  

Thanks Crackerjazz!  Actually, I do use Tamiya extra thin!  I try to place the glue in areas that won't be seen when everything's assembled.  I also try to use as little as possible to avoid how much it melts the parts.  

19 hours ago, A-10 LOADER said:

WOW, fantastic work Drew !! LOVE seeing "old school" scratch-building especially when it's done to this caliber.

Here's my question, to you and others I've seen do it, don't those thin pieces of tape become unstuck over time or, does the paintwork help hold it in place ??

Steve

Thanks Steve!  This is the first time I've tried using Tamiya tape to replicate straps.  I'm hoping the paint will help hold the tape in place.  In areas where it didn't want to stay down, I used a tiny bit of CA to hold it down.

 

Drew

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On 2/7/2022 at 11:58 AM, Falconxlvi said:

Fantastic work Drew!  As a former F-15E driver, I can confirm you are knocking this one out of the park.   Looking forward to seeing this one finished up!

 

Steve

 

Thanks Steve!  

 

On 2/7/2022 at 1:00 PM, kurnass77 said:

Love all the job done ever since, will be useful when start mine...I hope

 

Gianni

 

Thanks Gianni!

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Hi guys, I just finished up with painting and decaling the landing gear.  The paint used is Mr. Color off white C69.  With the oleos, I usually use bare metal foil, but I decided to try something different this time.  Alclad chrome works well for replicating polished metal, so I use that instead.  It requires a smooth glossy base to get a polished look, so I first painted the oleos with Mr. Color GX2.  This gives a very glossy finish that works well for the Alclad chrome.  Then I sprayed a coat of Alclad chrome.  I did all this before painting the rest of the landing gear white, so once the Alclad was sprayed, I masked it off for the rest of the painting and weathering process. After painting, I used the landing gear decals included in the Hypersonic decal set for the Odyssey Dawn mission.  I sprayed a light coat of light gray on the tire treads and used a black wash to highlight the tread.  The decals for the serial numbers on the nose gear door were too small, so I made my own masks using my Silhouette cutter and sprayed the numbers.  The landing gear, landing gear bay, and wheels all received a wash of Ammo panel line wash black night.  To seal everything, I sprayed a semi gloss clear of 50:50 mix of Mr. Color UV Cut Super Clear Flat and Clear Gloss.  

 

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Also, I wasn’t happy with the look of the MFD screens on the instrument panels.  I had used UV glue to replicate the glass screen, but it never seemed to fully cure and didn’t dry very flat or smooth.  I stripped it off and cut out pieces from a sheet of thin clear plastic packaging material.  The pieces were cut and sanded to fit in the MFD screen area.  The back of the pieces were sprayed black and they were glued into place.  I now had a very flat shiny black surface that better replicated the MFD screens.  

 

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That’s all for now.  Thanks for looking!

Drew
 

Edited by Drew T.
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Thanks crackerjazz, cruiz, and Steve!  The numbers on the inside nose gear door are about 0.1 inches tall in 1/48.  I tried to size them based on photos of 4th FW Eagles around the 2003 time frame.

 

I'm much happier with how the MFD's look now.  I'll probably use this technique on future builds as well.

 

Drew

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