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


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Thanks Jeffrey!  I actually came across your excellent Strike Eagle build on Britmodeller a couple of weeks ago.  It's the most in-depth and accurate build I've come across of the Revell kit, so I'm using it a guide for mine.  If mine ends up looking anywhere near as nice as yours, I'll definitely be happy.

 

Drew

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  • 1 month later...

Time for another update!  I wanted to go as far as I could with the nose section before I start on the rest of the fuselage/wing assembly and join them together.  The cockpit was installed in the nose section, along with the nose gear well assembly.  It took alot of careful trimming like most Aires cockpits, but I finally achieved a good fit.  After painting, I used AMMO light dust enamel wash around the rear instrument panel console and the black surrounding area to give an overall dusty look.

 

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I added rivets to the frame of the windscreen before gluing it in place.  I also added a thin strip of sheet styrene to replicate the heating vent at the base of the windscreen.  

 

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Most photos of F-15’s taken in the Iraq/Afghanistan theater show dust at the base of the IP console.  I replicated this with tan oil paint and tan pigment.  The green tint on the HUD was replicated with Hasegawa TF-902 film.  
  
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While I was working on the cockpit area, I decided to get the canopy knocked out.  I added detail with styrene and stretched sprue.  After painting the canopy support, I used a makeup sponge with aluminum paint to simulate scratches that my reference photos showed.

 

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I modified the panel lines below and behind the rear cockpit.  I added a small round light behind the cockpit on the left side.  The black panel lines are filled in with back rubberized CA. I also added panel line and rivet detail under the nose.

 

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So I finally have the nose section done now.  Time to move on to the main fuselage!

 

Take care!

Drew
 

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Thanks Steve and Crackerjazz!  To be honest, I did followup the enamel wash with a tiny bit of Abteilung Cream Brown oil paint worked in as well as a light drybrushing of light gray oil paint to highlight the detail.  The same was done on the canopy framing as well.  All this was done directly over Mr Surfacer 1500 black.

Drew

 

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  • 1 month later...

Update time!  I’ve been spending the last several weeks correcting and adding surface detail to all the main parts.  It’s easier to do this now before the main assembly.  The Revell kit has pretty accurate detail, but after nearly going blind studying photos, a few panel lines are in the wrong place and some of the rivet detail is slightly out of scale.  I replaced most of the kit rivet detail with my Galaxy Tools riveters using several different sizes.  I found that high-res photos, especially those on the USAF website, were helpful in determining where the rivet detail should be added.  I used rubberized black CA to fill in many of the incorrect panel lines since putty can shrink and the black CA is easy to see.  

 

On the underside of the fuselage, there are numerous tubes and holes that I added using Albion tubes.  Also, the kit doesn’t depict any chaff or flare dispensers, which is probably not common for a jet in a combat theater.  I added them using a set of chaff and flare dispensers from a Furball PE set.  There are a couple of small tubes on the underside that I added.  One is between the left intake and nose, and the other is near the centerline between the main gear bays.  The Hypersonic JFS exhaust fit perfectly in its place on the underside.  

 

 

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I carved a groove in the end of the fuselage halves where the exhaust cans attach to simulate the thin sheet metal around this area.

 

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On the topside, the GPS dome antenna was added from a section of styrene rod sanded into a dome shape.  

 

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The tabs on the inside of the flaps are molded as one piece, but these tabs should be separate and connected to the fuselage.  I carved them out of the flaps and added them to the fuselage.  The vents above the intakes are depicted slightly dropped in the kit, so I cut open a slit at the top of the vents. 

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I purchased the Quickboost horizontal stabilizers before I started this project, but since they aren’t any more detailed than the kit, I decided not to use them, as it’s easier to work with plastic rather than resin.  Since the kit stabilizers are molded into the fuselage top, I cut them off carefully with a razor saw so they can be repositioned and angled slightly up.  I also thinned down the trailing edges and added surface detail with styrene strips.  I’m using brass tubing and rod to attach the stabilizers to the fuselage.

 

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I added/corrected surface detail on the CFT’s and added the missing vent on the bottom of each tank.  The vertical panel lines on the tank are recessed in the kit, but appear as raised lines in real life.  I’ll use stretched sprue to replicate this, but I am waiting to add this after assembly in case they get removed from filling and sanding gaps.  The kit recessed lines can be used as guidance for locating the stretched sprue.  I opened up the engine intakes on the side of the tanks, as they are normally open when the plane is on the ground. The doors were made from aluminum from a soda can and the spring was made from wrapping 0.1mm dia wire around stretched sprue.  These doors will be glued in place after painting so they don’t get damaged while handling the model.  

 

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The top front edge of the intake inlets were thinned down to a more realistic thickness.

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The vertical stabilizers took a good bit of work.  Like Jefferey’s build, I took the antennas at the top of the fins from Academy’s F-15E kit.  Don’t make the mistake I did, though, and get a cheap original version of the kit.  Academy added a more detailed version of these parts on their later releases.  I used red and clear resin to simulate the clear light on the left stabilizer and the red light on the right stabilizer.  The reinforcement plates were added from sheet styrene.  There is an additional reinforcement plate I added to the left vertical stabilizer that I noticed on the below photo of the plane I’m depicting.  

 

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

 

What is strange is that I can’t find this plate on any other F-15 and it doesn’t appear on this particular jet in more recent photos.  I also found another photo of this jet during the OIF period showing the right side stabilizer doesn’t have this reinforcement panel.  

 

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The bottom wing panels were missing a hump that I added with sheet styrene.

 

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Clear red and clear blue resin were used to simulate the lights on the wingtips.  The blue should actually be green, but it appears more blue when the light is not on.

 

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I still need to add raised rivets to the vertical stabilizers and the fuselage around the engine exhausts using raised rivet decals from Archer.  These won’t be added until after assembly and primer since they could get damaged from filling and sanding seams.  I think this time I’m finally ready to start overall assembly 5 months after starting this project! 

 

Thanks for looking!

Drew

 

Edited by Drew T.
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Amazing work, Drew; each time gets better and better.

 

The way you thinned the edge of the "petals" between the fuselage and the burner cans will surely make them look more realistic and eye-catching; the edge seems like a continuum arc because of the sanding you did; is there a separation between the petals at the edge? This will be the only detail missing in this area IMHO, but probably you have this covered already.

 

Thanks for sharing

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Thanks everyone for the kind words!  I may very well go blind after trying to replicate every rivet line!  Cruiz, not sure what you mean about separation between the petals at the edge.  Do you have a photo that shows what you're talking about?  If there's something I missed, I definitely want to catch it now before it's too late.

 

Drew

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Sorry for the confusing explanation, my bad. I'm talking about the separations between the petals (or tiles) to make them look more realistic; you don't need to cut all the way; just little notches (marked in red) at the border will do.

 

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It's a minor thing that probably you already considered; I just wanted to know.

 

Regards

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Ahh, I see what you're talking about now.  Thanks for the explanation.  To be honest, I haven't even noticed that detail.  I'm not sure I can pull off that look of individual pedals.  I'm afraid I would have to thin them down even more to the point that they could get damaged when handling the model.  I may try it when I'm ready to attach the exhausts.  There would be less chance of damage once I get them attached.

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On 5/21/2022 at 1:46 PM, cruiz said:

Sorry for the confusing explanation, my bad. I'm talking about the separations between the petals (or tiles) to make them look more realistic; you don't need to cut all the way; just little notches (marked in red) at the border will do.

 

78TDuf2.jpg

 

JlJwiIl.jpg

 

It's a minor thing that probably you already considered; I just wanted to know.

 

Regards

 

We called those "flex fairings".

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16 hours ago, Thadeus said:

You keep providing some excellent work to this kit. I'm very impressed.

Thanks Thadeus!

 

On 5/25/2022 at 2:17 AM, BoeingDriver said:

 

We called those "flex fairings".

Hi BoeingDriver, that makes perfect sense.  I guess a more rigid fairing would crack up with the vibrations and movement of the engines, especially at full afterburner.  

 

Cruiz, I tried your suggestion of cutting a slot between the individual pedals, but I made them so thin, I ended up breaking a few.  After rebuilding them with sheet styrene, I think I'll have to keep them as one piece. They become really delicate when slotting them into separate pedals.  

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Sorry to hear that, Drew; I feel bad for suggesting it; good thing that you could fix it. All the detailing work you are doing will produce a fantastic model anyway.

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On 2/13/2022 at 7:02 PM, Drew T. said:

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
 

Just awesome!

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5 hours ago, cruiz said:

Sorry to hear that, Drew; I feel bad for suggesting it; good thing that you could fix it. All the detailing work you are doing will produce a fantastic model anyway.

No worries!  It's a good idea, and it might be possible to pull off with a different material, like aluminum from a soda can, but it would be a ton of work to fabricate that many individual pedals.  It would definitely be easier to simulate the individual pedals in 1/32 scale.  

 

2 hours ago, BastianD said:

Just awesome!

Thanks BastianD!

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I had the privilege of seeing Drew's work in person at the Charlotte Scale Modelers club meeting last night.  The work he has done on this old kit is just stunning.  Far beyond my abilities (or level of patience). 

 

Drew, thanks for sharing your build with the club.  Can't wait to see it finished.

 

C2j

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On 6/4/2022 at 7:54 AM, Cubs2jets said:

I had the privilege of seeing Drew's work in person at the Charlotte Scale Modelers club meeting last night.  The work he has done on this old kit is just stunning.  Far beyond my abilities (or level of patience). 

 

Drew, thanks for sharing your build with the club.  Can't wait to see it finished.

 

C2j

Thanks John!  At the rate I'm going on this one, I'll be happy just to get it finished by the end of the year!

 

21 hours ago, Scooby said:

Wow, amazing work!

Thanks Scooby!

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