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This will be my first ARC group build......just!


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Hi all,

I sent my submission in last night to do two F-15's. One is a Hasegawa F-15DJ in 50th anniversary colours. The other is an Academy F-15C/D which I will do as the Shiro Ryu with a Two Bobs decal sheet.

This will be my first time on an ARC group build, I have been registered for the heavies one for a while now but that doesn't start for another week yet!

These will be my first jet kits in a while, I normally concentrate on smaller propeller driven fighters.

Well, here goes :thumbsup:

Jen.

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I decided to start proceedings with the Academy kit. It certainly looks nice in the box, not far different from the Hasegawa kit in fact but a lot cheaper to buy. I intend to do both models OOB.

I put the major interior parts together and have sprayed them with Vallejo model colour. I have also joined the wing halves and the nose halves together.

Now if I said 'Grrrrrr intakes :banana:' I expect it might raise a wry smile with some of you.

I spent a long time sanding and filling the biggest ejector pin marks I have ever seen from the inside of the parts (I checked the Hasegawa parts and these also have ejector pin marks but they are very fine and will take no time to fix) before I could even attempt to join them.

Once that was sorted I cut off the locating pins and carefully glued the pipes one edge at a time to try and minimise the interior join. On dry fitting the intakes to the lower fuselage I discovered that there is an enormous gap between the front end of the intake tube and the back of the intake face part so I guess I will have to make a plastic card piece to fill it in.

Images so far are here,

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p...39047&members=1

I've no idea how to add pictures to this forum!

Cheers,

Jen.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Progress so far, the model is nearly ready for paint.

I cleaned up the intakes as best I could and sprayed them with Vallejo white aerosol primer. I fitted them to the lower half and put some plasticard in to fill the big gap at the front. The rest of the build has gone pretty easily. The fit is ok, not brilliant but not bad. All the filling has been done with Squadron green putty, and then primed with Tamiya liquid filler. I only have one upper wing joint to do and then I'm onto paint!

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The pilot is from the Hasegawa kit, I now need two more for that kit!

Jen.

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  • 2 weeks later...

What a trial!

I had her all ready for paint and decided to fit the weapons pylons first, one of them was quite a tight fit so I had to push it a bit.

Craaack! Top of the wing joint split!

Two steps forward, three steps back dammit!

Same happened with the bare metal rear end. I decided to prime the area with black spray paint as I have just succesfully done on a Spitfire model, how was I to know Academy use a different plastic which reacts to that particular tye of spray paint? The result was a kind of frazzly, crackly finish which I then had to rub down. Un fortunately it's still a bit visible in places as some of the model is all but impossible to rub down now. :lol:

Oh well, lesson learned, I'll use H21 from now on!

Got over it all in the end, I now have the first colour coat on :D I've used Vallejo acrylic 989 for the light grey. I'll be putting the darker grey on tonight or tomorrow. Finally I'm getting somewhere on it, and I've hardly even started the Hasegawa build yet! ;)

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TTFN,

Jen.

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I got the second colour on without any trouble, now I can start on the fun bit, the decals! OMG! how many stencils can the Japanese put on one plane?

I really feel like I'm starting to get somewhere on this bird now, just got to do it all over again with the Hasegawa kit now! :lol:

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Jen.

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OMG! how many stencils can the Japanese put on one plane?

Jen.

Hello Jen, i feel your pain!! Took me hours to do a JASDF Eagle stencils. Still gives me the shakes thinking about it. Great progress on you build.

Don

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Well I'm getting there.

I've got most of the decals on now, just about half of the stencils to go!

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Once the stencils are on it'll be easy street getting finished now. :D

I've made a good start on the Hasegawa version, most of the main sub assemblies are together now. I have to say, so far the fit is way better than the Academy one was. I think there will be a lot less putty in it.

I deviated from the instructions a little bit regarding the intake construction. Instead of attaching the intake halves to the top plate as Hasegawa recommend, I attached them to the bottom fuselage half so that they align properly with the fuselage side. I figured that any gaps incurred at the top would be an easier fix anyway. As it has turned out there are no real problems at the top either so happy days!

I didn't bother breaking my b**** sanding the intake tubes this time though. You can hardly really see down there and these two are to be posed in flight anyway so I decided not to bother.

Thanks for all your kind comments so far guys!

Jen.

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  • 1 month later...

Dragon Eagle is finished! :woo:

I've had a trial getting time to work on these kits of late, I've been away on courses and all sorts, hence lack of updates. I now have no real chance of finishing the second Eagle on time but this one is done and nicely inside the end date.

Here's some pictures.

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There she is then. I've mounted the model on a stand by putting aluminium tube up the jet pipes. The intention is to fit the second Eagle to the same stand when it's done so that they're posed in an airshowy sort of way.

Thanks for the help and encouragement along the way lads, and a special thankyou to checksix for the pilots.

Cheers,

Jen.

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