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Armament
The
standard armament provided in the kit is AIM-9, GBU-10, and cluster bombs.
However, the usual loadout in the recent missions shall be AIM-9, AIM-120, and
GBU-10/GBU-12. So, I replaced the original armament with Gunsmoke parts. The
detail of the Gunsmoke AIM-9, AIM-120, and GBU-10 is amazing. The missile body
and the bomb body is of resin material, all the control fins are of photo etched
parts. One thing I do not like is the laser seeker which is cast in white metal.
It is not quite accurate so I used the seeker provided with the kit. Other that
this minor issue, the Gunsmoke parts are highly recommended.
There
was one more modification for the armament. I filed the front part of the AIM-9
and the GBU-10 and then fixed a clear lens (blue for the AIM-9 and amber for the
GBU-10) for the IR seeker and the laser seeker respectively. The result is very
good.
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Painting
The
color of the Strike Eagle is of a simple grey color. In the Tamiya instruction
booklet gunship grey is specified. However, I feel it is too dark. After several
color trials with some scrap model, I decided to use Tamiya AS-10 Ocean Grey,
which looked more or less the same as the reference photos I have. Due to the
big size of the model, spray can was used. I used almost three cans of AS-10 for
the whole work.
When
the grey color was completely dried, areas other than the engine area was
masked, then the engine area was
sprayed silver. The panel lines were later highlighted with thinned black color
enamel.
Decal/Weathering/Protective Coating
The
decals supplied with the kit are for the squadrons stationed at Seymour-Johnson
AFB (SJ). I preferred to used an after-market decal for the 492th Fighter
Squadron stationed at RAF Lakenheath (LN), as my references are all of the LN
planes. Of course now you guys have another choice from TwoBobs
The
decal I used is from Astra Decals ASD-3201b. The quality of the decals seemed
not quite well as I noticed there was some “silvering”. May be it is because
of the dark base color (grey), but it just doesn’t look quite good. However,
it is all too late to switch to another marking.
Unlike
Navy aircrafts, weathering is kept to a minimum because I never seen a photo of
the Strike Eagle which is dirty.
When
everything was set, I sprayed a coat of flat clear to protect the decals and to
keep the body color consistent.
Display Base
The
display base is simple to make. A wooden stripe, a cardboard and a glass cover.
Lines were drawn by ink pen on the cardboard. The cardboard was then fixed onto
the wooden stripe by UHU glue.
15E51 to 15E77
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Conclusion
I’ve
heard people say this is a once in a life time kit because of it’s size and
cost. After I built it, yes, I agreed it is so. I started working on it since
end of November 2001. I finished it in end of May 2002, a total of six months.
For a kit of this size, the details as molded are very impressive. However,
there is still rooms for extensive detailing. This is my first ever 1/32 kit. I
don’t think I will go back to 1/48 again, 1/32 is really fun and I enjoyed
building in such a scale, particularly with the support of my girl CC.
I
hope you guys like my Strike Eagle and I am glad to share with you all my
experience.
Once
again, thank you my love CC !
Acknowledgement
(a)
Thanks Twobobs for sending me a photo of a laser guided bomb hanging at
the forward pylon under the CFT (the one in their F-15E MO decal instruction
sheet)
(b)
Thanks Gunsmoke for granting me the permission to scan their instruction
sheets for AIM-9, AIM-120, and GBU-10
Douglas
Reference
(a)
Twobobs Mountain Home AFB F-15E
(b)
Verdinlen Lock On No. 22
(c)
www.f15estrikeeagle.com
(d)
www.fas.org
(e)
www.af.org
(f)
www.arcair.com
(g)
www.globalsecurity.org
Addition
to my article.....
I
have a good news I want to share with you guys. My model just won two trophies
in the 2002 Tamiya Hong Kong Show which is a contest organized by Tamiya and
some local model shops.
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| The Chinese
words mean : Static Model Contest, Aircraft Group - Open,
1st Prize |
The Chinese
words mean : Static Model Contest, Overall 1st Prize |
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