Great Wall F-15C Aggressor - WIP
Comments
1 14 July 2018, 04:05
Michael PhillipsWelcome David and Marko, let the fun begin!
So a little background info here, David Barclay and I are doing a buddy build together. Both of us are building GWH F-15s, I am doing the splinter F-15C of the 65th Aggressor Squadron of the USAF, and David is doing a gray digital 60th Anniversary F-15J of the 303rd TFS of the JASDF. So keep an eye on both of us as we go along!
14 July 2018, 06:00
Konrad -Well nothing more to say! I'll take a seat too. Clifford some beer too? 😉.
15 July 2018, 05:18
Michael PhillipsWelcome Martin, James, Clifford, Konrad, and Christian! Grab your popcorn and favorite beverage and sit right back and enjoy the show!
Anyway, first real progress pics to share tonight. Got the cockpit done, once again it's not my favorite part of a build so I just kinda half-assed it like usual. Looks passable enough to me. Used kit decals for the instrument panel, very tedious but look the part.
19 July 2018, 03:22
Patrick Hagelstein'half-assed' Michael says.... After seeing this I really need that beer! What if you ever put 'some effort' in it? 😉
19 July 2018, 04:06
Martin OostromEven if I spend hours meticulously detailing at my best, it might be not as good as your half-assed efforts. 👍
19 July 2018, 10:30
David BarclayLOL Nice Michael! Now ur almost caught up to me! Like how ur Instrument panel turned out..... Looks like U painted some areas black b4 the decals?
19 July 2018, 13:00
Michael PhillipsThanks Patrick, Sören, Michael, Martin, David, Murad, and Bryn!
Patrick, we will never find that out! LOL If I were to really spend time and apply myself to a cockpit I might just poke my own eyes out. And that is after I pull out whats left of my hair. I just don't enjoy that part of a build. I know, I am weird. 🙂
David, yes, I painted quite a few little spots on the IP black before I applied the decals. Those little MFers were a PITA, weren't they? LOL
19 July 2018, 18:00
Maciej BellosI am in. An F-15 is always a good sight, an Aggressor one is eye candy.
About the cockpit, well, in 48th scale is no such big deal (apart from the dials which I think I hate), try doing one in 72nd, as some of the mates here! As for your hair, I'd say don't put any effort in the cockpit, the fiance might like the post-cockpit new you :-D
19 July 2018, 18:54
David BarclayCool Michael! Yea I just used the callouts in the instructions of te J and it had the panel painted just in grey so that's what I did. Also I think the C Boxing has diff decals than the J for the IP. In any case, yours looks better w/ the black. And yes the Decals for that were a pain! But worked really well...
19 July 2018, 21:21
Donald Dickson IIAn F-15? And a kit I dont have? Yeah, I am in! Good work so far. Half assed...whatever. LOL
20 July 2018, 04:01
Michael PhillipsThanks Maciej, Clifford, David, and Donald!
Well, she's starting to look like an Eagle now. I do have a little work to do cleaning up the fuselage and other joins, but that will be next after the glue dries.
24 July 2018, 03:29
Michael PhillipsThanks Patrick! Well, got 'er primed tonight, tomorrow I start the camo! Not going to do any preshading as this jet was always pretty immaculate. Weathering will be quite restrained as well.
28 July 2018, 05:11
Michael PhillipsThanks Patrick, Clifford, James, and Erik!
I got some of the splinters painted... mask, paint, remove mask, mask again, paint... tedious! But so far so good!
1 August 2018, 03:54
Björn SvedbergLooking forward to seeing the camo pattern finished! It's so cool! 👍
1 August 2018, 09:52
Michael PhillipsThanks Konrad, Marko, David, Michael, Björn, Murad, Glenn, James, and Donald!
Tonight I made more progress, working with only the white (very light gray). Tomorrow I will go in with some blue and finish the topside and the vertical stab outsides. Then I will start the Vertical stab insides, horizontal stab undersides, and work on the underside and wrap around areas. Still have some work to do, and there are a few areas I need to clean up. Also noticed that the Mr Paint doesn't like to go over the Model Master blue very well, takes a lot of paint to hide the lines. I think this is because the Mr Paint is a satin finish and the Model Master is very flat. I need to put some more paint down on one of the white shards where you can still see the blue edge line.
Donald, it's actually very easy to mask this particular paint scheme, just a bit time consuming. I do one shard at a time. I take Tamiya tape, make the outline of the shard shape, then mask surrounding areas to prevent overspray. I have included some pictures illustrating how I do it. If I make a mistake, it will be easy to go back and correct or touch up any soft edges or overspray areas, both of which I have a few to attend to. One of the advantages of using Mr Paint, Gunze Aqueous, or Model Master like I am is the fact it dries within minutes and can be masked over very quickly.
2 August 2018, 03:47
Soeren R.She comes aling really nice. The camo job is something you dont really see that often.
3 August 2018, 04:42
Donald Dickson IIGotcha. Wasnt sure if you had a template or just eyeballing it. Regardless, I like it!
3 August 2018, 04:46
Michael PhillipsThanks Clifford, Sören, Donald, and Spanjaard!
Well, the camo is now complete, I applied a future coat in preparation for decals and wash, and started the metal exhaust areas. Put down the gloss black primer and airframe aluminum. Next up will be some light heat stressing of the metal areas of the fuselage, and a bit more on the nozzles.
Moving right along!
8 August 2018, 03:50
Wim van der LuijtI'm joining in late, but may I say that this is an awesome build so far!
8 August 2018, 06:19
Michael PhillipsThanks Wim and David!
Got the heat stressing and staining of the metalwork done tonight. Pretty pleased with how it turned out. Next up is decals followed by wash and light weathering. 🙂
9 August 2018, 02:54
Michael PhillipsThanks Konrad, Patrick, Clifford, and Donald!
Well, got started on the decals tonight. Was able to get both sides of the aircraft done (including stencils), except for the tails. Will finish the tails and upper and lower decals and stencils tomorrow hopefully.
10 August 2018, 04:29
Michael PhillipsThanks David, Christian, and Gabriel!
Well, all the decals are done except for the underside, and will finish those tomorrow. Hopefully a wash on Sunday and then it will be time to assemble landing gear and ordinance.
11 August 2018, 07:22
Michael HickeyThe camo and decals look awesome, love the look of the vertical tails.👍
11 August 2018, 07:26
Michael PhillipsThanks Michael and Clifford!
Got the wash on tonight. Overall I am happy. Next up will be the flat coat and missile and landing gear assembly and painting.
13 August 2018, 03:49
Martin OostromYou're a very brave man Michael. To put a perfectly painted model on a sanding stick, just to put on some decals. I'd be scared as **** about scratching that paint!
13 August 2018, 05:51
Michael PhillipsThanks Donald and Martin!
Martin, I actually do that all the time, I try to keep it on the "polish" side of the sanding stick, so any minor abrasion is not noticeable. The main reason for this is to try to keep from knocking off the antennae on the underside of the nose. I always seem to break those mofos off, but since I started using that nail buffer as a prop I have not knocked any off nor seen any adverse affects to the paint.
So tonight I applied the flat coat. This is my favorite part of any build, because it is here that it REALLY comes alive. The decal carrier film disappears into the paint, and the finish makes it look less like a toy and more like the real deal. But it also will show where I have any silvering, and I do have some minor silvering in a couple of places. So tomorrow I will go in and poke holes in those decals and apply some solvaset to eliminate it. Also next up is ordinance and landing gear assembly. Hope to have this wrapped up by the end of this weekend!
14 August 2018, 04:12
Michael PhillipsThanks Konrad, Christian, Gareth, and Clifford, you all are too kind!
Well, I am almost finished. Only thing left to do is paint and install the seat and attach the canopy. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get that all done... so close!
20 August 2018, 02:33
Patrick HagelsteinHey, you managed to paint the little panels next to the engines! 👍
20 August 2018, 03:54
