F-15N Sea Eagle, United States Navy

[TheChronicOne]

Pretty simple idea here.... a scheme swap.

I'm CONSIDERING doing a radar upgrade and maybe trying to hang some Phoenix missiles on it but I really doubt it. I don't think the addition of the AN/APG-63 radar would change things externally anyway so wouldn't need to change the nose any. (I could be wrong, someone please correct me if so!!)

Folding wings would be nice to add but I don't like them posed that way so all I would do is scribe the "break" lines on the wings to make them look right.

Beefing up the tailhook?? Maybe. This kit has it molded on but is pretty dinky. All that shows is the very end of it so all I would have to do is cut off the old one, make just the hook part and a tiny bit of rod, then glue it on. I'll make my mind up later on that.     

[sandiego89]

Great!  like you chose a tow seater Eagle.  I would highly recommend a "real" tail hook from a carrier based aircraft kit.  The hooks used on land based aircraft such as the F-15 and F-16 are much flimsier affairs designed for emergency barricades, with MUCH lower energy forces involved. 

I do think the radar on the F-14 was larger, but likely not enough to notice in 1/72 scale. 

For added realism, consider nose gear strengthening and catapult hook up bar on the nose gear.  Twin nose wheels also advised- by the 1970's most carrier aircraft were using twin nose wheel to "mind the gap" of the catapult track.   

[TheChronicOne]

Fantastic advice. I can do those things easily enough. I have tons of spare wheels these days so I'll do the dual front wheels and make the strut beefier and I'll go ahead and do the tail-hook, too. 

Thanks for the input. I'm more stoked now than I already was about this one. 

[TallEng]

Of course it would look best (IMHO) in VF-1 Wolf packs red stripe colours (I suppose that should be colors )
Looking forward to the finish.

Regards
Keith

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, Keith!

You know, I was already considering going with aftermarket transfers in the event I don't like these or they don't work so I think I'll investigate that. I think you're right.. that scheme would look gorgeous on this. The scheme with the F-14A transfers is pretty cool but Wolfpack is BETTER.     Looking at the stuff that goes on the vertical stabs, in particular, I think the Wolfpack stuff would be easier to "modify" to make fit.

Stay tuned... I'm going to go see what I can dig up....   

[TheChronicOne]

This is a shame! I haven't done a LICK of work on this. All I managed was to make this thread and clip out the two fuse. halves.

No worries, though, as I finished another build just the other day so I am now down to 3 ongoing builds with a couple of them in danger of being finished.... and this one being the third. SO, it's about time to get to work (and I probably will with some actual construction later this evening).

One thing has changed, however.... and that is my transfers for this have arrived!

I shopped around and couldn't find just a sheet by themselves for less than $30, but, found this entire kit for $20! Not only that, but these are some really thorough, really nice Cartograf transfers printed in 2012 so the quality is almost guaranteed to be stellar. The other ones I were looking at were Microscale I think(?) but much older.





So, I have a "free" "bonus" kit and a nice set of goodies to make a proper Wolfpack F-15! 


More to come soon, I hope. I'm trying to convince myself to finally re-organize my stash and I want to get at least a couple bits and pieces done on my Raptor build so this is down the list of priorities a bit.

[TheChronicOne]

I have FINALLY started this.


I have gotten a TON of stuff done today! I've kind of approached this first phase of building as if it were a blitz build;  just do anything and everything I can to move forward.

I've done a little bit of everything but the main focus was to get as much done as possible on the fiddly bits.

I'll start at the beginning.... first I start clipping things off the sprues and trimming away superfluous sprue pieces and all the parts that don't even go on the kit. Next I go through and cut away 2nd and 3rd attach points to the parts that are left and file and sand away any burrs left over. Now I have a bunch of streamlined sprues with the fiddly bits left and the major components cut off and filed and sanded. During all this I'm referencing the instructions and also starting to glue things together.....     long story short, every last piece has been trimmed off or at least trimmed down, filed, and sanded.

I've assembled the cockpit tub and innards; two seats, two sticks, and the tub itself. It's also been primed. I've assembled the intakes. I've assembled the wings. I've assembled and primed all landing gear stuff. I've assembled and primed the external fuel tank. I've trimmed and PSRed all the ordnance (AIM-9x4 AMRAAMx4) aside from the Phoenixes and primed and also painted the main colors on those. All the gear doorss have been cleaned up and primed. The nozzles have been cleaned up and primed.  I've done a lot of dry-fitting and adjusting on various things. Not too much of that... the kit mold seems old, there was flash, but fitment all seems pretty good! I've trimmed out the nose cone and added as much weight and PVA as I could. Trimmed out and painted both control panels; they are awaiting some floor polish or gloss then transfers. ..... ...  And some other things I'm forgetting, I'm sure. 

At this point I can't keep track but I know I knocked out a lot of work, some of it being the tedium that I'm not always looking forward to. I took some pretty random pictures of some of it:


Sidewinders and AIM-120.


Wings, gas tank, and control panels. I told you they were "random." 


Doors, gears, and stuff.

That's it for now! I'm putting it all up before I become more confused. If I can amazingly keep this pace I might finish this pretty soon and that would be great. The paint job is a solid grey color across the entire thing aside from things like natural metal around the exhaust sections that get hot, little panels and such, and the nose, so painting won't be too bad. There are a lot of transfers, though.     Still, if I can avoid ridiculous amounts of time in PSR and fiddling with junky fitment issues (which I don't really expect) I should be able to get through the building portion of this in due time.

TTYL! 

[TheChronicOne]

Today was another hellacious ordeal as far as work is concerned. Another day up at 3AM and then spent 9-10 hours working. After lunch there was a slothy-type period where I wasn't sure I'd work on anything AT ALL but I eventually grabbed a paint brush and got rollin'...     Glad I did!! It took a good long while, but I'm finished painting all the fiddly bits and have even glossed them all so they can be glued on later and have transfers put on.    (everything but the Phoenixes, that is.. still saving them for later    )  I still will have to clip a couple things off sprue and do a quick "clean up" then touch up the paint but all the rest is well protected under clear and ready.

Pictures are haphazard again.......     











Rather than name it all off, let's just say all the 'gear-and-doors-and-junk' are finished.

I'm at the point now where I can continue main construction with putting the cockpit tub into the fuselage half then gluing them together along with the weighted down nose cone. I haven't even looked at that in about 48 hours. With so much PVA in it it will probably still be drying after the build is done but I just need the stuff by the rim to settle down so I can glue it. 

Other things to think about next are the fins.. I'm going to finish them separately from the rest then glue them on at the end because the fit is good. Also it's about time to investigate how to approach the tailhook situation.


I'll ruminate more on this later, though. 

[TheChronicOne]

Moving rapidly, now!  ALLllllllllllll day long and all I've managed to do was mask the glass pieces and do a bit of filing on the nose cone to square away the PVA that was on the rim. That said....  there's not a whole hell of a lot left to do to this. The transfers will definitely take awhile but all the rest is going very fast.

I can't do anything else, now, until I put the cockpit transfers on. After that, and the control panels, and I can put another coat of clear on them and get them glued in and go ahead with actually building the thing. The fins can be worked on, as well, in the way of filing/sanding the edges where the seams are and then being primed. I'll paint them and decal them separately from the rest of the build.

Good thing is, the paint on this thing is the super boring "all over grey. (thank God for very nice, very colorful transfers!) "  No lighter grey bottom or any of that... the whole thing is just one shade of grey. Painting it will be a treat and I expect it not to take too long even with thin coats. I can use my fat brush and go to town.

The entirety of today's activities  :




Not sure if I'll mess with this any more tonight or go fiddle with my PBY-6 or BAC 111.   

[TheChronicOne]

I decided to press on with the build. I'm putting the transfers on the missiles and the cockpit stuff.

The AMRAAMS are from the Revell F-22 kit, as are the transfers for them, and are pretty new and they worked out great. I had enough for those and also had two stencils that went on the Sidewinders. I wish I had all four, but, I take what I can get. The two Sidewinders that did get the transfers will be placed outboard on the pylons so if anyone peeks, they'll see them and won't notice the others missing. 

But, now, I have a problem... the kit transfers are trash and fall to a million pieces. That means no instrument panels, no side-arm panels in the cockpit, and no common markings like the stencils, etc. that go on the main body. This sucks. I have a newer kit of this very same model that surely has much better transfers in it so I'm contemplating using those. It's an easy and efficient solution to a problem but then leaves the other kit missing it's transfers!! I was planning on building it real world so now I'm in the midst of a conundrum.

[Hobbes]

A couple of subtle visible changes you could add:

- the F-14 has an IRST under the nose:


- add a couple of styrene strips near the tailhook (to strengthen the fuselage against the increased tailhook loads) and the nosewheel

- on the nosewheel, add the coupling that attaches to the catapult, and replace the angled strut with a beefier one.

[zenrat]

You might be able to get a pre coloured photoetch instrument panel set.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks for the tips y'all!! The only things I had planned for was the sensor and new tailhook itself. I'll give everything some thought and see what I can come up with. I was thinking so far of using a Phantom sensor...   It might be too old tech??  But, I can modify it and make it anything I want if it won't work as is. That should turn out to be a nifty touch!

[TheChronicOne]

Alright.... here we go..... 



I've gone through my spare parts stash and found most everything I need. I'm not going to do any reinforcement of the nose gear well.... let's just say it was done, but is all internal. I doubt they would slap things on the OUTSIDE of the skin anyway so ....    that ought to work.

Tailhook reinforcement I have found. I'll have to do a wee bit of filing on it but will look good and won't look like just a couple pieces of "stuff" I had sitting around. It's the sort of long oblongish grey piece with the two ridges down the middle. It fitts pretty snugly between the engines and leave a nice opening for the new tail hook. I'll have to do some more dry fitting and brainstorming with both of those items together before I finalize anything, though.

I've found some nifty stuff to use to make beefier gear, as well. I was looking at the main gear and the angled struts on thse are even dinkier than the nose gear so I think I'll just replace those as well. Next, I have stuff to make the nose gear better. Angled strut, launchbar, and I'll also add this bit of stuff that goes on the back side as well..  "Catapult holdback fitting." It won't be no award winning super accurate stuff but then again the whole thing isn't even that so it will be fine. One last thing... I've decided to delete the single wheel and go with a double wheel setup. I found some main wheels from a 1/144 JU 88 that are the perfect size. They're a bit thinner than the regular tired but combined are definitely having more rubber on the ground.

Lastly, I have some stuff for the IRST. I'm going to go ahead with the one from the Phantom and try to make it work. I'm going to add things to it, however, to make it look like a newer model of sensor. I have some rinds and some... round... thingy....  that'll I'll cobble together.

This should take care things quite well to get the point across that this is a Naval bird.


I've gathered all this together but I'll probably not work on it any until later. It's about time for lunch.   

[TheChronicOne]

Getting somewhere now!!! I could have had this thing built and working on PSR by now if not for this malarkey but it's going to make for a better airplane!   


So anyway....   I've finished the nose gear. It now contains pieces from SIX different kits. 


BEEFY


I also did some mods to the main gear, making sure to keep the off-set angle of the support struts:




Next up I took the F-22 tail hook, cut it down (half or more is inside the housing/reinforcement stuff), and added 3 pieces of random "things" to it to make it stout:



Next, I filed down the existing hook to turn it into the "stop" the new one rests on. Then, I had to do a bunch of cutting and filing on the piece I'm using as the housing and reinforcement but it seems to have worked and looks just fine, to me:






Now, all I have left is to build the IRST. I have a number of pieces here to work with so I should be able to produce a reasonable facsimile (of a fictitious device).