quicky: F-15 MANX

[Spey_Phantom]

i build this model yesterday, took me only a few hours 

back history:

as the costs of the ATF program was rising astronomically, neither the F-22 nor the F-23 would seem likely to be build in enough numbers to fully replace the F-15. to cope with this problem, Boeing teamed up with Northrop-Grumman to develop a new version of its F-15 Eagle fighter. it features new front mounted LERX, and a radical new tailless design. the F-15 MANX first flew in 1996 and was meant to fly allongside the newly accuired F-22A. this was the first varriant of the F-15 to be multyrole, as the F-15C was a pure A2A, and the E was an A2G fighter. in the MANX both types there strong points were combined to make the MANX a true multirole fighter.

the MANX was the first F-15 to be sold to a civilian paramilitary contractor, known as the Black Eagle Mercenaries.
the BEM is a group of 6 pilots that are ready to be sent into battle, if you can negociate the right price and mission.(concidered to be a flying A-team).
the team has been seen flying a mixed fleet of aircraft including 1 EF-2000, 1 SU-35, 1 F-14D, 1 F/A-18F with canards, 1 EA-18G and 1 F-15 MANX. guessing the pilots get to fly there own personally prefered type.

model:

i was orriginally gonna go for this layout



but i guess ive must have lost track of the design, anyway, here's the result 

the model is a revell 1/144 F-15 Eagle with the V-tail surfaces of a 1/144 Revell YF-23.
the weapon racks allong the intate lines were those i found in an dragon A-6 intruder kit, by the looks it was meant for the dragon F-15E kit (my guess is it was in the pakage because of the load of clusterbombs)
the 2 sparrom missiles are from the kit itself and the 2 AGM-130 are modified from those found in the minicraft 1/144 Jaguar.
the paintjob is made to reprisent the new eagle flown by the mercenary pilot, Larry Foulke, aka "Solo Wing Pixy" (the character from the game "Ace Combat Zero"). a veteran ace pilot who earned his name in the belkan war in 1995, where he flew an F-15C that was painted with a red wing. this characteristic red wing can still be found on his MANX, after he retired his old C-model.

[Jschmus]

Looks nifty, but what are the funky-looking stores on the aft missile stations?

[B777LR]

Looks nifty, but what are the funky-looking stores on the aft missile stations?

Sidewinder + liferafts from heller 1/400 Clemencaeu/Foch. Looks like a bomblet dispencer to me... ;-)

[Spey_Phantom]

actually, thats half right.

i wanted to mount a few AGM-130's on the aircraft, but the minicraft missiles were very dissatointing, so thats the reason i used the 1/400 foch liferafts as the bottom of the missile, just like in this pic 

[gunfighter]

COOL, the japanese need some of these.

[The Rat]

That is EXACTLY what I pictured in my mind when I saw the title of your post! BRILLIANT! 

[Patrick H]

Neat build Nils, and a fast one.

[ysi_maniac]

Nide idea that I plan to build one day in 1/72