das Raumschiff (MDD F-15SDL)

[gooberliberation]

Someone at OKB Gooberski has defected to the West! Don't worry, he has since been taken care of by our superclap-armed agents working in a Canadian brothel.

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The mid 1990s saw a rise in tension between the Eastern and Western Blocs. With the red army oppressing peasants in Eastern Europe, nobody knew what to expect next.. Many NATO air forces found themselves with antiquated equipment to throw against mysterious new soviet fighters such as the MiG-35 and Su-37.

The Bundesluftwaffe was no different. Attempts at speeding up development of the upcoming Eurofighter resulted in disastrous delays. Without any complete replacement for the ancient F-4 phantoms,  West Germany took on a few hundred USAF-standard F-15LS laser-armed fighters. These were later modified to Luftwaffe Specifications and redesignated F-15LSD, then again to -15SDL, for reasons unknown to history.

Like its USAF counterpart, the F-15SDL has thrust vectoring nozzles.


Note the large IRST ball on the nose. This is primarily used to aim the laser.


Prior to the advent of "lightweight" airborne laser systems, canard-fitted USAF Eagles had a cannon fitted in the starboard conformal fuel tank. Prior to WW3, Luftwaffe Eagles never carried extra fuel, and armament was usually limited to pairs of sidewinders and AMRAAMs.

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I've long wanted to build an "Active," the normal F-15 has always seemed a bit plain to me, sorta like... the Tomcat's lame cousin. But the Active.... with those huge canards, looks almost like some exotic tropical fish when seem from above.

Here, I used the Academy 1/72 F-15D. It has its flaws, but is an easy and painless quick-building kit. Canards came off an F-18, just like the real SMTD/ACTIVE. I wanted to make deformed vectored nozzles, but I forsaw disaster in that, so i just made them jagged. The laser pod is a 1/48 eurofighter fuel tank fitted with a glass bead. I didn't notice until it was too late that the pod doesnt leave for much ground clearance, heh, whoops. Decals came from various sources.

Hope y'all enjoy!

[Shasper]

*Waiting for the Hobbit to make a F-15F remark*


Looks good Goob!



Shas B)

[anthonyp]

Nice F-15!  I usually can't stand the ACTIVE F-15, with the big honkin' canards.  They just don't look right on an F-15.  Then again, I don't think canards look right on a Su-33.  It could be the tailplane-canard combo that bugs me.

Anyways, very cool model.  As for the very little ground clearance, it's a German plane.  They'd FIND a way to make it work.

   

[The Rat]

She looks 'right' Goob! Always loved the Eagle, a much cleaner looking airplane than the  Tomcat.    

[AeroplaneDriver]

Grat looking Adler!!!

[John Howling Mouse]

Love the "Zappen" too!

[Spey_Phantom]

the F-15 active, one of my favorite aircraft
i posted mine here a while ago, yours looks nice though  B)  

[K5054NZ]

*Waiting for the Hobbit to make a F-15F remark*

*Trying to hold self back from insulting Goober for building an -F faster than I could think of doing it*


Very nice.............


Seriously, great work - I may just have to use this puppy as reference for Cheetah. Fantastic!

[Brian da Basher]

Man Goober that camo and those Deutsche markings look soo good on that bird! Stunning work!

Brian da Basher

P.S. I think you got the weathering perfect on that keyboard in the background too.

[dexter059]

wunderbar kameraden                

[gooberliberation]

Thanks for the comments!

Yo Zac, feel free to use my spaceship for reference. Nils also posted a totally badass  Eagle a while back, his fuselage-mounted gun is worth note, if youre going to canard-up the existing cannon. There's also this one on ARC.

Mabye you can whip up something to blow us ALL away!

I think I officially have a tandem-triplane fetish... watch out anthony  

[Ollie]

Wicked, WICKED!