1/32 Tamiya F-15E "Southern Outlaw"

Gallery Article by Marcel W. Hohl on Nov 5 2009

 

 

Here is my great big labor of love, the Tamiya “E”.  What follows are the highlights of the build.  

COCKPIT: I decided not to go with any resin set, but did use Eduard’s full color photo etch set.  Using the set as may result in a bit of a two-dimensional appearance; also, the color specs used on the set are quite off, so I had to do some post-install tweaks to get things to look a little better.

First off, I used a hand brush to apply a charcoal gray onto the instrument panels, since the Eduard “black” is far too light. I of course avoided applying the charcoal gray over the areas that feature photo detail. I used only very slight amounts of paint, so the technique is similar to dry-brushing. I did the same for the light gray areas. I think the result conveys the correct overall color grades while at the same time showing off the impressive photo detail that can only be achieved by using the Eduard set. Second, I used bits of plastic card and stretched sprue to add on switches and knobs, resulting in more realistically looking, three dimensional instrument panels.

Verlinden seats replace the kit seats. The seats themselves are quite good, the nice thing about them really is that they come with the canopy piercing frame. On the down side, many of the detail parts are supplied in etched brass and are over-scale, so that it’s pretty impossible to assemble them all onto the seat. Most frustratingly, the guide rails do not lend themselves to being bent in the required channel section shape at all, I ended up purchasing some other after market guide rails and modifying these to fit into the tub. I also used lead foil to cover the seat backs, the prime motivation for doing this was so that the folds of the two seats would be slightly different. I really like the way this worked out. To finish things off, I used the Eduard color etch placards, they certainly make things come alive.

I created the HUD glass by cutting the appropriate shape from an irredescent gift-wrapping bow I happened to find at CVS. Note that the width was cut to a slightly larger than required size, so that once it was placed into the HUD frame it would slightly bow out, just like the real thing.

I finished the cockpit off with some very light dry-brushing of light gray and Aluminum, and then a very light wash. “E” cockpits usually seem pretty clean to me, so I definitely didn’t want to overdo it.

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FUSELAGE: I purchased the Cutting Edge intakes. My set was pretty deformed, but I figured the kit fuselage would bend the intake into the correct shape. I was wrong! Turns out the modulus of elasticity of resin is far greater than that of plastic, which resulted in one of the kit intakes being drawn down and into the kit once everything was assembled. At that point I was actually going to throw away the whole project, but fortunately I did some experimentation and found that the melting point of resin is far below that of plastic—resin becomes very soft at 100deg C (the temperature of boiling water), while the kit plastic is unaffected, at least in the short term. So I poured boiling water over the deformed area to soften up the resin, and then twisted the intake back to the right orientation. For once, it all worked according to plan and the kit was saved.

The wing/fuselage joint is not a great fit, as has been frequently documented, so quite a bit of superglue filling and re-scribing was required here. Other than that, things went smoothly.  

EXHAUSTS: I used the Cutting Edge exhausts, they are great! On the insides, I simulated the ceramic lining using light gray paint, and then added the dark smoked streaks using pastels. For the outside, I used SNJ Gunmetal (I’m a huge SNJ fan) and then, using as little airbrush pressure as possible, highlighted the outer nozzle plates with SNJ gold.  

MISSILES: The Cutting Edge Winders and AIM-120’s were used in conjunction with Two Bobs decals. I had some leftover LAU 128 launch rails from the Tamiya F-16 kit, so I used those. The ADU 552 adaptors were scratch built.  

BOMBS: The chosen bomb configuration was taken from an F-15E website that showed that this configuration was used by the 336th FS in OIF. It consists of the following:

1x GBU-10. I used the kit bomb, but used fins from the CAM resin sets since those fins are nominally thinner. Harold from AMS helped me out with the front guidance section, thanks Harold! Harold also suggested drilling a little hole into the front and filling this with Krystal Klear to simulate the seeker glass, which I duly did. Note that my “E” is an early OIF bird and as such had not yet started to use the seekers featuring the larger glass dome with the yellow mechanism behind it.

2x GBU-12. I used an Australian resin set for the nose and tail section, and mated these onto Mk82 bodies taken from the Academy F/A-18 kit (the resin set bomb bodies were under sized). As with the GBU-10, the seeker heads were supplied by Harold.

3x Mk82. These are from CAM , I chose them because of the very thin fins. I did change them a bit though, I added some scratch-built FMU 113 proximity fuses which I thought were a more probably fuse than the old kit-supplied type.

All of the bombs were painted basic olive drab. However, I used a wide range of shades for the bomb bodies since these usually discolor very significantly. The bomb bodies also received a very flat final coat, whereas the guidance sections were finished in semi-gloss. The rust effects were simulated using Testors “rust”, which was hand-brush applied in vertical streaks. Finally, since this is an early OIF Eagle, I though some bomb graffiti would be appropriate, which I hand brushed on.  

EXTERNAL TANKS: Again, Cutting Edge came to the rescue here. The kit tanks, even the larger ones supplied with the “E” kit, are really wrong.

 

 

PAINTING, DECALING ETC. The main premise of my weathering was to recreate the somewhat faded and uneven look apparent on Strike Eagles once they have seen a bit of service, particularly on active duty. However, I certainly didn’t want to go overboard, these North Carolina guys keeps their “E’s” in pretty good shape. To that end, I used some slightly white-lightened Gunship Gray for the base coat and then lightened up some random sections with increasingly lightened Gunship Gray. I also painted the wing leading edges with Ghost Gray, doing so in an asymmetrical pattern I had observed on an actual 336th Eagle. Something else I did is a simulation of the paint chipping and abrasion that occurs on the wing and tail leading edges. I used Aluminum as a base coat, covered that with Pale Yellow and then applied the final coat. A variety of techniques were used to simulate the actual chipping to reveal the base coat, one of the best methods was to let the final coat dry for only about 10 minutes, and then lightly go over the shipped area with 220 grade sand paper (very lightly!).

I used my usual soapy water / Tamiya acrylic mix to apply a light wash, the coated with Future before decal application. I used the Two Bobs OIF sheet, which is awesome, my particular choice is “Southern Outlaw”. I also used the HobbyDecal dry transfer set to augment some of the stenciling—they generally went on well, but in some instances application resulted in the pain lifting off. Nonetheless, the HobbyDecal transfers are quite key for simulating all of the stencils, particularly those found on the lower fuselage.  

WHEELS WELL / LANDING GEAR. I didn’t really go overboard here, I just used some wire and stretched sprue to add some hydraulic lines, and then finished things off with some of the Eduard placards. The final little extra that I always do on the tires is to apply some white pastel onto the tire surface that would be in contact with the tarmac.

On and off, this project took about two years. It’s certainly not a quick build, but it’s definitely the favorite creation in my display cabinet!

Marcel W. Hohl

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Photos and text © by Marcel W. Hohl