1/48 F-15 ACTIVE II

by John Snell

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This project is a 'what if' model of a production F-15 ACTIVE II decked out for air superiority.  There's lots of stuff to nit-pick on it, but I have excuses for it all.  My idea is that sometime in the near future, the US needs an interim 5th generation fighter that's cheaper and tougher than the F-22.  Dig the old ACTIVE out of it's shed at NASA, do some tweaking and you've got it.  This aircraft has been modified to carry a gunpod (no nomenclature on that yet, but it's really big!), due to the elimination of the cannon by the canard actuators.  It has also been modified to carry Russian ordinance.  This one is armed with two Sidewinders and two Aphids.  Again, the idea was that in some near future it would be necessary for units operating in remote theatres to buy cheaper Russian replacements (due to the expense and delay in US resupply).  Believe me, I have this whole thing worked out, but no room here to go into it all.  I'll just say, I have been thinking of somehow putting together a Jian-12 to sit next to it.

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The canards were easily added with just some sheet styrene and a little putty.  I did some drastic reshaping on the intakes, but you really can't tell unless you take a good look at it alongside a picture of an actual F-15.  The intakes are Seamless Suckers, and the AA-8's came off a Trumpeter Su-15.  I used Testors Acryl paints (thinned with alcohol) for the overall paint, and I just used the stock decals.

John

Photos and text © by John Snell