Subject: Re: 1/72 Hasegawa F-15C build
From: "Steve Bamford" <[email-masked]>
To: "Murphy, Thomas J" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 10:40:01 -0700

----- Original Message -----
From: "Murphy, Thomas J" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 8:41 AM
Subject: 1/72 Hasegawa F-15C build

Steve,
   Here's an article on the Hasgawa F-15C.  I've included a photo of the
real thing, and a "hero shot" for the article on this E-mail, kit photos to
follow.  As usual a byline of Murph and a tag of my home E-mail will work.

Regards,
Murph

                                                             THE AIRCRAFT

   Conceived in the 1960's and built in the 1970's and 1980's the F-15 was
originally designed as a single purpose aircraft.  "Not a pound for air to
ground" was the design team's rallying cry, as they built an airplane that
was intended to win and maintain air superiority over contemporary and
projected adversary aircraft.  As it turned out the F-15 spent a mercifully
short period in the 1980's carrying and dropping green, drag inducing
devices, and a separate model (the F-15E) was built to perform the air to
ground mission, but the Eagle has stayed relatively true to that original
air to air intent.  It's historic kill ratio (over 100 to 0 at last count:
the best ever in air combat history) has been achieved as a result of the
excellence of the airframe, avionics, weapons, tactics, and the training of
it's pilots. In order to maintain that superiority there have been several
modifications to the aircraft through the years, the most significant being
the MSIP (Multi-Stage Improvement Program) program of the mid-80's to early
90's.  This is the standard which all F-15 A thru D models in both the
Active and Guard inventories are presently at.  From a modeler's point of
view this program resulted in several internal and external changes.
Internally the cockpit was modified with an MPCD (Multi Purpose Color
Display) replacing the old armament control panel on the lower left of the
instrument panel.  Externally the biggest difference was the ability to
carry the AMRAAM.  While pre-MSIP jets were theoretically capable of doing
that, they never had the software in operational units to support it.  In
addition, some MSIP jets (all C models and a very few D models) carry an
extra antenna on the right, rear tail boom, and the rear formation strip
light was modified to make room for the electronics for this antenna.  In
another program from the early 90's small antennas were added at the top and
bottom of the base of the radome as was an F-15E stick grip.   During the
mid-90's the F-15 program was essentially starved of funds, but with a
change in political administrations and the delays of the F/A-22 program
money started flowing again.  The APG-63 (V1) radar, 220E engine kits, FDL,
AIM-9X, JHMCS, and BOL dispensers are being added fleet wide over the next
several years, while the AIM-7 will finally be phased out.  There was also a
small program during the late 1990's that installed  the APG-63 (V2) AESA
(Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar on 18 jets based at Elmendorf
AFB.  Even after the Raptor is introduced, it is still anticipated to
maintain a sizeable number of F-15's, primarily in the National Guard, with
even more planned upgrades.

                                                          ASSEMBLING THE
MODEL

     The subject matter was an easy choice as was the research for it.  At
the time I built this kit, I was flying the F-15C at Langley, and the late,
great Repliscale had produced a couple of sheets of Langley F-15's; one of
them included one of my aircraft (81-036).  This particular aircraft was a
pre-MSIP jet, but it had chaff/flare dispensers installed.  I elected to
build it with more of a "European" type weapon's load (i.e. only one
external tank) rather than the more typical three bags used in Southwest
Asia; I'm saving that for when I do the MSIP jet that carried my name.  The
best starting point for an F-15 in 1/72 scale is the Hasegawa kit.  While it
has some incorrect panel lines and subtle shape problems, as Dave Whalen has
thoroughly documented, it makes a perfectly acceptable replica of a pre-MSIP
C model OOB.  This was combined with Hasegawa's Weapons Set III, for the
AIM-7MH's and the AIM-9M's.  Construction started, as usual, with the
cockpit.  The control stick in the Eagle does not end in a canvas boot; it
is mounted on a half round  "axle;" I used sectioned sprue for this.  Carved
sprue also provided the throttle quadrant and throttles.  The sidewalls and
rear bulkhead were detailed using evergreen strips and sheet plastic.  The
ACES II seat is a True Details product.  I'm not a big fan of this product
(or Verlinden's) because the headrest is undersized, but this was
pre-Neomega days.  On the positive side it does have the option of canopy
breakers on the headrest, and, as far as I know, was the first to include
this feature.  When painting the seat cushions and parachute packs, the one
rule I've seen is that there are no rules; the colors were highly variable.
The seat cushion was painted sage green, and the back cushion O.D.# 34087;
I've often seen that reversed.  The parachute pack on top of the headrest is
black green, while on the seat shoulders it is medium gray.  The seat belts
are medium gray and the shoulder harness and survival kit straps were
painted a lightened green FS# 34092.  The hardware was done in matte
aluminum; this stuff is never shiny in the real thing to keep down internal
canopy reflections.  The cockpit was painted gray Polly S FS# 36231, and Bay
5, being a post 1980 jet, was done in gloss white, while the canopy actuator
was metallic green.  The ICS boxes in Bay 5 are way too short, so they were
scratch built, and the canopy jettison actuator also had to be added to the
front of the bay (from a chopped down AIM-9P).  Once the fuselage halves
were assembled the VTR recorder and cable was added on top of the coaming
out of scrap plastic and wire, while the HUD came from the old Model
Technology etched metal set for the F-15.  The main fuselage went together
with no major problems, the wings though needed CA type filler along the top
joints.  The chaff/flare dispensers were borrowed from an Airwaves A-10
etched metal set and glued on in front of the main wheel wells; although not
totally accurate, they're close enough.  The forward fuselage and vertical
"stabs" were also added at this time with no major fit problems.  The most
"fiddly" part of the kit was the nozzles.  The major sections were assembled
onto their base, then the support struts were added.  To do it over I would
reverse that order and apply the struts to each nozzle section first, then
glue them to their bases.  The burner cans themselves were painted Gunze#
336 Hemp, to simulate the ceramic coating they have in real life, then
streaked with black.  The nozzles were painted a mix of matte aluminum and
matte black.  These assemblies were added after all painting was done.
Finally, the windscreen (which needed putty to blend it in), pylons, speed
brake and small parts were all added at this point to make the model ready
for painting.  One comment here.  In real life both the speed brake and
intakes require hydraulic power to be actuated; although, the speed brake
can be manually lifted up with no power on the jet, then propped up using a
red brace on the actuator.  Generally, though, if the aircraft is shut down
the intakes are up and locked and the speed brake is full down.  While all
this was going on I started working on the AIM-7's.  As they come out of the
box, they represent AIM-7E's, which means that they have two external cable
tunnels each running half the length of the missile, where as the AIM-7F and
later versions all had a single tunnel running the whole length of the
missile up to the radome.  The old tunnels were sanded off, and a new one
made out of strip styrene replaced them.  This work is now unnecessary,
because Hasegawa Weapons Set V includes accurate AIM-7F/M's.

                                                        PAINTING AND
DECALING

     The first thing to do was masking the canopy and tack gluing it on.
The NMF areas on the rear of the jet were also masked at this time; they
would be the last things painted.  In a reverse of the normal order (to make
masking easier) I painted the dark ghost gray FS# 36320 (Gunze H307) first,
then the light ghost gray FS# 36375 (Gunze H308) was applied over this.  In
order to provide identical, mirrored patterns I used a single set of masks.
I painted one side, let it dry, removed the masks, turned them over and
applied them to the other side, then sprayed the other side.  For those of
you who have a copy of WAPJ's Gulf War Debrief, the cover has a terrific
shot of a Langley F-15 refueling during the war and is an excellent
reference for markings and weathering.  One difference in Langley jets from
other Eagles in the CAF at this time, was that the canopy frames were not
the red brown commonly seen. Instead they were also painted in light ghost
gray.  An aside here for you fans of exact FS numbers; in real life the
light ghost gray came pre mixed, but the dark ghost gray was created by
adding black in a certain proportion to it.  This resulted in the occasional
foul up, and, when too much black was added during one repaint, a Langley
jet (tail# 81-037) ended up in an aviation magazine with the caption that
Langley was testing an experimental scheme; don't believe everything you
read in the aviation press!  That particular paint job lasted all of two
weeks, before the wing commander, who was never noted for his sense of
humor, had it repainted.  Once dry the model received a coat of Tamiya gloss
acrylic.  When this dried the decaling started; it was a combination of
Repliscale sheet# 72-1037, Super Scale sheet# 72-488 for the black stencils,
and some odds and ends from the spares box.  The kit sheet also supplied
some markings, mainly the formation strip lights, which are a light yellow
(not green or yellow green as is often stated) when turned off.  By this
time frame, the Eagle fleet had switched to all black stenciling, so that's
why Super Scale sheet# 488 (which is actually for the F-15E) was used.  In
addition, these jets are repainted on average once a year, so most of the
stenciling had long since been painted over, including the aircraft data
block on this particular jet.  Only the major servicing info, and no step
markings remained.  The one exception to this was the centerline tank.
These were removed for repaints, so they retained the original full color
markings long after the jets had switched to all black.  At this point I
painted the CFT and outer pylon connection points red.  Once dry a matte
coat of Testor's Dullcote was sprayed on.  This was doctored by pouring off
some of the clear carrier fluid after letting the bottle settle for a few
weeks and then highly thinned for an absolutely matte finish.  In real life
the finish on the Eagle is absolutely matte, with the exception of the
command, wing, and squadron insignia.  These are essentially large "zaps" on
the aircraft and are gloss finish.  If I reproduced this on a model though,
there would probably be a stern lecture on the use of the Micro Scale
method, so I kept them flat also.  Once the matte coat had thoroughly dried
the NMF areas were masked off carefully with the stickiness of the tape
reduced where the tape covered applied decals, in order to prevent pulling
them off when removing the tape.  Testors buffing aluminum metalizer was
used as a base with some panels masked off and sprayed with titanium. Lastly
the hinge areas of the intake ramps were painted gloss ADC gray FS#16473
from the Model Master line.

FINISHING UP

     At this point tape was removed, and the nozzles and landing gear were
added as well as the doors.  I used a pure black, not a scale black on the
tires, because they are replaced so frequently (every 4 to 5 missions
typically), that except for the tread, they generally look like brand new.
The anti collision and navigation lights were painted using darkened red and
blue-green colors appropriately, and the TEWS antennas off white.  The
canopy was now removed and painted matte black on the inside.  Detailing on
the canopy inside was done using sprue and scrap plastic along with the
etched metal Model Technology set mentioned earlier.  The seat was added and
the canopy was glued on in the open position.  Following that weathering was
accomplished; at this time frame, most of TAC went under the adage that a
clean jet flies better, so not a lot was done.  The streaking from the
control hinges was done using drops of acrylic black paint smeared in the
direction of the air flow, while the gun vent staining was accomplished with
dry brushing and pastels.  One crew chief, looking at the model, did comment
that the wheel hubs were too clean and some streaking behind the wheel bays
should have been done  During this time the missiles were also being
detailed.  The rocket motors of the AIM-7's were drilled out slightly.  They
were painted a base of FS# 36375 (as were the AIM-9's).  The nozzle section
on the Sparrows was painted red brown, while on the pointy end the radomes
of the AIM-7's were painted an off white.  They are a ceramic material, and
the cream/yellow color I see mentioned occasionally is an urban myth,
probably created by Lou Drendel's paintings.  The wings and fins were
painted a matte metallic dark gray.  Decals were then applied, which meant
stenciling on each section (seeker, warhead, rocket motor, and GCS) along
with the four fuse windows that characterize the AIM-7M series, and the
usual warhead and rocket motor stripes; by the time I finished each AIM-7
had 11 decals on it.  Moving to the AIM-9's, the rocket nozzles were not
drilled out but left flat, and the nozzle caps were painted a light yellow.
The noses of the AIM-9's were painted a graphite color, while the fins were
a matte metallic gray (pewter being close).  The TDD (fuse) and the extreme
nose of the missile were painted silver, while the rollerons were matte
aluminum.  Finally the seeker "glass" was painted a dark tan color.  Again
each section had stenciling decals placed on it, only 6 per missile for
these.  These were then added to the kit, along with the centerline tank,
and I called it a wrap; the completed model now sits in a display case at
work.  The Hasegawa kit is a reasonably easy build, but being pre-ALPS days,
this project actually stretched over a couple of years, while I waited for
Repliscale to release their decal sheet.

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