Subject: Re: F-15C Eagle Aggr Model
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:58:27 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: [email-masked] 
  To: [email-masked] ; [email-masked] 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:06 AM
  Subject: F-15C Eagle Aggr Model

    
  1/72 Scale Hasegawa F-15C Eagle Aggressor USAF 

  by "Burt Gustafson"
  --------------------

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here  

  Hello everyone, here is my 1/72 scale Hasegawa F-15C Eagle Aggressor USAF model aircraft. In 2006 the USAF reactivated the 65th Aggressor Squadron. It is an F-15 unit that is teamed up with the 64th Aggressor Squadron, an F-16 unit. Both are part of the 57th Adversary Tactics Group. In January of 2007 the Air Force magazine published an article about the 64th and 65th Aggressor Squadrons at Nellis AFB that included eye catching photos of the aircraft. What caught my attention was the Flanker Blue paint scheme seen on both types of fighters. At the time I said I would like to build an F-15 with the Flanker Blue paint scheme. About mid year, Squadron advertised the Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-15C Aggressor Kit. I immediately went online and purchased the kit.

  Construction was OOB except for the inert Sidewinder and an air-combat data pod on the outboard stations of the underwing pylons. This kit was not Hasegawa's best by any means. I thought it was a new kit, but it turns out to be a 20 year old kit with a fresh aggressor paint scheme. To make a long story short, there were a lot of fit problems and assembling the exhaust nozzles is tricky. However, even with the fit problems, its a pretty nice model.

  Click on images below to see larger images

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 04.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 05.jpg 
       Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 06.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 06.jpg 

  Once the model was built, the fun began. Hasegawa instructions provided two paint schemes, the Lizard scheme and the Flanker Blue scheme. As you can see, I chose the Flanker Blue scheme which consists of Cobalt Blue and a Light Blue. To get the light blue color shown in the Air Force Magazine photos, I mixed 3/4 of a bottle of flat white with some Cobalt Blue and Light Ghost Gray. Now the fun really began, masking the model for painting.

  There was a Workbench Review of this kit in the March 2008 issue of FineScale Modeler and the modeler said it took him 37 hours to build the model, much of the time spent cutting tape masks for the wavy Flanker scheme. I don't know how long it took me to build this kit, but like the FineScale modeler, I spent a lot of time cutting tape masks.

  Decaling the model was a real chore. Every decal was a battle coming of the sheet and moving it into position on the model, and thats with a good coat of Future over the finished paint job. The decal sheet had to have been quite old. Anyway, the finished model is a good example of an F-15C Eagle dressed up in Flamker Blue, it looks just like the photos in the Air Force Magazine article. Hope you enjoy it.

        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here  

  Photos and text © 2008 by "Burt Gustafson"