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1/48 Italeri F-15A 'Baz' |
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1/48 Italeri F-15A 'Baz' |
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Hello for the 3rd time! And hello from Singapore!! This is my 2nd 1/48 model and also my 20th in my never-ending collection of warplanes. I hoped you liked my F-16 and A-10 already here on ARC even though I see them as under the mediocre standard xD So without wasting any more time, let me present to you my just completed model of the world's premier air superiority fighter of the 20th Century, the F-15 Eagle aka 'Baz' of the Israeli Air Force (IAF). Just a brief history about F-15s. The F-15 has chalked up an impressive 104 aerial victories without sustaining a single loss of it's own with over half the kills claimed by the Israeli Air Force. My F-15 depicts F-15A 'Baz' serial number 669 of the IAF's 133 Squadron based at Hatzerim Airbase. Not only was 133 Squadron the first IAF squadron to fly the F-15, it was also the first F-15 squadron to chalk up the first 3 kills for the F-15 worldwide when 3 Syrian MiG-21s were downed over Lebanon in 1979. F-15s have also never been shot down in combat since it's operational history. F-16s have been shot down before but never has an F-15 been blown out the sky by any enemy aircraft or surface-to-air missiles. And during the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein's fighter pilots just refused to intercept the Americans as they knew that they would just get blown out the sky by F-15s if they ever took off and come into contact with the Americans. Due to it's impressive air-to-air record which included MiG-29s, no wonder countries are interested in getting F-15s for their air forces. Besides the United States Air Force, F-15s are also being used by Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore which recently ordered up to 24 F-15SGs which are even more advanced versions of the F-15E Strike Eagle and are capable of deploying JDAMs, JSOWs, AMRAAMs, AIM-9X, AIM-7M Sparrows, a 20mm M61 gatling gun and etc. Click on images below to see larger images
Ok back to the topic. I found this Italeri kit to be one of the weirdest F-15s I've ever seen so far. I was disappointed with the cockpit as it was nothing but decals. The afterburner cans were terrible, the main landing gear didn't look so correct to me and the HUD was an F-15E-class HUD which was wrong. I had to modify the HUD by cutting it into 2 and modifying the 2 pieces so that they look like an F-15A/C-class HUD. HUD frames were also scratchbuilt to make the HUD better. But the main reason for building this F-15 was not only to have another 1/48 aircraft in my collection but also to prove myself that I can still build F-15s well as I screwed by 2 1/72 F-15s pretty badly. Well, I should say that I'm rather satisfied with the results! At least this was
also a good practice for me before I start tackling bigger and better models
like Tamiya, Revell and Hasegawa which produces great F-15s.
This model was
basically built OOB. It is armed with 4 Sidewinder and 4 Sparrow missiles for
the standard A2A loadout. Painting was done with paints H307 and H308 for the
basic F-15 scheme. As you know, I'm still young, only 17 and still not so
good at masking and painting yet so pardon my flaws yeah? I also do not
have putty or filler so pardon the gaps in between the joints too yea? Well if only this kit had a proper cockpit, afterburner cans and Israeli markings which also include the kill marks and that Hebrew phrase seen on the nose of all IAF F-15s, then I think this can be a kit I'll recommend. Alright, I think
I'll let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves. Hope you like it! Cheers!! Xue Qian Click on images below to see larger images
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Photos and text © by Chuang Xue Qian
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Israel Independence Day 2008 
Weathering
was done by smudging pencil dust in the direction of flight. The panel lines
were highlighted using a sharp 2B pencil and excess dust from the pencil being
smudged in the flight direction to add more realism. To conclude it all, the
plane was finished by spraying a layer of gloss to protect the paint.
Canopy handles and mirrors were scratchbuilt to add more detail to the canopy
and the yellow bands on the missiles were painted on as I wanted to depict my
F-15 carrying live rounds. The ailerons were cut and dropped as seen from
reference photos, the ailerons were usually dropped whenever the plane is on
static and RBF tags were made to add extra realism. The IAF and 133
Squadron patches were printed from the Internet and backed with cardboard to
strengthen the paper patches. The decals were from the kit. But I've found the
eagle decal on the inner tails to be bigger than what I saw from the reference
photos. 
- , take care
and God bless! 
