McDonnell Douglas F-15 A/C by Danstream - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1:48

[Dave_E]

Simply OUTSTANDING Dan! I’m a lifer jet guy (years of military time) and those nozzles couldn’t look any more realistic. Your addition of some oil streaking (also called rivet trails if the streak comes from a working faster of some kind) is great as well. 

[Danstream]

2 hours ago, Dave_E said:

I’m a lifer jet guy (years of military time) and those nozzles couldn’t look any more realistic. Your addition of some oil streaking (also called rivet trails if the streak comes from a working faster of some kind) is great as well. 

Thank you Dave! I appreciate your evaluation. I will remember the 'rivet trails' definition.

Dan

[king derelict]

Absolutely spectacular Dan. The nozzles really look good

Alan

[Danstream]

Hi,

a small update that concludes the application of the camouflage of the main airframe. I masked again the metallic panels in view of the final coating of matt clear varnish. In fact, I want to retain the shiny finish of the metallic panels:

After spraying a thinned layer of Tamiya matt (doped with some drops of gloss), after long time, I can remove all the masking tapes also from the canopy:

I am pleased with the variety of finishes of the metallic parts and painted surfaces:

Now I will concentrate of the huge drop tanks and on the missiles.

Best regards,

Dan

 

 

[Javlin]

Oh Hell yeah Dan that looks frigg-in  Saswweeet!!

[Danstream]

Thanks Javlin and thanks for the 'like's. Small bit and pieces take very long, hence, just small progress at the time. Added black smoke puffs of the starter exhaust on the belly and LG pieces now permanently mounted:

Main LG:

Nose wheel:

Back to tanks and missiles. 

Kind regards,

Dan

 

 

[Danstream]

Hi,

following Denis' suggestion, I went a bit on with my build. I must admit that I find this phase of preparing the large fuel tanks a bit boring and also finishing the many missiles is not very exciting. I should have thought earlier to close the slots that are there to hold the tanks so to omit them and display the airframe in its sleek and beautiful shape. Too late for that, these are the tanks now after the usual black followed by several layers of paint:

Transparent clear and matt are still missing. I will not weather them much, because I do not want them to catch too much attention. Meanwhile, I brush painted the pilot's seat which is a QB resin replacement. This is the only aftermarket used for this build, if we exclude the new decals. This is the most prominent piece that will be visible through the closed canopy glass and I wanted it to look cooler than the simplified part supplied with the kit.

I painted it with Tamiya acrylic paints, Vallejo metallic for the buckles and the I sealed everything with a light coat of clear matt. Finally, the cockpit is now complete:

That's all for now, 

thanks for your interest,

Dan

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by Danstream

[Canute]

Nicely done, Dan. Great looking build.

[Danstream]

Thank you Ken! Great that you like it!

Although at slow pace, I am progressing. Never built before, I find this aircraft one of the coolest so far (have I already said that?).

Dan

Edited July 30, 2022 by Danstream

[FriedClams]

Beautiful work Dan, wonderful paint work - so clean and yet authentic in appearance.  Nice.

 

Gary  

[Danstream]

Hi Gary, thank you, I am happy for your appraisal.

Hope to post something soon,

kind regards,

Dan

[Danstream]

Hi all,

very small progress, but I would like to post something before my summer break. I am taking a couple of weeks leave to drive to south Europe and visit family. So for a while I will not post but I will learn of the progress of your builds. I painted all the external loads according to schemes which I think should match the period of the livery of the plane. This is the present state of affairs:

I still need to add the numerous colored bands to the missile bodies, but that should not take long. I have not decided whether I will paint them or use decal stripes. After that, these and the last things need to be put together in the final stretch.

 

Happy modeling and enjoy the summer, for those on this side of the planet, for the others have a good time anyway.

Dan

 

 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Danstream

[Dave_E]

Have a good holiday Dan, drive safe (watch out for the other guy). The jet looks fabulous! 👍😀

[Canute]

Nicely done, Dan. You've captured the seeker head color of your 'Winders.

 

Have a safe drive on your holiday.

[Landlubber Mike]

That's insanely good Dan, wow!  Your painting techniques are incredible.  Very nice job!

[Danstream]

Thanks for your appreciation and compliments, Mike! I am glad that you like my job.

 

Sorry for my late reply, I am just back from my trip to Italy and going through my mail backlog and the progresses of this site. I will reconnect with people of this blog soon.

Best regards,

Dan

[Landlubber Mike]

Amazing work Dan!  Very nice job!

 

Do you mind if I ask you a question?  I see in earlier pictures you have the cockpit hood attached to the model when painting.  Then later, I see the hood is off the model.  How do you secure the cockpit to the model for the painting phase, so that it is strong enough to withstand the airbrush flow, but easy enough to remove?  I'm about to prime my Buffalo, and was looking to do something similar - prime and paint with the cockpit hood on to avoid paint getting into the cockpit, but then opening up the hood for final display.  Thanks!

[Egilman]

31 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Do you mind if I ask you a question?  I see in earlier pictures you have the cockpit hood attached to the model when painting.  Then later, I see the hood is off the model.  How do you secure the cockpit to the model for the painting phase, so that it is strong enough to withstand the airbrush flow, but easy enough to remove?

I hope you don't mind me answering this one brother, my technique is simple, Canopy Glue, I use Formula 560 myself, don't know what Dan uses but the process is similar I suspect... 

 

Basically you tack glue it on just like you would be installing it closed... Canopy Glue is a flexible PVA glue that dries crystal clear and very thin, it doesn't damage the parts so it is easy to remove afterwards... All it does is peel off leaving the parts in perfect condition....

 

Afterwards you can position it in any position you like...

Edited September 6, 2022 by Egilman

[Landlubber Mike]

That's really helpful, thank you!  I was trying to figure out what to do as the Buffalo has a relatively long cockpit and i wasn't sure how to tape certain sections.  Having the canopy on the model makes things much easier!

[Danstream]

19 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Do you mind if I ask you a question?  I see in earlier pictures you have the cockpit hood attached to the model when painting.  Then later, I see the hood is off the model.  How do you secure the cockpit to the model for the painting phase, so that it is strong enough to withstand the airbrush flow, but easy enough to remove?

Hi Mike, @Egilman already provided a viable solution 👍. In my case, I use drops (thouch-ups) of Vallejo masking fluid. After painting, the canopy can then be displaced easily by inserting a blade between the canopy and the sills and the remaining residuals can be easily peeled off.

Clearly, in many cases a canopy that fits well provides a very practical way of protecting the cockpit. I do the same with LG doors when they have a good fit with the wheel bays.

 

Kind regards and good luck with your Buffalo,

Dan

[Danstream]

Hi,

I am back to the F-15 model trying to get the last bits done. The missiles are basically completed with the various stripes as seen in pictures. Various colors have different meanings, I chose a combination which I hope makes sense.

I have done the stripes cutting them from scrap decals. While I had a yellow and grey decals, the brown was obtained by painting brown a piece of white decal. The work was quite tedious and they are not the best which can be seen around (f.i. the fins are very thick, but I did not feel like replacing them with thin scratch built ones) and this is how they look when installed:

Next to it, the large center-line tank can be seen. I added few shadows brushed with a black oil color. Then, with the tank mounted in place:

Meanwhile, the pods carrying the sidewinders and the other tanks have been prepared, ready to be installed:

Only few steps are now missing, comments or suggestions are welcome,

Best regards,

Dan

[Canute]

Dan, I think you have the missile details down pat. Yellow bands mean they are live rounds or war shots. The 'winder head is a metallic green with a dark band where the fuse is located, about where you show the brown band.  Well done. One detail for your 'winders is all four tailplanes had a silver grey square on each tip. These are small gyroscopes which deploy when the missile is launched. They provide stability for the missile. They are about 3" on each side, so fairly small. 👍😄

[Danstream]

Thank you very much Ken for your reply, I am glad you find them acceptable. As far as the gyros on the tips of the Sidewinders, I noticed these details although I did not figure out that the small wheels at the corners where gyros (I presume they are span by the relative airflow). However, the prospect of masking and painting 4 x 4 = 16 small squares at the corner of each fin did not appeal me greatly. Hence, I plainly omitted them (shame on me).

I hope I will be forgiven 😌.

Kind regards,

Dan

[Canute]

No problem. Your Eagle is progressing quite well. Very nice work.  👍😄

 

The gyros are a minute detail that only an old weapons officer would spot. I could add other items, but you'd need a 1/16 scale model to see them. 😉

[Danstream]

Hi all,

please find a small addendum to my last instalment because I just managed to put on all the remaining parts. I have only to paint few small details, glue permanently the canopy and the vertical surfaces and I can call my Eagle finished. This is how she looks now:

Next instalment will be the final one with pictures properly done with my camera.

Thanks for visiting, see you soon,

Dan

[Danstream]

McDonnel Douglas F-15 C 'Eagle'

Tamiya 1:48

32nd TFS 'Wolfhounds' USAFE, Soesterberg (NL), 1992

 

Dear all,

this is the last instalment with the final photographs of my F-15 model. As it can be seen by the build log attached above, it was a rather long build, as it is usual for me. I chose the markings of the The 32nd TFS that came to the Netherlands (Soesterberg AB) in the early 50's. The color scheme depicts one of these Eagles as it appeared in ca. 1991.

The model kit is the old Tamiya 1/48 scale which I bought in 1991 and I built it mainly OOB with the few exceptions listed below. I used the following materials and aftermarkets:

• Tamiya acrylics for most of the surfaces;
• Vallejo Metallic for the nozzles and the panels around the engines;
• Eduard resin ejection seat;
• Dutch Decal decalsheet for the Wolfhounds markings.

The Tamiya kit is old with some shortcomings, but it is still an enjoyable one and it builds into an impressive model.

I did not used aftermarket accessories (beside the seat) and I chose to build it all closed up. I used the jet nozzle parts provided with the kit trying to add interest by using various metallic shades only.

The model was painted with gray mixes on top of a black basing with white marbling and it was finished with a not fully mat finish. The panel lines were accented by using oil colors diluted with white spirit. The various stains and trails were also made with brushed oil colors.

The metallic panels on the lower side were weathered with oils and shades of Tamiya smoke and clear yellow.

The fins sport the orange banners with the crowns which are the symbols and colors of the royal family of the Netherlands.

To show the real shades of the camouflage colors, which is meant to reproduce the 'Compass Ghost Scheme', I took some pictures under the natural sun light.

Another picture under sun light showing the closed cockpit with the Eduard ejection seat:

The pictures were taken with a Nikon camera D3100 set on its aperture priority mode. To conclude, I really enjoyed building this awesome and powerful jet fighter which I had never built before.

I would like to thank all those that followed my long build and that provided suggestions, comments and appreciations. Again, any comment and suggestion that you might have are appreciated.

Best regards,

Dan

[Dave_E]

Outstanding build Dan! 👍😀

[mtaylor]

A very impressive bird, Dan.

[ccoyle]

Great-looking model!

[CDW]

Love your Eagle Dan. Beautiful bird.