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This is the ‘Collectors Hi-Grade Series’ Hasegawa F-15C.
I started this kit in 1989 and wanted to superdetail the cockpit
and radar/avionics bays. The
area behind the seat also needed extra attention.
I added ‘black boxes’ made out of sheet, various wires, and
handles. Additional wiring
and lots of individual wire pieces finished off the right side wall and
back section. |
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Inside the office sits a Verlinden ACES II and a monofiliment
oxygen hose. A couple of
‘REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT’ tags on the seat and gear lever finished it
off. Lastly, a small box and
wiring on the dash added a little detail under the windscreen.
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Next came major surgery to the nose and two avionics bay
doors. I removed those with a
jewelers saw and cleaned them up with the trusty diamond nail file (stolen from
Mom years ago!) and sandpaper. I
proceeded to box in the bays with card stock and added shelving too.
Using ‘Detail and Scale’ and ‘LockOn’ as major references helped
with getting the size, shape and placement of the individual ‘boxes’ in the
bays. Once all the boxes were in
place I added wiring, handles, placards, etc. according to reference pictures.
The radar dish mount and back wall were stolen from a Tamiya
F-15A kit. The dish was made from
sheet stock. I added ‘T’ shapes
and rod ribs to the front of the dish. I
glued individual paper strips on the back of the dish to simulate the
rectangular raised pattern.
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Of course Verlinden then released the Superdetail set right
after I finished all this work! The
set included resin avionics bays but they didn’t look that good, so it turns
out my scratchbuilding paid off. I
did use some PE from the set including the canopy decking and rails, which are
very nice.
The rest of the build was straightforward with no unusual
problems. The ‘Hi-Grade’ kit
included excellently detailed white metal landing gear and PE exhaust linkage
and feathers. Hasegawa’s weapons
set sindwinders and sparrows were used to fully arm this Zulu Alert bird.
For the two-tone camo, Pactra acrylics (now Model Master
Acryl) were sprayed over Floquil primer gray.
The usual Glosscote, decals, Dullcote combination always works for me, so
I stick to it.
I used Grumbacher pastels for all the weathering.
Most of these birds are kept pretty clean so I didn’t want to overdo
it. A darker gray for the bottom
and a lighter shade for the top surfaces achieved the effect I wanted.
Brett
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