Great Wall Hobby F-15E 1/72

This is the Great Wall Hobby F-15E in 1/72, with photoetch details from Eduard, Reedoak figures for the pilot and WSO, and decals from Caracal Models. I decided to use aftermarket decals as the decals included in the kit looked quite thick and miserable to deal with, and this was after I had my decal disaster with my F/A-18E.

This is my first inflight aircraft kit. Big thanks to Annie Shikinami for sharing her technique and helping me figure it out for mine. This is a Bandai Gundam action base, with an additional peg added for stability. It worked out pretty well, and allows for a great deal of pose-ability as well. 

Overall, it was a very enjoyable build process, especially as I no longer had to do the landing gears and bays. It is a good kit that went together well, only one or two poor fits and pin ejector marks that I had to fill in. 

I'm fairly happy with the weathering on this kit. I was going for a decently dirty look. Most of the work of breaking up the monotony of the paint scheme was actually done with post shading, with just some extra stains added with oils afterwards. I also mocked up the plane to be turning left, allowing me to move the ailerons and break up the surface more. While I love the F-15s, they are just so big, even in 1/72. 

I will admit I slacked a little on the weathering on the underside, except for the engines. Adding even just a light coat of oil over the glossy metal paint goes a long way in making the engines look more realistic. I chose the "default" symmetrical loadout provided in the instructions, though one day I want to make an asymmetrical loadout. 

Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out the best way to polish canopies. These had a seam line in the middle that necessitated a clean up, but I accidentally induced some stress cracks in the front part, and overall the polishing didn't clear up the canopy as I had hoped. The HUD is a piece of holographic foil cut mostly in shape. I lost the actual clear part for the HUD so I had to make do. 

Here's some crappy phone pictures of the cockpit before I sealed it up. I had to cut out holes for the WSO's legs to fit, and the fit in general for the figures wasn't amazing, but I made it work with a little bit of force and once it was all put together, it doesn't look too bad. It did mean I couldn't have the joysticks on the sides for the WSO, but you can't really make it out, especially with how the canopy turned out. 

I decided to hand paint the side panels, because I hate sanding down the details to use the 2d eduard photo etch part. I also used the decals from the kit for the screens, as the eduard version just had blank screens versus active screens on the decals. This was my first time ever painting figures, and it helps that they don't have faces. I think I did an ok job with them, and they look pretty good in the plane. The little blue on their left arms was my attempt of including the patches on the flight suits. 

Here are some more pictures circling around the kit. There is a little sag to the front, but that is the price I pay for not gluing the kit to the stand (which allows me to still manipulate it around). Overall, I'm very happy with how this kit came out, and being inflight, makes for a really cool display.