GWH F-15I Ra'am IAF

[thug626]

With the T-55 AMV across the finish line and, the last several builds being ground crawly beasties, I thought it time to take to the skies again. GWH F-15I Ra'am certainly seemed to strike a chord in me and, never having built a GWH kit, I figured why not.

As per usual, the construction starts with the CP. For injection moulded bang seats, these are pretty good. This will be an OOB as the kit really doesn't need anything else.


All constructive criticisms are welcomed and in fact, encouraged.

Dave

[Tojo72]

I built the GWH Fulcrum,a beautiful kit.I had my eye on this one,in fact Dragonusa has it on sale today.

Will be watching yours.

[Leon]

I'll be following along as usual Dave!

[thug626]

Good morning Tojo. I picked this one up on sale. This kit is pretty slick. I am building carefully as I've come across an incorrect part number call out.
Good morning Leon. Always very glad to have you along.

I don't have a pic of this but, the ejection rails for the bang seats are tiny I-beams. The bang seats have wee nubs that actually fit in the inner channel to guide the seat in when assembling. I wonder if the fasteners all have the proper scale thread pitch.

[wbill76]

The GWH F-15 kits have a pretty good reputation, should be a fun project Dave. Pulling up a chair.

[thug626]

Good morning Bill. That is the same that I've heard. It was a toss up between the Fulcrum or this. Since I've been on a Soviet or IDF kick of late, I thought I'd alternate as it was Merkava then T-55....now an IAF offering.
Pull up a chair wherever you'd like. Just glad to have you along buddy.
I'll get some bench time in today but first, some self imposed chores.

[thug626]

A bit of progress since the Ra'am was last seen.
The CP components are primed and should be getting the base coat today.

The detail in the CP is one of the best I've seen in styrene offerings.

The intake trunks are a two piece assembly. They mate up nicely. There is however a bit of an internal seam that I am trying to eradicate

Flip side of the lower fuselage. Lots of detail....there's going to be lots of stencil decals. Probably more than the F-4C build.


Here's the front end of the P&W. If you wanted to leave and engine out you have the option of displaying some fine detail. If you shine a light down the intakes, you will see the front end of this part.

Both engines side by side. One without turkey feathers, the other with. I left the one off for this pic to show even more detail that are included with these engines.

[Tojo72]

Nice progress,looks good.

Sent from my SM-N920V using proboards

[Leon]

Nice progress Dave! That is some great looking detail on those parts.

[thug626]

Good morning Tojo72 and Leon. Thank you gentlemen. I'll get some pics up in a bit. The CP is coming along.

[wbill76]

Stencils, the bane of all modern jet models! Could be worse, could be tracked too!

[thug626]

Aug 6, 2016 11:14:55 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Stencils, the bane of all modern jet models! Could be worse, could be tracked too!

Oh dear Bill! You just may have given someone a purpose in life. If the right person reads that, it'll be their goal to make tanks user friendly and safe to their crews and those around them. I can just see it now, the stencil for the main gun on an M1A2, "BEWARE MUZZLE BLAST AND EXCEEDINGLY FAST PROJECTILE".  

Yesterday was productive at the bench.  The CP is now buttoned up and the forward fuselage is joined.  

The front office IP. Yes, all of the instruments and gauges are single decals. They did take a fair bit of convincing to snuggle down. At least they didn't rip, shred, or disintegrate.

Here we have the WSO office & IP

What didn't show up so well in this pic was the separately moulded O2 hose. Both offices get one.

Upper and lower main fuselage are now joined. As you can see it's fairly sizable by the markings on the mat.

The intake trunks are full length and, the front end of the engines will mate to the aft end of the trunks.

A gloss primer was laid down in preparation for the Vallejo Metal paints. It's recommended that it cure for 24 hours especially if masking is involved...and there will be so, I'm following the instructions.

[Leon]

WOW...Nice progress Dave! Those IP decals look great.

[thug626]

Those decals required the use of my reading glasses and the optic-loupe.....and frequent eyeball breaks.

[mnrun.]

That's looking awesome, and it looks like a really impressive kit, as well. I love the IDF scheme on the F-15; looking forward to seeing this one.

[wbill76]

Well worth the eye strain Dave! My all-time favorite warning stencil was on a piece of retractable gym equipment for basketball...it said 'WARNING: THIS LABEL CAN BECOME STUCK IN THE WINCH MECHANISM'...and that's all it said.

[Tojo72]

Top notch work on the pit.

[thug626]

Good morning everyone.

Mnrun Thank you kindly. A friend on mine took a picture of a Coopers Hawk sitting on the railing of their deck. Its back was to them with its wings spread, sunning itself. The colors reminded me of the scheme for this Ra'am.
Bill So when it gets stuck in the mechanism, then what? OMG! I say, lets just get rid of the warning labels and let it sort itself out.
Tojo72 Thank you buddy.

The fuselage is now joined. As you can see by the markings on the mat, it's going to take up a good bit of real estate in the case.

This was the only issue with the fit of the forward fuselage to the main portion. As well as this is fitting together thus far, I would place the fit issue on yours truly.

There was some distortion with around the nose that became evident after it was glued on. This was a result of the solvent glue that I use. The access panels for the electronics can be built open. I opted to close them and the plastic is a bit thinner around these areas. Nothing masking, red filler and wet sanding couldn't fix.

Only the areas of the engines that would be visible received a coating of Vallejo metallic paint. I used Steel on the forward fan. The aft portion received Jet Exhaust on the inside with a dry brushing of Vallejo Pale Sand for the scorching that goes on back there. The outside got Steel, Burnt Iron and a sight was of Vallejo Gamer Black. The turkey feathers were painted with LifeColor Worn Black as, the "feathers" are made from a carbon fiber composite.

[wbill76]

Really pulling this one together quickly Dave! Got to love the look of those exhausts and compressor blades.

[nicely11b]

I've heard good things about the Great Wall F-15s. I'm liking how this one is coming along.

[thug626]

Good evening Bill. Yes it is. Thank you for the compliment.
Good evening Nicely11b. All that you've heard is true. Thank you kindly.

More progress today. The CFT (Conformal Fuel Tank) were mounted along with the hard points on them. I broke from the instructions by mounting the CFTs then the hard points.

Oh yeah! The intakes were mounted as well. There will be a bit of clean up needed with them internally. Again, as well as this kit is engineered, I am thinking I may have been off with something.

A close up of the AN/AAQ-14. You can also see the filler for the forward fuselage join. There was just the slightest seam line that didn't belong.

[Leon]

Great progress Dave! This is coming along nicely.

[wbill76]

Starting to bulk up nicely Dave, keep it coming.

[thug626]

Good morning Leon and Bill.
Things were rolling along nicely until the Chaos Cloud spooled up over our house again. I wouldn't wish it upon anybody but , ****ing A! Give us a break already.
Sorry for the rant gents, just needed to vent a bit so as to avoid the pyroclastic eruption.

I am going to take this lull in the chaos ***t storm and steal some bench time. I am hoping to get some post worthy progress pics up later.

Dave

[deafpanzer]

SWEET! You have been on roll during my absence!!! The camo is going to be a killer on this jet!

[thug626]

Good afternoon Andy. I hope you all are safe. Y'all had some serious weather out your way. Yes, I have been keeping busy. I am now in the early stages of painting.

The wheels, landing gear and wheel wells have all received their primer and base coats. The base coat is Vallejo Stencil. It's in their Panzer Ace lineup. I like it as it is a bit off white and a true white would just be too stark. The Stencil isn't really meant for AB but, with proper thinning and some flow improver it goes on just fine.

The nose gear got a coat of Satin clear as there are some decals to go down. The oleos were painted with Vallejo Chrome.

All of the wells were painted with the Stencil as well.

The tires have been painted since this pic was taken.


Letting everything dry a bit before I continue on. More later.....

[Leon]

Nice progress Dave! Paint looks really good.

[wing_nut]

Nice. Are you doing the box art? Lover that scheme.

[thug626]

Why yes I am.

[Tojo72]

Very nice,looks great.