1/72 ERTL/AMT F-15C Eagle

Gallery Article by Kurt Warren on Mar 30 2010

 

F-15C Eagle, 71st Fighter Wing, 1st fighter Sqdn., Langley AFB. 

This kit was given to me some time ago by a local hobbyshop owner who's store was going out of business. It was packaged as the F-15C 85-0102 "Gulf Spirit" the triple-killer of the first Gulf War that shot down a MiG 23 and two SU-20/22s with the 33rd Fighter wing from Eglin AFB in Florida in January/February of 1991. I really wanted to have a jet from the 1st Fighter wing out of Langley AFB. But I also wanted to honor this Historic jet, although I really didn't like the Eglin markings. So I held the kit on my shelf not knowing what to do with it for quite some time. One night as I was browsing through pictures on Airliners.net of F-15s I noticed a Lanley bird with three green kill stars on the port side of the jet. After a little research I found out the "Gulf Spirit" 85-0102 air frame was eventually transferred to Langley AFB and flew with "Ironmen" of the 71st Fighter Squadron. That solved my problem of honoring a war hero and getting the Langley bird I hoped for.

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Though I couldn't get good pix of the cockpit it's mostly scratch build along with the Aces II ejection seat. The Main landing gear wheels and afterburner/exhausts are resin copies I made from a Hasegawa kit. The green kill stars, Langley codes & badges, aircraft numbers, red tail stripes, eagle pilot name badge just in front of the wind screen and eagle silhouettes inside the vertical tails are decals I made on my home computer and copied to decal paper at a local stationary store.

I painted 85-0102 with Model Master acrylics and gloss coated with future for decal prep, wash and weathering, which was kept to a minimum.  The final flat coat is Model Master Acryl clear flat. I think she turned out pretty well and hope I honored her well as I try to build all my models in honor of all who serve their countries.
"This is my first post and hope every one likes it,  Thanks."

Kurt Warren

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Photos and text © by Kurt Warren