Cutting Edge Modelworks

1/48 F-15E's Operation Iraqi Freedom decal sheet

Product # CED48241 for $8.99

Product Article by Steve Bamford on Sept 29 2003

 

 

 

This is a new decal sheet from Cutting Edge Modelworks.  The sheet includes markings for 4 different F-15E's in 1/48 scale. 

The first plane is a F-15E S/N: 89-0487 of the 4th FW, 335th TFS and the plane is called "Lucky".  This plane has an overall FS 36118 Gunship Gray.  Markings include the noseart of a pretty girl superimposed over a 3 leaf clover. 

 This plane is famous from Gulf War 1 when it "shot down" a helicopter by dropping a bomb on it.   The woman on the clover is a caricature of the crew Chief's wife.  The usual tradition is that a 4 leaf clover is lucky.  This clover has only 3 leaves....the 4 th leaf is missing in memory of fallen comrades.  One odd thing about the markings for this plane on the tail say 335rd and not 335th.....I'm assuming this is a typo on the decal sheet or the full sized plane was incorrect.  Also for one of the 335rd   the middle 3 is missing.  So to build this jet you'll have to find an extra 3 from your spares box. 
The second plane is a F-15E S/N: 89-0484 of the 4th FW, 335th TFS and the plane is called "Crazy 8's".  This plane has an overall FS 36118 Gunship Gray.  Markings include the noseart of a pretty blonde girl  sitting on top of 2 playing dice.  The two 4's on the dice represent the two 4's on the tail number.....add the 4's together and you get 8...."Crazy 8"...the middle number on the tail.
The third plane is a F-15E S/N: 90-0230 of the 4th FW, 335th TFS and the plane is called "Nancy Mary".  This plane has an overall FS 36118 Gunship Gray.  Markings include the noseart of two young ladies with the names Nancy Mary over top of them.  The name Nancy Mary is a play on words....."Nancy Mary" = "NM" = "Needs Maintenance".  This plane sat for the first 8 days of the war.  Eventually the maintainers got it repaired and it was able to join the fight and make up for lost time and make a strong contribution to the war. This jet has over 90 mission markings.
The fourth plane is a F-15E S/N: 89-0476 of the 4th FW, 335th TFS and the plane is called "Creeping Death".  This plane has an overall FS 36118 Gunship Gray.  Markings include the noseart of two crisscrossed precision guided bombs with a skull with red eye sockets. The nose art for this plane was named after a song by the crew chief's favorite band Metallica.  "He felt this was appropriate because the F-15 creeps through the skies above the enemy, striking them with precision and accuracy.  The skull represents the enemy's outcome after an encounter with the ordinance-dispensing platform, and the bombs represent the fury brought down upon the enemy.

Operation Iraqi Freedom is very recent history and in some respects the story is still unfolding.  To be able to model historically significant aircraft while they are still making history is a special opportunity for you to connect with the history we are living through.  I particularly enjoyed seeing these Mudhens with the noseart.  

Unfortunately the scans of the noseart above are blurry and do not capture the crisp artwork contained on this decal sheet.  Many current F-15E's are flying with an image of the Wright flyer on the inside of the rear stabs to mark the 100th anniversary of the first powered flight......you'll have to check your references to see if those are required on any of these jets.  There are no Wright flyer images included on this decal sheet.

The decals were flawlessly printed and the clear carrier film is trimmed very close to the crisply printed colored areas, which is always good to see.  Colours are solid and will cover very well.  This decal sheet has a good variety of noseart and colour schemes.  

The instructions are clear and an extra page of text instruction is included with a small bit of info about the 4 planes. 

A very nice product and highly recommended.

I would like to thank Cutting Edge Modelworks for providing me with this review sample.

Steve

Click on images below to see larger images of the instruction sheets

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford