MOC: F-15C Eagle

[Ralph_S]

When I built an F-15E Strike Eagle about two years ago I'd been thinking about building an older F-15C air superiority fighter. One of the reasons why I didn't was because certain parts that I'd like to use, such as light bley cheese slopes, weren't available at the time and because I wanted to build it in a colour scheme known as Mod Eagle, which includes a decidedly blueish tint. LEGO sand blue seemed like a suitable colour, but it took me a while to gather the parts. Anyway, in the last week I've finally managed to do it.

more pictures on flickr

I know the custom canopy won't be to everybody's liking, but in my opinion this is the option that looks the best. The canopy parts that LEGO makes simply don't have the right shape (think A-wing canopy) and a canopy built out of trans clear bricks would be largely opaque.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Wouwie]

As beautiful as always. Good job Ralph!

Now, with an E3-A Sentry you'll rule the skies!

[Dennimator]

Lovely plane, Ralph!

It´s stunning to see so many of the for me useless sand blue parts at the same time, but still so nicely fitting. Only you can do that. I really love your MOCs!

(You know, it was your flickr photos that made me 5-wide cars too. Still have this dark red car assembled? I just noticed it, and I think it´s the best private car you´ve ever built!)

Keep up the good work!

[Ralph_S]

As beautiful as always. Good job Ralph!

Now, with an E3-A Sentry you'll rule the skies!

Thanks. I'd love to have an AWACS, but fear that it would be rather a bit too big for me to build. Still, I'll never say never.

Lovely plane, Ralph!

It´s stunning to see so many of the for me useless sand blue parts at the same time, but still so nicely fitting. Only you can do that. I really love your MOCs!

(You know, it was your flickr photos that made me 5-wide cars too. Still have this dark red car assembled? I just noticed it, and I think it´s the best private car you´ve ever built!)

Keep up the good work!

I'm glad you like it. You'll understand that I just love to have sand blue. Whenever I buy anything on bricklink, I always take a quick look at what sand blue parts the seller happens to have in his store as well and usually I'll pick up some. In particular tiles and jumper plates are a bit hard to get hold of. I still have the dark red car and took it to an event a while ago. You can see it here. It was loosely modelled after a Cadillac and I tend to refer to it as the pimpmobile

Cheers,

Ralph

[Wouwie]

Thanks. I'd love to have an AWACS, but fear that it would be rather a bit too big for me to build. Still, I'll never say never.

Okay....

Maybe an Westland Lynx of the Dutch Navy?

[Zarkan]

It's always great to see a new MOC from you, Ralph, especially since I'm such a fan of aircraft. Your design captures the shape of the F-15 perfectly, and the custom canopy almost looks like a real lego piece!

Great job as usual - can't wait to see your next creation.

[Dennimator]

Thanks. I'd love to have an AWACS, but fear that it would be rather a bit too big for me to build. Still, I'll never say never.

I'm glad you like it. You'll understand that I just love to have sand blue. Whenever I buy anything on bricklink, I always take a quick look at what sand blue parts the seller happens to have in his store as well and usually I'll pick up some. In particular tiles and jumper plates are a bit hard to get hold of. I still have the dark red car and took it to an event a while ago. You can see it here. It was loosely modelled after a Cadillac and I tend to refer to it as the pimpmobile

Cheers,

Ralph

I meant that I liked the colour scheme.

Do you have any pics for how the car is built?

(I suppose that you used the red Creator dinos dark red parts for the car?)

[Ralph_S]

Okay....

Maybe an Westland Lynx of the Dutch Navy?

They are nice helicopters, but at the moment I've got more projects in mind than I have either LEGO or time for.

It's always great to see a new MOC from you, Ralph, especially since I'm such a fan of aircraft. Your design captures the shape of the F-15 perfectly, and the custom canopy almost looks like a real lego piece!

Great job as usual - can't wait to see your next creation.

Thanks. I'm glad that there are people who can appreciate using a few custom elements.

I meant that I liked the colour scheme.

Do you have any pics for how the car is built?

(I suppose that you used the red Creator dinos dark red parts for the car?)

OK. I see. I built it with some dark red parts that I just happened to have at the time. Some of the parts undoubtedly came from creator sets because I own two copies of prehistoric creatures and one Prehistoric power. I don't really keep track of where exactly parts come from, though and I've bought dark red via bricklink too for various projects. I haven't made pictures of its construction, but I'm happy to make some sometime this weekend if you like.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Dennimator]

They are nice helicopters, but at the moment I've got more projects in mind than I have either LEGO or time for.

Thanks. I'm glad that there are people who can appreciate using a few custom elements.

OK. I see. I built it with some dark red parts that I just happened to have at the time. Some of the parts undoubtedly came from creator sets because I own two copies of prehistoric creatures and one Prehistoric power. I don't really keep track of where exactly parts come from, though and I've bought dark red via bricklink too for various projects. I haven't made pictures of its construction, but I'm happy to make some sometime this weekend if you like.

Cheers,

Ralph

Yeah, that would be great! Thanks!

Please PM me with a link when you´re done, or post it here, I´ll view this thread occassionally.

[Wouwie]

They are nice helicopters, but at the moment I've got more projects in mind than I have either LEGO or time for.

Sounds familiar

Want more suggestions?

[Captain Green Hair]

That looks very accurate, excellent job!

I like the canopies you make, and i wonder how, and with what you make 'm?

[Teddy]

Dear Ralph_S,

Excellent color scheme!

The "painting effect" looks really authentic.

I'm also wondering which parts you used for the canopie?

Kind regards,

Teddy

[Ralph_S]

The canopies are non-Lego as I explained in my first post. They're made out of transparent flexible plastic that I cut to shape and hold in place with adhesive tape. I know purists won't like it. So be it. I do like this better than any of the alternatives that I've tried.

It's not a very easy thing to do even though I've done it fairly regularly, because you have to figure out what how to cut a two-dimensional sheet of plastic to created a three-dimensional shape. I usually start with a piece of paper that has roughly the right overall size and trim it down until it fits, with a bit of guessing and trial and error. I then use a waterproof marker to transfer the shape of the paper onto the plastic, before cutting out the final shape. For the F-15C I could simply copy the front part directly, so that was easy enough. However, since the F-15E is a two-seater whilst the F-15C is a single seater, the rest of the canopy is different. Still, the aft section came together quite quickly. It's a fairly simple shape. The middle bit took the longest. Because it is impossible to make compound curves out of a 2D sheet, I had to make a few additional cuts. This made the whole thing tricky and it took about an hour and a half.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Diamondback]

Nice work, sir. OTOH, if your Bone*'s the same scale, a Sentry wouldn't be that much bigger than it, and a companion Stratotanker would be slightly smaller than the Sentry.

(E-3=707 airliner airframe, KC-135=Model 717, closer relation to the original Dash 80 demonstrator--big differences if you know what to look for, like fuselage diameter and wing trailing-edge.)

Were you the guy who built the minifig-scale B-52, or was that somebody else?

*Crewdog name for 'em: B-One="Bone" in crew-shorthand

[Ralph_S]

Nice work, sir. OTOH, if your Bone*'s the same scale, a Sentry wouldn't be that much bigger than it, and a companion Stratotanker would be slightly smaller than the Sentry.

(E-3=707 airliner airframe, KC-135=Model 717, closer relation to the original Dash 80 demonstrator--big differences if you know what to look for, like fuselage diameter and wing trailing-edge.)

Were you the guy who built the minifig-scale B-52, or was that somebody else?

*Crewdog name for 'em: B-One="Bone" in crew-shorthand

Thanks.

I am seriously considering building a KC-135 and have spent some time thinking about an E-3. I am aware of the differences between the 707 and original 717. An E-3 has about the same length as the B-1. What makes it tricky is that the wingspan is longer in combination with the fact that the wings are swept back. Still, I had a KC-135 years ago and that had approximately the right size. That the E-3 has a slightly bigger span than the KC-135 and a longer fuselage isn't a big problem, certainly if I take into consideration that when built in LEGO bricks the huge CFM-56 turbofans on the KC-135 would end up considerably heavier than the E-3's TF33s.

The main reason why I view building a KC-135 as doable but see an E-3 as too big is the difference in fuselage cross-sections. On the scale of my aircraft the KC-135's fuselage cross-section ends up being a nice even 12 studs. That of the E-3 would be 13 studs. I have built many things that are an od number of studs wide (in fact, my F-15 models both are), but I'm hesitant to try it on something as large as an E-3.

I haven't built a minifig scale B-52 and don't know anybody who has. Bryce Rollins has a CAD model of one, but I have my doubts as to whether the wings would be strong enough if he were to build it in actual bricks.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Buttons]

Five thumbs out of 5 thumbs from me Ralph, Me likes (you obviously are related to a Legoland modelmaker or somethiong like that)

[Ralph_S]

I wish. they could probably get me access to some of those parts that only modelmakers get to use and that mere mortals have to pay of fortune for on bricklink :)

Cheers,

Ralph