RichieB

Compared to the previously glacial pace of updates, this feels like warp speed! 
OK its only panel washes which require less accuracy than most painting, but its still a step nearer the finish line.
 
I ended up using about 4 different panel line washes, one of which I mixed to get a shade that dulled down the contrast of Revell's somewhat heavy handed panel lines. The depth of them is probably something I should have fixed earlier but who was to know that they would stand out as much even after coats of primer and paint! I only used dark washes on the moving parts ie ailerons and rudders or where a bit of high contrast was warranted. I am also somewhat proud of the fact that I managed to mask a blue border around the insignia on the wing. It took some doing and I must admit I bottled doing all of it again on the bottom wing!

 
Rear metal parts got a heavier wash as well but the rest of the model was a couple of lighter shades to try and avoid the 'made out of Lego' look. High contrast builds are eye-catching but they look a little too unrealistic for my taste. Each to their own though.

 
Underside got a similar treatment but went a bit darker at the rear where I will add some additional staining to help blend it in better. You can see what would have happened if I had done the entire aircraft in a darker panel line colour.

 
Engine nozzles were also finished with some pigments for the internal soot marks and Alclads for the petals - used a lot of masking tape on those!

 
And finally, the live Aim-7Fs (for a what-if load out) and the inert practice Aim-9Js are nearly ready.

Weathering next but I'll keep it pretty light even though the model probably needs a heavier application to blend out the panel lines further.
Might need to lie down for a bit after all this progress!

Compared to the previously glacial pace of updates, this feels like warp speed! 
OK its only panel washes which require less accuracy than most painting, but its still a step nearer the finish line.
 
I ended up using about 4 different panel line washes, one of which I mixed to get a shade that dulled down the contrast of Revell's somewhat heavy handed panel lines. The depth of them is probably something I should have fixed earlier but who was to know that they would stand out as much even after coats of primer and paint! I only used dark washes on the moving parts ie ailerons and rudders or where a bit of high contrast was warranted. I am also somewhat proud of the fact that I managed to mask a blue border around the insignia on the wing. It took some doing and I must admit I bottled doing all of it again on the bottom wing!

 
Rear metal parts got a heavier wash as well but the rest of the model was a couple of lighter shades to try and avoid the 'made out of Lego' look. High contrast builds are eye-catching but they look a little too unrealistic for my taste. Each to their own though.

 
Underside got a similar treatment but went a bit darker at the rear where I will add some additional staining to help blend it in better. You can see what would have happened if I had done the entire aircraft in a darker panel line colour.

 
Engine nozzles were also finished with some pigments for the internal soot marks and Alclads for the petals - used a lot of masking tape on those!

 
And finally, the live Aim-7Fs (for a what-if load out) and the inert practice Aim-9Js are nearly ready.

Weathering next but I'll keep it pretty light even though the model probably needs a heavier application to blend out the panel lines further.
Might need to lie down for a bit after all this progress!

Compared to the previously glacial pace of updates, this feels like warp speed! 
OK its only panel washes which require less accuracy than most painting, but its still a step nearer the finish line.
 
I ended up using about 4 different panel line washes, one of which I mixed to get a shade that dulled down the contrast of Revell's somewhat heavy handed panel lines. The depth of them is probably something I should have fixed earlier but who was to know that they would stand out as much even after coats of primer and paint! I only used dark washes on the moving parts ie ailerons and rudders or where a bit of high contrast was warranted. I am also somewhat proud of the fact that I managed to mask a blue border around the insignia on the wing. It took some doing and I must admit I bottled doing all of it again on the bottom wing!

 
Rear metal parts got a heavier wash as well but the rest of the model was a couple of lighter shades to try and avoid the 'made out of Lego' look. High contrast builds are eye-catching but they look a little too unrealistic for my taste. Each to their own though.

 
Underside got a similar treatment but went a bit darker at the rear where I will add some additional staining to help blend it in better. You can see what would have happened if I had done the entire aircraft in a darker panel line colour.

 
Engine nozzles were also finished with some pigments for the internal soot marks and Alclads for the petals - used a lot of masking tape on those!

 
And finally, the live Aim-7Fs (for a what-if load out) and the inert practice Aim-9Js are nearly ready.

Weathering next but I'll keep it pretty light even though the model probably needs a heavier application to blend out the panel lines further.
Might need to lie down for a bit after all this progress!

Compared to the previously glacial pace of updates, this feels like warp speed! 
OK its only panel washes which require less accuracy than most painting, but its still a step nearer the finish line.
 
I ended up using about 4 different panel line washes, one of which I mixed to get a shade that dulled down the contrast of Revell's somewhat heavy handed panel lines. The depth of them is probably something I should have fixed earlier but who was to know that they would stand out as much even after coats of primer and paint! I only used dark washes on the moving parts ie ailerons and rudders or where a bit of high contrast was warranted. I am also somewhat proud of the fact that I managed to mask a blue border around the insignia on the wing. It took some doing and I must admit I bottled doing all of it again on the bottom wing!

 
Rear metal parts got a heavier wash as well but the rest of the model was a couple of lighter shades to try and avoid the 'made out of Lego' look. High contrast builds are eye-catching but they look a little too unrealistic for my taste. Each to their own though.

 
Underside got a similar treatment but went a bit darker at the rear where I will add some additional staining to help blend it in better. You can see what would have happened if I had done the entire aircraft in a darker panel line colour.

 
Engine nozzles were also finished with some pigments for the internal soot marks and Alclads for the petals - used a lot of masking tape on those!

 
And finally, the live Aim-7Fs (for a what-if load out) and the inert practice Aim-9Js are nearly ready.

Weathering next but I'll keep it pretty light even though the model probably needs a heavier application to blend out the panel lines further.
Might need to lie down for a bit after all this progress!

Compared to the previously glacial pace of updates, this feels like warp speed! 
OK its only panel washes which require less accuracy than most painting, but its still a step nearer the finish line.
 
I ended up using about 4 different panel line washes, one of which I mixed to get a shade that dulled down the contrast of Revell's somewhat heavy handed panel lines. The depth of them is probably something I should have fixed earlier but who was to know that they would stand out as much even after coats of primer and paint! I only used dark washes on the moving parts ie ailerons and rudders or where a bit of high contrast was warranted. I am also somewhat proud of the fact that I managed to mask a blue border around the insignia on the wing. It took some doing and I must admit I bottled doing all of it again on the bottom wing!

 
Rear metal parts got a heavier wash as well but the rest of the model was a couple of lighter shades to try and avoid the 'made out of Lego' look. High contrast builds are eye-catching but they look a little too unrealistic for my taste. Each to their own though.

 
Underside got a similar treatment but went a bit darker at the rear where I will add some additional staining to help blend it in better. You can see what would have happened if I had done the entire aircraft in a darker panel line colour.

 
Engine nozzles were also finished with some pigments for the internal soot marks and Alclads for the petals - used a lot of masking tape on those!

 
And finally, the live Aim-7Fs (for a what-if load out) and the inert practice Aim-9Js are nearly ready.

Weathering next but I'll keep it pretty light even though the model probably needs a heavier application to blend out the panel lines further.
Might need to lie down for a bit after all this progress!

Alistair,
 
You can count me in for 2 sets, one for Tamiya standard and one set for Trumpy also standard. I like how you are approaching these as the only possible way to improve it is if hydro lines were included. I have even considered dumping the G Factor set I do have and getting a third set for Tamiya from you.
Regards,
Chris the cabbie
 
P.S. Any chance you might consider making a set of undernose chin pods and early 7 grill Vulcan gun vent? Or the early boat tail for the 74 evacuation deployment by VF1 Wolfpack to Vietnam????? No one has done these items in 32 scale that I have ever seen and might give the other companies a good kick in the arse!

Looking fantastic ..! 
Gotta love those Air Superiority Blue Eagles ...
 
-Gregg

Wow she looks beautiful! Amazing work. 
 
Cant wait to see a full pic with lights on in the dark

At last, the paint job is (mostly!) complete. Took a while and some extra touch ups but she's definitely looking blue with more than a hint of candy cane.

 
I've toned down some of the pre-shading so that it's a little less obvious. 

 
Luckily with MRP paints you can control the depth of paint colour to give a nice patina effect.

 
The metallic areas are painted using various shades of Alclads including burnt metal and aluminium.

 
I also added some polished aluminium to the upper surface which often seems quite shiny and this is theoretically a relatively new aircraft.

 
Next up is a bit of a polish and a gloss coat before decal time!

So with a long Bank Holiday weekend there was opportunity to progress and the incentive to finish this build is getting too much to ignore!
Not because I'm running out of mojo for his one (though it's been tested at times!) but I have many others that need some plastic love.
First up was a gloss coat courtesy of Tamiya X-22 which required a couple of coats to get a consistent shine and then on to the decals.
Needless to say there are no specific decals for this bird in 1/32 and I don't have the skills (or hardware) to create my own.
The scheme I'm doing eventually required 3 sets to get this scheme covered and even then there is not a lot of solid intel on what/where all the markings are!
 

 
All the Microscale markings went down fine though I had to do some fishing to find an AAR receptacle stencil that was close enough to the Revell scribings. A couple broke up as they were so old but I managed to rescue most.

 
I think some of the Microscale stencils are a little large but they are at least legible. Some of the positioning was contradicted by other sources so where I could I used Jake Melampy's and DACOs F-15 books to confirm but even still there is a bit of artistic license.

 
Next step is to seal them all with a gloss coat then tone down some of the black stencils which look a little stark and then add some weathering.
Definitely one small step but a giant leap in progress!

At last, the paint job is (mostly!) complete. Took a while and some extra touch ups but she's definitely looking blue with more than a hint of candy cane.

 
I've toned down some of the pre-shading so that it's a little less obvious. 

 
Luckily with MRP paints you can control the depth of paint colour to give a nice patina effect.

 
The metallic areas are painted using various shades of Alclads including burnt metal and aluminium.

 
I also added some polished aluminium to the upper surface which often seems quite shiny and this is theoretically a relatively new aircraft.

 
Next up is a bit of a polish and a gloss coat before decal time!

So with a long Bank Holiday weekend there was opportunity to progress and the incentive to finish this build is getting too much to ignore!
Not because I'm running out of mojo for his one (though it's been tested at times!) but I have many others that need some plastic love.
First up was a gloss coat courtesy of Tamiya X-22 which required a couple of coats to get a consistent shine and then on to the decals.
Needless to say there are no specific decals for this bird in 1/32 and I don't have the skills (or hardware) to create my own.
The scheme I'm doing eventually required 3 sets to get this scheme covered and even then there is not a lot of solid intel on what/where all the markings are!
 

 
All the Microscale markings went down fine though I had to do some fishing to find an AAR receptacle stencil that was close enough to the Revell scribings. A couple broke up as they were so old but I managed to rescue most.

 
I think some of the Microscale stencils are a little large but they are at least legible. Some of the positioning was contradicted by other sources so where I could I used Jake Melampy's and DACOs F-15 books to confirm but even still there is a bit of artistic license.

 
Next step is to seal them all with a gloss coat then tone down some of the black stencils which look a little stark and then add some weathering.
Definitely one small step but a giant leap in progress!

Finishing off the underside of the fuselage, the missile launchers have had some miniature magnets attached to allow the Aim-7s to be easily removed if required. Most of the early F-15s did not carry much in the way of weapons, usually an Aim-9J  training round, so these will probably be left bare but it would be quite nice to load her up just to see what it would be like! I also drilled out and thinned the inlets at the bottom of the photo to make them a little more to scale and adding some tubing on the other side to give a sense of depth to the intake.
 

 
Similar magnets are placed on the front launchers, I've yet to add the distinctive C-shaped brace . The grills on the avionics access bay have been drilled out to add more depth and a PE grill placed behind for effect. More latches have been added and of course an abundance of rivets!
 

 
 

 
I also purchased the grills and vents set for the F-15 from GTResin. They are designed for the Tamiya kit but they fit the Revell one just fine. This is the grill underneath the rear of the nose section and helps add a nice bit of depth to the piece. Just need to tidy up a few mistakes ...ahem....before moving on to the much more visible top surface of the fuselage. No pressure!

So with a long Bank Holiday weekend there was opportunity to progress and the incentive to finish this build is getting too much to ignore!
Not because I'm running out of mojo for his one (though it's been tested at times!) but I have many others that need some plastic love.
First up was a gloss coat courtesy of Tamiya X-22 which required a couple of coats to get a consistent shine and then on to the decals.
Needless to say there are no specific decals for this bird in 1/32 and I don't have the skills (or hardware) to create my own.
The scheme I'm doing eventually required 3 sets to get this scheme covered and even then there is not a lot of solid intel on what/where all the markings are!
 

 
All the Microscale markings went down fine though I had to do some fishing to find an AAR receptacle stencil that was close enough to the Revell scribings. A couple broke up as they were so old but I managed to rescue most.

 
I think some of the Microscale stencils are a little large but they are at least legible. Some of the positioning was contradicted by other sources so where I could I used Jake Melampy's and DACOs F-15 books to confirm but even still there is a bit of artistic license.

 
Next step is to seal them all with a gloss coat then tone down some of the black stencils which look a little stark and then add some weathering.
Definitely one small step but a giant leap in progress!

And so to one of the first major steps of this project, assembling the cockpit section which also means constructing the cockpit lighting.
As you can see from the picture below the front cockpit is the Aires F-15A resin version trimmed to fit, and the rear cockpit is the Revell one, somewhat adapted to F-15B standards.
The placing of both was mainly through lots of dry-fitting and the use of plastic blocks to prop the cockpit up. Each of the main instruments in each cockpit was fed by an appropriately sized fibre optic and routed to one of 2 LEDs. I also added some additional lighting optics on the side instrument panels for a bit of artistic license.
Each of the 4 sidewalls and the HUD was fed by a separate fibre optic and connected to a green LED to add some colour interest. The foil is to cut out stray lighting.
Luckily this is all on 1/32 otherwise it would be a bit tight what with the EL tape lights in there as well.
 

 
The hole to the right is for a vent which I cut out and replaced with a scratch built one to give it a bit more depth.
 

 
Once all connections, both electrical and fibre optic, had been made I glued the two halves together. Key was to ensure the cockpits were level and of the correct height to allow the canopy to sit properly with the seats and pilots in.
 

 
Quick test to make sure it all still works! The front cockpit dial detail is from Aires and has some great detail on the acetate sheet placed behind the PE. The Radar and RHWR were created in colour separately and printed onto acetate to give those displays more colour and detail. The Radar and RHWR displays in the rear cockpit were done similarly but the rear instruments are a mix-match of acetate dials from other kits and dials copied from cockpit jpegs and printed onto acetate. My preferred choice was to have been some decals for the cockpit dials but whilst they looked good, they did not let enough light through. I doubt any F-15 pilot would actually be able to fly of the gauges in the back but they do at least resemble a cockpit!     
 

 
And one in the dark for effect.

 
Quite glad the cockpit section has come together at last as it finally begins to take shape, might have to blank some of that excess light out though.
That said, lots of work to do yet on the fuselage if the cockpit section is anything to go by!
That's all for now but thanks for looking and wishing you all a Happy and Constructive New Year!

Another area that has been occupying my attention are the somewhat detail-anaemic pylons. The ones Revell supply are designed to have the Aim-9s stuck in place and have somewhat solid attachment points for the fuel tanks. In keeping with the rest of the kit there is also no rivet detail, in fact, no real detail at all as the photo below demonstrates. Clearly my 'that needs to be fixed right now' alarm was burning a vivid red so armed with some reference material I decided to have a go.
 

 
The first fix was to remove the Aim-9 launchers from the main rails and replace them in toto. As my scratch building is not quite up to that standard yet, I nicked some nice ones from the Tamiya F-15C kit and also added small magnets so I can attach and remove the Aim-9s at will. The hardest part was to work out the magnetic polarity so I used the F-4E I had done previously to ensure they were all magnetised in the correct sense. I then add some bolt, hinge and latch detail using plastic rod, archer resin details and spare PE to lift the detail level. The rear of the pylon also received some small ball bearings to replace the somewhat vague plastic ones and of course some rivet detail was added.
 

 
The underneath of the pylon where the fuel tank attachments was given a bit of a makeover by carving out the necessary spaces and backfilling with bits of plastic rod etc to make it look a bit more business like. I also added magnets to allow the fuel tanks to be removed as required. I ended up needing 3 to provide sufficient stability but tried to put them in places where the fuel tanks are naturally connected directly to the pylon. For those doing something similar, note that the early F-15s had different lugs and BRUs to the later models.
 

 
The centreline pylon received similar attention but this photo also shows the lugs added made from plastic card and guitar string.
 

 
The only snag with the kit so far is that incessant voice telling you that the Revell blandizer has been working overtime. This in turn leads to many, many evenings of fiddly bits and carpet huntings.It also tends to mean that it is difficult to look at any scrap material without wondering whether it could be used as a bit of plumbing or mechanical structure, let alone the steadily increasing collection of tools 'required' to manipulate them into the aforementioned work of detail art. It's a slippery slope! 

Well it's been a while! 
What with a new job at work, finishing my studies and life in general, things have been a little less productive in the modelling dept than I had anticipated.
Still, progress has been made in some areas, the most interesting of which has been a little experiment with Electroluminescent (EL) Tape. It took a while to understand how to wire the stuff up in different sizes and whether it would work for what I had in mind, which is the F-15s slime lights. It's great because it is very thin and gives a very even glow unlike LEDs. This is what EL tape looks like:
 
 
 
The tape at each end is to protect you from an electric shock as this uses an inverter to develop 100volts!
You can choose different colours to cover the phosphor depending on use, this piece is 10mm wide.
To make the slime light I had to cut away the kits plastic version, thin that space out a bit as the plastic is quite thick. I then filled the space with some clear plastic to give the EL tape something to shine through. I made the gap a little too wide but the overlap can be painted to avoid excess light escaping. I also added some Eduard formation light surrounds to frame the light better and add some nice detail. I'll add the slime light spacer bars later.
 

 
Having placed the EL tape behind the slot, time to test!
 

 
Some areas to black out but a nice realistic glow. I will give the clear cover a bit of a tint of yellow colour as it looks a bit too green when the EL tape is switched off, hopefully the EL tape will still shine through this covering. Now to work out how to do the wingtips!

OK, progress (a bit!)
I've mostly been tinkering with the pylons and fuel tanks but decided to switch to the cockpits just so I can paint something. The front pit is the Aires early model which is very nice. I have yet to add the dial instrumentation as that bit comes when I add the lighting,
 

 
The sidewalls from the Aires kit are also quite nice. The holes have been added for cockpit lighting.

 
The rear tub is the modified Revell one with a resin replacement for the IP. Again instrument dials need adding. At some point I'm going to have to work out how to sandwich these two halves together so they fit the front fuselage. 

 
The jet jockeys also get some green. They look a bit shinier in the photos than I remember, must be newbies! Clearly their heads will be added at some point but I find it easier to paint them separately and I'm toying with the idea of adding squadron markings to them rather than have them plain white. However, not seen many pictures of early F-15 helmets painted this way so it will be a bit of artistic license if I do. 
 

 
And something to sit on. I've got some additional PE to apply when the pilots are added. 
 

 
Well, another small step closer. Just plucking up the courage (and will power) to rivet and add missing detail to the external aircraft surfaces which are missing from the Revell kit for the most part.

Has it really been over a month? Small steps and all that!
As the Revell kit doesn't have any aircrew I've 'borrowed' some from an F-4 kit as the flying kit is about that period. I've repositioned the arms to fit the cockpit better (hopefully) and added some seat-belts from the Aires seat PE though there are still some elements to that which I will add nearer the end to avoid knocking them off.
 

 
I've also added some Archer rivet detail and the visor slide to the helmets. I've removed the oxy hoses as I usually add guitar string instead. It's more realistic, longer and can flex how you want it.
 

 
You may recall I queried if this was correct for the canopy support ...

 
Turns out it wasn't, so after some internet photo searches and a good study of Jake Melampy's F-15 book (highly recommended if you are doing any F-15) I found another use for the Archer rivets (which I really like). I also reshaped the plastic and added some detail that you probably won't see when it's in a closed cockpit.

I think the Revell kit is a good starting block but it's a bit bland without some help.
More, eventually!
 

Many thanks for the heads up Bruce. The side walls have been moved in a bit and the IPs adjusted accordingly along with some thickening of the side walls. I've also used your resin rear cockpit IP which is much more suited to this version than the Revell offering. Throttles are also moved as per your recommend.
In other news I have added the distinctive fairing on the airbrake that was only used on the  very early versions (like this one).
 

 
And primed the seats just to see if there were any glaring errors. Looks ok so far!
You can see where I've added some blocks to the bottom of the seat to raise it to a more acceptable level in the cockpit when the canopy is down.
 

 
All in all, I suspect the Aires Escapac seats are a bit undersized. 

In a brief pause in the festive preparations I've been tinkering with the Aires Escapac ejection seats. Having wedged them slightly wider at the bottom I raised the seat height by a few mm to get the head position right (will need to check this before fixing the canopy in place). I'm not too worried about the finish on the seat as the pilots will be obscuring most of that detail.
 

 
The pull handle in the head box was removed as these are A-4/A-7 seats and is not required for the F-15. The next addition were the rails and cross-bar supports at the back of the seat.
 

 
I chamfered the bottom ends to keep the tops parallel and most of this area will be hidden anyway. The main reason for not splitting the entire seat was to preserve the pole detail you can see at the top and rear of the seat. In addition, I've modified the rear cockpit section of the Revell kit to add some rear wall detail, remove spurious instrument detail, reposition the throttles and narrow the side walls by about 1 mm. I'll have to modify the rear instrument panel it doesn;t match the profile of the revised cockpit and it's too wide.  
 

 
With the seated pilot on board the fit now looks a lot more snug. 
 

 
Other items in the cockpit also need attention. The canopy frame below is quite plain and I'm not sure if it is the correct shape either.
Any steers gratefully received!
 

 
Hopefully I'll get some time between now and the new year to do some more tinkering but in the mean-time, have a great Xmas everyone and best wishes for a model-tastic New Year!
(Maybe I'll even finish this one before 2020!)

Whilst fiddling with the cockpit layout I thought I'd have a look at how much extra detail the Tamiya kit has compared to the Revell one. A quick brown wash reveals the Tamiya (on the right) is a smoother plastic and has some riveting detail (although nowhere near the Trumpeter levels) whereas the Revell has none. It also shows some differences on the panel lines so I will have to work out which is the correct one and whether to amend accordingly.
 

 
The Tamiya is a 'C' model so there may be some differences that are not on the 'B' ie the airbrake detail at the rear. Overall, not too dissimilar and should respond well to some added riveting detail. The small gun vent in the Revell kit also appears to be in the wrong place. I have the GT Resin vent update set for the F-15 which looks like it should work for the Revell kit though it doesn't include the rather large vent behind the cockpit so I'll have to work out how to enhance this detail. 
 

 
Any more early-B detail references gratefully received!

Hi everyone,
Having eventually completed the F-4E, the desire to actually assemble a model rather than admire the contents has returned. The subject of the next labour of love is the old Revell F-15 which I am going to attempt to construct as its 'B' version. I'm not sure why I've gone for another Revell kit other than they are relatively cheap in comparison to the alternatives and this one is nearer to a B than converting say the Tamiya E (I also have some spare parts for this kit if I screw something up!). That said I will inevitably blow this reasoning out of the water by buying more aftermarket stuff than I need and adding stuff like lights that will turn it from 'easy and cheap' to 'challenging and expensive'. The other challenge will be making a mono-chromatic paint finish look real. So here's the kit in question:
 

 
I understand that the shape is good but it lacks some of the Tamiya detail. As I have a Tamiya C I'm going to try and read across any additional detail that looks ok. I also have Jake Melampy's excellent book on the F-15 and some internet piccies though this version will be an early 70's jet so references are a bit thin on the ground. My initial hit list will include:
 
- Revised cockpit based on the Aires A model pit
- Escapac sets (kit has Aces version)
- Revised engine exhausts as the kits ones are pretty plain
- Added rivet detail - this kit has none
- Added detail where the vents are
- Added crew (the kit has none)
- Alternative sidewinder launch-rails where no weapons are carried - kit ones are pretty crude
- New formation lights
- Aim-9J drill rounds
 
Feel free to offer any steers on where else I mighty need to go.
Please bear in mind that my work-rate is inversely proportional to home command commitments so don't expect a quick turn-round!
 
Thanks for watching.

This is turning out beautifully

So with a long Bank Holiday weekend there was opportunity to progress and the incentive to finish this build is getting too much to ignore!
Not because I'm running out of mojo for his one (though it's been tested at times!) but I have many others that need some plastic love.
First up was a gloss coat courtesy of Tamiya X-22 which required a couple of coats to get a consistent shine and then on to the decals.
Needless to say there are no specific decals for this bird in 1/32 and I don't have the skills (or hardware) to create my own.
The scheme I'm doing eventually required 3 sets to get this scheme covered and even then there is not a lot of solid intel on what/where all the markings are!
 

 
All the Microscale markings went down fine though I had to do some fishing to find an AAR receptacle stencil that was close enough to the Revell scribings. A couple broke up as they were so old but I managed to rescue most.

 
I think some of the Microscale stencils are a little large but they are at least legible. Some of the positioning was contradicted by other sources so where I could I used Jake Melampy's and DACOs F-15 books to confirm but even still there is a bit of artistic license.

 
Next step is to seal them all with a gloss coat then tone down some of the black stencils which look a little stark and then add some weathering.
Definitely one small step but a giant leap in progress!