Kev Baxter builds on an aquatic theme with an eye-catching Hasegawa 1/72 F-15DJ Eagle, sporting a one-off scheme representing the lion fish’s natural camouflage.
It was an early start that morning in Japan, with the departure airport at Kyushu still shut when our party arrived. Having waited until it opened, we were treated to a spectacular sunrise on the internal flight to Honshu. On arrival at the civilian side of Komatsu Air Base, Ishikawa Prefecture, we drove to a point adjacent to the airfield approach lighting, where we were just in time to photograph the recovery of the morning’s first wave of Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) Aggressor Training Group (ATG) F-15DJ Eagles. The excitement among the party was tangible as the jets skimmed low over the hedge on final approach and we witnessed the array of flamboyant colour schemes. Immediately it became obvious that an attempt to emulate one (or more) of these liveries in scale foem would have to be made and one thing was for sure... modelling it would be a challenge.
Above: Replacement intakes from the Academy F-15 kit were used as these had the correct drooped configuration for an aircraft on approach to land.
Above: Unfortunately, Academy’s intake parts suffered…
