Scale 1/72
Manufacturer Rocketeer Decals
Decal Sheet ID RD72018
Decal Sheet Title Challengers Ultimate
Types Featured F-15A "Streak Eagle", Sukhoi P-42 (Su-27)

 

The battle to capture world air records has been going on since aircraft were flying, and both the US and Russia have fought for titles. Rocketeer Decals has released a joint sheet for two of the main protagonists - the F-15A "Streak Eagle" and the Sukhoi P-42 (Su-27).

Whilst the Streak Eagle has been available in kit form in 1/72 before as a Hasegawa boxing (00700), the P-42 has not, so this sheet is highly useful, especially if one does not have the Hasegawa kit to hand!

Taking each of these in turn...

F-15A "Streak Eagle"

On 16 January, 1975, three USAF pilots assigned to the F-15 Joint Test Force at Edwards AFB set six Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) time-to-altitude records in one day flying F-15A-6-MC Streak Eagle, serial number 72-0119, from Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. Over the next two weeks they took the Streak Eagle even higher. On its left vertical fin is painted "AQUILA MAXIMA" (Greatest Eagle). This airplane is in storage at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Streak Eagle was specially modified for the record attempts. Various items of equipment were eliminated including the flap and speed brake actuators, the M61A1 Vulcan 20 mm cannon and its ammunition handling equipment, the radar and fire control systems, unneeded cockpit displays and radios, and one generator.

Other equipment was added for the purposes of recording the flight. A long pitot boom was mounted at the nose with alpha and beta vanes, equipment for the pilot's David Clark Company A/P-225-6 full-pressure suit, extremely sensitive accelerometers and other instrumentation, extra batteries, an in-cockpit video camera aimed over the pilot's shoulder, and perhaps most important, a special hold-down device was installed in place of the fighter's standard arresting hook. These changes resulted in an airplane that was approximately 1,800 pounds (817 kilograms) lighter than the standard production F-15A. This gave it a thrust-to-weight ratio of 1.4:1.

Because Streak Eagle was a very early production airplane its internal structure was weaker than the final production F-15A standard. It was considered too expensive to modify it to the new standard, so it was transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in December 1980.

Sukhoi P-42 (Su-27)

This aircraft was specially modified for an attempt on the time-to-height records held by the Streak Eagle. Between 1986 and 1988 the P-42 (named after the victorious defence of Stalingrad in 1942) took no less than 27 records from the Streak Eagle - most of these records still stand!

To create the aircraft used for the record attempts, one of the T-10S prototypes was stripped of all armament, radar and operational equipment, the fin tips were removed, as was the tailboom and the wingtip launch rails. The radome was also replaced with a lighter metal fairing. Stripped of paint, the aircraft was polished and all drag-producing gaps and joints were sealed. The engines were modified to give an increase in thrust of 2,204lbs, giving the P-42, as the modified aircraft was designated, a phenomenal thrust-to-weight ratio of almost 2:1.

The mainwheel brakes could not hold the aircraft at full thrust so the P-42 was anchored to a tracked armoured vehicle by a steel hawser with an electronic lock. With the engines wound up to full power, the hawser was released and the P-42 leaped into the air and climbed at an optimum angle to altitude.

Between 1986 and 1988 the P-42 took no less than 27 records from the Streak Eagle. The aircraft even set records for STOL aircraft with a take-off run of less than 1540ft! Most of these records still stand to this day.

The decal sheet

The decal sheet is quite small, as there were very few markings on either aircraft:-

  • F-15A "Streak Eagle" - The nose carried an eagle's head with "STREAK EAGLE" in red, white and blue behind it. On the fin was a large roundel containing "MAXIMA AQUILA" with the Streak Eagle logo superimposed. Full USAF Stars'n'Bars were carried in four positions, together with a small "USAF 20119" serial on the fin. The aircraft was unpainted and appears to be in a wide range of metallic tones from polished silver right through to a matt black (rear fuselage). Rocketeer show no less than eight different tones, so painting will be a challenge! Additionally, a number of areas of the fuselage carried pale blue panels, and these are all provided on the decal sheet;
  • P-42 (Su-27) - The aircraft was completely unmarked apart from a large Russian flag on the fin and "P-42" in cyrillic on the nose. The aircraft was unpainted and appeared mostly yellow-silver with some panels in aluminium, dark silver or matt black.

Instructions comprise two sides of full colour A4, with four views for the Streak Eagle and three views for the P-42 - no drawing is provided for the underside.

Whilst both of these aircraft present a challenge (the F-15A in painting, the P-42 in construction due to the relative lack of kits), they would look fantastic displayed together!

Review and images by Chris St Clair