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Mighty 1:32 Tamiya F-15E Strike Eagle


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My word man!!!...your attention to detail, your determination, tenacity, and patience for such are inspirational from the start, and your progression in photos only makes this a must see for all who would like to, or have dreams of reaching your level of craftmanship; which is far above the lesser stars in this part of modeling space. A lot of folks here do great model builds, but a select few have reached that plateau above; where a finished build which in a photo is indistinguisable when compared to the real article. Listing names is not necessary, those who visit ARC regularly are well aware of those of which I speak.

Edited by #1 Greywolf
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Beautiful work on the gear!

I hear you on the restraint to wash. That said, you could use the Promodeller Light Wash with a few drops of Black Wash mixed in, that could introduce a few shadows without making things look dirty. Thats what I did with my Mk.7's. No real need though, the gear bays do look great as is.

:thumbsup:

Marcel

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Jesse, Coming along very nicely. Have a Merry Christmas, Gary

Good to hear from you Gary and thanks for checking in.... Merry Christmas to you as well!

Gorgeous detailing, doode! biggrin.gif

Thanks dude smile.gif As you can see, ever since you diagnosed me with A.M.S. my condition has gotten worse :P/>

My word man!!!...your attention to detail, your determination, tenacity, and patience for such are inspirational from the start, and your progression in photos only makes this a must see for all who would like to, or have dreams of reaching your level of craftmanship; which is far above the lesser stars in this part of modeling space. A lot of folks here do great model builds, but a select few have reached that plateau above; where a finished build which in a photo is indistinguisable when compared to the real article. Listing names is not necessary, those who visit ARC regularly are well aware of those of which I speak.

:blush:/> Thanks Clif you're much too generous.... Reading yer posts tells me that yer a man of great character :salute:/>

Beautiful work on the gear!

I hear you on the restraint to wash. That said, you could use the Promodeller Light Wash with a few drops of Black Wash mixed in, that could introduce a few shadows without making things look dirty. Thats what I did with my Mk.7's. No real need though, the gear bays do look great as is.

70.gif

Marcel

Thanks Marcel! Yer suggestion is appreciated... I temporarily forgot about mixing the washes to achieve specific shades, even though I suggested this to another member not too long ago wink.gif

Merry Christmas Gang :santa:/>

/Jesse

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Good morning folks, hope you all had a great Christmas, I know I did!

When building this kit, you pretty much are forced to install the nose gear before closing the fuselage halves, which means that the nose gear will be exposed and need to be masked for the painting process. I decided to spend a little time making a nice landing gear cover/mask since I spend many many hours detailing the gear I don't want to put offending masking tape and risk tearing off the fiddly details and bits that were added... So my solution was to build a custom box from .015 styrene sheet. It fits nice and snug and when it comes time to paint I will simply glue it in with some white glue. For now it'll keep the sanding dust out of the ngb and double as a protective cover for the nose gear!

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I also make another box to protect my cockpit and crew... After spending months on the crew, it would be a huge disappointment to break something! When it comes time to paint, the canopy will be glued in permanently, but for now this doubles as a nice stand and also I can hold the model in my hand for ease of scribing and sanding etc. It was well worth taking time to make these protective covers !

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Here's a quick diagram that I used as a guide for scribing the correct panel lines under neath. I wound up cutting the antennas off temporarily for ease of sanding the seam and re-scribing panels.

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In this shot, the seam is gone using CA glue as a filler. The antennas were pinned then reinstalled where they belong. I will need to add a bit of white glue filler around the antennas. You can see that the nose and radar panel has been glued with Tamiya thin cement. I will continue to add cement to close the offending gaps, which are very minimal. If I have to I will add some white glue filler to even out the join between the nose and fuselage. I added some rivets, but on the Strike it's hard to see rivets from 40 feet away, so I'm keeping it to a minimum!

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Top side seam sanded and details replenished. Notice the AOA probe. I removed the kit probes and will install these safety pins later. The gap between the nose and fuse will probably get a bit of white glue filler treatment...

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Final shot with the front fuselage all glued together. MAN this is gonna be a huge model! I swear just the nose is half the length of the 48th scale Super Hornet! The forward fuse is complete until the rest of the airframe is put together...

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I have been talking with Chris about the loadout. I have waited til the last minute to do my research, but hopefully I am able to scrape up the parts and stencils I need to make it all happen. The Strike Eagle can carry 24,000 lbs of hardware, so there are many stations and configurations for payload. Just trying to wrap my head around all of it right now!

***If ANYONE out there can spare any TwoBobs or HobbyDecal 1/32 missile and bomb markings, I will make it worth yer time! AIM-9 AIM-120 GBU-12 LANTIRN stencils etc... I will even take kit stencils from Academy or Trumpy, but not Tamiya pray.gifpray.gif

Thanks for your continued interest gang 70.gif

/Jesse

Edited by JesniF-16
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Really nice modifications to the lower nose area Jess! Your clear explanations are very much appreciated as well. For a quick and dirty protective shroud for the canopy area, I use ordinary foam pipe wrap with a sticky join surface to keep the wrap where I need it. For the nose gear leg, it looks like you have found a perfect solution. I would wrap thin tissue around the leg then tape it, but that adds pressure to fiddly parts that might break off.

I'm not home right now to check, but I'm sure I have some of the missile decals you need, especially the Academy ones (from F/A-18 kits). I have some of the Two Bobs ones as well, but I need a bunch of them too for my current A-10 build, but I may have spares. I'll check next week and let you know.

Cheers,

Chuck

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Been watching your build on Zone Five, but cannot get on their forums site for some odd reason. FINALLY got back on this site, so now I can comment. YOUR BUILD IS LOOKING BEAUTIFUL!!! You have awesome skills!!! Well done so far!

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Looking awesome there 377.gif377.gif !

I have a Tamiya F-15E in my stash waiting it's turn.

Thanks man, so far this is a great kit and it's a lot of fun to build!

Really nice modifications to the lower nose area Jess! Your clear explanations are very much appreciated as well. For a quick and dirty protective shroud for the canopy area, I use ordinary foam pipe wrap with a sticky join surface to keep the wrap where I need it. For the nose gear leg, it looks like you have found a perfect solution. I would wrap thin tissue around the leg then tape it, but that adds pressure to fiddly parts that might break off.

I'm not home right now to check, but I'm sure I have some of the missile decals you need, especially the Academy ones (from F/A-18 kits). I have some of the Two Bobs ones as well, but I need a bunch of them too for my current A-10 build, but I may have spares. I'll check next week and let you know.

Cheers,

Chuck

Thanks Chuck! I thought about the insulation idea, but the canopy home made "box" doubles as a nice "stand" for the front fuse... When you figure out what you can spare, LET ME KNOW, I am more than willing to make it worth your time & effort! Since I neglected to purchase those 2bobs stencils when they were available I probably deserve to be "stuck" with the ghastly Tamiya sheet!

Been watching your build on Zone Five, but cannot get on their forums site for some odd reason. FINALLY got back on this site, so now I can comment. YOUR BUILD IS LOOKING BEAUTIFUL!!! You have awesome skills!!! Well done so far!

Welcome back VA-115EFR! And I must thank you for the nice comments! Glad you found us again, must've been like being 100% coherent, but not being able to speak w00t.gif

/Jesse

Edited by JesniF-16
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Jesse, good to see the nose together and clever idea with those protective covers.

I am not home right now but fairly sure I can source Aim-120 and Aim-9M decals from the Revell Typhoon kit for you. I can let you know in a week's time when I am back home. Despite the Typhoon plastic being horrible, the decals are pretty good.

Cheers,

Marcel

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Jesse, good to see the nose together and clever idea with those protective covers.

I am not home right now but fairly sure I can source Aim-120 and Aim-9M decals from the Revell Typhoon kit for you. I can let you know in a week's time when I am back home. Despite the Typhoon plastic being horrible, the decals are pretty good.

Cheers,

Marcel

Cheers Marcel, email inbound 70.gif

Very nice!!!

Jake

Thanks Jake! Can't wait to see some of those F-15 sheets 70.gif Would it be profitable to do US missiles, targeting pods and bomb stencils in the future? It always seems that i don't have the stencils when I need them hmmm.gif

/Jesse

Edited by JesniF-16
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Excellent idea on the gear cover boxes. I knew someone would find a better way of masking those things one day. I have a complete set of Academy F-18C decals that I will not use including the stencils if you need them. The kit boxing is the 2191. I am going with after market decals when I start it anyways. I can relocate stencils if I need them then. Right now I have my hands full trying my best to build a 1/32 AV-8B Harrier so the F-18 is way in the back of my mind. send me a PM if you need them and I will get them out in the next day or so. JOSH

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What a bleeding smart idea with the boxes! Ingenious!

Sorry Janne, I seem to have missed yer post.... Thanks, I hope you can use the tip someday 70.gif

Jesse, very clever making those protective boxes. And great work on the rivet/screw detail.

I have built a couple of the Revell F-15Cs in 32nd and was constantly banging into the flexible lights and knocking stuff over, which is why I haven't attempted this kit. Yet....

Thanks a lot Ken! Yeah it's really gonna get interesting when the airframe is all built up... What a beast. Started working on the 600 gallon tanks, I can see i will need a lot more sanding supplies expl.gif

I'm interested to see what you do with the nose cone gaps. How are you going to get a smooth line?

Hi Sharkey. I'm interested to see what I'm gonna do as well sad.gif I just applied another round of thin cement and it's finally starting to weld together nicely...

Plan B) add white glue to the seam

Plan C) pretty much have always wound up adding CA glue to the entire join, then sand and rescribe the seam...

I really think the Tamiya thin cement is doing the work for me though. I will post a pic when I'm satisfied with the join, then I will tell you how it went. Cheers.

Josh, thanks for the kind offer... I really gotta thank such a great group of modeler's that help out for every opportunity 271.gif

/Jesse

Edited by JesniF-16
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  • 2 weeks later...

Good afternoon folks. Hope everyone in North America is staying indoors due to the polar vortex that has decided to punish us this year!

Work on the 600 gallon fuel tanks is completed as well as the CATM-120C. It's a relief to have the fuel tanks finished because it's the same color as the airframe, so what that means is it's a premonition of what will happen when it's time to paint the beast!

Let's get started... In the pic, the gas bag is ready for paint. Almost all of the panel lines are incorrect on the Tamiya kit parts. Maybe they're correct, but you can't see them on the real deal. So then the work begun... Using CA glue as filler and a days worth of sanding they are ready for paint. I replaced raised rivet detail using Archer rivets... Great product that has many uses!

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To add realism to the gas bags, I used a Trumpeter scribing tool to separate the ECS from the rear of the tank... I didn't completely separate the ECS, I just deepened the demarcation line to add depth. It's easy to do and it really livens things up! I also added large Archer rivets for the bolts on the ECS housing.

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Here is the ECS housing after paint... Much better!

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I used the Super Scale F-15E Mod stencils to add to the tanks..... The decals are definitely too thick and the small stencils for the tank are way out of scale! Guess I've been spoiled with the likes of FTD, Afterburner, and all the other great Cartograph sheets. Long story short, it's next to impossible to hide the decal film edges, plus I wound up sanding off some of the small stencils because they were way too big for the scale! I hate this saying, but in the end "It is what it is!"..... On a positive note the repairs went well, so there was no need to strip the paint and start over!

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I am still very satisfied with the outcome of the gas bags... Since the Tamiya plastic is already dark grey, I decided to forgo the primer step. Right to the MM enamel paint. The Model Master Gunship Gray is way too dark by itself, so I mixed it with Medium Grey to lighten things up. So now I have a starting point when it comes time to paint the fuselage. I did a slight preshade and the rest was weathered with water colors which are easy to play with and washes off with water.

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I kept the tanks fairly clean, but I just can't see not weathering at all! I know Chris picked out nice fresh tanks for 86-0186, but even still there had to be some staining when looking at them up close...

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The top-sides of the tanks are clean with no scratches. And I went with the red caps to add more interest, although it is still "accurate".

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Great looking tanks there Jess! Those Archer rivets are a savior after sanding, huh?

FYI, I discovered something really cool about these rivets after painting them. If you rub them with a microbrush (or similar soft, but eroding surface), the black of the rivet pops for those areas where you might want that contrast and detail. Not always, of course, but some screws, etc. are very dark and this method makes them show nicely without painting them.

Also, good call on lightening the Gunship Gray. My first model was a 1/32 Revell F-15E that I painted with Model Master GG straight from the bottle. It looks almost black- yuk!

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Thanks for the reassurance Janne, well awesome that's 1 vote for weathering rolleyes.gif

Update part 2

For the CATM-120C I had either the Tamiya version or the Trumpeter version... I don't remember much about the Trumpeter AIM-102 other than it's way too short! The Tamiya AIM-120 is correct in length and diameter. If you plan to use the Tamiya missile, the blunt nose shape is accurate for the CAP-120, which thankfully, is exactly what I need! The live AIM-120 is much sleeker in shape... Anywho, to make this a CATM-120 "C" you will have to clip the wings like I did in the pic... BEWARE, be very careful when doing this... a little out of square is too much and if you try and sand it square, there is a good chance that you will shave too much off the fins BANGHEAD2.jpg Please don't ask me how I know.... This happens to be my second attempt!

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A huge thanks to Ghatherly, he was able to spare me some CATM-120C stencils from TwoBobs! So this is now a very accurate CATM-120C 70.gif I almost forgot.... You should lighten the blue color for the bands.... The decals are dark blue so I sprayed them with a shot of fs35109!

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The fins were sanded as thin as possible to add realism....

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And the rear end looks plain and flat, just like this!

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A big thanks to Stinger16, Ghatherly, Devileader, Chuck and Marcel for reaching out to spare some weapon stencils! You guys rock punk.gif Man I have researched hi and lo for the weapons and pylons... I have much work ahead of me, this is just the start! 4 GBU-12, 1 CAP-9M, AAQ-13 & 14, and a crapload of work on the pylons.... I can't wait !!!! w00t.gif

/Jesse

Edited by JesniF-16
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Great looking tanks there Jess! Those Archer rivets are a savior after sanding, huh?

FYI, I discovered something really cool about these rivets after painting them. If you rub them with a microbrush (or similar soft, but eroding surface), the black of the rivet pops for those areas where you might want that contrast and detail. Not always, of course, but some screws, etc. are very dark and this method makes them show nicely without painting them.

Also, good call on lightening the Gunship Gray. My first model was a 1/32 Revell F-15E that I painted with Model Master GG straight from the bottle. It looks almost black- yuk!

Awesome! I painted the screws, but it's hard to see... I think I will give it a go with the microbrush! Great tip once again 377.gif

/Jesse

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Awesome! I painted the screws, but it's hard to see... I think I will give it a go with the microbrush! Great tip once again 377.gif

/Jesse

Hopefully you used Future to seal the rivets first, otherwise rubbing them might not be a good idea!

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Hopefully you used Future to seal the rivets first, otherwise rubbing them might not be a good idea!

After losing a rivet or 3 I decided to seal them in with the Future, so I should be good to go 70.gif

/Jesse

Edited by JesniF-16
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