Mike C Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 (edited) Here's my entry for this GB.... Hasegawa 1/72 F-15DJ Aggressor. I've always wanted to build one of these Japanese colourful aggressors. Bought this kit from HLJ quite some time ago, and been sitting in the stash until now! I think I'll build this bird wheels down. I've had quite a few in-flight F-15s already... At first, I thought the camo patterns would be supplied in a form of decals. So, imagine my surprise when I opened up the box and found that they weren't. This will be a very challenging project, I think. There'll be lots of mask-and-spray. I think I'll also be consuming a lot of Tamiya masking tape. Better stock up on those tapes.... Progress so far... Cockpit is all done. I used to dab a little red and yellow paints here and there, roughly where there might be red or yellow switches based on reference pics. But, with my deteriorating eye sight, I can't be bothered doing that anymore. Glued up the gas bag.... Man... still need lots of work there.... BTW, there's quite a bit of flash on this kit. Really showing its age... Also decided to put together the wings... I'll need to double check my reference, but I'm fairly certain I'll need to putty up some of those tricky seam lines. I don't understand why Hasegawa had to mold the wings into 2 parts like this. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Keep it coming. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 (edited) OK. I think I fixed the seam lines on the underside of the wings. First, I sanded down the "step" with 400-grit sandpaper, filled with thinned Tamiya Basic Putty, then sanded down with 1200-grit sandpaper. I'm going to spray H311 later to see if I need to work on it some more. For the gas bags, I first sanded down the seam lines with 800-grit, filled with thinned Tamiya putty, then sanded down with 1200-grit. I'm not yet sure if I'm going to use all 3 of these gas bags... 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 (edited) After lots of sanding, some puttying, and more sanding, I finally got rid of the darned seam lines! Sprayed a layer of H311 to confirm that these gas bags are ready for the paint shop. Did pretty much the same with the wings... Lots of sanding, puttying, more sanding, more puttying, then more sanding. The difference in surface level is negligible now. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f5guy Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I'm looking forward to seeing this one done! Great subject choice ;0) Fred. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 (edited) Been spending a bit of time working on the gas bags and (potential) weapons. Glued up the... whatever that thing is... Intake covers? That white stuff is Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer. I also painted and installed the intake trunks and the jet turbine... For the trunks, I first painted it with a couple of layers of H311 (FS36622), then a single layer of Tamiya Gloss White (X-2). For the jet turbine, I dry brushed it with Mr Metal Color Iron, then highlights with Mr Metal Color Copper (you can hardly see it on the pics). 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 (edited) I've been spending quite a bit more time on my RAAF Hornet build. Felt a bit guilty for this bird, so decided to spend some quality bench time on it... Glued the intakes to the upper fuselage half using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement (green cap). Rather than following the sheet, I glued each half of the intake individually, minimising any gap between the intake and the fuselage. Dry-fitted the bottom fuselage half to the top one. It was quite a tight fit, I think I'll need to sand in a few places to smooth things up a bit. Also, there may be an ugly gap between the left intake and the bottom fuselage half. Let's see if the "brute force" method would work in minimising that gap... 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Nice to see some progress on this one. The gap you see did not appear on mine (I followed the instructions on this one) but then I had a (very) small gap between the intakes and top fuselage. You can't have it all I guess :) Arnaud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) Alright... For me, by far the most dreaded part about building Hasegawa F-15 is putting together the burner cans. Those actuators are sooooo damned small!!! In my last 2 builds, I always managed to lose at least 1 or 2. This time is no exception. I lost 1! Notice there's 1 missing actuator on the top left section on 1st pic below. I rummaged around my parts box and found something small enough that I can cut off and used as replacement. It was an unused part from Hasegawa F-16C (part D21 - not sure what it's supposed to be, neither do I care really). 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) Good save! I assembled the cans first and then added the actuators. Not sure if it helped not losing any but it sure made aligning the segments easy. A good hint for the segments alignment is to use a conical shape of about the right diameter to make sure the exhaust is circular while the glue has not cured. Good luck, Arnaud Edited March 8, 2014 by arnobiz Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) Arnaud, the actuator that I lost flew off my fingers when I was trying to trim the sprue anchor bit off it. As far as aligning the actuators go, I have no problem with it at all. I managed to glue all sections to the "burner ring" without major drama. In fact, this time around, it was much less messy than my past F-15 builds. Apart from my being much more careful this time, Tamiya Extra Thin cement also helps a great deal. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arnobiz Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Nice job, glad it went without a hitch Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) Here's the planned load out... I was initially thinking of loading up a gas bag on centerline, but then I decided to use AN/ALQ-131 from Italeri F-16C/D Night Falcon instead. I stole this idea from another modeler in another forum. The AIM-120C came from... Italeri F-22 Raptor, I think. I can't remember where the AIM-9M came from. I've also puttied up the bad seam line underneath the intakes. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 (edited) Sprayed the cockpit side wall with LifeColor FS36231, and added some weight to the nose. Sprayed Tamiya flat black on the landing gears, including the ones for the Hornet. Sprayed the inside walls of the burner cans with Tamiya flat white. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hajo L. Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 What did you use to keep the fishing weight in the nose? I always use superglue or white glue, because many other things (for example putty) tend to mold the plastic... HAJO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 What did you use to keep the fishing weight in the nose? Blu Tack Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 (edited) Spent a bit more time on this kit tonight.... Glued the top and bottom fuselage halves.... First, I glued the rear... I'll need to deal with those blasted seam lines... While waiting for the Tamiya Extra Thin cement to dry a bit there, I turned my attention to other parts... Dry-brushed the exhaust turbine with Mr Metal Color Dark Iron. I also sprayed flat black on the other side of the tyres (but didn't bother to take any pics), and sprayed a layer of Tamiya X-22 gloss clear over the gas bags (again, didn't bother to take any pics). Now that the cement was somewhat dry, I glued up the front fuselage halves There's some serious sanding and puttying ahead of me.... Oh boy.... I use a completely different approach this time when putting the front fuselage together. Rather than following the instruction (which always resulted in really bad step or seam lines), I decided to first glue the area behind the cockpit first, making sure the speed brake aligns properly. At this point, I'm not yet sure if I'm going to install the speed brake in open or closed position. That's where it's at.... 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 14, 2014 Author Share Posted March 14, 2014 (edited) Sanded the side joint between intake and fuselage with 400-grit sandpaper to get rid of the very minor step (see previously uploaded pics). The seam between the bottom part of the intake and the fuselage should be much more subtle, based on the pics of real F-15s I found on the 'Net, so I decided to putty 'em up with thinned putty. If required, I'll rescribe it. The tip of the left-hand LEX (I think?) needs at least 2 or 3 applications of thinned putty there. Annoying. Interestingly, from memory, Academy F-15E (more like D with CFT, apparently) that I built in the past had the same problem. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 (edited) OK... I knew from experience that installing the wings will be challenging. I dry-fitted the right wing and noticed there would be a rather large gap. So, I sanded and shaved trying to make the gap small enough to fill with putty. When I thought I sanded and shaved enough without ruining the shape of the fuselage or the wings, I glued the wing on with Tamiya extra thin cement, holding the parts firmly together. The result.... no gap! But.... there was a bit of step!! Dang it! So, again, I had to sand the wing with 400-grit sandpaper, then filled with putty. The pic below is after 2 applications of thinned putty. The wing joint underneath is much better. Only needed 1 application of thinned putty, then when dried, wiped off with cotton bud dampened with nail polish remover. Hey, presto! No gap! I'll spray some flat black later to ensure there's no more touch up required. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Coming along nicely Mike!!!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 (edited) When gluing the forward fuselage to the rear one, I have always had problems with lining 'em up when following the instruction. So, again, rather than following the instruction, I glued the part just behind the cockpit by itself to the main fuselage first. The two spots highlighted in the pic below need to line up, otherwise the air brake won't line up. As you can see, I puttied 'em up too, since I don't see any seam line on real aircraft pics that I saw on the 'Net. I think the one on the left needs another application.... *Sigh*... The right wing join needs some more sanding... Left LEX needs a bit more sanding too... Right LEX... Needs more puttying and sanding. Intake join at the bottom looks OK.... 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 (edited) Installed the left wing tonight.... No step, which is good. BUT.... the gap underneath was really wide! Perhaps I should've sanded a bit more.... Oh well... In hindsight, I probably should've used strip styrene to plug the gap, then putty... 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 (edited) I also dry-fitted the front fuselage to the main fuselage... Happy days!! In my other F-15 builds, I could never get such a good fit! In fact, the last one that I did (F-15C Aggressor) resulted in such a bad step that I had to shave quite a bit of plastic off, then patched things up with Milliput. It was BAD! From now on, if/when I build another F-15, I'll definitely use the same construction method! :woot.gif:/> 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 (edited) Lower right wing join only needed 1 application of thinned putty... Unfortunately the seam lines on the top wing joins are still problematic... No more seam lines on the side fuselage join... FINALLY! I had to do a few sessions of puttying and sanding. Dry brushed the base of the burner cans with Mr Metal Color Aluminum. Puttied up the join of the front fuselage. I also cut off the two small antennas before applying the putty. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 (edited) OK... That's it! I'm declaring the wing joints as being "good enough"! I must've done 4-5 sessions of putty-and-sand on them. I'm sick of it! Gotta move on! The nose cone seems OK now.... Can't see any seam line anymore. 'Later! Edited June 7, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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