timc Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 I'm building the Tamiya F-15E right now and I decided to go the cheap route and fill, sand and paint the intakes instead of using resin aftermarket parts. Well, I think I've gone completely insane in attempting to get all the damn sinkholes, ejector pin marks and whathaveyou fixed. I haven't even gotten to the paint yet, and it's gloss white (except the first 2 1/4" or so that equates to 6 ft on the real jet painted 36118) I'm doing one of these numbers at the moment and will probably result in this: :D but it's just a "thing" and I'm not gonna let it kick my arse.....[my montra for when model parts don't go as they should] It is being a huge "damnit" as I superglue sandpaper to different shaped plastic extrusions to enable me to sand down the puttied seam the entire length of the intake. Luckily, I took some time while gluing the parts together and have minimized the "misfit" of the top and bottom halves. Some filing with extended reach files (aka known as jewelers file mounted inside a piece of brass tubing) ripped down the step and I've got some pretty good looking seams. $10 says that after I get a nice coat of gloss white down the throats of these pipes, there will either be a sink hole or a seam that didn't get caught and I'll have to redo the entire thing in order to fix it. (making me really angry and wishing I'd have spent the money for the damn seamless intakes in the first place) Oh well, this is a HOBBY right? I keep telling myself that but I'm starting to think I lie. Wish me luck! I'm goin down the tubes tomorrow.... :wacko: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Williams Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Can't help you, man. I'm taking the lazy way out and using the PWMP intake covers on mine. :huh: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CiscoKid Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 (edited) Hey man, here's my take on this. I considered doing all of that to get a nice, clean intake. Then it occured to me that unless I entered it in a contest or someone grabbed a flashlight and looked (which is very unlikely), it would never be seen anyway. I puttied/sanded the sink holes, then painted both pieces white before I glued them together. Then I measured to where the paint demarcation would be for the gunship gray and painted it. Then, when I glued the pieces together, I didn't scrape the paint from the edges of the joints. I used tape to help keep it together. Now, unless you look with a flashlight, you can't even see the join line down the intake (and without much effort in the process, too). Hope it helps. Brian Edited March 10, 2006 by CiscoKid Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted March 10, 2006 Share Posted March 10, 2006 Intakes? How often do you look at them, bent over sticking a flashlight up there, when your completed model is on the shelf? I do intakes per instructions, fix them by sanding and paint. I think I used aftermarket intakes once, and swore off them, when a kit one had fewer mistakes then the one I spent the extra money on. If I really screw the pooch on my paint job.......Thats why God made intake covers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
timc Posted March 11, 2006 Author Share Posted March 11, 2006 Unfortunately, my model display shelf sits right at eye level so the intakes are very noticable. and two, I suffer from AMS, and have been since 1996, so it's virtually impossible for me to ignore seams in the intakes of anything. Third, I just might enter it into a contest next month. BUFFCON is in April and NOREASTCON is right around the corner from that. I don't want horrible seams ruining my otherwise well built F15E. I would do the intake cover thing but alas I would fall short of my expectations if I did that. I can improvise, adapt and overcome... persistence pays off in some instances. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmthamade Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 I`m building the F-15J and it is the first Tamiya Eagle i`ve tried. I did fill the seams and spent a HUGE amount of time sanding/scraping/filling on the intake tubes. The end result cannot be seen by me, and i will not repeat this on any more of the Eagles i will build. I think this is one of those tasks that you hate doing, but for anyone that can survive the work, it must give immense satisfaction to see those clean, smooth intake tubes. I used a dental pick to do a lot of the scraping, worked really well, picture follows. Won`t do this again on my Eagles, will on my A-7D/E though. Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
volzj Posted March 11, 2006 Share Posted March 11, 2006 Thats why God made intake covers. Exactly! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
timc Posted March 13, 2006 Author Share Posted March 13, 2006 (edited) Who needs intake covers when a little time and effort produces results like this (sans the scale 6 foot Gunship grey section) The white paint is Jet-Glo Mattehorn White. It's a 2 part epoxy that we use on real aircraft inside intakes, wheel wells, on landing gear, etc....EXTREMELY Glossy as you can see. Notice the reflection of the compressor blades back onto the surface of the white paint. The compresor faces are Alclad II Steel. Edited March 13, 2006 by timc Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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