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F-15E --- 1/32 --- Tamiya


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Hi guys, I`m in :) What can i say, party non stop! The history is easy - i just finished my best model so far (F-35B - here and there) and now i just get started with a very special kit - F-15E in 1/32. This is a story from about a couple of weeks ago. In the beginning i did not wanted to join the forum, because i will probably never build another 1/32nd scale kit, because i`m kinda stuck in the 1/48. However, i`m thinking - well, it may be just the one and only in 1/32 but it will definitely take a lot of time, so why not. And this is it the Kit or at least a photo of the manual :D the box can`t fit in the "photo boot" :D.

 

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This is my first try in this 1/32 scale. The last year i made F-15C in 1/48 - here it is with just the bottom fuselage of this kit for a surrealist comparison:

 

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Next is something like a short overview of what i`ve started with within these two/three weeks:

- of course - the rubber and the metal parts - my first experience with such parts:

 

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Here the wheel looks so flat with just about a half of the total weight of the model. Now the both main landing gears are done. The tires are so flat, because it turned them from the inside out, then cut a big piece of rubber and then returned them in their normal position. The "air bubble" inside makes a soft spot that is just enough to make the tire look flat.

 

Btw I`m planning to make this plane quite e-motion-al :) The wheels are rotating and the break disk are greased for a smoother rotation. The landing gears retract in the bays and the bay doors can close and open... 

 

 

 

 

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i always wondered why tamiya never bother to engineer the retractable landing gears for jets......more complicated parts & assembly but would love the options for display. terrific work on the f35.

I'll be following this build as I have 2 that i want build soon.

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Really nice work!  Since I'm currently building the F-15C version of this kit, I have a few questions.  Is this going to be "in-flight" or parked?  Also, I'm curious as to the reason for the random making tape.  Protecting parts perhaps?

 

Cheers,

Chuck

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Chuck, you need to clink on his link in his first post and check out what he did with the F-35, WOW !!! I believe he is going to do the same thing with this build as well.

 

Steve

Wow! thnx for pointing that out! incredible craftsmanship!

 

I will be following this build closely cause I'm pretty sure I'll learn a lot of stuff I won't be able to replicate! :crying:

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Hi Hi from tomorrow :)

 

Chek, yes - the F-15E site is one of the main sources for references that i use. Btw here is one photo from there that depicts how exactly i`m planning to make the ramps of the variable intakes. They will be somehow connected with the "casing" of the intakes (which goes up and down) so to lower the three ramps when the intake is fully open, and vice-versa - the ramps should rise when the intake is down to simulate the plane at lower speeds...

 

inlet_system.jpg

 

Uh, i forgot to introduce myself - i`m Milan, 29 and a half years young, from the southeastern edge of Europe, i`m into
the hobby from a kid but i have as much as about 10 "normal" models, this is my first in 1/32 scale, my interests are 
quite strange - mostly in the snails` food kind of domain, but i have several hobbies :) favorite planes - the 
F`s and mostly the modern ones... okey, i`m continuing with the topic... 
Edited by F`s are my favs
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@ Chuck: man, you are an inspiration! It would be something not like a provocation, but let`s say a race with our models. I really admire your artwork (the A-10 was the fist topic since i know about you) and it really is something like a luck to build with you almost the same model in the same time, an honor, well, you`re kinda more ahead in the build than me, but i could probably catch up quickly.

 

While for the model - i`ve been planning to make most of the parts movable, like in F-35B, and as soon as i opened this enormous kit i saw that Tamiya made some parts with the thinking of motion. They have miniature pins as hinges for the canopy, the gun door, the radar equipment door, the speedbrake, and i probably miss something. The C version probably has the same features. That was quite a surprise, so these parts will need a little less upgrades. I`m planning to build an airframe from the "Chiefs" Squadron (btw this is my inbox review of the kit in an article on the Mitko`s blog :) ). Overall  i envision the plane in the both "in flight" and "landed mode", well, i will probably use a long pylon with a stand (again like for the F-35B) so to represent a moment for the approach for landing when the landing gears are down and the intakes are lowered for the high lvl of att., or respectively the same arrangement but for an imaginary situation when the plane is just taking off.

 

While for the masking tape - yes there are some very thin and delicate bumps or rivets or knobs or i don`t know exactly what, even i don`t know whether they should really be there at all. But it`s something like a basic protection due to the touching, the turning, etc. during the jazz up of the model :) Here they are visible in a couple of photos that i earlier made on the detailing of the fuselage:

 

photo_2.jpg

 

photo_1.jpg

Edited by F`s are my favs
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The landing gears are done or at least the basics for the retraction. I know that the retraction is not realistic, but they barely fit between the bays and the doors. Here they are both in place.

 

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Before the wiring, i realized that it should be better/safer to finish the rest of the parts on/near the intake ducts. The intakes will move (drop and rise) in a synchronization with the three ramps, so i cut the third (innermost) ramps from the intakes to make them movable.

 

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A view from the engine`s point of view:

 

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Then - the engines. The first stage variable guide veins are altered by second stage guide veins, and how it looks from the intakes:

 

photo_3_2.jpg

 

photo_4_1.jpg

 

photo_5_2.jpg

 

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Just finished the both viewable parts of the engines,

 

photo_1fvb.jpg

 

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now - on the intakes` kind of motion thing...  :rolleyes: Thank you all for the feedback and motivation!
Edited by F`s are my favs
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Chuck, you need to clink on his link in his first post and check out what he did with the F-35, WOW !!! I believe he is going to do the same thing with this build as well.

 

Steve

 

 

Thanks for pointing that out Steve.  I totally agree- WOW!- although I cringed when I saw him using tweezers on all those delicate parts.  Lol.

 

 

 

@ Chuck: man, you are an inspiration! It would be something not like a provocation, but let`s say a race with our models. I really admire your artwork (the A-10 was the fist topic since i know about you) and it really is something like a luck to build with you almost the same model in the same time, an honor, well, you`re kinda more ahead in the build than me, but i could probably catch up quickly.

 

While for the model - i`ve been planning to make most of the parts movable, like in F-35B, and as soon as i opened this enormous kit i saw that Tamiya made some parts with the thinking of motion. They have miniature pins as hinges for the canopy, the gun door, the radar equipment door, the speedbrake, and i probably miss something. The C version probably has the same features. That was quite a surprise, so these parts will need a little less upgrades. I`m planning to build an airframe from the "Chiefs" Squadron (btw this is my inbox review of the kit in an article on the Mitko`s blog :) ). Overall  i envision the plane in the both "in flight" and "landed mode", well, i will probably use a long pylon with a stand (again like for the F-35B) so to represent a moment for the approach for landing when the landing gears are down and the intakes are lowered for the high lvl of att., or respectively the same arrangement but for an imaginary situation when the plane is just taking off.

 

While for the masking tape - yes there are some very thin and delicate bumps or rivets or knobs or i don`t know exactly what, even i don`t know whether they should really be there at all. But it`s something like a basic protection due to the touching, the turning, etc. during the jazz up of the model :) Here they are visible in a couple of photos that i earlier made on the detailing of the fuselage:

 

 

 

Now that I see what you've done to the F-35B, this all makes sense and I will keenly follow your work.  Also, you will likely blow by my progress in no time, because I'm not doing very much modeling these days now that it's summer.  Modeling for me is a poor weather activity, so I likely won't get too much done for the next few months.  By coincidence, I'm currently cleaning up and assembling the landing gear, so it will be interesting to see what you do with the metal parts.  Also, thanks for the tip on covering the delicate parts with masking tape.  Since I hadn't got that far, I hadn't noticed yet.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited by chuck540z3
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