Joel_W Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Chuck, Marcel post is just dead on for the level that you're modeling at, which is IPMS National quality. Joel chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 (edited) Thanks again guys! I realize that this is a tiny modification, but as important as it seems to me, I've never seen it done before, including the totally awesome John Vojtech F-15C from a few years back. I've checked many builds of this kit as well as the F-15E kit and I can't find one that has the hinge altered in any way. The pin is always there, as is the gap is underneath, which might be why it's also hard to find pics of the intakes from underneath. The CFT's of the Strike Eagle version hide the top of the hinge a bit so it's less noticeable, but if the model is flipped over, the gap is always there. Here's another tip I forgot to mention. If you're going to glue the intake fronts on like I did, cut the pins off the hinges. While the intake fronts fit fairly well against the intakes as is, there's a bit of a gap that shouldn't be there, so if you cut off the pins you can get the intake front to fit more snugly and look cleaner. This also allows you to fill the pin hole in the intake with styrene rod easier, because there won't be a pin in the way. Cheers, Chuck Edited May 16, 2017 by chuck540z3 Marcel111 and F`s are my favs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 Thank you. Sincerely, Mark chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 Thanks again guys! I realize that this is a tiny modification, but as important as it seems to me, I've never seen it done before, including the totally awesome John Vojtech F-15C from a few years back. I've checked many builds of this kit as well as the F-15E kit and I can't find one that has the hinge altered in any way. The pin is always there, as is the gap is underneath, which might be why it's also hard to find pics of the intakes from underneath. The CFT's of the Strike Eagle version hide the top of the hinge a bit so it's less noticeable, but if the model is flipped over, the gap is always there. Cheers, Chuck I did it on my E, as I said it is such a must-do imo... but no doubt my scribing isn't as clean as yours :-/ Cheers, Marcel chuck540z3, F`s are my favs and Joel_W 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsahling1 Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Well Chuck you did it, you made me pick up another Tamiya 1/32 F-15C and a whole bunch of aftermarket goodies, I'll be following and using your work here as a big help to speed things up. I've been dry fitting the Avionix cockpit and had a question for you about the sidewalls on the cockpit. I noticed you removed the "rail" on the top of the sidewall resin parts; was this done to improve fit? Also how were you able to glue the sidewalls into the proper place on the kit parts of the forward fuselage so that it would fit nicely once you added the tub and other parts? I usually will attach the sidewalls to the cockpit tub and then install it into the fuselage so I was just wondering about that part. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Buddee Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 Brilliant work as always Chuck! Every modification is done to perfection. Love it! Cheers, Wolf chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyZeit Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 what a gorgeous rig Chuck. cant wait to see it in person! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted May 20, 2017 Author Share Posted May 20, 2017 Thanks guys. I really appreciate the encouragement! Well Chuck you did it, you made me pick up another Tamiya 1/32 F-15C and a whole bunch of aftermarket goodies, I'll be following and using your work here as a big help to speed things up. I've been dry fitting the Avionix cockpit and had a question for you about the sidewalls on the cockpit. I noticed you removed the "rail" on the top of the sidewall resin parts; was this done to improve fit? Also how were you able to glue the sidewalls into the proper place on the kit parts of the forward fuselage so that it would fit nicely once you added the tub and other parts? I usually will attach the sidewalls to the cockpit tub and then install it into the fuselage so I was just wondering about that part. The answer is: I don't really know anymore. It's been about a year since I did the cockpit, so I'd only be guessing. I can say, however, that I always attach the side walls to the fuselage parts first, then install the cockpit. To do this correctly, you need to dry fit, trim, the dry fit again many times to get things right. This might literally be 50-75 times with very small adjustments made each time. If you attach the side walls to the cockpit first, there will almost always be a gap between it and the fuselage. The other issue is swelling. With all that resin jammed into the cockpit area, the fuselage often swells outward. Don't do it! Trim and sand all parts until they just slide in with no stress on the fuselage. If the fuselage is swelled outward, it can become unglued later due to stress and the canopy and windscreen parts won't fit any more. Cheers, Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 Nice work bud, looks awesome. Steve chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted May 21, 2017 Share Posted May 21, 2017 Chuck Amazing work and attention to detail, matching the model to your detail photos. Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted May 30, 2017 Author Share Posted May 30, 2017 (edited) May 30/17 Thanks again Guys. As mentioned earlier with summer coming, I am already getting very distracted from modeling, so I need all the motivation I can get to keep this bird on the assembly line! So here's a brief update, just to keep this thread moving a bit. The right side of the intake where the gun goes is a real head scratcher. Why did Tamiya, leave such a large gap between the fuselage halves? I have left off the gun shroud because the instructions have you insert the gun barrels from the front in Step #14 and 6 steps later in Step #20, you glue on the front shroud. Other than the cockpit, I don't really have any detail to display under a panel, so I thought I would keep the gun panel door open and display the gun. The kit gun barrels are awful, so I'm going to use this Master M61 brass gun kit instead. Assembled with CA glue, it blows the kit gun barrels away. Note that I left off some brass spacers at the front, because you will never see them and they don't fit very well. From the front, which is all you'll see later with the gun door closed. Unfortunately, the brass gun is a bit short, so I created some circular gun breech extensions out of strip styrene. The styrene join is on the bottom, where again you won't see it. To fit all this together, I inserted the barrels from behind into the front shroud a bit too far, then inserted the gun breech assembly and pulled the barrels back into the styrene extensions. This took a LOT of dry fitting because the tolerances are very tight, but after some filing and sanding, things will fit together after painting fairly easily now. One of the reasons the barrels are too short is that I want the front of the gun barrels to show a bit. On the real deal, you can see the barrels from the front but not the side of the shroud at 90 degrees, so this is another case of where art (& detail) trumps total reality as my choice. The shroud, BTW, also fits like crap, so there is a lot of sanding and re-scribing to get it to look like the pic below. It also looks like I have some lumps at the top of that circular vent that need attention! With the gun problem out of the way, I am now masking off everything for the first coat of paint! Meanwhile, I am working on the pylons, fuel tanks and new LAU-128 missile rails with ADU-552 adapters. Stay tuned in a week or two! Cheers, Chuck Edited May 30, 2017 by chuck540z3 blackbetty, johncrow, 109 and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 Terrific work as always, Chuck! Kev chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarioS Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 Great Execution on the gun barrel, Chuck Looking Good! chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 Wow, blown away by how you assembled those gun barrels so cleanly. I really struggled when I assembled (three of) them for my Chico build. Marcel Joel_W and chuck540z3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squizzy 78 Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 Amazing work Chuck, as always. I'm looking forward to seeing paint on this masterpiece. chuck540z3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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