Revell 1/32 F-15B, 74-0141, NASA 836

[Pascal]

I bought a second hand Revell 1/32 F-15C, kitnumber 4759. It came in this box :



But inside the box I found all the parts for a two-seater, except for the left and right forward fuselage halves and the seats. The conformal fuel tanks and 2 ASAT missiles are also in the box.

Most of the parts were loose in the box, some of them were already painted.


I had no idea what to do with this two-seater, untill I saw pictures of the NASA F-15B, S/N 74-0141, NASA number 836.

It seems that every picture of this airplane shows some differences, I've decided to go for this version :







But without the test equipment under the belly :



The seats look like those found in early F-16's, with "horns" on both sides. I will use the seats from CMK or True Details. The IP's and wheels will come from partsrparts. Exhausts will be from CAM or GTresin.
The forward fuselage parts will come from Revell or a fellow modeller.
The gold stripes will come from an AM decal sheet, the NASA "swooshes" will be homemade (or at least I will try to make them myself).

I'm no F-15 expert, please feel free to point me in the right direction to turn this kit into a F-15B.

In progress pics will follow today.

Sincerely

Pascal

Edited October 21, 2014 by Pascal

[thierry laurent]

This is a quite good kit. However, check the panel lines as the kit has many fantasy ones. It is at least recommended to fill some of them on the upper fuselage and wings as such Nasa planes always look very smooth.

 

Moreover, do not forget filling the two big intakes under the engines.

 

hth

 

Thierry

[Pascal]

Thanks for the help Thierry. Do you have any idea which panellines should be removed ?

 

No sprue shots, all the parts were cut loose when I got the box, the sprues were no longer there.

I started with the bottom half of the fuselage. The sides and wheelbays were glued in place :



Needs a little filler and some sanding, the NACA ducts will be filled with placticard and putty :





The wings, stabilizers and fins all have two halves. These were glued together, the gaps filled with putty and the trailing edges sanded :





I'm having no luck in finding pictures of F-15B's. All the walkarounds deal with the D model. But I have an old Tamiya 1/48 F-15A and a Monogram F-15C. Would any of those be a good reference ?

Sincerely

Pascal

[Robert Lundinq]

Funny, but I am halfway with exactly the same project. Would you like to have a zipfile of the reference I have collected?

[Pascal]

Funny, but I am halfway with exactly the same project. Would you like to have a zipfile of the reference I have collected?

 

I would definitely like to have that. Do you have a WIP of your build ?

[Pascal]

Thank you very much Robert

[Pascal]

With the help of a couple of fellow modellers, I now got some very nice pictures of this aircraft. Thank you very much guys.

I'm a lousy fotographer, but I'll try my best to show the results of today's work.

I filled the NACA ducts with pieces of plasticard, the rest of the gap was filled with CA glue and sprinkled with flour. The glue and the flour combo gives a quick drying filler that is also very strong.

The duct nearest to the camera has been sanded :



There's a rectangular piece of plastic - with two rectangular holes in it - that's not on the real aircraft, this had to go :



I used my dremel to sand off the piece. The heat of the sanding disc melts the plastic into the rectangular holes, so in one move I got rid of the excess plastic and the holes were filled :



There are supposed to be 2 pieces like this on in the Revell box, I'm missing one :



Fortunately these parts look different on the real aircraft, so I made the first of 2 out of a sheet of plasticard. The panels were scribed and six holes were drilled to simulate the screws (these are very visible on the real aircraft) :





That's it for today. Feel free to give comments on my updates.

Sincerely

Pascal

[blackbetty]

i just did one of these as an A, nice kit. you might need the early wheels from Bruce

[thierry laurent]

Hi,

 

With regard to panel lines, this is not easy to explain. I know I have pictures of the corrections I started somewhere! In the meanwhile, have a look at pictures of the Tamiya kit on the forum (not 100% perfect but far more accurate) and simply do a google search on "F-15 eagle plan". This should give you some hints as well.

 

hth

 

Thierry

[blackbetty]

...and change the landing gear legs to metal (SAC), the kit parts break after time

[Pascal]

Thanks for the tips

 

The JFS (jet fuel starter) exhaust (round hole with louvres) looks like this :



But with the help of some fellow modellers, I found out that the louvres were removed and that the tube of the exhaust is visible on real aircraft. The ten louvres on both sides of the exhaust seem to be there on the real NASA F-15B, but I'm not sure as I haven't find a picture that shows this part of the aircraft.
For now I will leave those louvres in place.

I drilled a hole where the exhaust was and inserted (dryfit) a piece of plastic tube :





Under each engine nacelle there a thing that looks like a blade antenna. Are those fuel dump vents ? :



The intake trunks (is that the correct word, or am I talking elefants ?) had big seams on both sides. After a lot of sanding I poured latex paint in the trunks. It's the first time that I used this technique but the result looks very good :





Sincerely

Pascal

[Guest Peterpools]

Pascal

Great find and a terrific project. Looking forward to following with great interest.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[LSP_Kevin]

Lovely work Pascal. I have two of these kits in the stash, and you're certainly showing the way!

 

Kev

[Iain]

Great work Pascal - and nice to see one of these getting built.

 

Can remember this kit causing quite a stir when released here in the UK - was a leap ahead of anything else we'd seen in 1:32 Jets.

 

And gorgeous paint scheme too!! 

 

Iain

[geedubelyer]

Thanks for the tips

 

The JFS (jet fuel starter) exhaust (round hole with louvres) looks like this :

 

 

But with the help of some fellow modellers, I found out that the louvres were removed and that the tube of the exhaust is visible on real aircraft. The ten louvres on both sides of the exhaust seem to be there on the real NASA F-15B, but I'm not sure as I haven't find a picture that shows this part of the aircraft.

For now I will leave those louvres in place.

 

I drilled a hole where the exhaust was and inserted (dryfit) a piece of plastic tube :

 

 

 

Under each engine nacelle there a thing that looks like a blade antenna. Are those fuel dump vents ? :

 

 

Sincerely

 

Pascal

Neat work Pascal.

The two stubs are indeed fuel dump vanes. They are usually angled along the bottom edge, higher at the front than the rear.

See them in this photo: http://data.primeportal.net/hangar/vodnik/f-15a_walk/F-15A_003.JPG (If it loads)

Re: the JFS starter exhaust, early F-15s did have the louvres so it's worth checking whether they were removed from your airframe.

 

Smooth work on those intake trunks. Good job.

 

Cheers.