Cheetah11

John the pylon is the CLB-910 and the total length is 3785 mm. Height at the front 250mm. I do not have the tank dimensions but if you scale up the Italeri 1/48 tank I think it will be close. Cheers Nick

Hi John If you are doing a F1CZ just remember the double shock cone. Cheers Nick

Nice one John. Are you planning to produce a kit ? Nick

Thanks for the complements Alain The reasons for casting the tailpipes are twofold. The Tamiya tailpipes (or after burner nozzles) are about 5mm too long, so I shortened one for the casting. I still want to do a Japanese F-15 so doing a casting will save work in the future. The other reason is the detail in the inside. A couple of injection pin marks that are difficult to fill and the joints between the segments I can not fill without destroying detail. I put thin strips of tape over these joints and then cast these, saving detail and lot of work on the second and future nozzles. Cheers Nick

Thanks for all the comments and interest gents. I continued with the small improvements. The straps on the tail-planes are not present on the F-15C, so they were sanded off. I also assembled the weapons and primed them. I used the AIM-9L's on another project (I think the Tornado F3) so I used some leftover ones from the Academy Sufa. A aftermarket cockpit would be nice but at this stage unavailable due to a non-functioning post system. The kit parts are not too bad but can be improved a bit. I added a few pieces I could see from photos in the Detail and Scale series. The cockpit sills are a bit narrow, so strip was used to widen and deepen the one on the kit. Now onto the tank. The Tamiya tank is well known to be undersized. I managed to get a Revell tank from the F-4 kit (donated by a modeling friend). This has the right length but the shape is not quite right. The only way I could fix this is to use the 600 Gal tank from the Academy Sufa. The shape is better and the center of the tank only needs to be sanded thinner by 1mm. This also improves the shape. Top is the Revell tank. We are in a 21 day lock-down, so maybe I can finish this one in that time. Nick

Try and find info on the Me 163 in Australia. Until it was repainted in the eighties it carried a well preserved original finish. There is a color photo in the original cammo in “Planes of the Luftwaffe Fighter Aces Vol2” by Barbas pg 144.

Hi Tim Simulating glass covered instruments is almost always tricky to get realistic. Since WW2 many instrument glass faces were covered by an anti-reflective coating. Looking dead on the glass is not seen and the instrument has a matt or semi gloss appearance. Looking from the side the glass is visible. Even muli-function displays differ . The older generation were glass smooth but the later ones have a satin coating. In some aircraft some instruments had an anti-reflective coating and others not. I would satin coat and see if any instruments need a gloss coat. Of coarse the effect of all the instruments gloss coated looks great even if not totally realistic. BTW great subject. I have read the book and must have watched the movie five times. One of my all time favorite movies. Nick

Hi Pete Your figures look fantastic and some of the most realistic I have seen. I am not fond of the trend in some forums where the figures of soldiers and aircrew have doll-like eyes and look as if they are wearing make-up, and with over-emphasized shadows. Nick

Some more small corrections before joining the main parts. There are numerous small compromises due to the common sprues with the F-15E. I will try and address the most obvious ones. The nose gear fork is a poor representation of the real thing and to make it look better I shortened the fork by 2 mm . I also sanded the corners off the fork as the part is way too square. A piece of plastic rod was then glued over the new hole I drilled for the screw attachment. The F-15C did not have the bulges on the rudders as the F-15E did. Since Tamiya used common sprues, I had to sand these off. ( The F-15J has a new set of tailfin spues, so Tamiya could very easily have corrected this} Nick

This is not 1/32 but my all time favorite box art. This one I have not seen in any of Shigeo Koike calendars, only on this kit.

Before finishing the F-16 I did a bit more on the F-15. I shortened one of the tailpipes and used tape to cover the gaps. I then made a casting and made copies. I also glued the wings to the top fuselage as I believe this is easier to work on the joints. I also still need to fill some of the panel lines.I need to get some references for this. Pylons also done. Although this is a large kit it builds up quickly and easily.

While pondering how to proceed with my F-16 decals, I did a bit of work on the F-15 intakes. First fill all the depressions and smooth the intakes. Since the older model of engine was fitted in the mid eighties, I cast copies of the Hasegawa F-16 engine and fitted them into the intakes. Once closed not much can be seen but at least I know it is there. And all painted up. Nick

Hi Jens. Thanks for the advice on the numbers. I had a look again and to the naked eye it is not as apparent as in the photo. Maybe my eyes are getting poorer in old age. Hi Alain I thought I can take a little short cut since some of the stencils cannot be cut with the Sillouette anyway. Back to the drawing board on this. Cheers Nick

Not much apparent progress but lots of unnecessary activity. I used the Zotz decals and the roundels silvered just a little. (I sanded the Tamiya Lacquer paints with 2000 grid for a smooth finish and used Micro Set but still a little silvering was present. I think with the rest of the decals will use a slightly thicker decal adhesive.) So I cut the roundels with the Sillouette cutter after the troubled removal of the roundels. ( I had to sand some of it off and repaint some of the parts.) I measured the roundels from the Zotz sheet with a vernier but upon sizing it on the software a small error was made. The roundel proportions were only 1 mm off but the more I looked at it the more it bothered me. So onto round 2 and eventually something I could live with. I did not want to risk the numbers silvering. so I used the Sillouette cutter on them as well. The decal film on the fin flash could easily be trimmed off. Nick

Ok I will join with this one. I will get decals for one of the USAAFE units in the 1980’s. I will do it OOB but need to finish the F- 16 and one other build first. Nick