chuck540z3 Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 PS: the part behind the seat - is it resin or you modified the standard part? The flat part with the little rhomboid textures. It looks very naturally in the cockpit thanks to the shapes - so this is the OOB part after a treatment with heat (i suppose) or is it a resin part? ... Everything in or behind the cockpit is resin, from either the Avionix or Aires kits. FYI for those who might be following this build, I'm not doing much modeling these days due to nice weather and other activities. I will likely kick it up into high gear in November when the snow flies, but I should have the odd update now and then in the meantime. Now that there are two other F-15 builds going, I think I might sit back and watch these masters to learn a few tricks! Cheers, Chuck Uncarina 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F`s are my favs Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 mmmm well, :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galfa Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 (edited) Something important: No thread has ever came close to yours, and I follow you since your Hornet. It is not only about your modelling skill. It is not about your high quality pics. Mostly is about your narrative and how you interact with the public. I remember how exciting was following your Phantom thread years ago. There was a joy still unmatched. Enjoy Summer and keep going! Edited May 21, 2016 by Galfa chuck540z3, Rocat, A-10LOADER and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 Something important: No thread has ever came close to yours, and I follow you since your Hornet. It is not only about your modelling skill. It is not about your high quality pics. Mostly is about your narrative and how you interact with the public. I remember how exciting was following your Phantom thread years ago. There was a joy still unmatched. Enjoy Summer and keep going! Wow Galfa, what a nice comment. I really appreciate you taking the time to post this, because I often wonder if all the extra effort I try to put into my build threads is a waste of valuable modeling time. With a comment like this, it clearly isn't! Like I said above, I will still have the odd update throughout the summer, but the progress will be slow. I have some neat (to me anyway) modifications to the landing gear I hope to show in the next week or two. Cheers, Chuck Shaka HI and A-10LOADER 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 June 9/16 A little update- but just a little. As mentioned above, I'm not much of a summer modeler, but I do try and pick away now and then to keep the project moving along and retain my interest in the build. Since I was modifying the front landing gear so that it would not have to be permanently screwed in to the front fuselage, I decided to finish off all the landing gear to get that stuff out of the way. As shown earlier, here's what the kit parts look like. Pretty rough and as I found out later, they don't fit together particularly well either. The hardest part of clean-up is to remove all seam-lines and imperfections on the metal parts, which goes much easier if you use the UMM sanding sticks, with 400 grit followed by 1000 grit. The part on the right is almost done. After checking reference pics of my subject, I found that a few of the main parts were missing as well. I realize that you can't ever have every single part of a landing gear represented, but these are fairly major parts that show below the bottom of the fuselage. After assembling the landing gear, cutting off certain parts that are made for an F-15E and drilling a few holes, I modified the landing gear as follows to hopefully resemble the real deal above more accurately. The circular brass parts come from the Eduard F-15E kit, which are meant to replace the big wheel-like spring assembly I cut off the front control arm, which the F-15C does not have. Using a single layer of this brass part, rather than assembling the 4 parts together as instructed, they "sort of, kind of" look like the circular thingies on the control arm above. The control arm, which is missing from the kit, along with a few other parts were made from spare parts in the stash, along with some wire, pins and styrene rod. One major modification is the 2 mm styrene rod I inserted and glued into the recess where the landing gear is screwed into the gear well. I did this because: 1) The landing gear parts do not fit very well and they should be assembled as a single unit in order to fill any gaps and flaws. 2) If the landing gear is fully assembled, you cannot access the screw that goes into the gear well. 3) The screw is VERY hard to insert, so damage to the gear well is likely. 4) I want to drop the gear legs into the gear well at the end of the build, just like the nose gear, without any hassle. 5) The screw assembly is overkill anyway. With the metal gear inserted and glued into the gear well recess, it will be very strong without an additional screw. 6) I love to modify things, just 'cause! In order to accommodate the 2 mm styrene rod, the screw hole needs to be drilled out accordingly. The landing gear is now a drop in and the parts fit better, while remaining strong once glued. Instead of seeing an ugly screw head, you will see nothing but a flat white plate at the base after painting, because the gaps around the rod have been filled and sanded with CA glue. Shawn M, Rdrunner, F`s are my favs and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 (edited) The nose gear has a different problem, as I found out from a few other builds of this kit. It looks OK here.... But note the space above the tire on the real deal.... On this kit, there is a sizable gap here that isn't very realistic. This is one of those times where it just has to be "Good Enough". If I shorten the fork, I will have to extend the oleo, which is not a big deal with plastic, but on metal? Time to punt. Next up will be painting, then adding a lot of hydraulic lines and other detail. I also have a surprise that I hope to show soon, so stay tuned! Cheers, Chuck Edited June 9, 2016 by chuck540z3 Shawn M, ghatherly, Shaka HI and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 (edited) Love the gear. Big improvement on the MLG, and I agree, the distance to the top of the tire on the NG in this case is nil, VS trying to correct it in metal. Edited June 9, 2016 by Out2gtcha A-10LOADER and ghatherly 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Really great work. Much much better....Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F`s are my favs Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Great updt! Btw i was always thinking that there are large rectangular decals at the main pylons of the landing gears... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squizzy 78 Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Great work on the landing gear Chuck. The older Tamiya kits can be made into a great looking models, but you're required to dig deep into your modelling skills and experience toolbox. The work that you've done so far looks amazing, but from you, I don't think anyone would expect anything less! I can't wait to see this aggressor cone together. A-10LOADER 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 (edited) Thank you guys! As usual, this will likely be a long build of over a year, as I pick away at tiny details. I just love this stuff. Edited June 10, 2016 by chuck540z3 Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Looks grande, Chuck. Could you not modify the kit's plastic parts instead of purchasing after-market? Do the kit's plastic parts not measure up to after-market? Thank you. Sincerely, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck540z3 Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 Looks grande, Chuck. Could you not modify the kit's plastic parts instead of purchasing after-market? Do the kit's plastic parts not measure up to after-market? Thank you. Sincerely, Mark Sorry Mark, I may have misled you and maybe some others. These are the kit parts, including the metal landing gear. I've just modified the parts and added a few more scratch-built bits. Cheers, Chuck Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 (edited) The plastic looked like resin to me. Thank you.Sincerely,Mark Edited June 10, 2016 by dodgem37 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-10LOADER Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Very nicely done Chuck. Looking forward to that "surprise" as well. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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