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

[F`s are my favs]

And the seat is done, + one with the helmet of the pilot, "dry fitted":

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chek]

Looking nice F's... although, while I appreciate using washes to bring out detail, those ACES II logos don't just look dirty, they're looking positively smoke damaged.

I venture no aircrew would accept their survival equipment looking in such a state.

I'd suggest at the very least cleaning those logos.

[F`s are my favs]

Yes indeed. You`re absolutely right... i`ll try to edit them. 

[F`s are my favs]

+ just a little ALC 600 like dry brushing the dark areas:

 

 

 

And with the figure 

 

 

 

[F`s are my favs]

I get started with the suit config. The colors are too bright, because i will try to cancel the shine by spraying a thin coat of black mat in the end. It`s all improvisation - i`m doing it for the 1st time and i don`t know whether it will work well.

 

 

 

and i have a question about the thing that looks like an elongated soft pillow for a normal plane flight (I`ts not on the figure). I saw some photos with this "thing" and some photos without it. So what`s the difference? What is right - should i add it or not?

[F`s are my favs]

A small up from tonight:

 

 

[FunkyZeit]

nice!

 

Justin

[Chek]

and i have a question about the thing that looks like an elongated soft pillow for a normal plane flight (I`ts not on the figure). I saw some photos with this "thing" and some photos without it. So what`s the difference? What is right - should i add it or not?

 

Can you point out the item you mean?

I'm sure someone here will be able to help answer your question

[F`s are my favs]

Thanks Maru, tomorrow at sunlight

 

Here is my question, with the yellow arrows;

 

 

And one without:

 

 

Then i found this chart...

 

 

... where is mentioned as LPU, but it doesn`t seem like what it looks like on the pilot...

Interesting.

[F`s are my favs]

Well, in around 7 photos of around 10 photos i spotted the "elongated pillow" so i added it. It`s not finally glued yet - the harnesses first. Overall, i didn`t expected to turn out that pretty effective

 

 

 

mmm..., watching the photo above, i`m wondering, are the "books" too small in width...

Edited May 30, 2016 by F`s are my favs

[F`s are my favs]

Finally - the pilot and the seat are prepped. It was quite strange how much things can be improved in this scale. These are the harnesses before painting, made out of several layers of paper tape and some improvised pieces of photo etch:

 

 

And after the assembly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably you have noticed that i started with just one of the parts that are two. It`s a strange approach for me too, but there are 2 reasons: one for a slight overall differentiation, and two for a double pleasure Maybe one of the nozzles will be next

[F`s are my favs]

Yep, i`m getting started with one of the nozzles. It`s a long boring Tuesday night, i`m a little sick as usual for me in the beginning of the summer, i can`t find a pleasant movie to watch, so i made a quick sketching of what i`m planning to do with the nozzles. I examined the nozzle thoroughly, the kit parts are cut too, i strolled through the best F-15 topics for some benchmark refs and here is what i came up with:

 

 

(1) Cut/glue to shorten the pieces (and the long struts) justly.

(2) Fill/sand the recessed dots (i always confuse what are pin marks and what are ejector marks).

(3) Highlight the edges of all feathers, something like rescribing, to make them look one on top of the another, inside & outside.

(4) Fill/sand the seams after gluing, inside & outside.

(5) Adding the small round rods that connect the feathers.

(6) Thinning the walls of the hinges where the feathers are attached.

(7) Thinning the bases of the rails to look like rails.

 

The painting should be somewhere in the meantime, and the addition of all the 30 tiny little struts and actuators.

 

 

Already sounds difficult Hope it may be useful.

 

Good night and bye bye.

[allthumbs]

Nice work Faves!

 

The bang seats and pilot figures look great...I love their tinted visors.

 

Rich

[kvlazer22]

The pilot looks great and the tinted visor is awesome....how did you do it?

[F`s are my favs]

Hi kvlazer, well i admit - the pilot was a complete improvisation. The simple paper tape is the only thing i always use for masking, this is my first 1/32nd scale plane, i thought that the texture of the tape should match perfectly the texture of textile/fabric in this scale, and tried it. The only issue is that i have no idea how the tape will stay as time goes by. The "tape pieces" are well soaked in solvents, paints and lacquer, and yet have adhesive layers... will see, i hope they will stay just as they are. 

 

The visor - it`s made out of a scratched piece from a canopy (of Tomcat) in 1/72 (one of my first models... more than 15 years ago, i use it as a Buster from a while and the canopy was just sitting on it). I first cut a piece with the approximate width of the visor, then slightly bent it with heat to get a more rounded shape. Then a lot of sanding,scratching,sanding, scratching... to get the final shape. For scratching i used a knife with curved blade, which gives the perfect shape for the inner side. Then it`s thoroughly polished, and finally tinted with Tamiya X-19 Smoke and ALC 600 (PS: the best concoction for tinting canopies, according to me). It wasn`t easy

Edited June 2, 2016 by F`s are my favs