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


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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 :)

 

F's, many years ago I bought a string of fake plastic pearl type beads (in a tasteful red) at a jumble sale, that ranged in size from a few mm diameter to about 1.5 cm. in increasing, then decreasing sizes.

 

While I use a small vacuum cleaner and heat gun powered vac form 'machine', such items as your visor could also be readily crash-moulded to produce items like your visor from discarded clear packaging in a variety of sizes. And it'd save you searching for and pillaging another kit

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Yeah, but the beauty is to DIY from something difficult. I`m not pursuing selling purposes of visors, so i should make just another one for the 2nd pilot and i postpone it for a "double" pleasure. This is my first and perhaps only kit in 1/32 scale that i make so this is something like my strategy for a more interesting build :) This is quite unusual for me (indeed the first time) to start building a model from 1 visor, 1 pilot, 1 helmet, 1 nozzle, 1 intake, etc. but after a couple of months i expect to feel like i`m building a completely new pilot, nozzle, intake, cockpit, etc :) in 1/32nd scale. And the best thing is that 100% the finished two of a kind will become just slightly different. Wonderful. I hope it will work.

 

That`s a little lyrical deviation :)

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A little bit from the front instr.panel. The journey started with the grey color, then masking the grey areas to expose only the black areas for painting with black. Then a little bit of contrasting colors for some buttons, and here is after the main colors:

 

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After that, the final touches were a lot, + i flipped the displays to expose the flat part of the glass. In this way the decals are attached from the curved side and still provide a great in-depth effect. The glass pieces were thoroughly polished, then tinted, and the upper console was glued. And it`s done. The next 3 photos are on a direct sunlight beam. 
 
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The front cockpit is ready, well, almost. There are plenty of small things to add + the wiring, but when all is glued. It`s all still a test fit:

 

- i started with a few improvements:

 

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- then, after the main colors:
 
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- And it`s ready, without the pilot/seat. I wonder how bright are the 3 main displays if, let`s say, the pilot adjusted the brightness to the max? I tinted the displays and, are they still a little too bright, for daytime config... I don`t know...
 
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- and with the seat/pilot. Some photos are with artificial light from the top:
 
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Thanks!
Edited by F`s are my favs
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