Bowcat's 1/48 Revell F-15E Strike Eagle

[papa 695]

That's looking very nice Bob.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers.

I'm getting closer to connecting the nose to the fuselage. Just a few small jobs to finish, first of which was the HUD.



Next was prepping the canopy and frame. It's the first time I've had to remove a centre seam, I'd say it was semi sucesfull. There's still a few marks but it's going to be modelled up so I can live with it. I also painted the frame up, this just needs the mirrors painted on to the hoop, then it can be glued to the canopy, masked and temporarily glued down for painting.



I then decided to attach the wings, and this is when things went downhill.

Here's the left side, not too bad, just a bit of filling.



Here's the right side.



I wasn't completely sure what to do with this, so my solution was to glue some plasticard onto the flap section that I can shape when dry. I will probably do the same with thinner card for the upper portion, then fill whatever gap is left.

 

[Fernando N]

Hi Bob, just had a nice read trough catching up.
Very nice looking office and intake work.
Good luck with the starboard wing gap....

Fernando

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Fernando.

The repair seems to be going ok, I got the flap section sanded down and glue more card into the other areas. I'll trim and sand those tomorrow.



Also got the front of the canopy glued on, and the rear glued to the frame.

 

[Jim Barry]

Nice recovery!

 

[rickoshea52]

I used the plasticard as a shim trick on my Phantom, a tip I got from this site....just goes to show the benefit of this forum.

Good work.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Getting there.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

So, the repair seems to have worked, just waiting for a small section of filler to dry on the leading edge. Once sanded to shape I should finally be able to get the nose attached.

While I was waiting I got the jet nozzles and ordnance glued up.

 

[Si Benson]

Hi Bob,
Impressed with how your tackling this. Textbook mogelling sir
Si

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Si.

 

[yak face]

Great work bob , loving those exhausts -theyre going to look excellent painted up, cheers tony

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Tony.

 

[papa 695]

Just caught up Bob. Great fix on the wing.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Ian, I was quite please with how it came out. First time I've had to do something like that.

I've since come across some other fitment issues, starting to think I won't be building a Revell kit again.

 

[Steve Jones]

Bob

Terrific save! You have every right to be pleased. Patience is the key to this hobby. Judging by the other issues your patience may be tested to the limit Good luck sir!



Steve

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Steve.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

I decided to get the conformal tanks installed before adding the nose, and I'm glad I did.

Some parts fitted well, but at the rear there were some pretty significant gaps which required some serious clamping before glue was applied.



Edited to add:

To give you an idea of the size of that clamp, here's a picture of it next to the standard modellers reference.

 

[Jim Barry]

The not-so-conformal fuel tanks. Great clamp. I need that.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

I usualy use it for woodworking to clamp 2 bits of wood for gluing. I was worried that it would damage the plastic, but when I took it off this morning all was fine.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Bob
Fighting you all the way Looks as if you have it all under control though. Very neat, competent job on the wing fit
Jim