Revell 1/32, F-15A, 71-0281, NASA

[wetsellery]

Another NASA F-15 ? Yessssss !!!

Why ? Well I bought a second hand Revell 1/32 F-15C, or that's what I tought. The box contained an incomplete F-15D/E two-seater. The biggest problem was that both the forward fuselage halves were missing.

So I bought another Revell F-15C (a REAL F-15C this time), hoping that I could use the forward fuselage halves from this kit to build the first one.

But these parts are a little different and can't be used - without modification - on the two-seater.

Luckily Bruce from partsrparts provided me with the missing parts, so I had two more or less complete kits.

The first one will be build as NASA 836, an F-15B like she looked in 2005. The WIP is on the forum.

The second kit will be build as the second prototype F-15A-1, 71/0281 in service with NASA in 1978. (This airplane never received a NASA number).

Here's some pics :









This aircraft had sabre drains and NACA ducts under the rear fuselage and straight wingtips. It also had a Douglas Escapac IC-7 ejection seat.

There's no seat of this type available in 1/32 scale, but Revell provides them in the two-seater kit :



I haven't found a good picture of this type of seat, but I guess that those big loops at the front need to be filled ? Can anyone confirm ?



I will try to do some modifications to the seat, if that doesn't work I will order one for the Skyhawk or Corsair II. They're not exactly the same seats, but a close match :


All info and pictures of this aircraft are very welcome.

First order of business is to try to alter the shape of the wingstips. I cut a piece of plasticard an used my Dremel to reduces the thickness of the plasticard :



This way I can slide the piece into a slot that I made in the wing :



This gives a stronger bond then "butt-gluing" it to the wing. Slid in place it looks like this :





The joint will need some filler and sanding and the outher edge needs thinning. But before I glue this piece to the wing I need to know if the panellines are correct. Drawings and pictures (and the GWH kit) have a panelline that I marked in pencil, Revell made the panellines different, I marked those in white pencil. Can anyone tell me wich one is correct for a F-15A or B ? :





Sincerely

Pascal

[dupes]

Please tell me you're going to do the NASA F-104 chase plane to go along with these guys!

[wetsellery]

Oct 26, 2014 12:29:30 GMT -5 dupes said:

Please tell me you're going to do the NASA F-104 chase plane to go along with these guys!

You bet ! A NASA F-104G using the 1/32 Revell kit is on the to-do list

[dupes]

Excellent! Too bad there isn't a T-38 kit in 1/32...that would look spectacular alongside all of these as well.

[TRM]

Count me in, looks like you have a fun project on the go!!

[venom1]

Another great F-15 build! This will look fantastic when finished! Along for the ride....

Cheers,

Sam

[wetsellery]

The first wing tip has been glued and the gaps were filled (with CA glue, flour and putty) and sanded :



A bit more filling and sanding is required to get the seam smooth :



It wasn't easy to get the curvature (aerofoil ?) of the wing on the wing tip, but I'm glad it worked :



Sincerely

Pascal

[Leon]

Nice work on the wing tip Pascal,looking good.

[deafpanzer]

Another great fix.... it looks good!

[wetsellery]

The exhausts from GT Resin have arrived :



Detail is excellent :



And a metal replacement for the plastic landing gear :



Sincerely

Pascal

[Rick]

Pascal, this is shaping up to be a beauty of a kit. NASA birds are always clean and shiny.

Rick

[deafpanzer]

Those AM parts are HUGE improvement for sure!

[WigWag Workshop]

Looking forward to seeing the build!

Could you share the link to the landing gear AM part you purchased?

-Steven

[TRM]

Nice job on the wingy so far Pascal!! Kepp up the great work!!

Steven....I can help you out there...



Scale Aircraft Conversion. scaleaircraftconversions.com/moreinfo.cfm?KIT=198 They have just about everything covered in their stores, more each month!

[wetsellery]

Had some problems with the intakes. Those of the two-seater got one coat of latex and looked like this :




The intakes from this kit received 2 coats of latex which gave a very rough finish with lots of small bumps. After a few hours of sanding I sprayed a coat of white, but the paint from the spraycan had all kinds of dried pieces of paint, the finish looked like sand.

A few more hours of sanding gave this result :



After two coats of white putty from a spraycan the surface is finally smooth :



Sincerely


Pascal

[deafpanzer]

Looking real good!