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

[Pascal]

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.

Sincerely

Pascal

[Pascal]

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

[geedubelyer]

Hi Pascal, this is another intersting project.

Have you decided on the overall scheme for #281? Judging by your images I guess you are going blue and white?

She'll look beautiful in that finish. Nice work on the wingtips too. I'm guessing she retained the small speed brake throughout her life at NASA?

Seeing this has re-kindled my desire to have an early Eagle in my cabinet.

Cheers.

[Pascal]

Yes, I'm going for the blue and white scheme, with the yellow banner on the tails. I think it retained the small speed brake, do you know what that speedbrake looks like ?

Any help is welcome.

[HOUSTON]

GOOD SUBJECT,

One I will follow..

good work

[Tomjw]

Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

Tom.

[Pascal]

Thanks guys

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

[Darby]

An un-grey F15. Looking forward to it

[Pascal]

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

[Tomjw]

I'm impressed. I've always read about mixed results after using latex paint for the insides of intakes, but yours look excellent.

Cheers,

Tom.

[Pascal]

Hi Tom,

I guess it depends on what method works best for you. I've seen modellers tape off one end and fill the intakes completely with paint before letting the paint drip out. The result looked great.

Personally I prefer pouring the latex paint without taping off one end. I just pour the latex while turning the intake, then fix the intake in a clamp (so that it hangs free without touching the bottom) and let the latex drip out. One coat of latex works fine for me.

Sincerely

Pascal