Danstream

Chilly? As long as it is sunny and dry, weather is fine, ideal for doing things outdoor 🙂

Hi Javlin, it seems that you have tamed this build. From the latest pictures posted by you, your F-86 looks pretty good. NMF and decals/stencils are also very good. I cannot distinguish any blemish on the metallic finish. Unfortunately, I was late in suggesting a sheen steel finish for the machine gun panel. Now, with decals placed close to it, probably it would be very risky to try to correct it. But even with the present finish, it looks as a good model, so I do not recommend any correction for it. Waiting to see the conclusion, best regards, Dan PS: didn't this type have an anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen?

Hi all, I reached the first milestone, the fuselage was buttoned up: I placed the right wing piece next to it to show once more the large dimensions of this model. The cockpit received few dabs of color (some red, blue and yellow) and this is how it looks now inside the fuselage: Once completed with a proper seat, I believe it will make its part. Now, closing fuselage revealed some joint lines to be addressed. Contrary to what reported in the instructions, I think this could better be done before installing the air intakes: The one on the wing root glove is actually a step, so some material has to be removed and some filler has to be added in order to get a smooth curved surface. I apply here the filler protecting the adjacent details with a tape: After sanding, polishing and rescribing the lost lines, and after dry fitting the air intake, this is the final result (although not very clear in the picture): I think that the intakes, which are a very prominent feature of the F-15 configuration, will look eventually fine: A lot of sanding and adjustment that went also in the intakes were worth to obtain a sharp and clean upper lip: All the other joints need to be treated the same way, so I will be busy with that for a while. Next, wings will be glued on. To get some dynamism to these huge pieces of plastic, I am thinking of cutting and lowering the flaps by few notches even if, probably, aircraft on ground always keep their flaps retracted. A concluding note out of context: spring equinox is approaching, and we are having beautiful sunny days here in Holland. I am including below a picture of a Dutch landscape taken today while walking with my wife and my dog: You might note the level of the water slightly higher than the fields. Typical Holland. Best regards, Dan

I think the experiment can be declared successfully concluded. Dan

Hi all, I made few little progress of my build. The fuselage is like a big empty plastic box, hence I thought it was necessary to add at least a sect in the middle to avoid that one could see light which enters one of the air intakes from the other one: Mean while I finished the cockpit with few additions as the control column and the oxygen hose and sealed everything with a coat of matt varnish (the oxygen hose was obtained from a piece of guitar string): This what I could get using the provided decals which were unfortunately a bit yellowed. Probably, it will be acceptable with a closed canopy. Next I will finally close the fuselage halves. Thanks for following, Dan

Great model and great paintwork as usual. Could you maybe tell us a bit about the paint you use for the bodywork? Is the chrome coming with the kit parts or is applied by you? Thank you and congrats, Dan

It replicates well the clad aluminium tone and the reflectivity is also good. A non-polished/buffed cladded aluminium panel appears to have that kind of reflectivity. It will look even better when all those rivets are not around and you have proper panel lines moulded on the surface. I guess the Future layer offers also a protection against handling. I wonder if Future allows the use of panel line accent inks too. Good progress, Dan

Great model! Great details and prefect finish. Well done, Dan

This model is gorgeous! The glossy finish of the red paint looks like the real thing. Congrats, Dan

Hi all, went on with the cockpit and the avionics bay. The latter had to be painted with a metallic blue-gray the exact hue of which seems to be quite elusive. From pictures, it changes according to the illumination conditions. At any rate, I made a mix of Tamiya paints which looks satisfactory to me. The instrument panel and the lateral consoles are decorated with the original decals of the kit. The interior of the cockpit was sprayed with Tamiya Sky-Grey XF-19. This is how the avionics bay (known as 'bay 5') looks like after assembling: This is the cockpit finally assembled. Clearly, this kit, as already said. is a thing of the past, and the cockpit is not comparable with the products of today, but the decals eventually make their part and I will try to live with that. This is how it will appear once inside the fuselage: I will add only very few additional details and then I will conclude the interiors with a final transparent coat to obtain a consistent satin finish. That's all for now, best regards, Dan

When I built this kit as a kid, it looked awesome cool. It was the first 1/32 kit for me and the first that I completely brush painted (RAF grey/green camouflage with invasion stripes). Now of course it looks different. Nevertheless, it is going to be an interesting experiment and a trip down memory lane. Looking forward to seeing more, 👍 Dan

Hi all, during the week-end I managed to spend few hours at the hobby desk. Nothing special, I am just preparing few parts to be sprayed together. Although not bad, the kit is not up to the standard of modern Tamiya shake and bake kits, that means that you have to spent some time in preparing the parts, filling extractor marks, etc. The plastic is quite brittle and might crack instead of cleanly be sliced by the hobby knife. I started to assemble the large characteristic box-shaped air intakes, and the junctions of the vertical with horizontal walls needed to be filled with stretched sprue. The surface details are mostly negative, but on some parts are positive, hence some scribing work will be necessary after sanding. I made the quilted sound blanked by a piece of aluminium foil the pattern of which was embossed with the grip of my hobby knife being the original moulded on the bulkhead too flat and marred by an extraction mark. The avionics bay is totally fictitious, but I will not spend time on it because it will not be very visible. I am just adding the handles to the boxes and few other small things. As I said, nothing special to show for now, best regards, Dan

Thanks for your messages. It will be good having you watching over my shoulder in building this, by now, iconic powerful aircraft. I am sure we will have plenty of opportunities to digress about it. Hope to be up to expressed expectations 😉. See you soon, Dan PS - Chris, thanks for having better finalised the title.

Dear all, after an interval, during which I restarted also building my model ship, I would like now to share with you a build of a most noticeable aircraft, the McDonnel Douglas F-15 in its version A (or C). After my last build posted here, my interest with red star aircraft recently dropped and I think that I will not feel like building another one for quite a while. This kit is not what one can define a 'state of the art' kit, having being issued as a 'C' version by Tamiya back in 1991 and being, in turn, a re-boxing of an F-15A kit which was previously released in 1988. This is my oldest kit, which I bought indeed around 1991, when I felt like restarting the hobby. However, it remained untouched until now and its time to be built has finally arrived. I do not trust the included decals that look thick and rather yellowed, therefore I sourced new decals that depict one of the aircraft based at Soesterberg, here in the Netherlands starting from 1980. These machines were version 'A' so I will try to retrofit the kit to its original version. Once I open the box, I was confronted with the sheer size of this aircraft. This was of course known to me, having also visited the museum at Soesterberg where one on these F-15 is displayed, but it is always kind of surprising when you have the 1/48 model directly on your table. The model, although quite old, still shows a nice level of detail of its external surfaces, while it is lacking of accuracy as far as the interior is concerned. Therefore, I will concentrate more on the external finish leaving the cockpit with only minimum improvements, i.e. the ones that will be visible from a closed canopy. This is all for the moment, best regards, Dan

Exceptional results, I would say! Especially the exhaust area looks very convincingly heat scorched. I guess you take pictures with a flash light? With a less harsh light results might appear even better. Well done, Dan

Yes, old style, but I have seen spectacular results with furry sticks. You might search, f.i., for the works of Paul Coudeyrette if you like. (I do not even mention that I am living in the home town of Rembrandt). I think that using a combination of selected rattle cans, dry brushing and accent dyes you can still do a lot. For metallic heat discoloration, you might consider Tamiya powders designed for that (blue, red and dark palettes). I have seen videos where Gunze metallic paint can be laid down very well by a flat brush. In addition, there are no glossy parts (or really few) on an engine, mostly are matt or satin conversion coatings or protective coatings. Non-glossy finishes are much more forgiving. If you desire a glossier finish, you might consider starting with a matter finish and then glossy it up with a transparent layer from a rattle can. I continue watching and I wish you even more good luck. 😉 Dan

It might be quite fun spraying the different shades of colors and it just needs to convey the impression of that complex machine. I remember the distinctive howling of the J-79 when the Italian Starfighters were a common seen. Good luck with the engine. Cheers, Dan

Good job on the cockpit, it looks good and the seat with all that harness looks great. Dan PS - Eventually, have you put some documents in the magazine holders?

Very good progress, you can see already its shape. Cockpit looks great. Dan

One of the most aesthetically beautiful aircraft in a senior scale, I will be also following, if you don't mind. Great start with the cockpit. Side walls with magazines look spot on. Kind regards, Dan

I will be following with interest the Fiat CR-42 when you will decide to start it. I am considering to get it as well. Cheers, Dan

One of the most graceful plane ever built, I will follow your 1/32 build. He must have seen some MiG-15 around?

I found this compact aircraft always very cool. I remember having built the old 1/72 Airfix kit when I was a teenager. Great interior and very convincing natural metal finish. I like the clean finish too (there must be few moments in their life when airplanes are not dirty). From your words, I infer that the ICM kit is quite good, surely it is an imposing build. Congrats, Dan

Hi, I have been far from the forum the last days and today I see that you completed them! Well done, despite the limitations of the kits, as you said, they look the part. Not easy kits, we have seen that, but you did a good job! Congrats, Dan

It looks fantastic, it really looks like a period picture. 👏