After gluing the outer wing sections onto my Revell 1/48 F-15E I noticed that the inner wing panel on the fuselage side is slightly higher than it is on the outer panel where they meet as is shown by the arrows in the photo.
I have included a picture from a little furthur back also for perspective.
I shot some Testors Acryl Gunship Gray on it as a primer to see how much it showed up as this is the color it will be when finished.
If this were just a seam I would fill it and sand it smooth, but since one area is a little higher than the other by a few thousanths of an inch it wouldn’t do much good filling the gap. Should I sand the entire wing area where they meet to get them more flat or what? There is detail in the three rows of rivet holes at this junction area that I don’t want to lose and have to redo again if possible.
I would appreciate any ideas you may have on the best way to fix this.
Have you considered laying down a thin line of stretched sprue over the seem? This may allow you to fill the gap with more precision than putty. Then – you still might have to sand…but to save the surface details from obliteration, put some masking tape over the panel lines & rivets.
Here’s another idea – Use Swanny’s fencing method and lay down the putty in a precise line. Do this with a very thin layer of putty. Then use acetone based nail polish remover to smooth out the putty seam. If you have to sand as a final step, just cover the detail with masking tape.
[#ditto][#ditto] Vinnie’s definately given you some great tips to try Mike. I’ve also been reading an Evergreen Styrene Modeling Book, that is the coolest scratch-built bible you can ask for, as it covers all kinds of uses for styrene strips…and they suggest using scrap styrene for filling purposes…I haven’t tried it yet, but I picked up some .010 wide styrene for filling yesterday. The packs are cheap ($2.00 for 10 14" strips) come in a large variety of sizes, and have already come in handy when I’ve had to replace a box in the cockpit area of my F4U I sanded off. In the book it says to glue in a piece, and then trim the excess with sprue trimmers, or a new #11 blade, since it’s thin it cuts pretty easy. Good Luck!!!
Thanks for the tips guys but as I said the problem is not the gap but the height difference. Even if I filled the gap perfectly when you look down the wingtip you will still be able to notice that one section is slightly higher, that is the problem.
Maybe I am just being too much of a perfectionist and it won’t show when done if I just try and fill it a bit.
Does the higher part include the recessed rivets? If it doesn’t, you can put a couple of layers of masking tape over the detail, and sand away without worrying about losing anything but the step. I’ve used masking tape over canopies & windscreens when I’ve needed to fill & sand a gap, and its never damaged the area under the mask. Just don’t sand into it at a 90 degree angle.
Is the outer wing piece too thin/thick – in other words, is there little or no height difference on the other (bottom) side of the wing. Or, did you glue it on a little off center?
Either way, if simply filling doesn’t satisfy you, then pop that baby in the freezer and hope it snaps off clean because you might have to re-attach. [:O]
If the wing piece is too thin, then you can either try to pop the pieces apart and shim/shave it to fix the fit issue or you can cut your losses and have the height difference on the bottom where it’s less noticeable.
Frankly, the latter options scare me. [X-)] If it was me, I’d probably end up doing more damage by trying to fix it this way. (I’ve been known to do that on more than one occasion) [D)]
Yes, the area with the rivets is lower. It is just the area starting at the seam you see and moving toward the fuselage that is slightly higher. What happened is that I didn’t check the fit well enough before gluing as the top wing half has built-in spacers to lift the edge slightly to match the thickness of the inner wing, if that makes sense to you.
I think sanding it as you said is the only option.
Vinnie,
I glued it together with Tenax 7R so I doubt freezing it will make it pop apart as well as I would like although I am not sure how well Tenax fuses plastic in that regard. It seems like it does a very good job when it chemically welds [lastic together.
I appreciate you guys taking the time to help out a frustrated modeler like this. [;)]
if it makes you feel any better my son has the same kit, same prob. he is sanding it flush. as it is his first kit (start to finish) he is not as concerned with the detail as i am. he just wants to be able to say he has finished it and have it look presentable.
Thanks Joe.
I wish I was a kid, then it wouldn’t matter and I wouldn’t have had to go out and buy the Hasegawa Weapons set D so I could have the GBU-12’s I wanted, and the SOL Model Co. 1/48 AIM-120’s I just ordered from Squadron today. [:D][;)]
Life was so much easier when I was a kid. [:)]
every time i see my kids work on the kits i have to smile. all they want to do is to build. forget everything about accuracy or seams, just to build. wish i could go back to that.
What I would do is fill the entire area with superglue and sand smooth. The reason for the superglue is because it can be scribed. When done, don’t even try to put the rivit detail back in, just scribe straight panel lines. Unfortunately doing it this way means you have to do the other side also. I included a photo of a Strike Eagle below. It’s a large image but I left it that way so you can see that not many of the panel lines on top of the wing are visible anyways. Also by looking at the photo, the reinforcement bars on the Horizontal stabs and the ailerons are nowhere near as big as they are on the model. I did both of these on my kit. Hope it helps.
I know it’s easy to say this since it’s not my project, but don’t sweat the rivets too much. I’ve noticed that looking at 1/1 scale aircraft, even close-up, the rivets and screws don’t always show up. Sometimes the ones in low-traffic areas get filled in with paint and you can’t spot them until you’re right on top of them. For my 2 cents, mask off the adjoining detail, fill the gap, sand the offset smooth and call it good.
For the record, I have this same kit. I saw it at Michael’s, on sale, with a coupon for about $6 so I snapped and bought it. It’ll be several years before I get to build it so I’ll have to leave myself a note to avoid this problem.
Thanks for the reference photo. In that photo it looks like that area I am trying to fix has a pronounced edge there so maybe just filling the gap a little would look fine.
Reddog,
I know what you mean about rivets. They are hard to see.
I just finished my F15E and did not experience the problem you have. . .now the old Monogram F15A, well that is a nightmare!!
I did have a problem with the pieces you discribe at first, mainly because they were not in the box! I sent to Revell for new parts, paid my $3 to get parts that were not even in the box to begin with and for the next several weeks ended up getting three pairs!! And my MC was charged a total of $15 by Revell!! Now 3X3=9 not 15 so I am not sure how they arrived at that number, but they assure me all is well now.
