Painting Intake trunks

One option, if you are displaying the plane as it sits on ground, is to make intake covers and avoid the trunk painting.

I'll have to give that a shot and see what comes of it.

There is the latex paint method.  Basically you tape the back end of the intake closed where the jet fan would be.  Using a white latex paint that is thick like pancake batter, kilz primer works well, pour the latex paint Into the intake trunk until it is full.  Tilt the intake around so that all sides are coated.  Remove the tape and let the paint drain and drip out.

The thick coat of paint that remains will dry and fill the seams, giving you a smooth intake.  Cut away any dry drips on the back of the intake and you are set.

You will want to practice on a scrap kit or try this technique with a plastic tube or similar to get an idea of what to expect.  You can also do a search online as many modelers have tried this will success and documented the process and results.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

Yes, paint before gluing in place. That is the most obvious thing to do.

 

But then I'd have seams running down the length of the trunk.

That looks awesome, unfortunately, the trunks on this F-15 are way longer. 

I just recently had to paint the intakes on an F-18F kit from Revell in 1/48.  The intakes came as 4 parts and part way into the intake the color goes from grey to white.  

I decided to assemble the intakes prior to paint but keep the jet fan piece off so I could putty and sand from both front and back sides.  I used Perfect Plastic Putty since it was easy to smooth out with a damp q-tip.  I used bamboo skewers to apply the putty.  It did not have to be neat as the damp q-tip and sanding would do the smoothing.

I then used a damp q-tip and sanding sticks to sand the putty smooth.

Once I was satisfied with filling in the seams I primed, spraying from both open ends. I corrected any issues with more putty and sanding and primed again.

The first color I shot was the white that is on the inside.  I then masked off the white part way in very carfully using tamiya tape, tweezers, toothpicks and dental picks.

I sprayed the gray, removed the masks carefully with tweezers and finally painted the jet fan piece silver and did a brown wash to highlight the fan blades.  Glued in the fan and the intakes were ready to install onto the fuselage.

here is the result:

Yes, paint before gluing in place. That is the most obvious thing to do.