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As for the question of which is best I agree with Mark....it depends.

The R/M kit is a beautiful kit, everything a build you would want it to be, accurate, it fits, has good detail. The only fault - if you want to call it that is that one can only do a USAF (maybe Saudi) Strike Eagle between Desert Storm and maybe the Balkans period. It doesn't have all of the antennas and lumps and bumps that a current USAF bird has. Then there are the weapons, or Hasagawa-esque lack thereof. Unless one can snag the Promodeller release you only get Sidewinders and gas bags. If you have a stocked spares box - or a Kinetic Viper or two one can work around this. And it's still the least expensive out there - I think the current release is still under $30 and can be found for much less. One thing I do like about it's assembly versus the Acad are the wings. The Acad has one attach the wings to the fuselage whereas the R/M has the wings molded with the top of the fuselage. It may be a result of where Academy was in molding technology when it was originally released in the 1980s, as the F-16 has the same fault. That is one aspect I really liked about my recent Mudhen build. But on a negative side I wonder if R/M will ever pop a revised sprue with antennas, targeting pods and ordnance to do an up to date F-15E. Never say never becasue they did add sprues to the recent Bombcat release, but it'd be a hell of a surprise to suddenly find JDAMS, GBU-12s and a Sniper pod in a boxing.

As for the Academy kit, I like as it allows one to do both non-USAF variants as well as an up to date F-15E from Iraqi Freedom and Afganistan (in differing boxes). I have never had the angst some have had over the engine bulges or even the assembly (other than the wings) and you get almost all of the important up to date ordnance with it. I also give Academy kudos for significantly revising a 20 year old kit almost to where it is a new tooled kit, something that Hasegawa is only belatedly doing with a couple of Viper kits of roughly the same vintage. For those who have Hasegawa fighters in the stash - great but the last time I saw one it was around $70 and still needed aftermarket to bring it up to currenct standards - as well as weapons, pushing it towards a $100 build. The Academy is around $40-50 and now even comes with useable decals which is also a great step up for them with Cartograph printed decals.

Around the web it seems that there is almost a certain level of snobbery against nearly everything that isn't from a certain manufacturer (or two). Sometimes it reminds me of the old skit from Saturday Night Live with Mike Myers as a Scottish shop keeper who yells at his customers 'If it's not Scottish it's crap!', just insert your favorite Japanese model company's name in there instead of 'Scottish'.

There are very few unbuildable kits that have been released in the last 25 years, just differant from each other. The best thing is to ask around to see what those who have actually bought and built the kits have as opinions and remember they are just that opinions. There are those whose opinions I value and sometimes take with a grain of salt simultaniously, especially concerning modern American subjects, but I have not let them 'steal my joy' from building something I want in my collection even if it is only an 85-95% kit. My own shortcomings as a builder and researcher is the great leveler of model kits I build. My Tamiya F-16 and Kinetic ones all look like they were built by the same person, and they were. My Academy Eagles and R/M ones all look the same, the differance is that a couple of my Academy ones were built (or started) 10-15 years ago. My skills somewhat improved over the period

Edited by Matt Roberts
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Well said Matt. To add to your statements people also think they are building for a aviation museum. No kit is perfect and never will be (maybe close but not perfect). Sometimes it seems that people spend more time reviewing and cutting apart a kit for inaccuarte this and inaccurate that and we should be lucky in this age the selection of good kits we have to choose from in all scales. There is nothing wrong in asking advice on what a kit is like and how it fits and builds up and how it compares to another but again it is a model to build, be proud of looking at in on your shelf or display case and that is it. I remember when I started modeling and I got caught up in building jets just to win model competitions and I never finished anything because I everything had to be perfect. Now, I build for me and no one else. If people have time to cut up a kit and complain they must not get much building or completed models done. I started this thread just to inquire the changes made to the kit with the new releases as I don't have them yet and I did not mean for things to get carried away.

I thank all for their opinions of the new Academy Eagles.

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As for the question of which is best I agree with Mark....it depends.

Around the web it seems that there is almost a certain level of snobbery against nearly everything that isn't from a certain manufacturer (or two). Sometimes it reminds me of the old skit from Saturday Night Live with Mike Myers as a Scottish shop keeper who yells at his customers 'If it's not Scottish it's crap!', just insert your favorite Japanese model company's name in there instead of 'Scottish'.

Matt your right, and the reason is their reputation. Whereas Tamiya and Hasegawa are generally given a free pass (or it may seem that way) that only happens as they have produced great state of the art kits in the past. And they usually go together great. Whereas Trumpeter and Hobby Boss' kits have a less than stellar rep because the majority of there kits have major shape issues. I realize that they're some superior trumpeter kits out there but they are the exception to the rule.

If you remember when Academy came on the scene they had nothing but "copied" Hasgawa and Tamiya kits. Now look at them they are producing some great kits. But a lot of those kits have some shape issue that may be show stoppers for you or not. I am sure that a new Strike eagle from academy would look great on the shelf and the vast majority of people would know its a F-15E or I or K but they wouldn't know about the speedbrake spine and engine bulges. But to me those issues satnd out like the proverbial sore thumb. Its like the Kinetic F-16's I have seen some built up Kinetic -16s that are beautiful models but that nose and trenchy panel lines drive me away.

As far as Internet reviews, you gottake them with a grain of salt. If a kit I have been waiting for gets a review and said review points out a issue I will investigate that issue myself, I may respect Joe Bag O Donuts opinion, I want to research it my self.

Hope youu have a grat day I have to get back to shoveling this white crap outside!!

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So no one out there has bought one of these new F-15 kits from Academy and started the build process?..come on!

Yes, I have. I have bought the F-15K and F-15I, and I started both today. Slow progress though as there are some ejector marks and minor fit issues to overcome.

Regards,

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What about buying the new Academy F-15E or F-15I and then also buying ROG F-15E kit and using the updated parts from the new Academy kits on the ROG kits..is this possible? The bonus would be is the Academy kit is what $45 and then the ROG is like $15 so for cheaper than a Hasegawa F-15 kit you have the nice ROG kit plus the updated parts from the Academy kit and a bunch of weapons to boot.

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The point is, Mesher, that a lot of people feel that the Academy kit is good enough on its own, now. The updated parts really upped the quality of the kit, and many folks call it "good enough."

OF course, some people think the Revell kit is "good enough." Everyone says that each of these kits is better than the Hasegawa F-15E. Go ahead and try it. Bash the 2 kits together, and let us know how it all worked out.

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I may give it a try and see how it can be done. The only reason I was asking was the new Academy ealge kits have been out since what the K came out in April 09 and the new E in August 09 and I have not seen anyone start these kits and post in the "In progress" forum or on any other modeling sites. I can only locate Hasegawa and ROG F-15 on line builds so I was assuming updated kits or not people were not buying and building the Academy birds.

I also find is interesting how companies like Aires has resin cockpits out for kits almost before or avaiable right when the kit is released and it seems this is always the case for kits that sometimes don't need resin replacements. With the Academy eagles that seem to have the incorrect cockpit screens, no side panel control sticks on the rear cockpit and no sidewall detail that Aires or some other manufacturer would of released resin cockpits for the 3 new eagle kits from Academy. In my research so far this is not the case, this makes you think why would there not be resin cockpits avaiable for these kits?...hmmm.

Edited by MESHER
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  • 1 month later...

I just bought a new Academy F-15E OIF version at a model shop sale. It looks pretty nice, but I will say that on some parts, it looks like it was ejected from the mold with a shotgun. There are HUGE PROMINENT ejector pin marks on a lot of the pieces (particularly the insides of the exhausts, and the dropped intakes.) The new weapons are gorgeous, as are the GE engines, but you won't use them on a USAF Beagle. The new pods and PE parts are a very welcome addition. I got the kit for 30 bucks, and even if I never put the fuselage together, or build it as a stripped-down, "good enough" D model without CFT's or pylons it's still worth the price, just for the new or updated parts and the weapons. I think the usual Academy Eagle shape issues, along with the ejector pin marks and other cleanup work that'll be required will send this to the back of the stash, and most of it will end up as parts on a Revell Beagle, or in the spares box.

By the way, Sprue M contains the GBU-31 penetrators, 2 AIM-9X, 2 AIM-120B, 2 GBU-12, the Sniper Pod, Sprue K contains 2 AIM-9X's, 2 AIM-120C's, a GE engine, a nice ACES II seat, a pilot, 2 helmets, a GBU-31, 3 GBU-38's, a SLAM-ER, one bigger -E model wheel, and the LAU-128 missile rails. Sprue H contains the featherless exhaust and dropped intakes, which could look great on another Eagle model. Just in case, y'know, anyone "lost" these parts or if "the sprue wasn't included in the box" >wink wink<

Another interesting thing I noticed: Decal #2, which has the little diagram of where things are on the airplane, doesn't show an F-15. The diagram on the decal is a Phantom! Look close at it!

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Another interesting thing I noticed: Decal #2, which has the little diagram of where things are on the airplane, doesn't show an F-15. The diagram on the decal is a Phantom! Look close at it!

You can't keep a classic fighter down. ;-)

Cheers,

Andre

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