What is your favourite 1/48 F-15 A/C/J Kit ?

[designfriemel]

Greetings modelers - or should I rather say eaglers !

To me the experience to be able to choose from so many different manufacturer is new.

But that is very nice. :)

So these are the kits I have identified so far:

1/48 Hasegawa F-15 A/C/J

1/48 Academy F-15 C

1/48 Fujimi F-15 A/C/J

1/48 Tamiya F-15 C

1/48 Revell/Monogram F-15 A/C

1/48 Italeri F-15 A/C

Pick your favourite or make a (hierarchical) list. Your opinion or experience is much appreciated!

Make the price a criteria if you think it is important!

If you were able to directly compare some or even all of the kits tell us which resembles the shape best!

Thank you all in advance for sharing your experience!

cheers

[Jennings]

Overall (including accuracy and ease of build): Hasegawa, hands-down.

Second choice (accuracy only, not ease of built): Monogram circa 1979! Still the most accurate single hole Eagle.

Distant third: Academy (some serious shape issues).

No other real choices.

J

[Murph]

The search function turned up this earlier thread which might help.

Regards,

Murph

[JasonB]

I like the Hasegawa Streak eagle kit, as it has all the features of their C kits, plus a nice PE set with feathers for the exhaust. If you are doing an Israeli F-15A or C, this is the one to get, just add new decals, and maybe a set of Monogram A wheels.

[MoFo]

As mentioned, Hasegawa is the best overall balance of accuracy and detail. And they're available for a decent price, if you dig around, and don't care which release you buy (and if you're using aftermarket decals, all that really matters is the plastic anyway...). Cockpit isn't the best, some subtle issues with the engine bulges, but nice exhausts, intake trunks, good fit, recessed lines and just generally the all-round best choice. Also the only accurate canopy, IIRC (bubbled, meaning it has a mold line down the middle to polish out). Things to look out for: some releases have feathered exhausts, others have a set of featherless exhausts with PE turkey feathers, so it's worth doing some reasearch before buying. It's actually a lot more common than just the Streak Eagle kit - most of the "special" boxings have them (like the JASDF TAC Meet or Iraqi Freedom or Eglin Gorillas one). Started some time in the late-90's. I don't think the regular catalogue kits have the parts, though the JASDF ones *may*. Best bet is to check the Modelling Madness kit research pages, or look through the instructions for old releases at 1999.co.jp.

Below that... Monogram. Outline accuracy is the best of any Eagle kit, and the cockpit is nicer than Hasegawa, if a touch 'soft' around the edges (ca. 80's monogram - raised detail and accurate, but not as crisp along the edges as a more modern tooling). Downsides being the terrible exhausts, lack of intakes, inaccurate canopy, raised panel lines (if you're anti-raised-lines) and trickier fit. It was also mass-produced for a lot of years, and the tooling is really showing its age, with flash and molding flaws, so if possible, try to seek out an older release. If you're an accuracy-freak above all else, it's probably the best base, with a lot of work to bring up to snuff (Monogram fuselage, Hasegawa for some details, resin exhausts, cockpit, weapons, etc. etc.). If you're frugal, it can be built into a nice looking Eagle at 1/4 - 1/3 the price of Hasegawa. So it does have its benefits, and a place in the modelling world... but I'd rather spend more on the Hasegawa kit, personally.

Below those.... not really worth considering, IMO.

Academy's only redeeming feature is the inclusion of parts to model either the full-up or nodded-down intakes. Otherwise, detail is less than Hasegawa, fit is worse than Hasegawa, shape is worse than Hasegawa, for a price that really isn't all that much less than Hasegawa. It's not a bargain the way the Monogram kit is, and it's not a generally nice kit the way the Hasegawa kit is. It's basically somewhere in the middle, the worst of both worlds, with no particular benefits. Probably third place... but a fairly distant third.

Tamiya... is ancient. The reason why Tamiya has a good reputation for aircraft kits vs., say, Airfix, is that most of Tamiya's catalogue dates from the late, late 80's on, while others don't. Your typical 'classic' Tamiya kit was released some time in the 90's. A typical 'classic' Monogram kit was probably released in the 70's. So while people may knock Airfix kits for being simple, or Monogram kits for having raised panel lines, most of their planes - most of their reputation - date from the 60's - mid-80's. Tamiya's Spitfires and -190's are nice kits because they're fairly new tools, after some major advances in the industry. Their F-15, however... isn't. It dates from the late 70's IIRC. Recessed panel lines, but the shape is a little off, and detail is very simple (decal cockpit). It's buildable, but again, priced in the middle, not cheap enough to compete with Monogram, not expensive enough to compete with Hasegawa. I suspect that most people buy the kit because it says Tamiya on the box, and are surprised once they lift the lid. Which, again, just goes to show that Tamiya's reputation isn't because ALL their stuff is good, but that 'all' their stuff is RECENT. And that 70's kits from all manufacturers are dated, whether that's Monogram, Airfix or Tamiya.

Italeri is another worst-of-all-worlds. Priced around the Tamiya/Academy range (pushing into Hasegawa territory, depending on the store), but not accurate, not detailed (again, decal cockpits), poor fit, mish-mash of E and C, not really being either in the end. Incredibly frustrating, as it's a brand new kit (2007?), they knew exactly what the competition was and what was state of the art... and then released a kit that fell so far below expectations that I suspect most modellers have pretty much forgotten about it. It's literally a worse choice in the world of 1/48 F-15s, than the Tamiya and Monogram kits that were released almost thirty years earlier!

Finally, Fujimi... has some nice decal sheets from the JASDF 50th. And that's about it.

Edited March 3, 2009 by MoFo

[designfriemel]

thx for your opinions & experiences.

Especially to Mofo for his very detailed description - thank you for sharing!

So it really comes down to the Hasegawa or the monogram kit just depending on the overall effort one wants to put into the project - got it!

I am a bit surprised about the fact that the fujimi kit has so little recognition and value.

I have heard some really good things about it that i actually thought it could be on one level with the Academy kit, or even a bit higher.

So maybe someone who had the opportunity to compare especially the fujimi to the academy kit might bump into this thread and give us a hint.

I got the Hasegawa No. P10:2300 and the Academy and was thinking about getting the Fujimi kit as well. So one day I might be able to directly compare those three.

One thing I noted straightaway as a positive feature about the Fujimi is that the fuselage are just two sprue parts and the radome is actually another part. here

But i might be wrong about this being positive. Also the canopy has no center seam line. But anyway I do not know much about this kit yet.

laters...! &

happy eagleing

[MoFo]

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I am a bit surprised about the fact that the fujimi kit has so little recognition and value.

It's similar to the Tamiya kit, only 'worse' - less detail, more simplified. And hard to find. And usually very pricey when you DO find one (sells up around the Hasegawa range, and Hasegawa is a *much* better kit, so why spend as much to get so much less?). On it's own, it's not a terrible kit, but in among all the other F-15s, it really just has no place. Except for the nice decals in a few releases.

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One thing I noted straightaway as a positive feature about the Fujimi is that the fuselage are just two sprue parts and the radome is actually another part

That's more of a minus than a plus. Hasegawa's (and Academy's, and Monogram's F-15E) breakdown means you get nice panel line detail on the forward fuselage, since they're seperate pars, split horizontally. Fujimi's breakdown means you save the forward/main fuselage join, but lose/diminish all the panel line detail on the forward fuselage. Same complaint as the Academy F-14 kits and their fading panel lines. Tamiya's F-15 has a similar breakdown: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10002308

(here's the Fujimi instructions, BTW: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10041340 )

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Also the canopy has no center seam line

That's also a negative.

The F-15 has a blown canopy. It has a 'bubbled' cross section - an ARC of greater than 180`. You *can not* do this with a simple two-part mold, the canopy would get stuck. So you have to use a three-part slide-mold, that splits along the top of the canopy, allowing the tooling to open up enough to eject the plastic. Which means you get a mold parting line along the middle of the canopy, just like you get mold parting lines around the edges of every other part. On a canopy done on a two-part mold, the parting line is around the bottom, so you don't see it. With a three-part mold, it's in the middle of the canopy, so has to be polished out.

So.... the choices are, have a canopy without any seams, which by necessity means the shape is wrong, or have a canopy with an accurate shape, and a seam line to be polished out.

[designfriemel]

thx so much again for your superb explanations, Mofo!

very interesting indeed. great diagram of the actual injection moulding process, thx for posting!

Hope this thread will help others finding the right kit like it does for me!

best regards to you!

martin