Eagle
I know I cannot prove it, but this is the first 1:72 F-15 kit I have ever built, and I've been nailing bits of plastic together since 1970 ! - Bought this for the massive sum of 10.00 GBP from Phils' Model Shop in Southport back in 1990, and it's sat in my stash ever since. Picked it up around three weeks ago and it's been an absolute joy ever since. We really did have it good back-in-the-day with Hasegawa issuing top-quality kits like this almost monthly.
So what to say about the build ? - Apart from the thirty actuating rods for the exhaust petals which were/are a bl**dy nightmare, it's an easy, easy build. Virtually no putty or filler required anywhere, even the potentially disastrous wing/fuselage joint was a breeze. Cockpit area is beautifully detailed and mine is fully painted, however I snapped both the actuating struts when I was manipulating the (huge) canopy into place so reluctantly had to glue the 'glass' into place, shame really but that's down to my sausage fingers and general clumsiness, 'owt to do with the kit.
The decals behaved impeccably even after all this time, I was fully prepared for them to shatter into a million atom-sized pieces when they hit the water and they simply didn't !. Paint is Mr Color lacquers and TBH appear a little too blue on the build, so I'll need to have that in mind if I use them on any other Low-Vis build in the future. So as ever thanks for taking the time to look and /or comment... next I'll finish my Tamiya Honda, then maybe a 'What If' project.
All the best from Middle Earth.
Ian.
Hi there, Ian, your F15 looks great, ten quid was a bargain even in 1990, I wonder if that shop is still there in Southport. Looking forward to seeing your Honda. Happy modelling.
Nope closed around 1994... the owner had a terrible series of events in his family at that time. Not sure he ever recovered.
Outstanding build! Great job! What do you think of The Rings of Power TV series?
Not seen it.
Well done, Ian
Nice work, Ian. I love seeing long term stash dwellers brought to life. As far as F-15s go, I’ve only built two since I started modeling in 1969. I did the original Hasegawa 1/72 kit in 1979, and an Italeri F-15E in 1990. I don’t know why I remember that but I still have both models, LOL.
I'm so taken with this one, I'm looking at my three 1/72 Hasegawa 'grail' kits - the F-4G and F-111F, and thinking '...well why not ?' - I have the time nowadays and that's every modellers 'most precious' resource, right ?
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
All great choices!
Beautiful job, Ian! Grabbing a kit bought more than 30 years ago and building it is a definitely rewarding experience. The finished model looks superb!
Beautiful save.
Love it, Ian (@ij001). I like old kits, and you really brought out the best in this one. I was a young lieutenant in the Air Force when the first F-15s in the Air Force arrived at Luke AFB, my first assignment. I won't embarrass myself by telling you how long ago that was. I lived in the Bachelor's Quarters on base, which happened to be right next to the ramp where they had the F-15s. They were painted Air Superiority blue when they first arrived. Your model brings back some great memories. Well done.
Google is your friend...
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/14-november-1974/
Great photo of the blue F-15s. The paint scheme lasted until they figured out that gray was better for low vis in flight rather than blue.
@gblair - I was born at Luke...and not saying when, but let's just say there were no F-15's on the ramp, on the drawing board, or even as a twinkle in anyone's mind back then...
Wow, Greg (@gkittinger). I thought I was the old guy around here. When I got to Luke, they were the RTU for F-4Cs, and they did the NATO training for F-104s. I was there for two years, after which I went across town to Williams AFB for pilot training.
Beautiful work, Ian @ij001
Having so much fun and this great result for 10 GBP, where else to find that these days.
Well done.
Great job on this F-15, Ian! I built a 1/48 Tamiya F-15C a few years ago, and your paint schema came out much better than mine. I really like the metal work and turkey feather work on the exhausts, very sharp. You gotta give us a peak of your cockpit work though - LOL, that's the part I find the most interesting, so I'm biased. I've never built a Hasegawa, but I've heard good things and sounds like they proved it with your build. I have the same fat-fingers problem, always super gluing broken stuff, down on the ground looking for dropped parts...such is modeling. 🙂
I'd love to Joe, but I never took a pic of it during construction, and experience tells me, if I remove the canopy I'll damage the paint around the the frame/fuselage join. TBH I'm quite annoyed about as it's really nice.
But it isn't life or death, so I'll just grind my teeth and move on to the next build.
Well done Ian, she's one nice looking Eagle.
Excellent build! I recently used that same kit to rescue my "frankenbuild" F-15DJ Aggressor, and that version of the kit was SOOO far superior to the earlier one I used as the basis for the DJ. I totally didn't mind adding all those actuator rods to get the MUCH better cans than the older kit, and it was already engraved (had to sand and engrave the components of the older kit).
Thanks everyone, wonderful response, quite humbling.
I took a wander through all of my Hasegawa kits over the last day or two. I have all the 1:72 F-4's except the slatted 'E', a small selection of 1:48 Phantoms as well as a now quite rare, J35 Draken. Not to mention a spread of WWII types.
Like I said before, this is definitely a 'why not ?' moment, all I need to do now is make a decision and stick to it !
(all Hasegawa kits)
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Ian. I like this build a lot. I actually think it looks very nice with the canopy button'd up, if anything it looks faster that way.
Nice job Ian - great result on this oldie!