Trumpeter 1/144 F-15C Eagle

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's design in 1969 to meet the service's need for a dedicated air superiority fighter. The Eagle first flew in July 1972, and entered service in 1976. It is among the most successful modern fighters, with over 100 victories and no losses in aerial combat, with the majority of the claims by the Israeli Air Force.

The Eagle has been exported to Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. The F-15 was originally envisioned as a pure air-superiority aircraft. Its design included a secondary ground-attack capability that was largely unused. The aircraft design proved flexible enough that an improved all-weather strike derivative, the F-15E Strike Eagle, was later developed, entered service in 1989 and has been exported to several nations. As of 2021, the aircraft is being produced in several variants.

This is one of Trumpeter's earlier kits in this scale. It has nicely engraved detailing that is a bit soft. As with most F-15 kits, the nose and fuselage are separate with the nose split vertically and the fuselage horizontally. The wing is molded in with the upper fuselage. There is no interior so either cobble something together or paint it black. Fins are separate as are the exhaust.

When it comes to landing gear, the wheels are molded onto the struts. You can model this gear up if you wish though no stand is provided. For gear down, you'll need to cut the doors. There are no wing pylons, though you are provided a centerline pylon a tank molded in place. Four Sparrow shapes are all you get for weapons.

Instructions are a folded sheet. There is some color info provided, but some is obviously wrong. For instance, you are told to paint the burner cans yellow and to paint the struts and wheels black. Fortunately, some of that info is corrected in the overall painting guide. The single option is for a plane of the 18th TFW. The small decal sheet is somewhat fuzzy, so if you want crisp markings, I'd suggest aftermarket.  

I've not built many 1/144 F-15s, but I have built the Dragon kit and from what I see in this one, the Dragon kit is the superior of the two. Still, this one does seem to have the shape right and if you are not fussy it should make into a nice model. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-15_Eagle

June 2021

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