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F-15K SLAM EAGLE 1:72 Hasegawa - Limited Edition The F-15 Eagle was originally developed as a twin engined single seat air superiority fighter for the US Air Force. Later on the twin seat F-15E was developed as a long range multirole fighter. While retaining the air-to-air capabilities of the original F-15 the F-15E could carry out long range, high speed interdiction. The F-15 is a combat proven airframe. When The Republic of Korea Air Force were looking for a new advanced aircraft they launched the F-X fighter programme. The F-15K (F-15E derivative), Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Sukhoi Su-35 were evaluated. This programme was won by the F-15K or Slam Eagle. The F-15K has a few features not found on the F-15E. It features a customised electronics suite to reduce weight and increase jamming effectiveness, a full night vision compatible cockpit, and an advanced APG-63 mechanically scanned array. The one major departure is the addition of an AAS-42 infra-red search and track system. Even though assembled at Boeing's St. Louis facility the aircraft contains 40% Korean parts. Fuselage parts and wings are provided Korea Aerospace Industries. Flight control actuators by Hanwha. Electronics by Samsung Thales and engines by Samsung Techwin under licence. To date over 50 F-15K's have been delivered. The Kit The kit is Hasegawa's F-15E kit with additional parts to make the Slam Eagle. The kit has been around for a while now but is still an excellent kit of the F-15E and shows no sign of wear in the moulds or flash present. The kit features finely engraved panel lines. New parts are provided for the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper pod, and AN/AAQ-28 Lightning Pod, these come in the form of one of the sprues from the hasegawa weapons set. A small extra sprue contains the AN/AAS-43 Tiger Eye Infrared search and track pod. Construction starts the same way as for the majority of aircraft with the cockpit. The modeller can either paint the instrument panels or use the decals provided. The ejection seats are made from four parts and look the part for this scale. Once the cockpit has been completed this can be added to the two halves of the nose. The instructions would have you add the rear part now which connects to the main body, though I suspect this will best be added later. The intakes are the next item to be completed and added to the inside of the main fuselage which is split top/bottom. Once the intakes and engine fan faces are installed the main fuselage can be closed up. The completed nose assembly and the wings are then added. The wings are upper & lower parts. The engines and vertical tails are then added. Once the main airframe is completed the fast pacs and associated weapons pylons are added. The Slam Eagle specific pylons are included on the same small sprue which included the IRST. The landing gear can then be assembled and added to the airframe. Finally the modeller can choose to have the canopy open or closed, and the large airbrake closed or open. Ordinance can be added as needed. Only Fuel tanks and Mk.20 Rockeyes are included in the kit as hasegawa advises you to purchase one of their weapons sets! Decals Decals are provided for tail numbers 02039 & 02004 of the 11th Fighter Wing ROKAF. Conclusion Overall this is great kit and now produced to feature one of the latest incarnations of the F-15 eagle, which despite being an old design now shows no sign of not being able to be produced as a modern weapons platform. Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for