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1/48 F-15C Hasegawa or Tamiya?


Nachtwulf

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Great Wall Hobby have recently released a series of 1/48 Eagles, I haven't built it but they get good reviews and the detail on their Mig-29 kits ( which I do have) is fantastic. This is probably the kit you want....https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gwh+1/48+f-15c&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#imgrc=1XbXAOOQJZLFdM%3A

And a review of the B/D kit

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234956868-f-15bd-eagle-in-us-israeli-service-148/?hl=eagle

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Would you gentleman care to elaborate? What about the GWH kit makes it better than the Hasegawa kit? I am a little familiar with the Has. kit but not so much the GWH kit.

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Nachtwulf - I have (built) the Has 1/48 kits 'C' and 'Strike Eagle' and (seen) the GWH one in my hands.

The Has F-15 kits built fine fit wise etc. but given the tooling and molds are the best part of 30 years old now, IM has come on leaps and bounds in the interim and unless they updated it, the Has F-15 still has the old 'Turkey Feathers' exhausts which also shows the age of the kit and the era it represented - i.e 1980's. As others have said, the GWH MIG 29's in the series are sublime kits so if their F-15 range builds as good as the MIG 29s and as it looks in the box, then that's the one to go for.

The Has kit is (was) a fine kit but it really needs some AM (exhausts especially) to bring it up to standard; which with the added cost of AM sets, puts you into the GWH price bracket anyway!

Do some Google research and decide what is best individually for your modelling needs and expectations of a kit.

Gary.

Edited by redcap
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and unless they updated it, the Has F-15 still has the old 'Turkey Feathers' exhausts which also shows the age of the kit and the era it represented - i.e 1980's.

It represents a pre MSIP jet oob. Original style cockpit, sabre drains, no radome blisters or stinger antennae and the early style AIM-9 rails. Ironically the one thing they did update were the exhaust pipes in the late 80's Hi grade boxing. There were new injection molded parts with the choice of pe actuators or feathers depending on the style of exhaust you want. They've been included as standard in just about every reissue since with the exception of the original base kit. And if you want more irony the one really poor part of the GWH kit is the exhausts. Dimensionally they are about 50% too long and the actuators are molded integrally with the exhaust ring as plain square section strips. It makes them look very over scale and rather clumsy.

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It represents a pre MSIP jet oob. Original style cockpit, sabre drains, no radome blisters or stinger antennae and the early style AIM-9 rails. Ironically the one thing they did update were the exhaust pipes in the late 80's Hi grade boxing. There were new injection molded parts with the choice of pe actuators or feathers depending on the style of exhaust you want. They've been included as standard in just about every reissue since with the exception of the original base kit. And if you want more irony the one really poor part of the GWH kit is the exhausts. Dimensionally they are about 50% too long and the actuators are molded integrally with the exhaust ring as plain square section strips. It makes them look very over scale and rather clumsy.

Some interesting observations Gary and you are clearly well informed on the subject. Sounds like a case of "Yer pays yer money...." etc. in this instance.

Is the Academy F-15 MSIP a possiblity for him then (and much cheaper no doubt) ? I ask as I have their F-15I and F-15E 'OIF' kits in the stash and as a non F-15 expert, they seem very nice toolings to me?

Gary

Edited by redcap
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It depends on your priorities. The Academy kit has some inaccuracies, the engine humps are too pronounced, as is the raised detailing around the speedbrake and the nose isn't quite right. I also seem to recall the canopy was a bit flat too. They were also pretty poorly detailed too so I'd steer clear of the early boxings.

But...they tooled a whole load of really good quality new parts for them a few years back which brought them bang up to date with all the latest mods and they threw in a ton of really nice weapons as well. The only issue with the new bits was the rails which are slightly too short. The other inaccuracies remain but the key thing is the price. Before Modelzone fell over they were knocking out the updated MSIP, OIF, Slam Eagle and Ra'am boxings for £15 a piece. Even with all the issues that is an absolute steal. If you only use them to update the Hasegawa kit you're still ahead as it's the same price as the Wolfpack OIF set, and you've got a load of weapons as well as a rather nice decal sheet with a very full set of stencils. You can still pick them up on ebay now for around £20 in the current Seymour Johnson boxing and they are well worth it.

Eduard reissued them a couple of years ago and they've been available recently for around £30. I'd avoid the Strike Eagle boxing as for some reason they decided to omit all the updated sprues. But the A/C 'Fighting Eagles' vsrsion has everything thats in the MSIP box. Given the resin extras of exhaust pipes, wheels and seat as well as a whole load of etch they are possibly even better value than Academys own kit.

I have got the 2 of the GWH B/D kits with corrected bits for which I paid around £40 each. The MSIP C kit is around £50 in the UK about the same as from HK. It's nice but...at the prices I paid for them it's the equivelant of 3 Academy kits and thats before you add in the cost of replacement exhausts. Thats hard to ignore. YMMV. :)

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I really do appreciate all the replies so far. I am starting to lean toward the GWH kit, but I still would like to here from someone who has worked one. :2c:

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Pit Road do an F-15J which is the same as the GWH MSIP II F-15C less the USAF ordinance. It is considerably cheaper and with what you save, you could add some Brassin weapons. It also has the AESA radar option if you care about open panels and radomes.

The best source of ordinance overall would be to pick up an Academy F-15i and throw away the airframe which is a pig to assemble and not very accurate anyway. The weapons sprues cover everything from AIM-9X to GBU-39 and are worth the money alone. You could adorn anything from an F-15A to E with what you get.

Edited by tarlucan
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What time frame F-15 are you looking to model?

Mark

In the 90`s

So the older the real aircraft is, the cheaper a kit of the aircraft should be? Interesting concept....

Tooling aside, one would think there are loads of materials available about every nut and bolt on this plane.

Also GWH it`s Chinese, it`s not like those moulds are made by F-22 engineers if you catch my drift

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In the 90`s

Tooling aside, one would think there are loads of materials available about every nut and bolt on this plane.

Also GWH it`s Chinese, it`s not like those moulds are made by F-22 engineers if you catch my drift

I suggest you take a look at their 1/48 MIG 29 kits before making such a sweeping statement about 'Chinese Kits'. Those '29' kits are amongst the very best 1/48aircraft kits on the market today. They have also set the (rapidly becoming) industry standard for one piece IM A-A missiles which surpass (IMHO) even expensive aftermarket resin ones which still come in multi pieces.

Gary

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Gary, I wasn't questioning their quality, just the marketing practices.

Everybody is in agreement that they (GWH, AMK, Kinetic and to some extent HB & Trumpeter) are taking over the high quality segment once owned by Hasegawa, Tamiya and the likes.

They are taking also the same pricing practices

Edited by rammius
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Having previously built the Academy and Hasegawa kits, I have now traded up to the GWH variants. As previously stated, there are quite a few shape issues with the Academy kit which are not present on the GWH kit. I like the Hasegawa kit but it can suffer from one liability - the main planes have a tendency to break away from the airframe over time - Since the GWH upper mainplane is moulded all in one with the upper fuselage, it is far more robust. The kit goes together like a dream although I have seen others struggle with the intakes - if one goes carefully, they are not a problem. The exhaust cans are absolutely fine for all but the most fastidious and the cockpit is great out of the box, although could probably benefit from resin replacement seats if the cockpit canopy is left open. Shop around, some are offering these GWH kits at quite a reasonable price, especially when you consider the lack of requirement for much AM. Do watch out though for some of the early F/A-15B/D kits (this was the first of the family to be issued) - there were shape/accuracy issues with some of the major parts (upper fuselage/wing, canopy etc) which GWH have subsequently fixed (and offered replacement parts for early purchasers) but some there are still one or two floating around. All the other kit issues (including the JASDF specific Pit Road kits) are fine - The Pit Road kits also include the indigenous AAM fitted to JASDF aircraft.

HTH

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Gary, I wasn't questioning their quality, just the marketing practices.

Everybody is in agreement that they (GWH, AMK, Kinetic and to some extent HB & Trumpeter) are taking over the high quality segment once owned by Hasegawa, Tamiya and the likes.

They are taking also the same pricing practices

I think you will find this is more to do with the state of the Chinese economy right now rather than the work of some over zealous kit manufacturer or distributor. I see there has been a small jump in GWH kit prices on the Big H website but part for part and decal for decal (including those amazing individual instruments), they are still great value.

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Gary, I wasn't questioning their quality, just the marketing practices.

Everybody is in agreement that they (GWH, AMK, Kinetic and to some extent HB & Trumpeter) are taking over the high quality segment once owned by Hasegawa, Tamiya and the likes.

They are taking also the same pricing practices

My apologies if I misunderstood the thrust of your submission.

Gary

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In that case, the regular GWH F-15C MSIP II kit will suit your needs. But do take note that the kit does not provide the LAU-114 rails used on F-15s in the early 90s. Also, no AIM-9Ms and AIM-7s which are appropriate for 90s jets are included.

Mark

Eglin jets started carrying AIM-120s in the last two weeks of Desert Storm in February of 1991 (on the wing pylon stations). The other bases followed suit as stocks built up, so in the early 90s either load is plausible.

Regards,

Murph

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