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Tamiya's big Eagle


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Here we have the classic 1/32 F-15E Eagle from Tamiya.  It’s a large, impressive kit, cunningly engineered.  The main drawback for most people is the old-fashioned choice of weapons: you use either a forest of cluster bombs, or a few huge laser-guided bombs, or you pay more for the fearsome GBU-28 version.  For more modern stores you need to shell out more again.  The choice of decals is also limited, though since every F-15E looks much the same, maybe that’s not too bad.  Fortunately, four blue GBU-10s is a valid early load, and it looks impressive, so I was happy enough with that.  Unfortunately, my problems didn’t stop there.

 

The cockpit is far better than the rudimentary job in Tamiya’s F-14, but the seats are basic - most importantly, especially in this scale, they have no belts.  I added Eduard pre-painted PE: the seats are still reasonably accurate, so adding detail was better than using resin ones.  That the belts hang badly is all my fault.

 

Still up the pointy end, the kit is engineered for an open canopy, but I prefer everything shut.  Plus there’s no sill detail or canopy latches, which would have added more expense.  That’s when I discovered that the glass is the right size but the little skirt round the edge is much too narrow, so I had to add fine plastic and sand it nearly transparent to take out the step.  Further back, I’m not totally happy with how the intakes have lined up, but it’s been ages since I peered down them and I suggest you avoid it too.

 

The wing roots were awful.  Both met up with the fuselage at front and back, but both had marked dips mid-chord, leaving very pronounced steps.  I’m sure I tightened up all the screws properly so I can’t explain this.  Packing and filler have disguised the problem but not removed it - in the wrong light a curious crescent is still visible on each side.

 

The kit comes with a single fuel tank that’s far too small.  My chum Abul let me have two from Revell F-4 kits - the Tamiya tank will actually fit inside one of them - and is happy to use mine on one of his Phantoms.  Very nice chap.

 

Other problems (probably) weren’t Tamiya’s fault.  For instance, I ran out of gunship gray on a Sunday afternoon, so that was a week lost.  Mind you, I’m baffled that Tamiya produce a really good gunship gray, but only in a spray can.  To touch up the usual little spots I had to find an alternative - which is when I discovered that no other company makes the same shade of gunship gray.  Some are miles off.  Luckily all those spots are underneath, so they rarely see the light of day.

 

The decals all silvered despite a smooth paint finish, a coat of Klear, and Mr Softer.  Me, Tamiya - who can say?

 

The bare metal around the engines is Plastikote silver.  It’s brilliant paint - one coat, no primer if you like, and a nice gleam without buffing.  But it marks very easily, so if you’re using it, beware of fingerprints.

 

Having said all that, there are good points too.  The model is amazingly robust thanks to being screwed together as well as glued - although some screws take a lot of effort to drive home and tend to warp the plastic around them.  The undercarriage is much more solid than white metal.  Surface detail is just lovely.  And I think the most effective part of the entire kit is the exhausts.  So I plan to display it back-to-front at shows.

 

And now, some pictures.

Eagle1

 

Eagle2

 

Eaglecockpit

 

Eagle4

 

Eagle3

 

Eagletail1

 

Eagletail2

 

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Great workmanship look's stunning,the  F-15 never ages,it looks as good now as I remember seeing way back in the seventies as it came into

service pity the RAF never thought to operate them.

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Nice eagle - looks slick and clean. It's a pity that some of the stencil decals silvered - it might be worth going back over them with some microsol or tamiya mark fit strong if you have it - maybe stab them with a needle afterwards and then roll them with a cotton bud. It might make a difference. Otherwise it's a fine looking model. 

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Thank you all.

 

how many hours to do that so cleanly?

Beats me – seven months or so from start to finish, though that included a few weeks off.

 

how did you do the seat belts - that cockpit does look spot on

That’s the pre-painted Eduard etch, over the kit’s seats.

 

It must be a huge model, occupying lot of space

Two feet long! or 60cm in new money, and about 40cm across.  It has to live in a box that’s too big to put away anywhere and I had to buy a bigger car so I could take it to shows.  (Not the only reason, of course, but isn’t it strange how many Skoda Octavia estates you see at shows?)

 

some of the stencil decals silvered

Everything silvered.  I tried extra setting solution and there aren’t big enough bubbles to use a pin on.  I’m taking it as a learning experience about making the surface properly smooth.

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