F-15J [Platz 1/72]

[Rémi]

Hi all

 

My F-4B  his in the final line of "production".
It's time to exit another kit from my stach

I choosed to go to the "rising sun" with the F-15J
I already build 3 Hasegawa F-15 (2 F-15J and 1 F-15DJ)
But I wished to try another kit with the Plarz F-15J
Platz is not very well diffused in Europe and I bought it directly from Japan

 

I choosed this box

 

Now a little comparaison with the Hasegawa kit
I start with the exhaust
The Hasegawa exhaust is in 5 parts and 15 rods. It is difficult to assemble all parts. Certainly the molds is a little agged. Some parts have a flash that need to be cut.
The exhaust in the Platz kit is in 5 parts with 15 rods. The assembly is very good.
Unless the Hasegawa exhaust is a little thin, I think the Platz exhaust is little forward.

 

 

 

Now a little view of the Hasegawa cockpit.
The Hasegawa cockpit is well detailled for the scale

 

 

 

Now the Platz parts

 

The cockpit side is little more detailled but I think the kit at this place the two kit is equivalent

 

 

 

For other part has the same details level except for the rear bulkhead more detailled in Platz kit

 

 

 

For the panel instrument : the Hasegawa kit is very fine

 

 

And the Platz part is with the same level

 

 

At last the ejection seat.
The Hasegawa is very basic and the Platz kit is a little behind Hasegawa with a few more  details

 

 

Finally, for the cockpit the two kit is very close. Only the ejection seat in Platz kit is a little more detailled

 

Now the air intake.

The air intake in Hasagawa is very basic
Platz offer a more detailled air intake with the possibility to show the air intake in down configuration
 

 

For this point, Platz is forward Hasegawa

 

For the wheels bay and the engine, Platz is again more detailled

 

 

 

But after your build you can't see these parts. You know that is here but only you know it.

 

Another advantage for the Platz kit : the armements.
Hasegawa has only fuel tanks. Platz offer 4 type 90 missiles, 4 type 99 missiles and the 3 fuel tanks.
The details of the fuel tanks is in favor of Platz kit

 

 

For the construction, the Platz is more cutted with a little complexity
Specially for the fuselage side

 

 

 

 

And finally the engraved. For this point Platz kit a little more details but at the price of a more thick engraved.
For this point I think Hasegawa made a little better.

 

 

 

 

Like you see, the Platz kit is not always behind the Hasegawa kit and the agging Hasegawa has some pros like a well detailled cockpit, a  more simpler build and a better engraved.

The Platz has for him a well detailled cockpit, more option like armement, air intake up or down, better air intake and detailled engine, a better exhaust construction but at the price of an engraved more large than Hasegawa.

For all of this, I think Platz is little forward Hasegawa.

 

For the price the two kit in Japan is close each other and you can very hesitate to choose the Hasegawa or Platz specially when the two brand release the same brand.
For European, it is less difficult, Platz is very difficult to find in your favorit shop. Hasegawa not.

 

Following step, the cockpit paint

 

 

Edited December 23, 2024 by Rémi

[Vultures1]

Thank you for the really helpful comparison of the Platz and Hasegawa F-15s @Rémi

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this 

 

Chris 

[billn53]

I’m not familiar with Platz, thanks for the overview and comparison with Hasehawa. It looks like a fine starting point, and I’m leaning toward to seeing how you do with it.

[Planebuilder62]

Hi @Rémi

 

How well do the Platz wings fit? I have made 3 Hasegawa F15’s and had to use filler around the wings every time.

 

Regards Toby

[Rémi]

Hi Plane builder

With a test fit, the upper wing has a good junction around wing/fuselage

But like the Hasegawa kit, the junction between upper wing/lower wing has a gad that need filling

I'll take some photos this afternoon to show it

[cpoud117]

Following with interest

[Rémi]

After this presentation and comparison with the Hasegawa, go to the paint !

All elements paint easekt

 

The lateral panels and dashboard react very well to the dry bush
I painted some buttons in red and yeallow to break the uniform dark paint.

 

I painted the pedalboard with the Ak Marker
I recently buy a aluminium AK marker and it is very usefull for a paint of little parts

The rendered is very better than the enamel I use usual

 

Now place of the photos

 

A view of the consoles

 

 

The bulheads

 

 

Bulkhead and console together

 

 

Panel instruments

 

 

The small stick with his red buttons

 

Side panels on the fuselage

 

With other parts

 

 

And now all parts in the fuselage

 

 

 

Bonus photo for Plane builder ; junction between wing and fuselage. I glued the upper wing

 

[Rémi]

The next step : the paint of the air intake and the rear of the engine

A little deception on the air intake: they are plenty dots and default molds on it
It is very strange because only these parts presents some defaults and contrast with all other parts.
 

After cutted they, I painted the air intake with a mix of white H11 at the start of it, a little C316 gunze color for the end of it and finally with a little black on the en just before the engine

 

 

For the rear, I painted it with MC212 color and sprayed it with Tamiya Buff paint

 

 

I  finished these part with a classic white on the wheels bays

 

Now I paint the other parts. The compressor entry is painted in MC212 and with a grey
The rear receive a MC212 paint and Tamiya Buff
 

 

Now all element in place

 

 

 

 

And finally a global view of the advance

 

[Planebuilder62]

Nice progress @reini. Does the front fuselage build up easily?
I have built 3 Hasegawa F15’s and found the nose difficult to fit to the rest of the kit.

[Rémi]

18 hours ago, Planebuilder62 said:

Nice progress @reini. Does the front fuselage build up easily?
I have built 3 Hasegawa F15’s and found the nose difficult to fit to the rest of the kit.

 

I build 3 Hasegawa too
The nose/fuselage junction has a better fit than the Hasegawa kit

I mounted the fuselage an I made an update early this evening

[Rémi]

closed the fuselage.
Beware for the lateral parts. It certainly one of attention point of the kit
I glued the rear of the part first.
When it dryed, I glued fhe front. The front of the part need a little filler.

 

 

 

The junction betwee the cockpit parts and fuselage is better than Hasegawa.
Some modellers will find a little step

 

A big issue is the air entries.

 

 

There are a gap/hole between the rear of air entrie and the air intake

Why ? I don't know

 

 

 

I looking for a solution.

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[AleTar]

Hi!
Interesting build. Keep it up!
Yes, the Platz kit looks interesting. But it has problems. For my taste, the imitation of the engraved panels is too deep and wide. It looks like some Airfix models or the F-16I Kinetic. Also, in my opinion, the shape of the external fuel tanks is not quite right. Plus, the imitation of the welds is too rough.
 

And a small remark about the air intake "scoops". As far as I know, in the usual, normal state, "without a pilot in the cockpit", they should be in a raised position. In case of service work, the "scoops" can be lowered, and even independently of each other.
My conclusions are based only on studying the photographs. I did not find a specific answer to this question.


Alex

[lyn]

Nice work well done

[Rémi]

13 hours ago, AleTar said:

Hi!
Interesting build. Keep it up!
Yes, the Platz kit looks interesting. But it has problems. For my taste, the imitation of the engraved panels is too deep and wide. It looks like some Airfix models or the F-16I Kinetic. Also, in my opinion, the shape of the external fuel tanks is not quite right. Plus, the imitation of the welds is too rough.
 

And a small remark about the air intake "scoops". As far as I know, in the usual, normal state, "without a pilot in the cockpit", they should be in a raised position. In case of service work, the "scoops" can be lowered, and even independently of each other.
My conclusions are based only on studying the photographs. I did not find a specific answer to this question.


Alex

Hi AleTar

I made the same conclusion
The air intake is only down when engine started
Like the gap is very important, I removed the piece who down the air intake
With this, the gap is now minimal an the air intake is in the correct position for an engine turn off

[Rémi]

I retaked the air intake
Like they are dissambled I filled better the ejection plot and painted they.

The result is not perfect but far better than previously

 

 

And a photo who you can see that the engine entry is far far away from the entry of air intake and you can see nothing
 

 

Now I can start the paint with the preshadowing

 

 

[Rémi]

THe paint : At last, I can start the paint
I started with the FS36375 with the Gunze C308
I like this paint for his hability to dry very quick,
You can paint an another layer only one hour after the first layer

 

My last surprise come with the landing gear cover. They are too shoort. You need to add a spacer for the proper lenght

 

A litlle word for the scheme

Platz propose a plane most paint only in FS36375

But if I look the artbox in Hasegawa, the scheme is the classical F-15 paint with the FS36320 and FS36375

 

 

Like you can see the plane is not only un FS36375

 

For now I painted this color

 

 

 

[Rémi]

Paint of the FS36320
I used the Gunze C307
 

I painted the nose in C308 with a little drop of H317 because many photos show a nose with a different color from the rest of the plane

 

 

 

[Rémi]

Hi
Now the "aluminium section"
I used the AK Xtrem Metal
Before the paint, I sprayed a first layer of gloss black
After I sprayed the Aluminium color
On some panels I painted they in "White Aluminium"
I finished with little spot of "mat Aluminium"

I used too Pale Burn and Hotmetal Blue at the end of the zone
I finished the paint withe the Tamiya Smoke on the structural line

 

All in all i'm satisfied with the result

 

 

 

 

 

[cpoud117]

Lovely work on the pre-shading and camo painting.

The panel lines look really good as-is.

[Vultures1]

That 'hot' area looks fantastic!

[alex]

Nice progress so far! Since I have both kits too, I will follow carefully. Who can refuse a Japanese F-15 with special paint anyway?

 

Alex

 

[sandros]

I really like the way you retained the kit's detail.

You didn't miss one rivet!

[Rémi]

The works of the days :

 

I used the Tamiya panel line in the structural line
With a engraved a little thick, the process is very easy

After the Panel Line, I started to set the decals
I around setted  150 decals

The instruction are sometines not very clear because it is too small
Some instructions are only on one wing and you must postphone the decals on the other wing.
When you work on one wing, you must see the other wing for verify if you not miss a decal.

 

But althought this difficulty, the decals are very good even if sometimes I cut some decals in 2-3 parts for a better fit

I finished the upper wing and one side.

 

 

On some details

 

 

 

 

[Rémi]

The decals phase is now almost finished

The main difficultie is the big decals in 3 parts
You must play with them to make them coincide

 

The other big decals didn't show problem to place them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew]

Keep up the great work, Remi. I'm enjoying watching your build develop into a very fine result.