I'm considering building my first modern aircraft and have narrowed my choice to the F-15E. Any recommendation on which kit to buy? I saw some good reviews for the hasegawa and revell builds. For anyone that has built either kits, is the hasegawa kit that good that it demands almost double the price? Another thing that I'm looking for is a nice selection of ordinance and detail (ie cockpit, panel details, ..) for the strike eagle. Thanks in advance,

Hermann

Definitely Revell for the F-15E in 1/48 scale.

all the best

Steffen

Hello Hermann,
I second on the Revell F-15 kit, my last two 15’s were Revell’s. I also use the Academy and Tamiya kits. Stay away…far away from the Tamiya kit, one of the worst kits ever. I never built a Hasegawa kit because of it’s price. I heard they were fine but hands down the Revell kit was better. The cockpit is very close to accurate, the only thing I did on my last two was replace the ejection seat with a resin one and decals. There are many resin, photo etch and decals sets out, do a google search “1/48th F-15” followed by what your looking for. Here are a couple links that my get you started.

F-15

F-15

F-15

F-15

Hasegawa has a few ordinance sets out, haven't used the but heard great things about them.

Happy Modeling,
Joe

Thanks for all the replies and wealth of info. It appears that the revell kit is the way to go, especially with the cost. The question that I now have is if the is a difference between the kit offered by revell/monogram and revell/monogram Germany?

The box, instructions and decals are different - the plastic is the same in both kits. Only Monogram Pro-Modeler release was different, as it included more weapons.

Pawel

For it's time (early-70s IIRC), Tamiya's F-15A was state of the art. Again, IIRC, I also believe it was the first F-15 of any version available in 1/48th. I wanted one so badly when it first came out, but I just couldn't afford it and I was trying to stick with 1/72 at the time, too.

I understand the Revell F-15E Strike Eagle is a fine kit. I've seen many nice builds of it and the modelers just gush about it. My only concern is the lack of ordnance in it, which can be addressed with any aftermarket set out there.

I guess that's why I chose the Academy F-15E Strike Eagle "Operation Iraqi Freedom." It costs more but comes with more ordnance (something I really want to put on a Strike Eagle) and some photoetch. If I like this one I'll most likely build the Revell kit, too, for the whole "build a jet tricked out with lots of expensive AM" experience.

That's the impression that I'm getting on modern jet kits ..they are being quite stingy when it comes to the amount of ordinance that you get with the kit.

Any UK readers may be interested to know that at time of posting Modelzone are selling the Academy 1/48 kits @ £10 for the basic or £15 with PE and cartograf decals.

Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but Academy OEF F-15E is an updated mold - it has some of the errors of the previous release (which is basically a F-15D with CFTs) corrected. In the OEF release you'll also get the latest updates such as Sniper XR pod and GPS antenna. Besides, the decals are very nice, covering some of the most colorful nose arts on a modern jet, like Captain America and the one with the big dragon, very similar to the one on B-24 "The Dragon and His Tail".