Yes, folks, I've built choppers and robots - that's all - until now . . .

I went to the hobby shop Saturday to "just get some glue" and fell in love with this beautiful Hasegawa F-15C Eagle kit on the shelf. I bought it along with a bunch of paint and, oh yes, some glue.

For me, this is the most advanced kit I've purchased. I'm no expert, mind you, but the parts look nice with great details.

Has anyone built this kit before? Any pitfalls to be on the lookout for?

I've got a couple of issues with the paint scheme:

The canopy is shown in the diagrams with what appears to be two different colors for the framing. (By the way, I'm building the 58th Fighter Squadron variant). However, there are no color specifications for the canopy shown.

There are painting specs for other variants in the back of the assembly instructions. One of them specifies "wood brown" for the canopy frame, however this diagram also shows two different shades on the canopy, and I don't know which shade should be "wood brown" and which shade should be the "other" color (I'm assuming one of the shades is the shade of the fuselage surrounding the canopy).

Any advice on this?

There is also reference to "Aircraft Grey" for parts of the interior. Can anyone describe this color? Is it flat or glossy?

Thanks,

- MonkeyBoy

Monkeyboy,

The F-15s by Hasegawa are generally of good quality. You forgot to mention whether you bought a 1/48 or 1/72, although I am probably the only builder on this site with a squadron of 1/72 F15s in my closet

Regardless, the framing color on the F15s canopies differs by era. Initially the framing was a reddish-brown color, almost like dark copper, which I would in fact use. I guess the best Gunze colors could do was wood brown.

I can provide you with a scan if you like.

Later, the F15 models actually did not have a clearly different frame color.

On the two url's below you see that the canopy frame is grey, like the actual aircraft.

F-15C in 1991
This F-15C has only a slighty different color on the canopy frame in the middle but the frame around the windshield is grey instead of "brown".

F-15A MSIP in 1992
And this F-15A MSIP, which is similar to the early F15Cs has an all grey canopy frame!

Aircraft grey is equivalent to FS36231 (I use Testors 1740). The cockpit will never be painted with glossy paint due to reflections in the canopy. Flat is fine, but I use the semi-gloss to improve the effect of the cockpit, even at 1/72nd scale.

Holler if you need more help.

Cheers,