This is
the old Revell F-15A kit, not to be confused with the Monogram kit which is
often boxed under the Revell or Revell-Monogram label these days. When
comparing the two, its easy to understand why the Revell kit is no longer in
production while the Monogram kit carries on.
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images below to see larger images
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The
kit itself is typical of Revell kits of that era with raised panel lines,
bare cockpits, soft detail, etc... So, its not surprising that a lot
of work and spare parts were required to bring the kit up to par. First
order of business was to rescribe the whole kit. After that, I
replaced just about everything that could be replaced on this kit, which
included the cockpit, stores, gear and antennas.
The kit
cockpit was not only bare, but it also blanked over the Bay 5 area. To
replace it, I used a modified spare Academy F-15E pit. I removed
most of the rear cockpit from the Academy pit, and replaced it with a
scratchbuilt Bay 5. This was then pretty much forcefully crammed
into the Revell body. The ejection seat is from True Details.
The exhaust
was both feathered and poorly detailed, which I needed the opposite of
both for my build. I replaced the kit pieces with spares from the
Monogram kit. The Monogram kit also provided the centerline tank I
used.
Spare Academy
parts provided the bulk of replacement pieces. The kit tail antennas
were identical and basically just blank shapes. These were replaced
by the appropriate pieces from the Academy kit. The landing gear was
just atrocious, so I replaced them as well, even though the Academy parts
represented gear present on later F-15 models. The pylons, missile
rails and AIM-9s were all from the Academy kit as well. The AIM-7s
used Academy bodies, but the nose cones were replaced with Hasegawa
pieces. The Academy nose cones were too blunt, so they needed to be
changed.
Some
scratchbuilt parts included the AOA probes and formation lights, which I
used needles and aluminum tape for each respectively.
The
decals appeared almost as old as the kit itself. I used a Microscale
sheet that was thick, glossy, and the glue visibly came off in the hot
water. The Microscale sheet was complemented by one from the Italeri
F-15 kit.
So
the build started off just as the Revell kit, but ended up as a mix of
Revell, Monogram, and Academy parts with decals from both Microscale and
Italeri. It was a lot of work, but I enjoy having it displayed on
the shelf.
K Diamond
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