Academy

1/48 F-15K Slam Eagle

Kit Number: 12213

Reviewed by  Dave Koukol, IPMS# 46287

MSRP: $44.00 Review Sample from Model rectifier: Website: www.modelrec.com Background: The F-15K is South Korea's advanced and upgraded cousin of the F-15E Strike Eagle. According to Boeing literature, the Slam Eagle is "Equipped with the latest technological upgrades, it is more capable, survivable, and maintainable than its predecessor, the F-15E, and is capable of long-range precision strike missions without escort, day or night, in any weather. The Republic of Korea awarded Boeing a contract for 40 F-15K's in April 2002. As of April 2008, 34 of the 40 F-15K's have been delivered to the ROK Air Force, with the remainder scheduled to be delivered later this year. In April 2008, the ROK awarded Boeing a contract for a second lot of F-15K's to fill its Next Fighter II requirement." First Impression: WOW! Opened the box to find it jam-packed with 9 sprues of finely molded gray plastic parts, a single sprue of clear molded parts, and a "ginormous" sheet of stunning decals, including full stencils, printed by Cartograph. Surface detail is fine and recessed. Among the sprues is a mother load of exquisitely detailed munitions and targeting/countermeasures pods. Construction: Construction is straightforward, overall fit and engineering is solid, with minimal filling required, but there are numerous ejector pin marks to be addressed. Cockpit detail is crisp, robust and accurate compared to photos of the variant available on the internet. Be careful to disregard the instruction's call to paint the cockpit interior black - it should be the standard Dark Gull Gray of modern US fighter types. The ACES II seats are gorgeous, rivaling many aftermarket offerings. Only notable potential for improvement is that either lap harnesses need to be added or the back harness needs to be eliminated. Intakes, exhausts, and landing gear are all well formed and appear accurate against photo references. Intakes and exhausts are well detailed, and with a little Alclad and acrylic sludge wash, the afterburner nozzles and flame holders really pop! Wheel well detail is adequate and convincing, with very little visible on the finished model, as the majority of the doors are closed on the ground. For the most part, fit is pretty good. Only notable challenges are properly fitting the left intake to the fuselage and achieving tight seams between the wings and fuselage and between the vertical stabilizers and the fuselage. A few extra minutes of scraping, sanding, and dry-fitting do the trick. Also a bit challenging is attaching the conformal weapons rack to the conformal fuel tanks. The rack is not curved to conform to the compound curves of the tank, and locator/retaining pins are not present. Gluing one end, allowing it to set, then gluing the other end and middle cleared that hurdle nicely. Finishing: Panel lines were pre-shaded in flat black, and Alclad was airbrushed on the natural metal areas immediately forward of the nozzles prior to application of the primary color. Like the F-15E, the "-K" is wrapped in Gunship Gray (FS36118), which is available in nearly every line of model paints on the market today. I chose Model Master Acryl for this build. Care must be taken to apply paint sparingly, as the recessed detail is very fine, and not as deep as one may be accustomed to. This is a concern only if a sludge wash is to be applied to highlight panel lines. Pledge with Future Shine was used to provide a gloss surface for the decal application. Canopy and windscreen require a little extra TLC. The mold parting line leaves a pronounced ridge running down the centerline of the canopy. About 15 minutes of effort with medium sanding film, followed by buffing with a set of fingernail buffing/polishing boards from Wal-Mart, and some fine polishing with Brasso and cotton swab removes the ridge completely. A coat of Pledge with Future Shine removes any residual fine scratches and gave the canopy a crystal-clear appearance. As noted earlier, the Cartograf decals are stunning and exhaustive. All settled down nicely using MicroSet and MicroSol. Nearly 10 hours were invested marking the jet and its external stores. A couple passes with an acrylic sludge wash for the panel lines, followed by a couple misting coats of Model Master Acryl Flat sealed the deal. Loaded for Bear: Worthy of its' own narrative are the armament and external stores. Academy again reinforces what many modelers believe should be an industry standard - a full compliment of weapons and pods representative of the subject's intended mission profiles. Weapons include 4 AIM-120C, 4 AIM-9X, 6 small and 2 large JDAM, LANTIRN targeting and navigation pods, ECM pod, and 2 SLAM-ER's. All are highly detailed and are accompanied by full markings from the decal sheet. About 5 hours were invested in the construction and painting of a full weapons load. Summary/Recommendation: In summary, Academy "slams" one out of the park with its Slam Eagle. Although not perfect, the pros easily outweigh the cons, and the kit builds into a sharp and accurate representation of the latest, most advanced variant in the F-15 family. I highly recommend this kit for advanced and experienced modelers looking for a sharp, well-outfitted, out-of-box build at an affordable price. Thanks to Ed Sexton at MRC for providing the kit!