Hey there FSM crew. Been away a while, but finally got done with a basement remodel in which I built what I hope will be a dream workbench for model building and other projects. To break it in this winter I figured I'd do a quick build: this old Monogram F-15 kit that I've had, unbuilt, since I was a kid. Box and sprue shots time.
A little sun faded. No F-15 variant indicated, but given the kit's age and the layout of the bird I believe it to be an F-15A, B, or C.
Classic Revellogram raised panel lines, wide sprue gates, and plenty of flash to clean up.
Instructions are clear and seem like large-print format after building Airfix and BanDai.
Speaking of stuff I did as a kid: I loved Transformers. The 1984-86 toy commercial/cartoon. Still do, I guess. So for fun I've decided to paint this F-15 up as if it were everyone's favorite Seeker, the power-hungry but naive Starscream.
In case anyone is unfamiliar:
I plan to aim for his look in the original animation, but due to silly inconsistencies and errors in the TV show animation, I'm going to use stills from the 1986 movie to act as my final reference photos.
I'm hoping for a fun departure from the drab traditional military colors, while still applying some weathering and shading techniques to make it look like a real piece of metal.
Since I'll be painting the canopy with a thick clear orange, I whipped the cockpit up quick and shot it with flat black.
No great loss here, as the details and fit are pretty poor.
Went on to major assembly. Doing this guy as gear-up so I can mount him vertically on the wall, so between that and the shortcut-cockpit, it went together pretty fast. An afternoon.
This kit is not designed to be build gear-up, so the gear doors don't fit very well. To fix or not to fix?
Speaking of poor fit, I've come to expect poor fit after building that Revellogram F/A-18 a couple years ago, but I wasn't expecting it to be THIS bad.
The way I'm planning to mount this, none of the above will show, unless I take it down to handle it, so I'm not sure how much I'm going to worry about it.
I think the biggest challenge here will be determining the "line" of realism I won't cross. Do I want it to look like a real F-15 painted to look like Starscream, or do I want to go for the G1 cartoon look and leave it clean and bright? Some soul searching to do on that.
Thanks for keeping the lights on around here while some of us take a year or two off at a time. 