Revell 03841 F-15E Strike Eagle 1:72 Scale Unbuilt/Unpainted Plastic Model Kit

Great present, change from all the technical stuff these days.

I'll update this once I'm done, but for now I'm in the middle of build and generally it's very good. I'm more into 48th builds so was a little wary of the smaller scale. But this 2021 tooling is impressive in detail with a good cockpit (I've added more seat belts) and the surface detail is subtle and comprehensive. Some kits (looks at Airfix) can be a bit heavy handed with their panel lines at this scale.Fit is generally OK, tho the underside wing joint needs a fillet (the other side is fine), and the build is complicated due to the Eagles complicated shape.The decals look amazing in the flesh and hopefully go on well.Once I'm done, or find issues, I'll update this.AUpdate - FFWD some time (and even longer to remember to return to this) and the Eagle is done and proudly displayed.She took some sanding to make the joints presentable but that's Eagles for you, their shape is difficult to mould for kit manufacturers so no fault of Revell that some effort was required.But it paid off I think. She looks great.One issue was the extravagant decals. They tore several times and I had to replace them. Unfortunately the plane's curves defeated the big decal sheets which snapped during positioning. Perhaps you could slice them up first into more manageable pieces, but yeah, be warned. It's tough esp around the nose and cockpit. So I got 3rd party markings for Lakenheath in the UK where I've spent many happy days watching these things for real.Overall its a great kit. Sometimes Revell do them, believe it or not, and this is one.

Level 4, so not trivial to build, reasonable price and fair but not perfect build instructions. Decals, tens of small unreadable text. Good result overall, enjoyed the work.