Ultimate USAF F-15 paint set (all variants)

The career of the Eagle in six bottles

The word Ultimate in the name promises coverage of all the finishes the F-15 has worn since entering service, and the list of shades bears that out. The oldest is Air Superiority Blue to FS 35450: an overall tone meant to dissolve the aircraft against the sky, which in reality reads rather as a cold gray-blue. Early A and B version aircraft flew in it before the idea of low visibility took hold in the US Air Force.

The ghosts and Mod Eagle

The following scheme was built on the pair Dark Ghost Grey FS 36320 and Light Ghost Grey FS 36375. According to the manufacturer it appeared on A and B machines and, halfway through their lives, on the C and D versions as well, starting with airframes from number 73-0100. Today's common pattern combines Mod Eagle Grey FS 36176 with Aggressor Grey FS 36251 into a two-tone division that merges at a distance and is only made out close up.

The strike version and spraying technique

The last bottle, Gunship Grey FS 36118, belongs to the E strike version. That one wears a uniform darker gray coat including the radome, so from a modeler's point of view it is the simplest variant of the whole family. The binder is nitrocellulose, so it is thinned with the matching lacquer thinner and it is sensible to flush the airbrush straight away, before anything dries in the nozzle. The result is a very thin film under which the engraved panel lines and the rows of rivets stay legible. The strike version can also be told by the sides of the fuselage, against which conformal fuel tanks lie following its shape, so it is not confused with the older machines of the family.