Testors Model Master number 1794 is supposed to correspond to FS36251, which is the lighter of the two gray tones, and according to the color charts I've seen it is relatively close to the standard.  As far as a color for the actual aircraft it is quite dark.  I haven't come up with a good mix yet, but out of the bottle it is too dark.

Of course, this also depends on how and when you look at the aircraft!  Take a look at these three photos on Airliners.Net.  They are all three of aircraft 78-0496 (44th TFS from Kadena).

First Photo - Taken on March 17, 2005
Second Photo - Taken on March 19, 2005
Third Photo - Taken on March 19, 2005

Also as seen in photo 1 there are two screens at the top of the panel that are wrong if the aircraft does not have the avionics energized.  They show light colored markings on them that would not be visible unless the systems were on.  As can be seen in photo 2 I painted them dark green.

Each individual instrument has received two coats of Future so far to simulate the glass face of the instruments.  I need to add a couple of more coats but when I took the photos the Future that was there had not dried yet.

There is also a red "Dot" on the lower left side of the panel that is badly out of register.  It appears to be a jettison selector switch and needs to be extended from the panel somewhat.  I haven't fixed it yet but I will before the panel goes in the cockpit.

Using color photoetch almost feels like cheating.  I really enjoy doing cockpits and it doesn't feel right not doing one.  On the other hand the panel just really looks too good not to use!

Update - 12/31/2009 and 12/04/2011 - Still no work done on this model in over 4 years, but I did take a few more detail photos of the cockpit

There is one advantage to taking photos of models and posting them on a web site that I had not envisioned until I started doing it.  When viewed on a computer screen the photographs are normally much larger than real life.  This makes it much easier to spot minor flaws that I would not otherwise have noticed.  When I put photos on this web site I notice things that I didn't see while building the kit.  Things such as paint flaws, areas of wash that didn't get cleaned up properly or areas that just didn't get washed.  Joints that need a little bit more sanding or filling, decals with some silvering in them, and so on.  The number of minor flaws I can find it photographs that I never even noticed while building the kit is really amazing.

The instrument panels are Eduard color photoetch, the ejection seat is Cutting Edge resin with Eduard PE belts and harnesses.  The electronics bay behind the cockpit is painted with Xtracolor X159 "F-15 Avionics Bay Metallic Green/Blue" from Roll Models (note that this paint is oil based and takes several days to dry).  The wiring on top of the TEWS units (photos 8 and 9) was scratch built.  Short pieces of solder were drilled out to simulate the connector to the unit, a piece of thin wire pushed through the solder and into a hole drilled into the TEWS unit.  The wires were then painted orange and black to match reference photos of the area.  The Remove Before Flight flags are Eduard Color PE (note that they are 1/48 scale flags and not 1/32 scale).  The yellow harness that goes between the pitot tubes on the ACES II ejection seat was scratch built from foil.

Update - 01/09/2007 - Thanks to Donivan and his contacts at the USAF for verifying that Bay 5 is now being upgraded to gloss white during depot-level maintenance.

Here Is An Example of what the color looks like.  The photograph was provided by Dave Masters and has been used here with his permission.

I'm using a color photoetch interior for the first time on this model.  It is the Eduard 32532 set  The main instrument panel consists of two layers of PE to give the instruments some depth but the side panels are only a single layer of PE.  The detail that Eduard printed on the panels is excellent and really enhances the cockpit.

One thing I dislike about the main panel are the two screens at the top of the instrument panel.  Both of those screens are printed in a somewhat medium green color with light green lines shown on them.  For an aircraft in flight this would be fine, but for a parked aircraft the avionics would be off and the screens would be dark green with no lines showing on them.  This is not a big issue since all that is necessary is to paint over the screens with some relatively dark green paint.

Also take note of the fact that the Eduard color PE panel is a "Pre-MSIP" (Multi-Stage Improvement Program) panel.  The MSIP replaced most of the avionics and weapons systems in the F-15 with vastly updated systems.  Keep in mind that many of the F-15's have been in service for over 20 years and there have been quantum leaps in electronics over the intervening two decades.  According to This Page on the Robbins AFB web site, "All F-15A/B/C/D aircraft produced before 84-001 will receive the MSIP retrofit at the F-15 depot.  This upgrade added a MPCD (Multi-Purpose Color Display) to the weapons panel on the left side of the main instrument panel which is not on the Eduard panel.  In addition, the MSIP upgrade gave the F-15 the ability to carry AMRAAM and did not have the LAU-128 launch rails, so any Pre-MSIP aircraft could not carry AIM-120's.  Also, they did not have the round antenna on the right tail cone, so be sure to use the pointed one that Tamiya provides.  Thanks to my buddy Darren for this information.

For photographs of the completed main instrument panel see the Construction Photos above.

If you decide to use the Eduard 32532 Interior Set there is one minor detail that you will need to be aware of.  There are three panels that replace the main instrument panel and both side panels.  You will have to sand the existing instruments off of the kit panels, but this is a minor chore and only takes a few minutes.

The problem is that the left side panel requires that you cut the throttle quadrant off and reuse it.  Since the throttles are on the side of the panel closest to the seat it makes it difficult to cut them out without the gap showing in the edge of the panel.  It is probably possible to score around the throttles with a hobby knife and leave the edge of the kit panel in place, but there is not much room.  I just used a saw to cut the throttles out.  This did leave a gap in the edge of the panel, but the panel at that area is 0.040" thick so I used two pieces of 0.020" styrene (because I had some on hand) to fill the edge back in.  It only took a few minutes to do.

If you decide to use the Eduard 32056 PE Set - F-15C Exterior Detail Set it does include some pieces for the cockpit, specifically belts and harnesses.  One piece that the instructions indicate should be installed is incorrect.  The very first section indicates that a center ejection pull handle (part no. 13) should be installed on the ejection seat.  While this is correct for the ACES II in an F-16 it is NOT correct for the F-15 seat.  Here Is A Link to the ACES II seat of an F-15 on The Ejection Site and Here Is A Link to an ACES II of an F-16 on the same site.  Notice that while the F-16 seat does have the center pull the F-15 seat does not.  The description of the seat on the F-16 page specifically mentions that the seat for the F-16 and F-22 differ from other variants in that they use a center pull.  If you see a photo of an F-15 with a center-pull ejection seat it is an older style Escapac ejection seat.

If you decide to use the Cutting Edge Ejection Seat be aware that it does not have seat rails on it.  The kit rails are molded to the seats, but they are not difficult to cut off and add to the resin seats.

Additionally, there are two brackets on the bottom of the Tamiya seat that you will need to use.  Without it the Cutting Edge seat will sit too low.  There are two pieces, one on each side of the seat that fit into slots in the cockpit floor.  Just cut them off the kit seat, make sure they are the same height, and glue them into the cockpit floor using the slots provided.  When you are ready to install the Cutting Edge seat just glue it to the tops of the brackets.

Even though the F-15C is a single-seater Tamiya provides two ejection seats.  I guess it's easier for them to have one parts bag that works on the F-15C and F-15E even though there is an extra seat for the "C".

The electronics bay immediately behind the cockpit is "Bay 5".  In the middle of the bay floor there is a large round stud sticking up that a screw goes through to join this part with the nose gear bay below.  There is nothing to cover this stud except the screw head itself.  There is nothing similar to this in the real bay and it would probably be best to grind it out and putty the hole.  The problem with this is that there are some cables and cable trays that pass through it that would have to be reproduced.  I chose to leave it and filled the screw head (it is a small Phillips screw) with gap filling Zap and then painted it the same color as the bay.

Based on the photographs I have found on the internet the exhausts of the F-15 range in color from a dark metallic "Burnt Iron" color to a bright "Stainless Steel" color.  I suspect this has something to do with the age of the engines and how they have been treated, but the bottom line is that it appears pretty much any color would be correct in some respect.  I used Alclad Stainless Steel for mine and then gave them a black acrylic wash.

Also, the insides of the augmenters (or "Cans") on the engines are ceramic coated so they are white in many places.  As would be expected there are numerous areas of black soot, but the background is white or a very light ash gray, not metallic.

Finally, of all the photos I have looked at that show the "Turkey Featherless" exhausts of the F-15, none of them show any heat discoloration.  I took some photographs of an F-15A with early engines that have "Turkey Feathers" and they show distinct discoloration from heat.  That can be seen in This Photograph.  However, as can be seen in the exhaust photographs on This Page taken by Zoltan Pocza there is no evidence of heat discoloration.

The intake trunks and afterburner sections are tough.  That isn't unusual on jet models though.  As usual both of these consist of an upper and lower half that are glued together to form the intakes and burners.

The intake trunks just take some patience as can be seen in the photos below.  All of the images are links to larger photographs.  Click the image to view the larger photo.

Photo 3 shows the outside of the intake trunks.  You can see some strips of styrene down the sides that aren't included in the kit.  I normally put those on the outside because after putting a lot of work into getting seams out I really don't want the joint to split back open.  I sometimes have to sand them down in places to fit into the fuselage but the really do help strengthen that joint.

The afterburner sections are just plain evil and I haven't done them yet.  Photos of the parts are shown below.

AIM-9L -- The Sidewinders are in pretty decent shape (compared to those in some other models I could mention they are in great shape!).  Each missile is composed of 5 parts; the main missile body with two forward and aft fins molded on, a single piece that forms the other two aft fins, two individual forward fins, and an end cap.  There are four ejection pin marks on the top (I think it's the top) of the main missile body.  These pin marks may or may not be visible once the missiles are mounted.  I don't think they will be but I decided to fill them anyway.  There are also some minor seams along the sides where the mold halves joined, but these are easily sanded off.  The end cap has a minor ejector pin mark in it that needs to be removed.

I found an excellent source on the internet for AIM-9 information.  The site is Jim Ball's Scale Library of Missile Data and his page pertaining to the AIM-9 is at This Link  Most of the photos appear to be of an AIM-9D but they still provide some excellent reference for the modeler.