Moving on to something a bit more modern, here are two more nice USMC Phantoms. Probably the best kit is the Hasegawa F-4N that can easily be backdated to a B by removing the intake ECM antennas. If you are desperate, you can try the ESCI kit.

First time I've seen this particular unit done in 1/48 scale. VMFA-513 soon went on to the AV-8B Harrier. This plane is in gloss gull grey over white. The entire fin and rudder is painted white prior to application of the decal.

The other is the CAG bird of VMFA-531 from 1980. By this time, overall gloss gull grey was the norm for these planes, though the weapons pylons and drop tanks were usually still in white. The dark blue on the decal is really too dark so you may want to overspray it with a slightly lighter color. The fin needs to be painted prior to applying the unit decals and is not black but a very dark blue. I might suggest equal parts of semi gloss black and Sea Blue 26042 making sure the finished tail is a satin or semi gloss overall. (see pic)

Review copy courtesy of . Thanks for your support.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has over 200,000 visitors a month, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.