Superscale 48-188
F-4J/S Phantom II

$6.00 MSRP  

I don't know about you, but one can NEVER have enough Phantom kits or decal sheets!

This rather complete sheet is for one F-4J and one F-4S.  Now when this sheet was produced, there was no F-4S kit available in 1/48. As most of you may know, the most visible difference between the J and S are the leading edge slats. However the initial run of the S didn't have these as the avionics and engines were the big change from the J and those are not visible on the kits.

Which bring me to the question concerning the S on this sheet.  It is for an overall gull grey aircraft from VMFA-333 'Shamrocks'. This particular aircraft has a complete lo-viz set of markings. As is typical of Superscale/Microscale sheets, there is no indication of this aircraft having the wing slat modification.  The image of the aircraft is just 'Generic Navy Phantom' and no date is given (see below).  So you have your choice of using the new Hasegawa F-4S or using the J from Hasegawa, Monogram or ESCI.

The other aircraft is a J from VMFA-115, also in overall 16440 light gull grey, but with more colorful markings.  Both have a full set of stencils and would make a great aircraft. Fortunately, decal sheets now come with a lot of helpful information.  If any reader can pass on more information on the VMFA-333 aircraft, I would love to hear from you.

    Scott Van Aken