| KIT: | Hasegawa 1/48 F-4C Phantom II |
| KIT # | P 6 |
| PRICE: | $10 at a swap meet |
| DECALS: | none |
| REVIEW & | |
| NOTES: | This kit had no decals and no instructions. |
| HISTORY |
The F-4 Phantom II is the finest multi-purpose, twin engined jetaircraft ever built. While there are many who may argue that statement, a lot ofus feel that way about the old Rhino. Despite being basically out of the skiesin much of the US, many hundreds still carry out daily missions in the US,Europe, Middle East, and Asia.
| THE KIT |
This is really a story about a kit. The Hasegawa family of 1/48Phantoms has been around for at least 15 years if not longer and still qualifiesas the best there is in this scale. Initial production kits were of thethen-popular raised panel lines. The interiors were the same in all of them,which makes building a Navy Phantom a bit of a challenge as the back seats areVERY different from the Air Force version. Over the years there have beenimprovements in the kit including a number of reissues and the replacement ofthe raised panel lines with engraved ones. I'm not an expert on this kit as Ihave only built one of them, an F-4B, and that kit had raised panel lines. Thelatest release, the QF-4N still has raised panel lines, though I have seen the Emodel and it's panel lines are engraved.
Anyway, back to this kit. I purchased it at a swap meet and the$10 price tag was what drew me to it. I have built lots of 1/72 F-4s and figuredI would have no problems. A friend kindly copied the instructions for me and Ihave oodles of decals for 1/48 F-4s so that would be no problem. Upon openingthe box, I was delighted to see what appeared to be an F-4E also in the box.Additional snooping showed that this F-4E was relatively complete, but missing afew items like landing gear, wheels ,interior, weapons pylons, splitter plates, and horizontal stabilizers. I have aspare cockpit, but the rest of those items may be a bit difficult to come by.Any assistance in finding them would be very much appreciated. In addition, theF-4C has been started with the intakes glued into place.
What this will be is a journey into the world of building swapmeet kits. Hopefully, I'll be able to find replacement parts for the E and buildthat along with the C. While I can build the E wheels up, thereby negating theneed for gear, the splitter plates and the horizontal stabilizers will be a MUSTHAVE for this kit. Join me for what will definitely be a fun trip.
| CONSTRUCTION |
As I mentioned earlier, the F-4C had already been started, so I decided to do abit of painting. All the bits and pieces that would be white (like the intakes)got a nice coat of Testors Model Master gloss white. While that was drying, Istarted on the cockpits. The F-4C would be dolled up with a KMC interior,leaving the F-4C cockpit available for the F-4E. Now I hear a bit of groaning atooth-gnashing out there. Yes the F-4C and E interiors were a bit different andhad slightly different instrument panels, but Hasegawa provides the same spruein all it's USAF Phantom kits so that won't be much of a problem when buildingit OOB.
| PAINT & DECALS |
| CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES |
| CONCLUSIONS |
| REFERENCES |
Review copy courtesy of me and my wallet! If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly by a site that has over 800 visits a day,please contact me or see other details inthe Note toContributors.