For those of you who have bought any of the Fine Molds 1/72 jet kits, you have undoubtedly been a tad disappointed that the kits do not come with weapons. I guess they are taking a cue from Hasegawa when it comes to their recent spate of F-4 kits as none of those kits comes with weapons.

However, this set, which is the one recommended, provides everything you need in terms of air to air weapons to load up your Phantom. There are four different variants of the Sidewinder, the AIM-7E Sparrow, and the AIM-4D Falcon for your main air to air weapons. There are four of each which will fill up at least one F-4.

The set also includes a pair of Bullpup air to ground missiles. In addition, a proper SUU-16 gun pod. There are also one each of the ALQ-87, 101, and 119 jamming pods, which generally took up one of the forward Sparrow bays. Finally, you get a full groupiing of pylons for both the USAF and USN versions.

Instructions are pretty basic as all that is needed are color info along with decal placement. The decal sheet consists of the various stripes and some stencils for the various items in the set. It is nicely printed and brings your otherwise dull weapons to life. What's even better is that all the stripes are the proper length so no need to have to cut them.

Since I bought a few of Fine Molds F-4 kits, this is a set that I'll be using. In terms of quality it is a step above the Hasegawa items, but that shouldn't be surprising as the Hasegawa sets are from 1990. However, the Hasegawa set provides a few more modern weapons than are in this one. Fine Molds also does a bombs set, though the vast majority of what's in there are Mk-82s.

July 2023

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