One of the early lessons of the conflict in Vietnam was that modern jet fighters really needed an internal gun. Pod mounted guns were thought to be the best way to deal with that, but the truth was that these weapons were never able to be as rigidly mounted as one in an airframe. Besides, there was no way to really sight one of these. So early in the war, it was decided by the USAF to arm its future Phantoms with guns. While they were at it, they also upgraded the avionics and the engines. A bit later, they improved the airframe as well by adding slatted wings. This latter upgrade allowed a 10% improvement in turning radius at the expense of some speed. This was retrofitted to most all extant F-4E airframes. So equipped, this is how the Phantom operated for the rest of its life in USAF/ANG service. The initial F-4Es were 1966 fiscal year builds and entered combat around 1968. More F-4Es were built than any other variant. 140 F-4E models were built by Mitsubishi for the JASDF and served into 2021. 

What is presented is the standard F-4EJ boxing (which is pretty much an early F-4E without the Agile Eagle slatted wings). To upgrade it to the EJkai version, Hasegawa has provided an updated fuselage with the additional fin antennas and the later F-15 style centerline tank. All the rest is unchanged.

The fuselage has a separate nose and this nose only has the later, elongated gun muzzle. The nose is on a smaller separate sprue. I should also mention that when joining the wings, there will be a seam through the lower flaps that will need to be filled.

The cockpit is very nice for the time with raised detail on the instrument panels and side consoles. The bang seats are good representations of the MB Mk 4 used by the F-4 but are devoid of straps and other fine detailing. This is because the kit comes with a full crew and you are supposed to install these folks inside. The cockpit is a relatively accurate USAF F-4 cockpit with control sticks for both crew members.

The kit comes with the correct longer burner cans for the updated J79-GE-17 engines. It also comes with the slatted stabs that have the reinforcement arrow. Landing gear are well done and though there is little detail in the wheel bays, is typical of the time. So is the typical ejector pin marks on the gear, inside of gear doors, on weapons, and so on. The kit includes a weapons suite that includes both Sidewinders and Sparrows.

Instructions are the standard F-4EJ booklet with an addendum sheet for the EJkai. This sheet basically shows what has to be trimmed to represent this variant. In addition, one gets two decal sheets. One is the EJ sheet for some items and an EJkai sheet for those items specific to the three markings options. Two of them are for 306 and 302 squadron planes in dark grey over white. This dark grey equals 36118 gunship grey. Personally, I feel that is too dark and should be something closer to light gull grey 16440. The third option is with 301 squadron in a dark grey and blue grey over white scheme.  

I've built quite a few Hasegawa 1/48 F-4s, starting with their first release in 1984. This one is the revised engraved panel line kit so should meet the requirements of those who can not bring themselves to build a raised panel line kit. It holds no real surprises and builds into a very nice model. I should mention that the decals are starting to yellow, but there is no lack of aftermarket, even for the Japanese version. Also, while you can build a standard early F-4E from this kit, you need to sand off the additional antennas from the fin tip.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II

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