Monogram Pro Modeler

Kit Number: 5978

1/48 F-4E Phantom II Vietnam

Reviewed By Mark Andrews, #33206

MSRP: $31.85 USD

There has been volumes written about the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.  I could go on forever and give history and development information, but I will just give my review of the kit which is what you all want to read about!

This is actually a re-box of the Hasegawa F-4E of several years ago.  It even includes both the open and one-piece closed canopies that were in the original release.  The one piece canopy has a bit of a squashed appearance.  The fine recessed panel lines are still as crisp as they were before, along with great detail.  One drawback is that Hasegawa does not include much in the way of weapons in their kits… hence the reason for their aftermarket weapons kits.  Unfortunately this is still the case with this kit.  The only weapons are 4 Sidewinder missiles and 4 Sparrow missiles along with 3 fuel bags.  The included decal sheet covers 4 different aircraft.  The larger sheet has the reds printed in more of a maroon color.  But there is a smaller addendum sheet that has all the red decals printed correctly included in the box.  A nice touch is the photos from Bert Kinsey’s In Detail and Scale F-4E book spread out through the instruction sheet.  Time to build!

First is dealing with the cockpit assembly which goes together without much of a hitch.  There is good detail on the consoles and panels.  But the ejection seats are not very detailed.  They may be fine if you install the included pilots, but I am showing the canopy open with no pilots.  I replaced the seats with True Details resin and photo etched Martin Baker Mk 7 seats.  Be careful with the angle of the instrument panels.  If they are not correct, the cockpit won’t fit into the fuselage.  The next couple of steps are assembling the fuselage and wings.  Both the short and long cannon muzzles are included.  Check your references on your type.  Only one of the versions on the included decals use the short muzzle.  There will be a few areas that must be altered to represent an accurate Vietnam era F-4E.  All of these changes are called out in the instructions.  A couple of antennae and such must be removed on the fuselage and on the upper wings.  On step 4 you are told to remove both blade antennae on the rear canopy fairing.  Do not remove the forward one, that is the IFF antenna!  The landing gear and doors assemble much like all F-4 kits.  The only tedious part is the forward nose gear door.  This is a 5 part affair with three of the pieces being clear.  Some care must be exercised to get this right.  Micro Kristal Kleer came in handy.  And the speed brakes can be shown open or closed.

Now time to start painting this thing!  I airbrushed the entire model Testors Model Masters Camouflage Gray for a base coat and the under side color.  The top camo is SEA standard colors.  Tan, medium green and dark green, all Testors Model Master enamels.  Around the engines I used a couple of shades of Aluminum, with the afterburner cans done in Jet Exhaust Metalizer.  The weapons are cleanly molded and look like the Vietnam era missiles, even though the detail is basic.   I painted these Model Masters Insignia White.  The decal sheet includes all the stripes for the missiles, a great addition of detail.  The instructions do mention that if you use the belly fuel bag, don’t use the two forward Sparrow missiles.  My references do check out on this.  The decals went on well with a bit of Walther’s Solvaset.  A couple of the small decals did silver a bit even with having a good coat of Future.

After a coat of Dullcote over the airframe, it is time to attach the missiles, wheels and canopy parts.  Weathering was accomplished with black washes.  All the panel lines were done with a mechanical pencil and .07mm lead.  The recessed panel lines are nice to accent this way.  It may take a bit of time, but the results are well worth it.

Overall this is a great F-4E to add to any collection.  The addition of actual references in the instructions will enhance your model.  Part fit is excellent, and there is minimal clean up of flash and mold seam lines.  The unused parts point to possibly an F-4G or other versions to come.  (I hope!!!) Hasegawa’s weapons sets can be used to add weapons combinations.  Thanks to John Noack and Revell-Monogram for the sample kit! 

Additional References:

In Detail and Scale Vol. 7 USAF F-4E & F-4G Part 2, Bert Kinzey, Kalmbach Books

World Airpower Journal McDonnell F-4 Phantom Spirit in the Skies, Editor Jon Lake, Airtime Publishing

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