Accurate Miniatures

1/72 F-4J Phantom II

Kit Number: 0411

Reviewed by  Scott Staudt, IPMS# 46953

MSRP: $29.99 Website: www.accurate-miniatures.com I would like to thank Accurate Miniatures and IPMS for the opportunity to review this kit. Background The F-4J Phantom was introduced in Oct. 1966. There were 522 aircraft produced before production ended. They became the premier air superiority fighter bomber. The Kit When you pop the box top off, you are greeted by 7 light gray sprues, a clear sprue with both a closed and open canopy and a beautiful set of decals for three planes, 1 Navy and 2 Marine. A small booklet serves a directions. In the directions, I especially like how they are set up. There is a picture of the parts in the middle of the page. Assembly instructions are on the lower left and on the upper right each part is singled out with painting instructions. This last feature is very welcome. There is an additional sheet that has the paints needed with five different paint brands with product number. On the other side of the sheet, there is decal placement, with close up of different areas such as the cockpit. As I looked at the sprues, I noticed an unusual amount of flash. This can be attributed to the fact that this is a ex-Monogram mold. Unfortunately the molds are starting to show their age, with a good amount of flash and seam lines to clean up. Assembly I decided to follow the steps in order to see how things went. First step was the cockpit. This was nicely detailed and went together very well. Next, step was to glue the cockpit into the frame halves. This is where I had a little trouble because the directions would have you glue the cockpit onto one of the frame halves. Once you do this, then glue the two halves together, the cockpit sits off center, leaning to one side. I popped the cockpit loose and let it float between the frame halves. Also, when I glued the two frame halves together, the lack of attachment points became apparent. There were several places where the pieces floated in space and were the source of a putty and sanding hour.

I also ran into several other assembly problems. Sometimes it seemed that if there were two similar pieces that went on different sides, the one side fit perfectly and I had to fight the other into place. The joys of modeling. Other than a couple of hiccups, the rest of the kit seemed to fit well. And before you know it, you need paint. Painting and Decals The directions are very helpful when it comes to painting. As I explained, the upper right on each step has the painting instructions for all the parts in in each step. The separate decal placement/paint guide gives you 5 paint brands to choose from. I decided on Model Master Enamels and was happy with the results.

The decals were done by Cartograf and are a great set of decals. There are 3 different planes markings to choose from. I choose the VMFA-333 "Fighting Shamrocks". The decals were a real high point of the kit. They snuggled right down with a coat of Future. Conclusion This is a good kit. Being an ex-Monogram mold, the kit is starting to show a little age. The inclusion of the Cartograf decals are a real plus. Despite a few construction problems, I will recommend this kit. And in spite of me being an armor modeler, this model earned a Bronze at a local IPMS show.