Hasegawa McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantrom "Vandy 75" 1:48

[Shar2]

McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II “Vandy 75”

1:48 Hasegawa

The history of the F-4 Phantom is too well known to re-write it here, suffice it to say that it has proven itself to be one of the best aircraft of its type built to date. The Hasegawa kit is probably equally as well known was still regarded as the best 1/48 scale kit available up until perhaps when Academy released their B and C versions. The original Hasegawa F-4 was released around 1980 and has seen many re-releases of the various versions from that date, along with new or additional parts they included new decals and the moulds were refreshed with engraved details to replace the raised details. This version of the Phantom the F-4S comes with commemorative decals for the 75th anniversary of Air Test and Evaluation squadron VX-4. The thing with the Hasegawa Phantom kits is that you know exactly what you’re going to get. The moulds are obviously holding up well as there is no sign of flash or imperfections, on the review sample at least, the details are still nice and crisp. It’s not perfect by any means but a good looking model is quite easy to achieve. Plus there is more aftermarket for these kits than you can throw a stick at, so the world is your lobster in deciding how detailed you want to make your kit. What you do get in this release is the strengthening panels for under the wing and around the main wheel bays. These are provided in what looks like etched nickel and are pretty easy to fit.

For those that haven’t built one construction begins with the two pilots, each with separate heads, complete with bone dome, masks and oxygen hose. The pilot has a separate right arm, whilst the navigator has a separate left arm. The ejection seats are assembled from the singe piece squab/backrest/headrest, the two seat sides; primary ejection gun and headbox cover with firing handles moulded integrally. The twin seat tub is fitted with the rear bulkhead, navigators’ instrument panel with separate radar joystick, mid bulkhead, pilots joystick, rudder pedals and instrument panel. The instrument panels and side consoles need to be carefully painted as there are no decals included. The nosewheel bay is then glued to the bottom of the completed cockpit tub and affixed to one side of the fuselage followed by the separate sidewalls. The fuselage halves are then joined together and the two piece air intakes are attached. The blank wall that Hasegawa provide at the rear of the intakes needs to be painted black, or the modeller could produce a photo/decal to reproduce the intake and fan face before fitting the kit parts. Alternatively some homemade or aftermarket intake blanks could be use to hide the shortcoming. With the intakes in place the two ECM fins are fitted to each side.

The single piece lower wing isn’t fitted with the outer wing panels; these are moulded with the upper wing sections, thus ensuring the correct dihedral on these panels. With the upper wings fixed to the lower section the wing fence on the leading edge at the fold join needs to be removed and a new part fitted further back along the join. The outer wing slats are also fitted at this time. The completed wing can then be joined to the fuselage assembly, followed by the single piece exhausts, horizontal tailplanes, fin top, two part nosecone, rear canopy fairing, the ejector seats and the pilots.

Turning the model over onto its back the nose wheel, consisting of the oleo, separate scissor link, twin nose wheels and retraction jacks are assembled and fitted to the nosewheel bay. The main door retraction mechanism, main door, nose door with aerial attached are then fitted, as are the openings for the two nose intakes. Once the etched strengthening straps have been carefully removed from the fret the can be fitted into their appropriate positions forward of the main wheel bays and airbrakes. Each main undercarriage assembly is made up of two wheel halves, oleo, retraction jack and main bay door; these are then fitted into place. The small outer doors are then attached, followed by the inner doors and their linkages. The airbrakes can be posed either extended or retracted with the addition of the actuator jack if extended. The catapult stop hooks and their mounting plates are then fitted to the forward inner wing.

To complete the fuselage the intake splitter plates and cockpit glazing parts are attached, the modeller can pose the canopies open or closed as desired. The model also comes with three two piece drop tanks, one for the centreline station and two for the outer wing stations. The inner wing pylons are fitted with twin launch rails and attached to the inner wing station. The kit does come with four Sidewinder and four Sparrow missiles should the modeller wish to fit them.

Decals

The decal sheet is smaller than normal due to the fact that there aren’t any stencils, probably due to this particular scheme. The gold 75th anniversary markings look great on the sheet with good density and opacity and in register. There is very little carrier film visible with the sole exceptions being the air intake warnings, but being affixed on gloss paint this shouldn’t cause too many problems with silvering. It certainly a lovely looking scheme.

Conclusion

Yes it’s another Hasegawa Phantom re-release. But in 1:48 this is still the one to get if you want an F-4S. I have built a few in my time modelling and have always enjoyed the build so maybe it’s time for me to do another? If you haven’t built one then now’s the time as you can’t have a model collection without at least one Phantom in it. Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of
UK distributors for