Revell 1/48 f4 c/d phantom ll

[Discodaz]

Ive just bought this kit and made a very small start yesterday.

Just wondering if anyone had any experience of this kit..it looks quite basic compared the the tornado ive just done,but basic doesn't necessarily mean easy.

Anything I need to take caution with? Im going to be oob,no upgrades.

Ive noticed a lot of raised rivets and very few panel lines..what can you guys reccomend to make it look more realistic.ive never done pre shading so not sure I want to tackle that yet.i was going to make a good effort with panel lines but,as said,there aren't many on the kit that ive noticed so doubt that will have much effect.

Just asking before I reach that point ( a while off yet)

Daz

[Dr Evil]

Panel lines are accurate on that kit, although being raised they aren't to everyone's taste.

You have arguably the best 48th F-4C/D kit on the market there, just be careful with fit as with any Monogram kit and you'll have a cracker.

As for making it more realistic, without knowing what scheme you're doing it's hard to advise, some such as the ADC grey machines were mostly pristine, whilst early USAF machines in Vietnam had paint fading and peeling to a ridiculous degree.

[Discodaz]

I don't know what ADC is....I will be doing the usaf camo scheme.green brown with white underbelly.

Ive heard about raised panel lines..I assume they are just that,raised. How do you deal with them?especially if you wanted to make a feature of them.dry brush? Im only guessing,im a complete novice really..I don't know all the tricks or tech names for everything.

In other words,I need it explaining as though you would a child really,lol

Daz

[bbudde]

If you have an airbrush, you can preshade it along the panel lines dark and in the middle of the panel light. Then some very thin color coats you want, till you see only shades of the preshading. then gloss coat . Then wash gently with oil paints and remove the rest with smooth clothes. So the scheme gets generally a deeper look. After that eventually a bit with pastell chalks (and graphite of a pencil?) along the panel lines. And last but not least you can grind over the panel lines very very very!! carefully with a 2000-3000 grindpaper till the darker shade of the preshading or plastic shines through. Then a glossy coat .....decals.. and dull coat.

[iainpeden]

Daz

Be careful with the fit of the lower intake (which is part of the wing moulding) to the upper part or you might get a step which would be hard to eradicate. The USAF South East Asia Scheme had the brown (tan) and 2 greens; the underside was a very light gray not white.

[Discodaz]

If you have an airbrush, you can preshade it along the panel lines dark and in the middle of the panel light. Then some very thin color coats you want, till you see only shades of the preshading. then gloss coat . Then wash gently with oil paints and remove the rest with smooth clothes. So the scheme gets generally a deeper look. After that eventually a bit with pastell chalks (and graphite of a pencil?) along the panel lines. And last but not least you can grind over the panel lines very very very!! carefully with a 2000-3000 grindpaper till the darker shade of the preshading or plastic shines through. Then a glossy coat .....decals.. and dull coat.

Many thanks for that..I will give it a crack and see what happens..not the sanding raised panel lines though..im not one of these that has to produce an exact replica down to the shade of the face of the pilots wrist watch..as long as it looks like a real phantom,then im happy.

Thank you all

Daz

[Discodaz]

Daz

Be careful with the fit of the lower intake (which is part of the wing moulding) to the upper part or you might get a step which would be hard to eradicate. The USAF South East Asia Scheme had the brown (tan) and 2 greens; the underside was a very light gray not white.

Yeah possibly grey,not gone into the colours just yet..been out today to get stocked up with my paints needed,but what they are needed for yet,im unsure..

Thanks for the heads up on the intakes

Daz

[cmatthewbacon]

Here's a review I wrote for SAMI when it was re-released a few years ago:

Revell 1/48 F-4C/D Phantom II

Kit No: 04583

Revell’s re-release marks a welcome return to the shelves for a kit that was first tooled by Monogram in the early 80s. The kit bears all the hallmarks of a classic Monogram Century-series jet – raised detail, excellent shape, good fit and a simple build. It may not be state of the art, but the competition for an F-4C/D in 1/48 isn’t either, and Phantom enthusiasts all agree that this older kit captures the hulking, predatory look of the Phantom to perfection.

Spread over 6 grey sprues and one clear, the hundred or so parts include the upgraded Sidewinders included in Monogram’s second “air defence” release, an SUU-23 gunpod and underwing tanks. If you want to build an earlier mud-mover, you’re going to need to source some ordnance. Two crew figures are included – one seated in the aircraft, one walking and carrying his helmet. The markings offered are both green-green-tan-grey SEA schemes, one of the 199th TFS. Hawaii ANG in 1984, the other of the 23rd TFS at Twenthe in 1976.

The surface detail on the parts is holding up well, but there are a few areas of flash, and more than a few deep ejector pin marks, many in quite visible places. Overall, though, if you can live with raised detail (and personally, I’ve no problem with it), the kit is a starting point for simple build for a beginner or a contest winner in the right hands (there are aftermarket cockpits still to be had that were designed to fit this kit, way back when)

The ejection seat pans are moulded into the cockpit tub, in typical Monogram style, with separate seatbacks. The consoles and panels have crisp raised detail, which looks fine after a light drybrushing. Only nine parts make up the cockpit and it’s certainly “good enough” if you plan to close the canopies or add pilots. If you’re opening it up, you’ll need some more “gubbins” between the cockpits and around the windscreen and front coaming, and some detailing work on the seats (aftermarket seats would be tricky, because you’ll end up having to rebuild the tub when you remove the seat pans from the floor). The supplied seated WSO is a big chap, and when I added a spare driver to the front seat, the new guy looked distinctly malnourished.

The positioning of the cockpit in the fuselage is unclear, with little in the way of positive location. It's vital to get it right, though, since the rear "spur" on the tub is supposed to form the top of the fuselage spine behind the rear canopy. The part is undersize, though and needs building up to profile with filler.

With the fuselage together, you assemble the upper wing halves to the one-piece lower wing, and bring them together with the fuselage. Fit here is excellent, with only a small gap behind the nosecone to deal with using a plastic card shim. There’s also the typical Phantom seam under the inboard wing trailing edge to be filled. The F-4C/D sported a variety of lumps and bumps in its time, and part 21 represents an additional undernose sensor. The instructions are woefully unclear about how and where it fits, or even which way round it is! It fits with the longer facet to the rear, positioned on the rear curve of the original sensor bulge so that the middle portion of the additional part is horizontal. One profile diagram in the instructions could have saved an hour of research and fiddling!

I deviated from the instruction sequence here, and left off the jet pipes and tailplanes to be painted separately. Be warned, though, the tailplanes do not fit anything like close enough to the fuselage as is. Now would be the time to trim off the chunky extensions at the mounting points and test fit until they fit with only the slightest of gaps. The front corner of the tailplanes SHOULD curve upward slightly – don’t be tempted to think that it has warped!

The intakes are made of two parts – a splitter plate and the outer wall. It’s a good idea to paint and decal the splitter plate (the camo colour runs into the intake, and there’s a stencil inside as well), and fill the big ejector pin marks in the outer walls then paint it them pale grey before you assemble the intakes. Unless you plan to fit some seamless intakes (hard) or FOD guards (easy), you will see the fuselage bulkhead down the intake. Painting it dark or with a clever graduated tint will give an impression of a tunnel disappearing into the belly of the beast. I fitted the splitter plate to the fuselage first, and then the outer wall over it. With careful wiggling and some tape, you can get a seamless fit everywhere but at the extreme “shoulder” of the duct. I lost some surface detail fairing it in – which is where the main disadvantage of raised detail becomes apparent. I masked the canopies and added them at this point.

Building wheels and weapons separately, to be added after painting, it was time for the paint shop. Revell give their own mixes for the four colours of the SEA scheme, but at least they’ve called out the FS numbers as well. I primed with a coat of Mr Surfacer 1000 and preshaded the panels with black. I painted the bare metal areas around the exhausts with Humbrol Metalcote Steel (27003) and then masked with tape and Copydex. For the main camouflage I used Humbrol matched enamels (28 Camouflage Grey, 116 Dark Green, 117 Light Green and 118 Tan), and airbrushed the camouflage freehand, masking the Grey with Blu-Tak and Copydex. Finally, I gave the whole thing a coat of Klear to prepare for decaling.

The decals are designed for Revell by AirDoc, and are comprehensive. If there’s an aircraft with more stencils than a 70s Phantom, I don’t want to see it. The decals are superb, though – thin, tough, and easy to move around. It says a lot that with 150+ to apply, I only managed to mess up two small stencils beyond repair. The only surprise is that there are no markings of any sort for the missiles and jamming pods – something that Revell normally provides with its modern jets. The decals settle down well, but they do need to be applied to a well-glossed surface to ensure that there’s no silvering.

Final assembly was a matter of adding wheels, doors and stores. No snags here, with the pylons having nice positive locations and “handed” pins to make sure you get the right thing in the right place.

Overall, this kit combines the classic Monogram virtues – a model that looks like the real thing, has reasonable detail and is straightforward to build – with great new decals from Revell, and all in a box you can find for a sensible price on your local high street. Recommended.

[Discodaz]

Fabulous..really looking forward to this build now..if mine turns out as good as that,I will be happy.

Daz

[Julien]

ADC is the air defence scheme, grey over white.

There is a good pic somewhere (cant find it!) of a Phantom in Vietnam with the camo peeling off to reveal this scheme underneath.

As for the Monogram kit, even now it looks good if you can get over the raised panel lines and the moulded in cockpit seats.

[Giorgio N]

ADC is the air defence scheme, grey over white.

There is a good pic somewhere (cant find it!) of a Phantom in Vietnam with the camo peeling off to reveal this scheme underneath.

As for the Monogram kit, even now it looks good if you can get over the raised panel lines and the moulded in cockpit seats.

Unlikely to have been ADC grey under a camo aircraft in Vietnam. The overall grey scheme was used mainly by ANG units and was first used on the Phantoms after the introduction of the SEA scheme.

The picture you've seen most likely shows the original USN style grey over white scheme applied to the first F-4Cs