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F-4e conversion (hasegawa) 1/72


PhantomBigStu

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fancy doing myself a SEA camoed long nose phantom next year, I know the revell F needs extra bits to make an E (and have no idea where to source them), but I can get the Hasegawa F-4EJ kai edition for not much more than the revell, would that be suitable for a USAF E with the correct decals and stencils added from an AM set?

as for the stencisl, see printscale do a set, but out of stock at the big H, anywhwere else sell them, or indeed any other brands out their?

Edited by PhantomBigStu
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Hi Stu,

If you're planning to do an early hard wing (unslatted) F-4E, the F-4EJ Kai will be fine. If it's the current white box kit E37 (http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10144493) then just replace the Sprue 'X' Kai-specific wing tips with those on Sprue 'D', the fin cap with either parts A7 & A8/9 or A18 and parabrake door with A26/27, A28 or A29. If fitting a centre tank use the earlier Royal Jet type, parts P17 & P18.

If you can't find a slatted Hasegawa F-4E, the Revell F-4F can be used for the later soft wing version. You need to source a pair of slotted stabilators and preferably a replacement fin cap instead of the oddly shaped kit part. Don't use the AIM-120s (never used on US Phantoms). Depending on the subject aircraft you may need to add the TISEO 'tube' on the left hand wing (parts L2 & L3 in the above Hasegawa kit). The hardest bit will be finding the stabilators since most of the other bits are unused extras in the Hasegawa Phantom kits. It'd be worth posting in the Wanted section for these. You might even be lucky and find someone who's after swapping the soft wing parts for the hard wing (maybe to convert a F-4S to a F-4J).

You could use the Isradecal RF-4 sheet for about 90-95% of the stencils since they are pretty much standard for most Phantoms. It is a bit expensive though: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ISRA36.

HTH,

Jonathan

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thats indeed the hasegawa boxing I can get, actuallly only a pound more than my locals selling the revell for, but if its got the unslatted wing its no good unless there decals by a miracle are for an early f4e. can't believe there ain't a modern tool vanilla F-4E on the market now. Edit another boxing I may be able to get it the rf-4e Immelmann special, would that be any use?

Edited by PhantomBigStu
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thats indeed the hasegawa boxing I can get, actuallly only a pound more than my locals selling the revell for, but if its got the unslatted wing its no good unless there decals by a miracle are for an early f4e. can't believe there ain't a modern tool vanilla F-4E on the market now. Edit another boxing I may be able to get it the rf-4e Immelmann special, would that be any use?

How about using after market decals if you have no choice but unslatted, you should be able to obtain Vietnam era ones quite easily.

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I thought the unslatted ones were only a tiny minority of f-4es? So surely decals would be hard to come by?

Sorry Stu, I didn't check the stock status and they're showing as sold out. Only one left is the Thunderbirds demonstration team as I don't think they ever flew the slatted wing F-4E and of course it's not SEA camo.

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The Revell F is basically fine as a slatted E as most of the differences were internal. The 3 areas to check are: the fincap which is misshapen for any Phantom; the TISEO on the inner port wing as not all of the USAF E's had them fitted and the tail planes - one version had slatted, the other non- slatted and I can't remember which at this point.

Early USAF E's were built with the hard wing and then converted. The Thunderbird Phantoms retained the hard wing and were used for training/research as they had had additional modifications for the aerobatic role.

The Esci E can be built with hard or soft wing and has slatted and non slatted tail planes included and the TISEO. The best moulding of the slated wing is the Italeri one which comes as an F or a G and was reboxed by Tamiya and is usually available on eBay.this can be used as a E.

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It has a dedicated recon nose,very hard to convert it to an F-4E.To make an early E in Aussie service i used the revell F with an Esci C,straight swap on the wings gave me the E and an S.

Edited by Gwart
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any info on this boxing, one on ebay ending tommorow? guessing the nose might be incorrect, but if it has slatted wings then I could cross kit with the kai and build and unslatted recon as well?

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10054470

There are no slatted wings in this box, as all Luftwaffe RF-4E had the unslatted type.

Really your options are either the Hase F-4EJ to be built as an early USAF unslatted bird (like most of those used in Vietnam, so a historically significant subject) or the Revell kit with tailplanes coming from some other kit. I would also consider Andre's offer for the Revell's outer slatted wing panels, if these fit on the Hase kit you could build your slatted F-4E. The slats actuator fairings under the inner wing would also be required

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Looks like I've got the wrong end of the stick I thought all but very early f-4es had the slats but seems like its the other way around, so I'm fine with an unslatted kit after all to do a 'nam phantom :)

You were right, only the early F-4Es had no slats. And the F-4EJ of course... Later aircrafts had slats and most early Es were retrofitted.

Early unslatted F-4Es served with the USAF in Vietnam but also with the RAAF and Israel, where they fought in the Kippur war. The unslatted aircrafts are the minority but they are anyway important and make good subjects.

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From Joe Baugher webpage.

I believe 71-0237/0238 are block 51 aircrafts.

First flight in february 1972, first modification kit ordered in april, and first retrofited aircraft flight in september.

That's a bit late in Vietnam war timeline, even for an F-4E.

Personally, I would go without any second thought for a non-slatted aircraft.

The most significant change at 71-0237 was the replacement of the blown leading-edge wing droops of earlier Phantoms by slats. This was done in the interest of obtaining enhanced combat maneuverability, which had been one of the Phantom's weak points. The outer leading edge slats were were driven by a hydraulic jack and terminated in a large "dogtooth" at the inboard end where the wing folding joint had once been. Immediately downstream of the dogtooth edge was a small wing fence. The inboard wing was also fitted with powered slats which terminated about three feet from the root. The inner 3 feet of the leading edge were fixed.

The first production F-4E to be fitted with slats was 71-0237, but the first to actually fly with slats was 71-0238 which made its maiden flight on February 11, 1972. The addition of these slats greatly enhanced the maneuvering performance, and the USAF decided to retrofit earlier F-4Es with these slats. The USAF ordered the first slat modification kits in April of 1972, and the first retrofitted F-4E (serial number 69-7524) flew on September 28, 1972. 304 earlier production block F-4Es were retrofitted with these slats, which included just about every surviving F-4E except for those serving with the Thunderbirds.

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There might be a small exception for slatted wing F-4E's operating over Vietnam. Here's an extract from my notes, unfortunately I didn't write down the source. However it does imply that a hard wing F-4E will be the one to do for a Nam bird.

QUOTE

In June 1972, a slatted wing became standard on the F-4E with pretty much every early F-4E still flying being retrofitted to this configuration by the late 1970s. Pretty much all birds that fought in Vietnam had the hard wing. Another external feature mounted from the mid 1970s and 80s was TISEO, an optical tracking camera port on the left wing root which allowed for visual ID of distant aircraft targets. Some USAF F-4Es mounted TISEO.

Some 71 model F-4Es with LES and TISEO were sent to the 432nd TFRW (later 432nd TFW) under project Rivet Haste. They were assigned to the 555th TFW which had exchanged their F-4Ds for F-4Es either shortly before or during Linebacker II. The Rivet Haste F-4Es were uncoded and initially had RRRRIBIT in yellow on the tail, which was later painted out and just the fin cap was painted green.

UNQUOTE

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So once I've found the decals just a case of checking the serial and the dates? Exellent will get searching tomorrow

If you are looking to build a Vietnam era F-4E then the link kindly posted by Giorgio does offer an appropriate set of decals. One of the markings is actually for Steve Ritchie's plane.

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Your choice, but Ritchie's aircraft is overboring, it's been done a million times.

May I suggest the much less known, but much more interesting Chico the gunfighter?

I'll let you make your own research to find out the story behind.

With this sheet from Wolfpak, still available.

And once you're done with the F-4E, you have an F-4C, an A-6A, a F-111A and a Marlin to build!

Sheet_72-079_Color_Instructions_Large-76

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Check the gun fairings as well - I have seen pictures of both long and short on hard wing E's.

Going laterally for a moment, the initial RF-4E's for both Turkey and Greece also had the slatted wing - unique to those 2 air arms; therefore, all RF-4B's and C's - hard wing; German, Israeli, Japanese and Iranian RF-4E's - hard wing, some Turkish and Greek ones slatted (then they both bought ex-German hard wing varients 2nd hand). The Japanese converted some F-4EJ's to recon versions (internal and pod changes and kept the gun but redesignated them as RF-4EJ's). Then you have to check if the a/c had the square recon nose or the rounded one.

It gets a bit like explaining cricket to Americans.

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