1/48 Revell Phantom

[Lord Riot]

Hi all

 

Has anyone built this kit, or have any opinions?

 

 

I'm after a 1/48 RAF Phantom but I don't want to pay about £50 which seems to be the minimum on ebay for them. 

 

How does the old Revell one build, is it as bad as the artwork suggests, or can it be built into a reasonable RAF Phantom with just some aftermarket decals? 

 

I'm not sure those jetpipes look like Speys! 

 

Should this kit be avoided really, I don't want it to look like I've just stuck roundels on an F-4B. Equally, I don't want to spend about £30 on Eduard parts either.

[Antti_K]

My Lord,

 

I haven't built this kit but those jetpipes really don't look like Speys. Therefore there is work to be done on the under surface also. I'm also looking at the "pointy" nose; it looks too long and out of shape. Viewing from the side the shape of the intakes doesn't convince either; they should curve more. The very same problem is in the Hasegawa kit also.

 

Can it be built into a reasonable model of the British Phantom? I think yes although some work is required.

 

Kind Regards,

Antti

[Bobski]

I've not built it, but from the image on the box it looks like a Yank Phantom that has just been painted in RAF markings. 

[Giorgio N]

The artwork to me looks like the F-4J kit that Revell issued in the '70s. This itself was derived from their previous F-4E. The F-4E was not an awful kit but was alredy very basic in 1977, the F-4J retains the same basic features and add not too correct parts for the J, and not even all. The RAF box shown above may have had new exhausts but these don't really look that good.

In any case this is a bad F-4J with bad exhausts at best, it is not a Spey powered Phantom with its wider fuselage.

Unfortunately there's not much choice in 1/48 for a British Phantom, if you want an FG.1 or an FGR.2 you have to buy Hasegawa or the Revell rebox of the same kit. The only other option is to build an F-4J(UK), for which there are several options in pretty much any price range

[tony.t]

I built one nearly forty years ago, when it first appeared in 1979. The canopy parts are horrible, but the decals worked quite well on the Monogram C/D-to-K conversion undertaken a year later.

 

With the Hasegawa kit out there I wouldn't touch it except for masochistic nostalgia. Try and get the Revell repop of the Hasegawa FGR.2 if the Hasegawa remains out of an acceptable price bracket. 

 

Tony

Edited April 6, 2018 by tony.t
spelling, cuz ima perfektunist

[Lord Riot]

Thanks for the comments guys, I think I'll leave this one well alone!

[silverkite211]

I'm reminded of a Monty Python sketch. "This wine has a message in it and the message is 'BEWARE'. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding."

[tempestfan]

5 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Thanks for the comments guys, I think I'll leave this one well alone!

Right decision - it’s for collectors only. As Giorgio said, it‘s an extrapolation of their J which is an extrapolation of their E/F. No changes to the airframe. Similar to their 72nd one, but that was even more phony as it used a B kit as basis. You‘d get a better result with a Monogram J surely, as it’s vastly superior to the Revell J. Would have to dig the kit out, but I think they added some parts like pseudo Spey exhausts, but certainly not stellar.

[theplasticsurgeon]

I built this one - so nobody else has to. Tanks pinched from a Esci kit.

Before I knew any better. I was still at school, excuses - though I wasn't thinking that at the time.

That RWR box atop the fin was my first ever (DIY) conversion.  Laminated plasticard.

As others, I'm now convinced that this is an F-4J, with underside Spey shaped drums at the back. Misses the widened intakes and enlarged fuselage rear end.  No aux intakes, limited weaponry - give this one a swerve.

 

I seem to remember J-79 petal type exhausts in there, so it's probably better completed as an early US Navy F-4J.

Edited April 13, 2018 by theplasticsurgeon
More info

[Antti_K]

19 hours ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

I like this! In fact I like it a lot. Reminds me how things were easier back then. And only one coat of paint was required to make it look good...

 

Thanks for sharing the photos

 

Antti