Building a F-4G Phantom II in 1:72, which kit?

[Anatol Pigwa]

As the F-4G kits appears to be as rare as hens teeth, I wonder if there is an easy way to upgrade a F-4E or F-4F to a F-4G?

[Hook]

Not really, I'm not aware of any conversion kits in 1/72nd.

 

Hunting down a Hasegawa 'G is still the way to go. You could try putting the G specific parts of an Italeri or Fujimi Weasel on a Hase E, but you will still have to fabricate the cloverleaf button antennae on the side on the nose.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Edited November 25, 2020 by Hook

[Giorgio N]

It all depends on your definition of easy...

The G is "simply" an F-4E that has received slatted wings and an EW suite, so from this point of view if you have a kit of the F-4E you can build a G, as long as you're happy to scratchbuild the various differences related to the EW system, of which the most visible are the different chin pod under the nose, the different fairing on top of the fin and the various antenna on the spine, on the tail cone etc.

Now clearly the most difficult part to make is the chin pod, if making one is beyond a modeller's skill, then his only hope would be to find a dedicated kit somewhere on the second hand market. This may still mean having to add various details as I don't believe any of the once available kits got all the antenna right, but at least the main parts would be there.

Not that there have been many kits of the G in 1/72, I can only remember the Italeri (also sold as Testors and Tamiya), Fujimi and new mould Hasegawa. Finding one of these, even if part built, would at least get you some of the parts of course.

There is then the little problem of finding a slatted wing F-4E in 1/72 scale ! Currently there is only one such kit in production, the old mould Hasegawa F-4E that however is really an obsolete tool by today standards.

Of the more modern kits, the closest thing is the Revell F-4F. This has the correct slatted wing but lacks the slotted stabilators. There are way to sort this and I suggest searching for a recent thread on this kit here.

Then there are the Hasegaws F-4EJ and recent Fine Molds kit of the same variant... with these you have the slotted stabilators but not the slatted wing, that is an even worse situation.

OOP alternatives are the OOP Hasegawa new mould F-4E and the Fujimi and Esci kits, that however IMHO need some work to be made into accurate representations of the E (their C and J are fine).

 

So this is the situation. I would suggest studying the shapes of the chin pod and try and understand if you feel you can modify the shape of a standard F-4E/F gun fairing into this. If you feel positive about it, the other modifications will be much easier. At that point probably the easiest starting point would be the Revell F-4F with the addition of slotted stabilators-

 

 

[Anatol Pigwa]

q%qqThanks, I guess I'm off to search the whole of Europe for a Hasegawa Kit.

[Giorgio N]

18 minutes ago, Anatol Pigwa said:

q%qqThanks, I guess I'm off to search the whole of Europe for a Hasegawa Kit.

 

Best of luck then ! Finding a Hasegawa G is not easy, I would expand the search to Japan, as postage from that country to Europe is often more reasonable than we think.

 

 

[72modeler]

Don't know why Hasegawa haven't re-released their F-4E/slatted wing or F-4G kits. As Giorgio has stated, finding either kit is not going to be easy or cheap! There is an F-4G on an auction site for $100USD! (If I had known they would be so rare, I would have bought two of each instead of one when they were initially released.) I think maybe the best way you are going to get there would be to get a Hasegawa F-4EJ and scratch build the slats using leading edges of another Phantom kit- but then you would need to scratch build the slat actuator fairings, the dedicated G chin fairing, and purchase/make the associated antennas and missiles/pylons, or get the Revell F-4F and scratch build the slotted stabs, which is pretty easy- but then you still would still have to come up with a chin fairing, antennas, missiles, and pylons. I wish you luck- I think the WW's are the nastiest-looking USAF Phantoms!

Mike

[Anatol Pigwa]

24 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

There is an F-4G on an auction site for $100USD

At least there is one. I have yet to see a F-4G on an auction site in the EU.

[iainpeden]

Personally, I'd go for the Italeri one which can often still be found in the Tamiya boxing. I've always thought the Italeri version of the slatted wing is the best available, being well moulded in one piece and not needing umpteen holes drilling and bits gluing on. It also has the advantage of 2 ARM included.

 

The Finemolds one isn't suitable to make a slatted wing F-4 - but who knows in the future?

 

If you get stuck I probably have some G bits in the spares box you could use to do the E/F to G conversion so let me know.

[Anatol Pigwa]

Maybe I should nag Hobby2000 about it. They released the ex-Hasegawa "Phantom 'Nam Aces", so they have a connection to Hasegawa. And this one would be perfect fir the limited run series they make (see their A-4M which sold out quite rapidly).

[Vultures1]

40 minutes ago, Anatol Pigwa said:

Maybe I should nag Hobby2000 about it. 

Nag away Anatol!  That would be an excellent idea and I would be right behind you.  I'm not going to get into a 'license to print money' vortex but, given that Hasegawa F-4G apparently goes for $100, there's got to be something in the idea .... please Hobby2000!

[CT7567]

Based on the apparent scarcity and demand, a reissue of the Hasegawa G and slatted E would both be profitable endeavors.

 

The Fujimi kit seems to be relatively rare as well, though certainly not too far behind Hasegawa in quality (mainly lacking in details). I believe all the 1/72 Italeri "gun nose" Phantoms, including reboxes by Testors and Tamiya, have the same tooling which covers the E and G. These kits frequently include decal options for the F (Luftwaffe) and EJ (JASDF), but neither can be built straight from the box because the tailplanes are slotted (inaccurate for F) and the slat actuators are integral to the lower wing (EJ is a hard wing). Between the raised panel lines and lack of detail I would be more inclined to donate the Italeri G-specific parts as a conversion for a better slatted E/F kit from Fujimi, ESCI, or Revell AG. In the latter two cases the unslotted stabs are in those kits to swap back to the Italeri for an accurate F-4F.

 

In the interest of warning off anyone desperate for a Weasel Phantom, there is technically one other 1/72 kit on the market: Lindberg's "Battle Damaged F-4G."  I picked one of these up for cheap at a closeout store and confirmed my suspicion that it's nowhere close to a true F-4G.  The tooling apparently originated from IMC's RF-4B mold, which seems heavily "inspired" by the first generation Revell Phantom (perhaps best known for the four-ship Blue Angels and Thunderbirds boxed sets). The gimmick of the "battle damage" is a few alternate parts that ostensibly depict exposed structure, but that's the only novelty. The nose is a horrid attempt at the RF-4B/C camera setup, and for the "G" they simply added a grossly misshapen fairing under the nose to follow the inaccurate camera contours and allegedly depict the Weasel's undernose fairing that replaced the gun. The result looks something like a kindergardener's crayon drawing of the RF-4ES, and certainly not worth considering as an option to build a Wild Weasel!

[Giorgio N]

Since the Esci F-4E has been suggested, I should mention here a problem with this kit that IMHO spoils the look: the intakes on the side of the front fuselage.

The Esci kit was designed to use a common fuselage with different noses for the C/J, the RF and the E. Unfortunately they moulded this common fuselage including an area that is quite different... have a look at the intakes on an F-4C

 

https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f-4/pages/afm_f-4c_02.shtml

 

Now look at the shape of the intakes in these F-4Es

 

http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/isaac_gershman/f-4e_various/images/f-4e_various_02_of_16.jpg

http://www.grubbyfingersshop.com/walkaround_galleries/mdd_f-4e_phantom_ii_97208_raaf_museum_point_cook_2010/content/mdd_f-4e_phantom_ii_97208_raaf_museum_point_cook_2010_02_large.html

http://data4.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason5/f-4e_munich/images/f-4e_munich_51_of_56.jpg

 

 

See the different shape and the way the intake on the E blends into the fuselage while the C is almost completely proud of the surface ?

Now look at this build of the Esci E:

http://www.arcair.com/Gal13/12601-12700/gal12640-F-4-Pomettini/00.shtm

The intake is clearly based on the short nose Phantom style and looks very wrong on an E/F/G

 

The fujimi kit is better in this respect but still IMHO not too accurate., see this build:

https://imodeler.com/2016/08/172nd-fujimi-f-4g-phantom-ii-wild-weasel-gulf-war-1991-usaff4gb/

It can be improved however and I did this when I built my Fujimi F-4F a few years ago.

 

The Italeri kit treats this area better, see the builf from a fellow Britmodeller here:

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235063622-f4g-wild-weasel-italeri-172/

 

Of course the Italeri kit is far from a modern kit from many other aspects. One aspect that Italeri, Fujimi and Esci all get wrong is the cockpit ! This is too deep and the shape of the instrument panels and consoles is totally wrong... and identical in all 3 kits...

Just for curiosity, here are the instructions for the Bilek rebox of the Italeri kit:

https://www.super-hobby.it/products/F-4G-Phantom-Wild-Weasel.html

 

And here are the instructions for the Fujimi kit

https://www.super-hobby.it/products/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4G-Phantom-II-Wild-Weasel.html

 

 

[RAGATIGER]

Hi there

 

Well I was looking at my stash and glass cabinet one of the few kits that survived my divorce (matricidio a bad word play in Spanish) or the Big kits model burn up of 2012 was a complete Fujimi 1/72, on my stash still there is a Testors (Italeri) and surprize bought in Evilbay bay from Italy or it was Spain about 5 years a go a Hasegawa sample in any case you going to need adecuate weapon load

 

And you're lucky simple search at Ebay show one of this kit in Australia

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-72-Model-Plane-McDONNELL-DOUGLAS-F-4G-PHANTOM-II-WILD-WEASEL-Fujimi-D11-3194/402579160736?hash=item5dbb967ea0:g:9iUAAOSw8d5fv0Ya

 

That's maybe one of the best options you can find today

 

Happy modeling 

 

Armando

Edited December 6, 2020 by RAGATIGER
missplelling

[Jens]

On 11/25/2020 at 8:29 PM, Anatol Pigwa said:

At least there is one. I have yet to see a F-4G on an auction site in the EU.

That's because I don't put my kits up on an auction site. I have some Hasegawa F-4Gs for sale. PM me if you're interested.

 

Jens

[DeepSea]

By the same lot that's doing the auction that @RAGATIGER mentioned there's also this one which is the Hasegawa one - https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-72-Model-Plane-F-4G-PHANTOM-II-WILD-WEASEL-Hasegawa-D12-134/402583916175?hash=item5dbbdf0e8f:g:aL8AAOSwgutfxH9j

 

[Robertone139]

The Fujimi Wild Weasel undernose fairing is grossly miss shapen and way to large in section.