Jump to content

1/48 - McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II by Tamiya - released - Blackdog detailing sets


Homebee

Recommended Posts

Thanks Homebee for adding a picture too for us non FB'rs, as I understand these early Tamiya white box releases come with no decals or proper instructions?

Kit looks great though, we all know it will be great I suppose, really looking forward to the official release.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well,for me the biggest disappointment is the way that weapons are molded.I can't believe how Tamiya still chooses to do the missiles with separate fins. And some are even cut in half! I don't get why they can use slide mold tech like GWH and AMK use to make missiles a single piece. And they can afford it for sure,it's Tamiya,not a small company!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Dreamwriter, can you point to where on sprue of this kit you see it please?

I don't doubt you or anything, just need to see it for myself.

Even the best of Tamiya kits will never be perfect out of the box, there will always be room for improvement depending on how fussy each builder is for detail and perfection, but for OOB and what Tamiya have done with kits for years now ... I really think their price to perfection ratio is very good, especially when you factor in the hassle free engineering fit stuff and sheer pleasure of building quality kinda thing.

There will be AM for this new Tamiya Phantom same as any other kit ... I'm gonna have a lot of fun with it as a stock build, each new Tamiya kit comes on in leaps and bounds quality and enginnering wise, have no reason to think this Phantom wont be the best thing they have ever done in 1/48 scale Aircraft of any kind ... its highly anticipated, it well sell like the bucketload, pretty sure of that :)

If I find the missile fins not satisfactory scale thickness or shape when I build mine, will look elsewhere for replacment ones, but can confidently say, its missile fins will be at the bottom of my AM list of stuff for this kit :)

I honestly feel this kit is going to be a contender for kit of the year, even though we are not quite into a full quarter of year 2021 yet.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, One 48 said:

Hi Dreamwriter, can you point to where on sprue of this kit you see it please?

I don't doubt you or anything, just need to see it for myself.

Even the best of Tamiya kits will never be perfect out of the box, there will always be room for improvement depending on how fussy each builder is for detail and perfection, but for OOB and what Tamiya have done with kits for years now ... I really think their price to perfection ratio is very good, especially when you factor in the hassle free engineering fit stuff and sheer pleasure of building quality kinda thing.

There will be AM for this new Tamiya Phantom same as any other kit ... I'm gonna have a lot of fun with it as a stock build, each new Tamiya kit comes on in leaps and bounds quality and enginnering wise, have no reason to think this Phantom wont be the best thing they have ever done in 1/48 scale Aircraft of any kind ... its highly anticipated, it well sell like the bucketload, pretty sure of that :)

If I find the missile fins not satisfactory scale thickness or shape when I build mine, will look elsewhere for replacment ones, but can confidently say, its missile fins will be at the bottom of my AM list of stuff for this kit :)

I honestly feel this kit is going to be a contender for kit of the year, even though we are not quite into a full quarter of year 2021 yet.

You can see the pics here: https://m.facebook.com/groups/305679949820?view=permalink&id=10158725968004821

 

I'm not saying the missiles are flawed in any way.The kit looks stunning and no doubt will be the best 1/48 Phantom available. I just don't get why they didn't went the extra mile and didn't tool single piece missiles,like other manufacturers already do. Tamiya is known for making state of the art kits with state of the art engineering and fit quality. But to still make missiles with separate fins and even cut in half.Maybe I'm being too picky but, maskes no sense to me. And of course there will be aftermarket parts for it, but considering the high price the kit will cost, if you go into aftermarket,you will end up with a kit over 150£. I've looked at the pics closely and the nozzles are amazingly detailed. I hope they are fuss free assembly wise,since they are molded in several parts too.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, dreamwriter said:

Actually I cant ... I dont do Facebook and really dont want to for lots of reasons.

Homebee posted a FB link and picture too for us non FB'rs, perhaps you can too please if its different pictures of the missile fins?

Please don't think I am giving you a hard time, this detail is obviously important to you, would love to see where you are coming from my friend is all.

I built my first new tool Tamiya 1/48 Tomcat OOB, absolute sheer pleasure to build and expect the same cool fun build from this Phantom too ... they will look wonderful displayed together, if the missile fins are as bad as you say though, then they will be easy replacements even when my kit is finished and assuming better ones come along later.

Thanks.

EDIT: thinking on this a little more and looking at Homebee's pic, still cant see any missile sprues? but thinking single cast to perfection missiles, that's just going to add to the cost and is perhaps asking a bit much ... where would it end? I see this Tamiya Phantom has exquisite looking intakes that will need some model skill to hide the seam if we are fussy (will do my best in that area) Its possible to single cast them now I suppose, how much more would it cost to include single cast intakes to kit as well? ... well it was possible on my Tamiya 1/32 Phantom with resin Dmold ones ... I'm just glad the Tamiya 1/48 kit has an accurate looking intake to work with ... as a builder of 1/48 Hasegawa Phantoms, we all must remember what we had to work with on those once state of the art 1/48 Phantoms.

Once again Dreamwriter, nothing wrong with you pointing out errors and please dont think I'm having a go at you ... I feel as strongly about the good points of this new release as you do about some bad ones.

Enjoy, should you decide to buy one mate.

Edited by One 48
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, dreamwriter said:

Well,for me the biggest disappointment is the way that weapons are molded.I can't believe how Tamiya still chooses to do the missiles with separate fins. And some are even cut in half! I don't get why they can use slide mold tech like GWH and AMK use to make missiles a single piece. And they can afford it for sure,it's Tamiya,not a small company!

The sprues for the missiles are the same ones used in the F-14A/D Tomcat kits and I can assure you after building six kits that they go together without a problem irrespective of not being slide moulded.  

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/18/2021 at 10:03 AM, One 48 said:

Aww, dont and wont do facebook.

I click on the link provided and I'm still able to see the page and the photos without needing to log in to Facebook. I'm guessing they've set it up so that it is publicly viewable? It's good to see more pictures though the close ups are a little disconcerting since it makes what are no doubt classically fine Tamiya panel lines look like the Death Star trench. It would be good to start seeing pictures of the instructions so we can get a feel for the assembly approach and engineering decisions. I'm already satisfied that the Tamiya kit will offer the level of detail and fidelity that I would want, I'd now like to see the range of possibilities that might be on offer based on how the parts can be assembled. For instance, the separate spine suggests that it might be possible to add something similar to the Black Dog spine set to those inclined to do so while the slots at the bottom of the weapons holders suggest the possibility of adding a rack of GBU-38's, either through AM or through my Academy F-4 spares, while I am hoping that the way the radome connects to the fuselage doesn't cause too much trouble for adding a radar (either if one is produced for the B as AM or if I produce my own).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Stephen said:

The sprues for the missiles are the same ones used in the F-14A/D Tomcat kits and I can assure you after building six kits that they go together without a problem irrespective of not being slide molded.  

This is the only part I've got round to assembling for my F-14 :rofl: but that said, the parts are so well engineered they virtually assemble themselves so I'm struggling to see the problem here?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Nocoolname said:

 ... the parts are so well engineered they virtually assemble themselves so I'm struggling to see the problem here?

 

So you did some enjoyable modeling rather than expecting pieces to be pre-formed/assembled for you???  :giggle:  

 

I appreciate the engineering that goes into designing a KIT, and in this case am thankful that Tamiya is not producing a pre-painted, simplified snap model -- which I'm sure they have the capability to do. 

 

Gene K

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/19/2021 at 2:16 AM, One 48 said:

Actually I cant ... I dont do Facebook and really dont want to for lots of reasons.

Homebee posted a FB link and picture too for us non FB'rs, perhaps you can too please if its different pictures of the missile fins?

Please don't think I am giving you a hard time, this detail is obviously important to you, would love to see where you are coming from my friend is all.

I built my first new tool Tamiya 1/48 Tomcat OOB, absolute sheer pleasure to build and expect the same cool fun build from this Phantom too ... they will look wonderful displayed together, if the missile fins are as bad as you say though, then they will be easy replacements even when my kit is finished and assuming better ones come along later.

Thanks.

EDIT: thinking on this a little more and looking at Homebee's pic, still cant see any missile sprues? but thinking single cast to perfection missiles, that's just going to add to the cost and is perhaps asking a bit much ... where would it end? I see this Tamiya Phantom has exquisite looking intakes that will need some model skill to hide the seam if we are fussy (will do my best in that area) Its possible to single cast them now I suppose, how much more would it cost to include single cast intakes to kit as well? ... well it was possible on my Tamiya 1/32 Phantom with resin Dmold ones ... I'm just glad the Tamiya 1/48 kit has an accurate looking intake to work with ... as a builder of 1/48 Hasegawa Phantoms, we all must remember what we had to work with on those once state of the art 1/48 Phantoms.

Once again Dreamwriter, nothing wrong with you pointing out errors and please dont think I'm having a go at you ... I feel as strongly about the good points of this new release as you do about some bad ones.

Enjoy, should you decide to buy one mate.

I didn't post the pics directly because I didn't want to brake any rules since they are not mine.Not sure if I could or not,sorry. 

But again,I'm not saying in ANY way that the missiles or the missile fins are flawed. Or say that the fit won't be perfect. I just pointed put that they could have made it as a single piece,like other manufacturers do. Specially when a big reason used by a lot of people use to justify the Tamiya kits high prices,is precisely the fact that they fit almost perfectly and are a breeze to assemble so,it would make sense that they would do it. And for me and maybe a lot of other modellers,with would be of great help and simplification,since many of us are already old and with some difficulty dealing with small fins eheheh. And I don't think that that would increase the price,since this kit will have the same price or cost more than some of the GWH kits that have molded single piece missiles. Even AMK does it and their kits dont cost more than 70€. 

When it comes to the nozzles,I have no doubt they look superb. Not sure if they could do it in as a single piece like Academy did,since these are way more detailed. 

Bottom line is that I'm not criticizing the kit,because I'm it will be the best around as I mentioned before. And I probably won't buy one,but that's just because of the hinted high price.High for my wallet that is. 

 

My point is just that has the kit molding evolves,and with a manufacturer like Tamiya that designs the best kits,slide molding tech to inject single piece missiles,its something that they should be doing by now.

 

Having said that,I hope that they release the entire Phantom family,specially an EJ. That one I would consider robbing my piggy bank to get one,even though I already managed to grab one of the new ZM F-4EJ kits.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/11/2021 at 6:58 PM, hopkp said:

The ZM F-4EJ Kai is, I'm sure, a really nice kit, but it was only a limited edition so if (like me) you haven't managed to get one by now then you're not going to. 

 

I don't know your location, but ... 

 

https://spruebrothers.com/zkmk30214-1-48-zoukei-mura-f-4ej-kai-phantom-ii-phantom-forever-2020/

 

Gene K

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/19/2021 at 2:16 AM, One 48 said:

Actually I cant ... I dont do Facebook and really dont want to for lots of reasons.

Homebee posted a FB link and picture too for us non FB'rs, perhaps you can too please if its different pictures of the missile fins?

Please don't think I am giving you a hard time, this detail is obviously important to you, would love to see where you are coming from my friend is all.

I built my first new tool Tamiya 1/48 Tomcat OOB, absolute sheer pleasure to build and expect the same cool fun build from this Phantom too ... they will look wonderful displayed together, if the missile fins are as bad as you say though, then they will be easy replacements even when my kit is finished and assuming better ones come along later.

Thanks.

EDIT: thinking on this a little more and looking at Homebee's pic, still cant see any missile sprues? but thinking single cast to perfection missiles, that's just going to add to the cost and is perhaps asking a bit much ... where would it end? I see this Tamiya Phantom has exquisite looking intakes that will need some model skill to hide the seam if we are fussy (will do my best in that area) Its possible to single cast them now I suppose, how much more would it cost to include single cast intakes to kit as well? ... well it was possible on my Tamiya 1/32 Phantom with resin Dmold ones ... I'm just glad the Tamiya 1/48 kit has an accurate looking intake to work with ... as a builder of 1/48 Hasegawa Phantoms, we all must remember what we had to work with on those once state of the art 1/48 Phantoms.

Once again Dreamwriter, nothing wrong with you pointing out errors and please dont think I'm having a go at you ... I feel as strongly about the good points of this new release as you do about some bad ones.

Enjoy, should you decide to buy one mate.

Here are two pics of the sprues.

 

2021-03-20_04-17-07 2021-03-20_04-17-32

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Gene K said:

 

I don't know your location, but ... 

 

https://spruebrothers.com/zkmk30214-1-48-zoukei-mura-f-4ej-kai-phantom-ii-phantom-forever-2020/

 

Gene K

 

Thanks for the heads-up, much appreciated.

 

However, I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic to benefit, I'm afraid. Sadly, past experience of buying from the US or Japan has shown that when shipping costs, customs clearance/handling fees and VAT are all factored into the equation the price just gets crazy!

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/18/2021 at 12:23 PM, One 48 said:

Thanks Homebee for adding a picture too for us non FB'rs, as I understand these early Tamiya white box releases come with no decals or proper instructions?

Kit looks great though, we all know it will be great I suppose, really looking forward to the official release.


This isn’t an early release, this is a review sample for a reviewer (in this case the editor of Tamiya magazine). Typically they get an early sample minus the instructions and decals.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Nocoolname said:

I click on the link provided and I'm still able to see the page and the photos without needing to log in to Facebook. I'm guessing they've set it up so that it is publicly viewable? It's good to see more pictures though the close ups are a little disconcerting since it makes what are no doubt classically fine Tamiya panel lines look like the Death Star trench. It would be good to start seeing pictures of the instructions so we can get a feel for the assembly approach and engineering decisions. I'm already satisfied that the Tamiya kit will offer the level of detail and fidelity that I would want, I'd now like to see the range of possibilities that might be on offer based on how the parts can be assembled. For instance, the separate spine suggests that it might be possible to add something similar to the Black Dog spine set to those inclined to do so while the slots at the bottom of the weapons holders suggest the possibility of adding a rack of GBU-38's, either through AM or through my Academy F-4 spares, while I am hoping that the way the radome connects to the fuselage doesn't cause too much trouble for adding a radar (either if one is produced for the B as AM or if I produce my own).

Not sure about GBU-38's; service entry for testing was around 1997. Well after the B/N went out of service, the N went out in 1984 ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Greg B said:

Not sure about GBU-38's; service entry for testing was around 1997. Well after the B/N went out of service, the N went out in 1984 ;)

Thanks Greg!

 

Between my knowledge of Cold-War era ordinance being so ropey it could be used in a tug of war and the wheels occasionally coming of my brain there was a good chance I'd get it wrong. :doh:

 

I believe it should have been Mk 82's, (or as my brain sees them 'those green bomby shaped bombs that l have round yellow bands on them') of which I have copious amounts (from Academy kits and Eduard AM) in case Tamiya don't include them.

 

Their choice of the VF-51 CAG bird is awesome. I remember seeing a built version of the Hasegawa kit sporting this scheme on display at Harrods during a school trip to the Big Smoke back in 1987 and have wanted to build one like it ever since. I'd be looking to build the CAG bird as it might have looked had it been involved in bombing missions late in the Vietnam War (c.1972).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 20/03/2021 at 23:36, Scooby said:


This isn’t an early release, this is a review sample for a reviewer (in this case the editor of Tamiya magazine). Typically they get an early sample minus the instructions and decals.

 

Thanks, this should be in next issue of Tamiya magazine then I hope, this is one of the few modelling magazines I still buy on occasions so will look our for this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, it looks Phantastic (sorry I couldn't resist) want two of these, easily now, pity he never showed the inside of the intakes, sure they are fine though and no injection marks ... bet they fit immaculately well too.

It just looks amazing, doesn't it, few of us were discussing the missiles earlier in the thread, but even if you don't use them, the detail in the missile bays are still there, that's a first I'm sure in 1/48.

This kit looks far more detailed than my Tamiya 1/32 Phantom OOB, not joking.

It looks awesome, cant wait, its been a trial in these dark times, this kit will really help, well done Tamiya.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Scimitar F1 said:

Any ideas on the purpose behind the missing sections on the underside of the wing tanks?

I believe it’s so that the detail present between the 4 & 8 o’clock positions

on the tanks can be replicated. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...