Hasegawa YF-4E to late F-4 E

[Anatol Pigwa]

As per header, can a late F-4E be build from the YF-4E kit without extensive scratch building? Or shall I wait until Hobby 2000 do a proper F-4E rerelease (purely speculative) or Fine Molds decide to release a thin wing F-4 (also speculative as hell).

[exdraken]

I do not fully understand the Hasegawa YF-4E, but I would assume that it did not have the slatted wing and stabs. Early gun nozzle as well presumably.

 

You could check on  the many recent Zoukei Mura Early F-4E discussions around the net.. 

[Hook]

By the looks of it, the Hase kit can not be built as a late E due to the lack of outer wing slats.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Edited August 1, 2021 by Hook

[RAGATIGER]

Hi there

 

Well if you get the F-4EJ Phantom II  (japanese Mitsubishi licence built) is perfect for early Phantoms because the early wing or hard wing, then you can do the prototype YF-4E also include the early muzzle (by the way those Hasegawa Phantoms were relativily easy to get,  plan to use them for Israeli and USAF Vietnam)

 

Regards

 

Armando

[XV571]

Hi Anatol,

 

If you have this kit: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10023988 then, as Andre has noted, this is basically Hasegawa's standard 'hard' wing F-4E/F-4EJ. To make it into a later 'soft' or slatted wing F-4E you just need Frame E which has wing panels with the outer slats - everything else you'd need is in the kit. One option is to find someone who has a Hasegawa F-4S but wants to make a F-4J instead since Hasegawa used the same parts for each (despite the F-4S actually using a different slat design). You coul;d even try using the outer wings from a Revell F-4F or even an Italeri F-4S although the latter would need rescribing of the raised panel lines.

 

I think there's every chance Hobby 2000 will rebox a version of the Hasegawa F-4E, however it could easily be an unslatted subject to fit in with the Vietnam theme of their other F-4 releases. On the other hand it might be the even rarer F-4G which would be welcome but a rather expensive cross kitting exercise!

 

I'm hoping someone will produce a 1/72 conversion set for the Fine Molds F-4EJ similar to the one Hypersonic Models has done for the Zoukei Mura early F-4E. You may find this dual build by @giemme useful as he's upgrading a Fine Molds F-4EJ to a Greek F-4E AUP as well as updating a Hasegawa F-4E:

Purely for reference, there were three YF-4Es so designated:

 

62-12200 - this was MDDs test workhorse originally built as a F-4B, converted to be the YRF-4C prototype then adapted to carry a M61 Vulcan as a proof of concept for the F-4E then was finally given canards while testing Fly By Wire systems. 12200 retained the original F-4B 'thin wing' throughout its life. The best starting point to make this jet in 1/72 is the Hasegawa RF-4B as it kept the camera style nose. Depending on the boxing (some have both wing types) you may need to mix with a straight F-4B but at least you could use the remainder to make a F-4J. The stabiliators also need modifying to the unslotted version..

 

63-7445 and 65-0713 - these were converted from a F-4C and F-4D respectively and so had standard 'thick' wings at build. These two were the first with the long F-4E nose and M-61 fairing but were not converted to have slatted wings (63-7445 crashed in October 1972 with the loss of both crewmembers). They also retained unslotted stabilators so the Hasegawa boxing actually has the wrong type to make these two jets. To build either from a 'hard wing' F-4E or straight F-4EJ kit modify the stabilators or swap them with a F-4F which can then be used to make a slatted F-4E!

 

HTH

Jonathan

[Gene K]

 

17 hours ago, XV571 said:

I'm hoping someone will produce a 1/72 conversion set for the Fine Molds F-4EJ similar to the one Hypersonic Models has done  ... .

(I think you meant for the FineMolds F-4E).  Such a set would be absolutely great, but unfortunately, evidently 1/72 doesn't sell well for Hypersonic.  I'm hopeful FineMolds will eventually model both the slatted and thin wings as they expand the range. 

 

As an aside, for those unfamiliar with the excellent Hypersonic line, see this for the 1/48 Slatted Wing Conversion parts. 

 

 You could even try using the outer wings from a Revell F-4F ... .

That's an easy option, but, as with the Hasegawa kits, requires a little surgery to free the slats and properly raise them from the wing panels  ... if  so desired.

 

Gene K