British F-4s Good kits, easy build?

[Irishgreek]

I recently picked up an older 1/72 Hase F-4K and was really dissapointed by the raised panel lines, and it seemed 'clunky'. Any recommendations on who makes a nice easy to put together Brit Phantom with recessed lines, etc? Doesn't have to be a $50 kit either, but that may be all there are? 1/48 scale is okay too. Of course, by definition, those will be closer to $50, right?

[AirfixAndy]

Fujimi do a few really good RAF 1/72 and 1/48 kits .

You can get the 1/72 kits for roughly £17-20. Should find these quite easily on the net.

Revell did a rebox of a Haegawa F4 in 48 scale RRP was about £22 , OOP now but you might find some on Ebay.

Andy

Edited January 12, 2010 by AirfixAndy

[zero]

Sadly the RAF F-4 kits are always in demand, Fujimi do a couple of nice 1/72 kits, and modelsforsale are resellers for them, but after a quick check they have nothing in stock.

fujimi 1/48 kits are even rarer to find, and the Hasegawa RAF kits are also difficult to pick up too and fetch a fair price on Ebay (ie sometimes £30+), however the RN kit has just been re-releases, and if your happy to buy aftermarket decals (Such as the smokers Series) then you can build a FG MK1 or an FGR2 from these kits as the bits for both models are in the one box.

http://www.relishmodels.co.uk/hasegawa-1-4...-ark-royal.html

Dave

[Irishgreek]

Sadly the RAF F-4 kits are always in demand, Fujimi do a couple of nice 1/72 kits, and modelsforsale are resellers for them, but after a quick check they have nothing in stock.

fujimi 1/48 kits are even rarer to find, and the Hasegawa RAF kits are also difficult to pick up too and fetch a fair price on Ebay (ie sometimes £30+), however the RN kit has just been re-releases, and if your happy to buy aftermarket decals (Such as the smokers Series) then you can build a FG MK1 or an FGR2 from these kits as the bits for both models are in the one box.

http://www.relishmodels.co.uk/hasegawa-1-4...-ark-royal.html

Dave

Thanks Dave and Andy. Do the 1/48 Hasegawa kits have the recessed panels? I thought some of them did not. If I am correct, do you know when they updated the moulds to recessed? Or maybe it's just some of the American kits that have raised panels in 1/48?

[Julien]

Dont you mean Hasegawa 1.48 kits?

Julien

[Irishgreek]

Dont you mean Hasegawa 1.48 kits?

Julien

Yes, but American F-4s. Didn't make that clear did I? Guess that's why my grades for grammer were not fantastic!

[XV571]

Thanks Dave and Andy. Do the 1/48 Hasegawa kits have the recessed panels? I thought some of them did not. If I am correct, do you know when they updated the moulds to recessed? Or maybe it's just some of the American kits that have raised panels in 1/48?

The 1/48th Hasegawa F-4B/N and F-4C/D are the ones with raised panel lines. All the 1/48 Hasegawa Spey Phantoms have recessed lines and are probably the most accurate available of these versions. SprueBrothers have the FG1 in stock, see here:

http://store.spruebrothers.com/shared/Stor...et=products.asp

It's $55 which may be outside your range but you probably be pushed to get a better price in the CONUS. I can thoroughly recommend SprueBrothers as well as they are always fast to ship and have great customer service.

If you're after the 1/72nd Fujimi kit, Relish Models here in the UK have plenty: Relish Fujimi FG1

I can also recommend them as well, Graham's a top bloke and a member on here as well.

Just a note: if you want to do a FGR2 from either of the above, you'll need unslotted stabilators and modify the rear cockpit as this is different between the two.

If you want any more help have a search around the site or just ask - plenty of us Phantom Phans around.

[Irishgreek]

The 1/48th Hasegawa F-4B/N and F-4C/D are the ones with raised panel lines. All the 1/48 Hasegawa Spey Phantoms have recessed lines and are probably the most accurate available of these versions. SprueBrothers have the FG1 in stock, see here:

http://store.spruebrothers.com/shared/Stor...et=products.asp

It's $55 which may be outside your range but you probably be pushed to get a better price in the CONUS. I can thoroughly recommend SprueBrothers as well as they are always fast to ship and have great customer service.

If you're after the 1/72nd Fujimi kit, Relish Models here in the UK have plenty: Relish Fujimi FG1

I can also recommend them as well, Graham's a top bloke and a member on here as well.

Just a note: if you want to do a FGR2 from either of the above, you'll need unslotted stabilators and modify the rear cockpit as this is different between the two.

If you want any more help have a search around the site or just ask - plenty of us Phantom Phans around.

Thanks XV571. I have purchased from both those organizations and can say nothing but positive about them too. Thanks for clearing up the bits on the 1/48 Hasegawa Phantoms too. Does anyone do a resin FGR2 cockpit for either the 1/48 Hasegawa's or the 1/72 Fujimi kit?

[XV571]

For the Hasegawa kit, Aires do a FGR2 cockpit and a FG1 one (labelled as FGR1), although the latter is not totally correct, being closer to the F-4J. Not seen the FGR2 one, to be honest, so can't comment on it. Aires also make a very nice set of Spey exhausts as well. If you're going for full aftermarket, TwoMikes do a set of replacement wheels; Aeroclub, G-Factor and Scale Aircraft Conversions all do replacement landing gear and Eduard have photoetch sets for the British F-4s. Paragon do the inboard flaps and Wolfpack Design also do a full flaps down set if you want everything down and dirty. Aires also have a wheel well set which is a right pig to fit.

The Fujimi kit is less well served; no resin cockpit for UK Phantoms, but Aires do a smaller set of their exhausts and wheel wells; Aeroclub make metal legs, UK Mk7 seats and a vacform canopy. Quickboost have very nice Mk7 seats and Wolfpack also do their flaps set in 1/72nd. Airwaves do a canopy lock set. You could also use the True Details F-4J wheel set. And that's about it. If I can think of any more I'll let you know.

HTH

Jonathan

[PHREAK]

You won't need a resin cockpit in the Fujimi 1/72 FGR2/ FG1 as you won't see anything once you've put a couple decent resin/white metal MB7 seats in.

[Irishgreek]

Thanks for all the great info. I saw a 1/48 Hasegawa FG1 at the LHS last weekend. It was pretty cheap too (I think because he bought it from a collection).