is it windy yet?

Lucky model, recently had a restock of some crossdeta.

Nice.

Nothing taken off the trees yet, but moulding and detail seem as great as the rest of the kit. As I figured the diorama placement isn’t up to the level of kit. The cat track and shuttle need to 3D printed. The overall photo quality and paper might have been good enough for a normal deck section.

Got mine today.

Sometimes it seems like a daily occurrence for me.

I had an email from ZM saying to keep an eye on the website for a restock of early Phantoms. Cut from ZM’s reply to my question. Thank you very much for contacting Zoukei-Mura. And thank you for purchasing our SWS F-4D kit. In regard to our restock of 1/48 F-4D kit, we are planning a variety of restocks as part of celebrating the 10th anniversary of SWS this year. We will announce more information on our official website as soon as the details are available. We hope that you will keep an eye out for any announcements, and that you will be able to build the F-4D of your

I can see it. It doesn’t look wrong so much as it looks different. Either way I am not doing anything to correct it.

The accessory decal sheet Tamiya is making for the F-4B has some decals clearly marked as being for the F-4J. So maybe this time Tamiya will release more variants of this kit. Alas, history has proved me wrong before.

Old Nick 201 I am making the new Tamiya F-4B kit out of the box, using kit decals for Old Nick 201. Am I correct in my research that this aircraft while on deployment to Vietnam in 1972 it did not have the edges of the landing gear doors painted red? Just the speed brake moving portion and the auxiliary doors underneath. Any verdict on the intake lip inside being silver? I can not tell.

The Zoukei Mura / Volks website. For the short nosed Phantom’s it says awaiting restock, while the sold out special editions say End Sale. Plus I thought I read it in an old man blog, but can not seem to put my eyes on it at the moment.

I have read in several places that ZM is planning to re-release the 1:48 short nosed Phantom series, specifically the C/D. Any firm answers as to when? As a side note I am willing to trade my ZM F-4 J and or S for a C or a D variant. Thanks

Started this about two weeks ago, the first day it was available in Canada, late June I think. Haven’t done much, but WOW. The fit is beyond next level. Some kits may have better surface detail, but no kit fits better or is more sturdy than this one. I have built all of the Tamiya, WNW, Eduard, zoukei mura, etc legendary easy builders, and this one tops them all. Some wondered about decal quality. So the first thing I did was build, paint, and decal the tail. No problems there. Doing the nose cone tonight, and the decals for the folding wings. Yeah they fit that well that they will be added a

Not to be greedy, but. Any hope of a Phantom centreline pylon?

I will need to get some of these. Hopefully some MER & TER will be coming soon. Actually all the pylons and adapters would be nice to have from a consistent and accurate source, like Flying Leathernecks. Every company makes 1 or 2 types but they are never available.

I have will have leftover decals for a 1:48 F-18E from the Regan. It is one the options I am not using from my Eduard Super bug kit. You are welcome to those.

If those seat marking are common, you’d think someone would include them on the decal sheet. Too bad.

I was wondering about the long term strength of the kit plastic landing gear. I have bulked up my build with some added resin weapons, counter balance weights and strategic epoxy putty to aid in the fit and stability of construction. The net effect is a weight of perhaps double the original mass of the kit. The build is great, and likely going to be something i’lll have on my shelves for a long time, so I don’t want it to buckle under the weight. Anyone have any experience with this kit? I am thinking of going to the metal gear.

Lucky dog!

Looking at the Quinta F-4 Phantom set and some preprinted Eduard PE sets, I have noticed this marking with the No Step and arrow for the lower seat cushion. But I have never noticed it in any photos of actual MB Mk. 7 seats. Was it really there? Does it go under the cushion? Would it wear off in use? I am sure that some one here must know, because they have serviced these seats for 20 years.

I get mine tomorrow.

Also a daylight mission too.

Thanks for all the information, I now have lots of leads to check out.

In the study of business, you must assume rational behaviour. If Hasegawa is in business then you must assume that they want to make money. Lots of people say they are a small company and they do what they want, but they must want to make money. So therefore, the idea to re-release the Skyhawks must not be as profitable as it appears(I personally think it would be profitable). Or they have the world’s dumbest accountants that don’t understand the business, which if what was mentioned above about insolvency is true they just might have bean counters at the helm. The is possible third reason,

Thanks, its the ZM kit that has prompted this search. I was building the kit, and started on the weapons which are all air to air. That started the ole thinking station into thinkin’ (which is a shame ‘cause I model to relax the old number cruncher) black bottom, night operations, Vietnam, night, air to air not as likely as some type of low level ground attack with a long loiter time. So these aircraft more than likely had a specialized air to ground role. And more often than not flew with lots of gas, and lots of 500lbs bombs, rather than a load out 4 sidewinders and 4 sparrows.

I have a few resources and searched a few websites, but can’t find anything of value as to why, when, and how long the bottoms were black on F-4D’s. Can anyone point me in a direction to read up on it? How long did it last? Did it weather up, like the light coloured ones. Was it an overpaint? Meaning would it chip to grey, or white? Thanks Ron