BillS

What ever happened to this release? The box art and markings were awesome. I'd buy this boxing in a heartbeat.

What ever happened to this version? The markings and box art sure looks good.

To me a substantial miss on all of the 1/48 F-4s is the lack of any detail under the canopy longeron/sill. This area was home for the canopy switches and drive rods. This is represented by a big blank area on all three major manufacturers offerings. Aries provided this in their sets and there was at least one photo etched set (KMC?) that captured them.

Grand Phoenix released the first mass produced FJ-4. I built it and it makes a nice model. The only bug bear were the resin gear wells. I scraped the wing and resin to tissue thinness to get it all to fit. Hobby Boss has a 48th -4 as well. I never built mine but it looks decent in the box and AMS has aftermarket stuff for it. I also had the collectaire -4 and although I neve built it, it was a very nice model as is the he -3 which I still have. Both have super nice engraving, intakes and nice detail. Forget the old Matchbox mess.

Like Ben says, no weight but I'd replace the struts with metal ones. The mains are very stalky and flimsy.

I love the whole seat topic. Here are a couple of watch outs because some of these details show up on resin aftermarket seats. 1. Sometime in the late 70s early 80s the rocket pack initiator was moved to the left side of the main beam. The usaf followed suit in the early 80s. This gadget appears as a goldish- green anodized, d-shaped object. I believe it's on the the Eduard Brassin kit and and a couple others I can't recall. Check your references. You'll see it. 2. The other detail is the emergency o2 gauge under the guy's left thigh on the survival kit of usn/mc seats. Throughout th

No, I think what you have circled are ALE-40 chaff/flare dispensers which didn't show up til after Viet Nam

The BAs F-4s were painted (originally) with DuPont colors. I saw the specs somewhere but couldn't find color matches and I think Dupont is history. I think anyone modeling a BA F-4 will have to apply artistic license when it comes to the exact color. Another note: the model I chose is a bureau num off the cam sheet. Sadly, all of the original airplanes delivered save maybe one, were lost due to mishap. Another note is the style of crew name used on the canopy frame. They differed depending on period. Commercially available decals don't have much of a choice on names. The cam sheet is for the 1

Guys, i just finished the ZM kit as a Blue. I gathered references as best I could including the movie Threshold, the book Airshow, the book Refelctions in Blue, Tommy Tomlinson's articles, a BA yearbook from 1972/3 as well as searching the internet for images.I also used a Thunderbirds F-4 -1 supplement since the pilot's main instrument panel and maybe the RIO/WSO's main panel were similar. Depending on what years of operation you intend to replicate will dictate various subtleties as well. I think the BAs repainted their jets about a year or so after conversion to the F-4s. This explains

Of all the things to cut molds for. Yawn

Hi guys i was working on the AMK Mig 31. Everything was going just peachy till I somehow tipped a bottle of superglue over. The unfortunate thing is it splashed all over part of the upper fuselage making one ginormous mess. It also splashed on my bare legs and as it cured, I got one hellacious burn on my right ankle which became infected adding insult to injury. wanting to do this model up right, I immediately bought another. I replaced the damaged components with the new but realized an industrious and patient modeler could salvage the damaged parts and build a nice model. So

I built one when it first came out and it goes together quite nicely. Since after market stuff wasn't available at the time I cobbled cockpit detail together and used a True Details seat. Landing gear and missile bay components all fit positively. I'm going to do at least one more with the resin intake replacements. Unless you have the intakes side by side it's hard to tell what's off in my opinion.

Genius Darren. I'll investigate that F-84 sheet. I've got CAM's and Warbird's sheets for the D and the sheet in the old Monogram kit and Trumpeter,all with the bigger star pattern.

I'm doing a 1/48 F-100 C in Thunderbird markings. The C models had various sized stars in the stardust motif on the tail surfaces. Does anyone know where I can find insignia blue star decals in slightly different sizes?

I've built both. Yes the RAM on the Hasegawa kit is exaggerated but landing gear, gear wells, weapons bay and a few other details are better on the Hasegawa kit. That said, Academy's kit makes a very nice model as well.

The nozzle issue is an easy one as the markings I'm using are CAM's. The Bu Nos are all from the 1969 team. Therefore the jets were brand new and had the -8 motors w/early style nozzles. The sheet metal fairing "lip" or "seal" will be a bit tricky since it is a separate piece on the ZM kit and represents the later style used on the -10 motor. This tells me when ZM does a B, C, or D or N, they'll have the correct, wider fairing. Either way, I'll cobble something together. I like the detail on Aires nozzles so will probably employ those. Now, it's that flipp'n ADF antenna in the rear canopy that

Not only the nozzles but no bellows probe, the smoke probe and the ADF antenna in the rear canopy. I haven't figured out how I'm going to duplicate that bit

I've just started my second ZM F-4J; this one to be a Blue Angel jet. After rooting around, I can't find a really definitive color. I know Model Master does one that looks good and CAM's decal instructions have a recipe they say is most correct. Both look darkish to me. I'm also thinking the blue has been varied over the years. Any thoughts? Does anyone have definitive cockpit info? I do know the pilot's radar scope was replaced by a bearing distance heading indicator, accelerometer and vor. I assume the rio's scope was also removed. I do have the Thunderbirds -1 supplement showing the differe

I'm surprised the USAFers didn't point out that the subdued rank, patches and tags didn't come in to vogue until '78. Some black rank was used in SEA but around the rest of the world rank was dark blue and silver, patches were in full color and name tapes were ultramarine blue with white lettering. The fatigues were cotton, baggy and I think called sage green while the permanent press cotton/polyester uniform depicted above was olive green "shade 107".

I've had excellent luck with Tamiya acrylic, cut with their thinner or their rattle can gloss white decanted or from the can if I'm doing something like a solar cap on an airliner. I go with light coats. Decanted white takes more coats than from the can for me but the result is a pure, lasting gloss white that you can ice skate on. The only issue I've encountered with the acrylic is drying time and if moisture creeps under masking tape applied over the white. I've had the surface mar in that case. In this event, I've been able to lightly sand and polish the paint to the original condition. The

I didn't have huge difficulty on these areas on two Bs I did a couple years ago. And I hate to say it but I'm at that stage on the ZM kit and though the fit is great, it ain't perfect either. As I was fiddling with it yesterday, an elementary model building concept sprang to mind; where two parts join, there will be some degree of a gap. My experience with the ZM kit so far is that care must be taken fitting the backbone panel and lower wing/fuselage assembly. The glare shield sits beautifully in it's respective area but the instrument panel and scope are not recessed under the shield. As I ma

I just downloaded an F-4J NATOPS. For non-ex mil guys, NATOPS is the USN/USMC technical manual system. In the USAF we had T.O.s or Technical Orders. In USAF parlance, the pilot's TO was called a "Dash 1". The navy guys I was around referred to their pilot's manual simply as NATOPS. Anyway, I just downloaded the F-4J NATOPS and researched the RIO's cockpit. Bureau numbers 153071x thru 158354as had the radar control stick mounted on the right and basically had the F-4B style rear main panel "before AFC 506" . BNs 158355at and up had the center mounted controller. The question remains when AFC 5

Hi guys, it's Bill again. First, thanks Mark for putting my rambling into paragraphs. I write as I think, sort of a style adopted from Jaques Keriouac! Not really, but I was in a hurry, tired with the wife looking over my shoulder! Anyway Juan asked for pics but I have a better idea and that is to google a modeler names Viktor Mullin. Do you guys know him? Anyway, I love watching his reviews and his critique of the F-4 is no exception. Thanks for your encouragement and kind comments. I admit the reason fro my enthusiasm is models are a "feel good" thing carried over from a great childhood fill

I don't have proof but these might not have FS equivalents. I was at Nellis in the mid 80s as a maintenance officer on F-16s.I saw those jets daily as they lived next door to my squadron. If they weren't FS they were dang close and the previous FS numbers are close if not exact.

I rarely chime in but I cant resist the temptation since I received 2 ZM F-4s today. When Academy launched their F-4B I think I wrote the first review here. Since I was a maintenance officer on F-4s in the USAF and worked around Ns and a few Ss, I have at least some street cred. on some of the technical details on Phantoms. I'm really not an expert and I'm not a rivet counter but if you're like me, you love reading reviews and comments and gathering opinions. Here we go. From the jump, this is the best F-4 in any scale, not by light years but a solid couple of notches. Now, don't run o