Zoukei Mura 1/48 F-4E "Late" Announced

[scotthldr]

On 12/13/2023 at 4:01 PM, Illu said:

 

Virtually every unit that flew F-4Es had them at some point.  I can't think of one that didn't.  

 

All F-4Es from serial number 71-0237 and higher had TISEO.  The only exceptions were the late block aircraft that went to Turkey, Greece, and South Korea.  They decided they didn't need TISEO, which is why the Ghost Gray F-4Es and the 5000th special didn't have it.  

Not quite true, all Greek Peace Icarus I a/c 72-1508 to 72-1535 were delivered without TIESO, although the later Peace Icarus II a/c 77-1743 to 77-1765 were TISEO equipped with one exception 77-1743. 

 

TIESO was removed from such equipped a/c as they went through the AUP program, however the Ghost scheme began being rolled out prior to the program and I’ve seen evidence of at least one TIESO equipped a/c in the Ghost scheme.

 

 

[Miramar Road]

I just grabbed this kit from the Volks Shop at the Radio Kaikan building in Akihabara yesterday. 

 

Overall it has most of the sprues you'd see in the early F-4E kit, but with the late F-4G sprue that includes the slatted wing with the belly strap. If you're doing a pre-1971 F-4E airframe you'll be ok since those had belly straps. However, if you are doing one after the "71-" serial cutoff point, those Phantoms don't have the strap. The option in the kit is the MO ANG commemorative with MiG kills 68-338 so you have what you need in the kit for that particular Phantom.

 

If you wanted to do a strap-less F-4E, one option is to order the strapless wing sprue used in the early F-4E or F-4EJ Kai kit from ZM themselves and fit the slatted wingtips to those parts.

 

The most notable sprue is the new "O" tree, which includes later F-4E instrument panels and side-consoles. Most importantly it includes the TISEO and the ARN-101 antenna mods used on some F-4E's. Even though ZM doesn't have you using these parts since the MO ANG Phantom doesn't have them, its a nice extra. 

 

If I were to guess, ZM might issue a later boxing with decals for an F-4E that has the TISEO and ARN-101. They've done different boxings for the F-4J and the F-4EJ with different decals so it would make sense. They also could do a huge variety of foreign F-4E's since most exported E Phantoms were the slatted-wing types. If not ZM, the aftermarket can provide parts for other foreign F-4E's like the Greek AUP, Turkish Terminator 2020 and Israeli Kurnass 2000.

 

I do remember hearing that the German F-model Phantoms are next up on the long-nose Phantom pipeline, so that's probably what we will see next from ZM. Then they will move on to the recon Phantoms down the line.

[JeffreyK]

52 minutes ago, Miramar Road said:

I just grabbed this kit from the Volks Shop at the Radio Kaikan building in Akihabara yesterday. 

 

Overall it has most of the sprues you'd see in the early F-4E kit, but with the late F-4G sprue that includes the slatted wing with the belly strap. If you're doing a pre-1971 F-4E airframe you'll be ok since those had belly straps. However, if you are doing one after the "71-" serial cutoff point, those Phantoms don't have the strap. The option in the kit is the MO ANG commemorative with MiG kills 68-338 so you have what you need in the kit for that particular Phantom.

 

If you wanted to do a strap-less F-4E, one option is to order the strapless wing sprue used in the early F-4E or F-4EJ Kai kit from ZM themselves and fit the slatted wingtips to those parts.

 

The most notable sprue is the new "O" tree, which includes later F-4E instrument panels and side-consoles. Most importantly it includes the TISEO and the ARN-101 antenna mods used on some F-4E's. Even though ZM doesn't have you using these parts since the MO ANG Phantom doesn't have them, its a nice extra. 

 

If I were to guess, ZM might issue a later boxing with decals for an F-4E that has the TISEO and ARN-101. They've done different boxings for the F-4J and the F-4EJ with different decals so it would make sense. They also could do a huge variety of foreign F-4E's since most exported E Phantoms were the slatted-wing types. If not ZM, the aftermarket can provide parts for other foreign F-4E's like the Greek AUP, Turkish Terminator 2020 and Israeli Kurnass 2000.

 

I do remember hearing that the German F-model Phantoms are next up on the long-nose Phantom pipeline, so that's probably what we will see next from ZM. Then they will move on to the recon Phantoms down the line.

 

I'm going to pick up y box soon as well. Based on the engravings on the wing panels for mounting the TISEO I'm a bit suspicious about the size of the part, but I'll hold judgement until I have the plastic in my hands.

ZM have not (yet) tooled a strapless, slatted wing. If they want to release the F-4F for example, or make boxings for later block types they will have to thoguh.

 

To build a stap-less slatted wing for the moment means sanding down the strap. If you took a strapless lower wing part from a previous release you need to remove the slatted leading edge from this kit and transplant it to the other lower wing as the leading edge construction is quite different. Sanding down the strap is work and requires skill but the slat transplant isn't easy either and you'd have to get another wing sprue.

 

J

[Ben Brown]

I see they didn’t include a rear instrument panel and WSO’s right console with the displays and keypad for an ARN-101 jet. @JeffreyK, perhaps you could release those parts from your excellent slat conversion set. I think the Z-M LORAN doghouse might be a bit too short or wide. It looks odd.

Thanks for posting the photo, @Miramar Road!

 

Ben

Edited April 29 by Ben Brown

[ThePhantomTwo]

1 hour ago, Ben Brown said:

I see they didn’t include a rear instrument panel and WSO’s right console with the displays and keypad for an ARN-101 jet. @JeffreyK, perhaps you could release those parts from your excellent slat conversion set. I think the Z-M LORAN doghouse might be a bit too short or wide. It looks odd.

Thanks for posting the photo, @Miramar Road!

 

Ben

To do the F-4E with the kit markings,you'll need to add the AVTR unit in the front cockpit on the right side panel,I can't vouch for later FY71 and beyond jets but every ANG jet I crewed or took care of had it.

IIRC Black Box/True Details F-4E set had it and the Eduard F-4G set for the Hasegawa kit had it that looks like a bunch of fun trying to fold it into the box it is.

The F-4E's transferred to Greece,Turkey and the 20th FS(German AF) at George/Holloman AFB would have the AVTR plus the NWDS mod in the rear cockpit on the right side panel.

[Ben Brown]

9 hours ago, ThePhantomTwo said:

To do the F-4E with the kit markings,you'll need to add the AVTR unit in the front cockpit on the right side panel,I can't vouch for later FY71 and beyond jets but every ANG jet I crewed or took care of had it.

IIRC Black Box/True Details F-4E set had it and the Eduard F-4G set for the Hasegawa kit had it that looks like a bunch of fun trying to fold it into the box it is.

The F-4E's transferred to Greece,Turkey and the 20th FS(German AF) at George/Holloman AFB would have the AVTR plus the NWDS mod in the rear cockpit on the right side panel.

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the AVTR box! I robbed one out of a TD set for my current Z-M F-4E build using the Hypersonic conversion. Speaking of which, if one doesn't want to go to the hassle of sanding off the belly strap and is considering buying and modifying the lower wing from the early version, it would probably cost less to just get the early E kit and add the Hypersonic slat conversion to it. Then you'd get the ARN-101 cockpit parts, a very nice TISEO, and it's all plug n play as if they were kit parts. 

 

Ben