1/48 Aftermarket Decals for Late Model F-4E

[Curt B]

Hi All,

 

I just got the 1/48 Zoukei Mura F-4E Late Phantom 2 kit. It only includes decals and painting instructions for what I would call a ‘Heritage 30 Years of Phantom” aircraft. Can anyone help me with an appropriate aftermarket set of decals that would be appropriate for this vintage of Phantom (but I’m not interested in aircraft converted to target drones).  Ideally, decals printed by Cartograph would be fantastic.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

[Ben Brown]

Are you wanting to do a Hill Grey F-4E, just not the jet depicted with the kit decals, or do you mean a slatted F-4E in general? Unfortunately, I haven't seen any relatively new decals for the slatted F-4E. Afterburner had several sheets for Hill Grey-, Europe 1-, and SEA Wraparound-camouflaged F-4Es, and Speed Hunter also had some Wild Weasel and Air National Guard F-4Es on a couple of theirs, but both companies are out of business and their decals have gotten hard to find. There are also a few for non-USAF jets from Caracal, DXM, Hi Decals. I've used DXM's for another type and found them to work okay. Caracal's are excellent.

 

Note that the older decal sheets were made for the Hasegawa kits, and any tail bands will be too small and will have to be lengthened. The Hasegawa tail was a bit undersized.

 

Ben

[Stephen]

https://www.pkproductions.de/shop/decals/48-008-usafe-phantoms-1-48-f-4d-e/

 

https://www.shopofphantoms.com/product-page/hopd-48003-usafephantoms-part-1

 

 

[Curt B]

On 6/27/2025 at 1:55 AM, Ben Brown said:

Are you wanting to do a Hill Grey F-4E, just not the jet depicted with the kit decals, or do you mean a slatted F-4E in general? Unfortunately, I haven't seen any relatively new decals for the slatted F-4E. Afterburner had several sheets for Hill Grey-, Europe 1-, and SEA Wraparound-camouflaged F-4Es, and Speed Hunter also had some Wild Weasel and Air National Guard F-4Es on a couple of theirs, but both companies are out of business and their decals have gotten hard to find. There are also a few for non-USAF jets from Caracal, DXM, Hi Decals. I've used DXM's for another type and found them to work okay. Caracal's are excellent.

 

Note that the older decal sheets were made for the Hasegawa kits, and any tail bands will be too small and will have to be lengthened. The Hasegawa tail was a bit undersized.

 

Ben

Thanks for the detailed reply, Ben.  I was thinking mostly about some type of SEA camo for my plane, so it sounds like I might be a bit out of luck regarding these older decal sheets.  I appreciate your thoughts!

Edited July 24 by Curt B

[Curt B]

7 hours ago, Stephen said:

https://www.pkproductions.de/shop/decals/48-008-usafe-phantoms-1-48-f-4d-e/

 

https://www.shopofphantoms.com/product-page/hopd-48003-usafephantoms-part-1

 

 

Thank you Stephen!  Both sets look good., the PK Productions especially.  Nice that they even specify one of the suggested kits is the ZM late F-4E that I have.  Looks like I'll probably go for one of these.  Thanks again!

[F4DPhanv3]

FYI, Victory Models in the US carries the PK decals.

 

Best,

 

Mike

[Curt B]

On 6/27/2025 at 2:11 PM, F4DPhanv3 said:

FYI, Victory Models in the US carries the PK decals.

 

Best,

 

Mike

Thank you, Mike.  That’s the set I got, and from Victory Models! 😊

[JEN722]

Despite Z-M naming it a 'late' F-4E, ít really is more of a mid-F-4E. The kit lacks the TISEO and ARN-101 of late F-4Es, so you have to look for FY67-69 airframes if you want a correct F-4E. The USAFE Phantom sheet should contain some FY68 airframes as they were present in USAFE too.

 

Jens

[Curt B]

2 hours ago, JEN722 said:

Despite Z-M naming it a 'late' F-4E, ít really is more of a mid-F-4E. The kit lacks the TISEO and ARN-101 of late F-4Es, so you have to look for FY67-69 airframes if you want a correct F-4E. The USAFE Phantom sheet should contain some FY68 airframes as they were present in USAFE too.

 

Jens

Wow, that is some detailed info!!  Many thanks, as I really would like to make an accurate airplane!!

[Dave Williams]

3 hours ago, JEN722 said:

Despite Z-M naming it a 'late' F-4E, ít really is more of a mid-F-4E. The kit lacks the TISEO and ARN-101 of late F-4Es, so you have to look for FY67-69 airframes if you want a correct F-4E. The USAFE Phantom sheet should contain some FY68 airframes as they were present in USAFE too.

 

Jens

Actually, TISEO and the ARN-101 antenna are in the kit on the new “O” sprue added for this boxing, just marked “not for use”

[JEN722]

6 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

Actually, TISEO and the ARN-101 antenna are in the kit on the new “O” sprue added for this boxing, just marked “not for use”

 

You're right!
I believe the issue was that the wings have the reinforcement strap/belly strap, and the TISEO/ARN aircraft are reinforced from within. Isn't that right?

 

Jens

[Dave Williams]

4 hours ago, JEN722 said:

 

You're right!
I believe the issue was that the wings have the reinforcement strap/belly strap, and the TISEO/ARN aircraft are reinforced from within. Isn't that right?

 

Jens

Correct that the kit does have the molded in belly strap because they reused the slatted wing from the F-4G release, which all had the strap because they were converted from earlier airframes that were retrofitted.  That said the belly strap is correct for the kit decal option, 68-0338, because the internally strengthened wing didn’t appear until 72-0121 from what I’ve read.  There was an interim group of Block 50’s (71-0237 thru 71-1402) that were delivered from the factory with slats, but they were modified on the production line with retrofit kits and therefore had the strap.  So, 71-0237 was the first factory slatted wing F-4E, but the first F-4E without the strap was 72-0121.  I believe TISEO began being fitted during the Block 50 production, and at least some of the factory retrofitted slat wing Block 50s had TISEO, and the strap.  ARN-101 was a later mod (late 1970’s?) and I’m not sure what blocks it was retrofitted to.

 

Confused yet?

 

If you really want to get down into the weeds, the ejection seats in the kit more closely resemble Navy style seats than Air Force seats because Z-M uses the same common sprue in all of the F-4 kits.

Edited July 6 by Dave Williams

[BillS]

CAM does a slew of slatted F-4 markings. They’re easy to find.

[RichB63]

If you’re into stencils…

 

Fundekals has you covered with regard to the depot stencils. Other markings, including wing and command insignia can be cobbled together from other sheets. Our own @BillS did a bang up job on one of these recently.

 

Edited July 7 by RichB63

[JEN722]

On 7/6/2025 at 1:18 AM, Dave Williams said:

Correct that the kit does have the molded in belly strap because they reused the slatted wing from the F-4G release, which all had the strap because they were converted from earlier airframes that were retrofitted.  That said the belly strap is correct for the kit decal option, 68-0338, because the internally strengthened wing didn’t appear until 72-0121 from what I’ve read.  There was an interim group of Block 50’s (71-0237 thru 71-1402) that were delivered from the factory with slats, but they were modified on the production line with retrofit kits and therefore had the strap.  So, 71-0237 was the first factory slatted wing F-4E, but the first F-4E without the strap was 72-0121.  I believe TISEO began being fitted during the Block 50 production, and at least some of the factory retrofitted slat wing Block 50s had TISEO, and the strap.  ARN-101 was a later mod (late 1970’s?) and I’m not sure what blocks it was retrofitted to.

 

Confused yet?

 

If you really want to get down into the weeds, the ejection seats in the kit more closely resemble Navy style seats than Air Force seats because Z-M uses the same common sprue in all of the F-4 kits.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. 
The interesting thing is that the MENG F-4E has decals for two FY71 airframes, but MENG failed to provide the TISEO. The ARN-101 is there though.

 

Jens

[Ben Brown]

They didn’t include the ARN-101 cockpit mods, either. Fortunately, Quinta has a decal set that has the mods to the WSO’s instrument panels on and right console.

 

Ben