Kit: No. 85-5978
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Monogram ProModeler, 725 Landwehr Street, Northbrook, IL 60062 www.revell-monogram.com
Price: $31.85
Comments: Injection-molded, 94 parts, decals
Pros: Good recessed panel lines, good fit, nice crew set, excellent decals
Cons: Limited selection of ordnance
Lately, Revell-Monogram (and its deluxe badge, ProModeler) have repackaged Hasegawa kits. Kit swapping is not a new practice, and we should see more in the future. Inside ProModeler’s box is the excellent Hasegawa un-slatted-wing F-4E, first issued in the late 1980s.
Despite its age, this kit holds up to today’s standards. All panel lines are finely engraved, the cockpit is decent, and the parts fit well. Both long and short cannon muzzles are provided. Stores include four early Sidewinders (correct for the Vietnam era), four Sparrows, and three drop tanks. No other armament is included. Hasegawa sells a wide variety of bombs and missiles in separate packs, but leaves them out of the airplane kits.
ProModeler’s instructions are easy to follow, and the inclusion of Bert Kinzey’s detail shots of the real jet helps modelers get the idea of how things should look.
The cockpit is good, with a couple of drawbacks. There are no harnesses on the ejection seats. If the excellent crew figures are installed, you won’t notice. The kit’s canopy sills are too narrow for the scale.
Some of the sprues have parts from Hasegawa’s earlier Phantom kits. A few fairings scattered about the airframe should be removed, and a few more need to be added to make a correct Vietnam-era Phantom. The instructions show what to do.
Overall, everything fit fine, but I had a little trouble getting the main gear to fit properly using the retractor struts. I ended up trimming off the locating pin on each main gear leg to allow the gear to attain the proper angle.
You have a choice of canopies: Both the one-piece closed and the four-piece open sets are thin and clear. The fit of the clear parts is exceptional.
The Cartograf decals are well done and provide markings for four camouflaged Phantoms (three with shark-mouth markings). The red on the original decal sheet was printed maroon, so an addendum sheet with brighter red was included; nice touch. The decals seemed thick but have the bare minimum of clear carrier film around the images. It took a while for decal setting solution to work them down over the detail. Some stenciling is supplied – by no means a full set – but the inclusion of all the stripes and markings for the missiles is another nice touch.
The finished model captures the look of the “E” Phantom, and the elongated gun-equipped nose helps smooth out the stubby lines of the earlier Phantoms. Even inexperienced modelers will be able to build up a nice model due to the excellent fit and ease of construction. ProModeler has done us a favor by reissuing a great kit of a great plane.
– Randal Dieck