Darren Baker takes a look at the latest edition of the Phanton F-4F from Revell of Germany in 1/32nd scale, this time around it is the F-4F Phantom II WTD 61 Flight Test model.

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thank you for the review, Darren good to have a sight inside the box. Revells F-4E/F kits are not without flaws, it can be true, that the entire nose is wrong and some other parts as well. But it can be done into a great looking kit. Got the hopefully better (shapewise) RF-4C/E in my stash, a nice follow
on after my Ju.

Ah, my old "flying alarm clock". Back in the 70s/80s come first light the "morning patrol" from JaBo 36/Rheine-Hopsten would do the take of right over my parents house. No need for an extra alarm clock, two F4 at less than 100m will serve nicely.

A nice alarm clock, Herr Meier

I think the unidentified pod mentioned is a LANTRIN.

Darren,
As usual, a most complete, accurate,and fair review, especially in this case of a pre-2,000 issue kit.

While I don't build 1/32 scale (especially those monster size jets), AM cockpits and ejection seats are the norm these days.

If I was to tackle such a build, the painting and decaling would be a major concern. The checkerboard not only needs to have the base color painted to match the decal dimensions, but I noticed in the pictures that they blend in to the rest of the camo paint scheme along the edges. Should be a doable challenge. As you said, decals that size, especially from a kit manufacture tend to be on the thick side, but in this case would help to eliminate wrinkling.

Looking forward to a fellow Aeroscale member posting a build of this offering.

Joel

Well done review. I don't usually see accuracy issues covered, which would be nice to see more often.

Some things to add on the Revell F-4E/F:

Cockpit:
The rear cockpit tub is too deep and is best raised about 1/8". No sidewalls does not help things, as this could have been an easy thing to add on Revell's part. No hope for them in the new Revell F-4G, as I've seen the sprues.

Canopy:
Not a lot of modelers know about Revell's F-4 canopy, but the aft canopy is too long and the front canopy a bit short. It's not as noticeable as the Intakes or radome/nose, so it's not really an issue that needs to be addressed.

Landing Gear:
The nose strut is way too narrow in diameter, much agreed as having worked the F-4 when I came in the AF, this was something I noted right off the bat when the kit first came. However, the narrow kit strut is not close to any version of the F-4, even the F-4B/N, much less the S. The F-4S shares the same basic strut as the F-4J and E. Even SAC's metal gear replacement missed this, so we're still looking for a correct nose strut for the Revell 32nd F-4s; though there may be one coming.

The main wheel and tires are proportionally off. While the main wheel inboard hub (really the brake end housing) is somewhat accurate, the outboard brake hub side is totally wrong.

Intakes:
Actaully, Revell's F-4 intakes are way off shape and profile wise. Looking from the side profile, the upper intake does not properly slope down, thus results in them riding too high on the side fuselage and the mouth profile too tall. Lack of intake ducting is also another negative to this kit.

Exhaust:
These are a bit narrow (not as bad as Tamiya's) and lack the "stand out" Divergent/Convergent segment details on the inside. The Exhaust ducting and turbine section are poorly done.

Wings:
Not need to worry here as all is good, even the wingtip angle; Tamiya's the one who go that wrong.

Overall, it's still a decent F-4 alternative to Tamiya, though it stands up a lot better when the pointed nose/Radome, Inaccurate Intakes, wheels, and Exhaust are replaced. A correct wheel set will coming soon too.

Mike V

Mike: Regarding the front strut I could only go by images I had and it looked a lot closer to a S model. As regards the other faults listed, I am aware of these comments on various sites, but most seem to just repeat what has been said rather than verify the findings. I was not able to verify them and as such I did not want to make comments I could not prove.

Joel: the checkerboard decals will I believe take a lot of care to get right, but the effort I think will be worth it.

Thank you all for your feedback.

I see Darren, no problem. If you're not real sure about something and can't find any good evidence through research, then I can see why one would not comment on it.

However, just because one does not have "concrete/solid" dimensions to confirm a major shape inaccuracy, does not necessarily mean one can't "eyeball" a model and see that there's a major shape inaccuracy, or more. Even before I took dimensions of the nose struts, radome, and Intakes, I could tell they were significantly wrong in shape/size just from looking at the built up model compared to memory and photos. I do admit to having an advantage of having had hands on the real subject and have conducted a lot research as well.

I've taken the dimensions of the F-4B, F-4J, F-4S, F-4C, & F-4E main and nose struts. All NLG and MLG struts have the same dimension as far as thickness is concerned, expect for the F-4B, which is only 1/4" smaller in diameter in the MLG and 1/2" smaller in diameter in the Nose strut, which in scale would be hardly noticeable.

None the less, a good review and discussion. BTW, Revell has addressed the nose/radome shape inaccuracy. We gave them a sample of our corrected F-4E/F Nose/Radome to work from. I have not seen the test shot yet, but should here in about a week or two. I hope they made the pull off this correction.

Mike V

Great review Darren. I am glad RoG decided to do that paint scheme. Ever since I saw a pic of the real jet I wanted one and now I can Btw, I can tell you guys Mike V resin sets are top notch. The nose and intakes for any if the Revell F-4 s a must. We just need him to stay on top of it and keep cast/sell those cool resin sets

Thanks Mike for the recommendation. Our Revell detail and correction steps up the Revell kit to the next level.

To info all, we have plenty of Revell (and Tamiya) Intakes, Exhaust sets, as well as Revell corrected Nose/Radomes, Dropped Ailerons, and correct wheels sets are in production now.

Cheers
Mike

Sierra Hotel Models linkname

I do think this model is excellent value for money and will satisfy quite a few people straight from the box. I am aware of listed faults and perhaps should have included them, but looking at the parts on the sprue I was unable to visually varify them, for that I am sorry. i will take a look at the various resin corrections and upgrades you offer as my daughter when she was four broke the raspberry ripple Phantom at Boscombedown, She was sat in it while I did some fibre glass work on a BAC 111 cockpit and set off the hydraulic piston for when the system has been compromised. I was looking for a hole in the roof thinking the ejector seat had gone off.