An inbox review of the new SWS F-4J/S kit by Zoukei-Mura. A review of the greatest advantages and cons of the kit, including descriptive pictures.



RICHARD (TINBANGER) IS WORKING ON THIS!

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Thanks!

I second your conclusion its a first rate kit. Knowing SWS they have a whole lot of kit upgrades planned.

ZM "Upgrades" like extra decal sheets or even metal pitot tubes etc I "get".....but upgrades (if applicable) for things like replacing the exhaust nozzles on a kit of this price is not reasonable at all.

Those kit exhaust parts look like something ESCI or Italeri back in the 1980's would have cranked out in their budget alternatives to buying the Hasegawa kits. IMHO it's just not acceptable in 2017 and especially so given the finesse of the rest of the kit which shows they (could) have done them much better had they wanted to.

Then again, if it means those buying the kit then buy any "upgrade" nozzles if that proves to be the case, then all is pretty much explained. I mean, given the type of people - those who will want to 'gild the lily' - who will have bought this over the Academy offering in the first place, will probably pay even more $ to buy those as well.

Gary

I'm getting ready to finally ordering my ZM F-4J as it far exceeds the Academy offering, of which I built the B, and sold my other two kits waiting for the ZM offerings.

The exhaust cans do look a little plain on the outside, but the detailing on the inside is far superior to the Academy's ones.



As for their upgrade sets, I'm planning on purchasing the PE set, but not their tires/wheels, nor the strut set, or the complete paint set.



I haven't seen any mention or picture of a replacement exhaust can set as yet

Joel

Hi Joel, I`m F`s are my faves from LSP Nice to meet you here too. There in my topic of the finished model, i posted some pics of the nozzle area and i basically edited them relatively easy - just adding rivets and "panel" lines to improve the capillary action, and thus more details to appear after painting. And the edges need a little thinning. It really was a time consuming editing, but it`s douable and it`s worth it.Cheerz! Milan!

My thought about the metal landing gear set is more like "Woow". This is the first time when i see metal landing gears for a 1/48 scale model of a "normal" plane. It`s not such a heavy model to need metal landing gears. Indeed, the plastic ones fit very snugly and they keep the model very steady. Only the thin hydraulic actuators are not exactly sturdy, but if the main pylons are glued properly - all is impeccable.

Milan,
Nice to finally meet you. I've been a active member here for nearly 8 years.

I'm really looking forward to getting the kit, but as usual, all my regular sources are out of stock. Like I said, no big rush as I have other builds in front of it.

Joel