Hello,
I'm mostly an armor guy, but just bought a lot of several 1/72 Phantoms to load
out with Hasegawa ordinance.

I'm not going to spend a ton of $$ on other aftermarket parts, cockpits,
wheels, ets.etc.. but would like to have realistic weapons loadouts.

I've got several kits to work with
RF-4 B,
RF-4C,
RF-4E,
F4-E,
F4-F,
F4-S,
and the Testors Italeri Wild Weasel is on the way.

So what's your one or two max reference book suggestion to load out these
puppies in a meaningful and interesting way. Web sites?
I know the recee birds have limited ordinance, but I'd like to go to town on
the others.

On a realted note, how accurate/realistic are the Hasegawa weapons set
instructions?

Mike

Personally, I would go with the Hasagawa Weapons sets. They are very nice and for the money, the best out there. Good luck and would love to see these birds when you get done. Mav1124

If you are going overboard with ordnance, check out the tip in the current Finescale Modeller issue on painting bombs. Phantoms can carry a lot of iron bombs on multiple ejector racks!
Essentially the tip in the mag suggests making a wooden jig and mounting it on a motor then attaching your bombs to the wooden jig so they rotate and let you paint the yellow striping (or blue if they're dummies) accurately. A simple, elegant solution.
On the subject of realism, don't make the mistake of hanging absolutely everything under the wings. Unless the aircraft is setting off to bomb the other end of the runway, weight would be an important mission consideration, particularly for a carrier take-off!
Even a runway take-off from somewhere with a long smooth runway such as Korat in Thailand, for a mission to bomb North Vietnam would have its limits, as aircraft performance is considerably reduced in 'Hot and High' environments (the wings are less efficient in the thinner air). Also, close fitting ordnance reduces the wings efficiency too, that's why airliners engines are on pylons away from the wing.
Of course your plane could take-off with a minimal fuel load and then refuel in the air en-route, but it still has to get off the ground! Checking photos is the key, remember not all the hardpoints on an aircraft are necessarily 'plumbed in' to take every sort of weapon and many of them have weight limits, particularly the outboard stations. Just because it's possible to put three drop tanks on a plane doesn't necessarily mean it would get off the ground with them all topped up! Another consideration is whether the weapon would tumble cleanly from that particular station without fouling other ordinance on the aircraft.
Anyway, researching the model you are making is all part of the fun!
Oh, don't forget to model the plumbing for the fuel tanks if you are including them, seems obvious but it's very often forgotten.
Good luck with it.

Hi MLD

Mav has right - buy Hasegawa sets - best on the market - You could load weapons off all kind to Your Phantoms but don't forget about of aircraft weights - and weapons configuration like Holocaust59 says.

Best Regards (:-)