Introduction

I went to my local model shop that stocks some Revell stuff to see if anything new has arrived, luckily nothing new had come in. (Later in the review you’ll see why “luckily”).
Then I saw this beauty, firstly I wasn't really sure because of the Anniversary scheme as no other are offered. But when I opened the box I was amazed.
The details were amazing; rivets, finely engraved panel lines. I knew I had to have it.


History
As on all my kit review’s I’d like to start with a little bit of history regarding the subject.
F-4 – the F-4 Phantom II fighter is a interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber was first introduced in 1960 with the US Navy. The F-4 was used extensively during the Vietnam War, serving for both Navy and Air Force, later it was exported to many countries like: Australia, Greece, Iran, Egypt, Germany, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, and the UK.
F-4F – The F-4F is basically a simplified version of the F-4E, created exclusively for Germany from the US. There are some minor differences.If you want to build the E version I would suggest you don't buy this kit, but the Esci’s offering instead.

The Review
As I mentioned earlier this kit is a real gem. Everything is detailed very nicely: The cockpit, wheel bay’s, exhaust cans. This should highly satisfy anyone except “rivet counters”, being one myself I will invest in a AM stuff (Aftermarket) so far I've only found a cockpit; which I have already ordered (SBS Model from Hungary makes a really nice one). At this price I suggest getting one of these little gems (I scored mine for about 20$). The kit should build really nice OOB (if you don’t want to make the Anniversary scheme which is really nice, but does not turn you on I suggest getting some Aftermarket decals. But with plenty pictures on the net you should be able to make a normal one from spares (i.e. if you have build the 1/72 Revell Eurofighter and didn't use decals for German version you can use those, they are even supplied with extra number, the squadron signs are most important, some pictures, cutting and you’ll have yourself a nice set for F-4).


The Instructions
They are typical Revell booklet styled instructions are on 12 Black&White pages. They feature everything as every Revell instructions.
Start’s with a picture of the actual bird, followed with history and spec’s in German and English (Nice portion of history on the German birds here). Followed by different warnings and legend for symbols. Next on are the colors needed and parts/sprue overview. Now the assembly starts.
Step 1-5 – Assembly and installation of the cockpit (includes joining the front fuselage parts)
Step 6 – Installation of the wheel bay and under part of the front fuselage part
Step 7-17 – Assembly and installation of bigger parts (Fuselages, wings, intakes, stabilizers, canopy etc.)
Step 18-24 – Other wheel bay parts and smaller details
Step 26-36- Bombs, rockets and other weapon assembly and possible ways of installing them
Last page of the instructions is reserved for the decal and stencil placement (For both the actual aircraft and weapons).


Sprues
There are 4 sprues ( Two are molded silver, one light gray and one Clear).
Sprues are not marked as usual (A,B,C etc.) but I decided too mark them myself. (You can see the sprue marks in the pictures ).
Sprues have very little or almost no flash, everything looks fine and well detailed.

Sprue A
This sprue contains 45 parts molded in light gray color.
This sprue contains :
-The main fuselage parts (these are very nice, some minor flash, but the panel lines are perfect; they aren't too deep or too shallow I like how the vary In depth, some are deeper and some are shallower (Just like on the real thing) . There are rivets too (thank you Revell)
-Exhaust pipes (These are nice but could have been more detailed (Fortunately Aires makes some aftermarket ones)
- Wheels are very nice, they are weighted, and legs (Some detail could have been added.)
- Intakes (I really like the whole back under part of all F-4,they look just awesome, this one is very detailed with no flash)
-The seats (Very nice, if you don’t care for 100% accuracy they’re quite detailed)
-Fuel tank (Nothing to add here either).


Sprue B
This sprue contains 17 parts molded in Silver.
Contains:
-The wings ( both panel lines and rivets are amazing)
-Vertical stabilizer (I have to comment this even though the 2nd pair is on Sprue C. Very nice of Revell to include slotted stabilizers too, so we can make both older and newer versions.),
-The actual cockpit tub (Very nice) and two auxiliary tanks.

Sprue C
This sprue contains 38 parts molded in Silver.
Contains:
-Front fuselage half’s (Very, very nicely molded, no flash and nice panel lines/rivets)
-Front wheel bay ( I don’t like this one that much, the details look too 2D.)
-Nose cone (nothing really too say; but I think fit with the rest may be an issue)
-Slotted stabilizers (Nicely done)
- Instrument panel (these look nice, good 3D effect)
-4 AIM 9 L sidewinder guided missiles
-4 AIM 120 AMRAAM Guided missiles (Both types of missiles look nice) and some other various small detail.


Clear Sprue
The clear sprue contains 8 parts (only 4 are used, looks like the four other are for the RF conversion) obviously they are clear.
These are nice, frames are nicely highlighted, maybe a bit too thick (Not sure who makes a vacuform one, but you can always try and make one yourself ).


Decals
There are decals and small amount of stencils for one bird
-F-4F Phantom II 37 03 50th Anniversary JG-71 “R”
The decals are really nice, the colors are amazing and they seem to be really thin (Printed by Cartograf). Too bad there’s only one version, I would buy more of these for sure if they had normal markings.