Revell 1/72 McDD RF-4E Phantom II

REVELL 1:72 RF-4E PHANTOM II

Reviewer: Gavin Dore (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 20 May 2003

Aircraft History:

The most widely built Phantom II variant was the F-4E which incorporated an advanced APQ-120 radar and an inbuilt cannon, plus zero/zero ejection seats. A similar variant designated the F-4F which differed in having less fuel capacity, APQ-100 radar and no in-flight refuelling probe was delivered to the Luftwaffe. Needing a reconnassaince role the updated RF-4E was later delivered to the Luftwaffe and used in the designated role.

The Kit:

I picked this up recently at a swap meet and made the assumption this was one of those kits that did not fare very well because it was an older Revell kit or reboxed from some other manufacturer’s range. After building the kit, I think I am wrong on both counts, but more on that as you read through the review.

Needless to say the box is presented in the familiar blue packaging of Revell and opens at the end. Inside you will find sprues containing about 85 crisply molded dark green plastic parts with nicely scribed panel line and other surface detail. A single sprue contains 8 clear parts which make up the canopy, landing lights and camera lenses on the kit. The quality of the parts is very good, as there is no flash to speak of. There are a few seam lines to clean up and some ejector pin stubs to remove but nothing that the average modeller would have any problems with.

Instructions:

The instruction booklet is quite good, although the first four pages are wasted with aircraft overview, modelling tips, cautions and paint information (which are keyed from alphabetic labels to Revell's own brand) in several different languages. Thereafter follows the construction steps which are provided in very clear and easy to follow exploded view diagrams and then the booklet concludes with four view diagrams of the two colour options provided for by the kit.

Construction:

As ever, this begins in the cockpit which is adequately detailed by the kit. In both cockpits are instrumentation consoles, seats, sticks and these are placed into the cockpit tub. The instrument panels contain raised detail which looks realistic in scale and I brought the detail out with some drybrushing. In addition to this the nose camera bay needs to be assembled, and other than the parts being fiddly and the need to take some care here, again the parts fit well. Decals are provided for the camera lenses, so this is something you need to be wary of before proceeding beyond this step.

Everything fits really well, and a bit of weight is recommended in the nose area to prevent a tail sitter. After the forward fuselage is brought together it can be affixed to the main fuselage halves which almost snap into place, but some pegs and rubber bands were used to ensure they parts stayed together whilst left to dry. The join lines needed only a very quick going over with a sharp blade before proceeding to the next step.

From here construction moved very swiftly because the fit of the parts in this kit was really quite good. The intakes were an area I expected some problems, but there was little cause for concern as they fit well. The major components such as the wings and tailplanes all fitted very well and required no filler. The tailplanes are molded in such a way that simply affixing them with their locating pin should hold them at the correct angle without the need to consult references and line the tailplane up. I guess this depends on the experience of the modeller though.

The nosecone goes on very well but out of sheer jitterness at not having used any filler to this point I simply had to do a touch of sanding to blend it in and make the join completely invisible. A tiny dab of filler may improve this also. A pair of auxiliary fuel tanks are provided as the only underwing stores and I added these to the outer part of the main inner wing section as instructed. The wheel wells have a little bit of detail in them as does the interior of the exhaust cones. The undercarriage was assembled without any fanfare and installed into their respective bays.

Before I knew it construction had been completed and I must say that the overall fit of the kit was really quite good, enough to cure any dose of AMS on more challenging limited run kits which I had been recently exposed to.

Colour Schemes:

Only two schemes are provided in the kit, both from the West German Air Force, or more precisely Luftwaffe. A bird from JG 51 is provided in wrap around two-tone green and black camouflage which looks really the part from a typically dark scheme in Europe. The option I chose was that which is depicted on the boxart and this is the special scheme version from JG 52 sporting a shark’s mouth on the nose, red 52 on the tail fin, small fuselage serial and codes and a large panther’s head on a white disk on the belly of the aircraft. The overall colour scheme of the aircraft is satin black.

Decals:

A mixed bag really, there is a plethora of stencils and detail on the main decal sheet, but a smaller ‘errata’ sheet is provided with national insignia, probably because the ones on the main sheet are a bit out of register. Even taking into account the errata sheet, the depth and clarity of colour would only be rated at “above average” at best, and the decals were matt with fairly excessive carrier film. For the version I chose only the fuselage codes, emblems, tailfin number, sharks mouth and related decals are applied, as the stencilling is generally reserved for the JG 51 version. This was probably just as well as the decals were brittle, dissolved a little too quickly and were prone to curl into themselves or rip apart, so plenty of care and patience is required. Luckily I didn’t have any real problems after applying the decals but a gloss coat either side of their application is highly recommended to help hide any silvering.

Accuracy:

To me the finished product looks the part and certainly is a very convincing replica of the RF-4E against some reference photos. It is a couple of millimetres underscale in span and barely about the same in length.

Overall Recommendation:

Not many complaints other than brittle decals. The fit of this kit was very good and it went together very quickly without any real need for filler. It is one those kits that could be tackled by any level of modeller and would look very neat in one’s collection. Highly recommended.

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