1/48 Hasegawa F-4J, VX-4

by Seán Langley

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My first submission on ARC!  This is Hasegawa’s old 1/48 Collector’s Hi-Grade Phantom, the F-4J in VX-4 markings.  Well, you can see that.  My first model after the customary 15-year lay-off, completed in February.  It’s all from the box, since it included white metal and photo-etched undercarriage and other details, mainly in the cockpit.

This was my first go with PE and I’m not too sure about it.  I find it's nasty, fiddly stuff that doesn’t add as much to the overall finish as you might expect for the cost.  But perhaps I’m being unkind.  I bought the kit in about 1987 or 1988 so the art of etching must have advanced a bit since then.  Still, these old eyes aren’t getting any better, nor the fingers any more wieldy, so my general rule is, to perdition with the stuff.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

The gloss black coat is, to use the technical term, pants.  There are brush strokes everywhere.  This will not make me buy an airbrush; it will, though, keep me off gloss black aircraft in future.  The annoying thing is, you can’t use matt black and gloss varnish.  If you look at the anti-slip panels along the intakes, they’re grey - but that’s matt black paint.

I found the decals were mainly fine.  They settled down well with Humbrol Decalcote (gave me a nasty turn when I saw stage 1 of the process, mind). The only problem was that the blue flashes around the wingtips were too brittle and the edges frayed.  I didn’t have a serious problem with their thickness and it was quite nice to find that twenty-year-old decals survived and hadn’t even changed colour all that much.

I’d recommend this as a typical Hasegawa F-4 kit, but for two small things.  One, it’s the old version with the raised panel lines.  Two, it’s a limited edition, and although you might find one second-hand, the price may be a bit daunting.  With the recent release of brand-new Black Bunny decals, plus Hasegawa’s even better modern F-4 kits, plus all the nice resin goodies available these days (and PE too, if you feel you must), you can get there much easier.

Coming soon from the stash: the limited-edition Phantom FG.Mk.1 in A&AEE colours with the 25th anniversary markings.  I intend to do a basic raspberry ripple finish and live without the gaudy extras.  So if anyone wants them for another A&AEE Phantom, drop me a line.

Seán

Photos and text © by Seán Langley