Revell 1/32 F-4G

No .... it was not a "pretty bad" kit.  It was very well engineered, had fine details acurate panel lines and crystal clear canopies.  The only issues were slightly miss-shaped nose cone and slightly miss-shaped ejection seats.  It had better exaust cans that Tamaya. As for the intakes, that's common all F-4 kits unless you buy seemless suckers.  

I just grabbed this kit at the local Hobby Lobby, was the last one on the shelf.  The 40% off coupon definitely was a big help.  As many of you know, I am in Idaho and live really close to Gowen Field, the base where the Weasels were located when they served with the Idaho Air Guard.  If anyone needs reference photos, let me know and I'll see what I can get for you.

PJ- look for a PM.  cheers

Art

goldhammer

BTW, the resin pit is out( looks super and quite a few pieces) and also a resin long exhaust kit from the same AM source.

GH

Can you please give me the link to the resin set you are talking about?

Yes, the Idaho Guard used the WW tail codes as the last operators of the F-4G. Doing a bit of research on them, it seems they spend quite a bit of time flying SEAD missions over Iraq during Operations Northern Watch, Southern Watch, and Provide Comfort and did some shooting until they came home and turned in their Phantoms in 1996. The last USAF Phantom Drivers and dedicated Weaseleers to go to war in the F-4. Today's F-16 SEAD version are not strictly SEAD specialists, but also fly other air missions. More of today's multi tasking of the military.

The kit has the decals for the WA code and the checkerboard, and a WW, but with Idaho Guard on the tail pod.

dbrownlee-  Was over there, but worked ECM on F4s 'and not the Thuds,  His service over there is very much appreciated by us that were there.

Yup... Ever since I read Thud Ridge way back when... On the Nellis Weasels, there is also a black and yellow checkerboard stripe below the tail pod.

While somewhat a fan, I'm a bigger admirer of the guys with big bronze pairs (tougher than brass) that go in ahead to take down radar controlled defenses so the strike has less to worry them.  Might do the WA code with the early national insignias, since my last name starts with those two

Yeah, I'm a Weasel fan ;)

There were only a few weasel units. GA and later WW for the 35th TFW at George AFB, SP for the 52nd TFW at Spangdhem, Germany, and PN for the 3rd TFW at Clark AFB, Phillipines. There was also a detachment at Nellis as part of the 57th TFW coded WA.

Thanks, stik. Early SEA  it is.   Have to see if ay used a code with Y and O, maybe another letter as I have some extra decal sheets. but can do a fictious tail code just for the fun of it.

Here is a quick rundown of Weasel colors on the F-4G with the 35th TFW at George AFB

SEA w/white codes and stencils (late 70s introduction to service)

SEA w/black codes & stencils (late 70s/early 80s)

SEA wraparound (early 80s)

Europe I wraparound (early/mid 80s)

Hill Gray II (late 80s until 90s retirement)

The Phantom family in US service wore more paint schemes than easily listed over its' lifespan, but these are what the G Weasels wore.

Yes, the initial paint scheme on the G was the standard SEA scheme. They then went to SEA wraparound, Europe I, and lastly Hill Gray 2.

I see you are talking a SEA scheme.  Since I am doing and RF4C from '73 and Ritche's 67463, I take it the early G's were in SEA paint?  I like that over the grey, but want to stay somewhat realistic.

I got one the other day and will be building it in the near future. It looks real nice in the box and has nothing in common with the original 1970s vintage 1/32 Revell F-4E kit. The weapons load out in the kit is more appropriate for a SEA or Europe One wraparound scheme, especially the Standard ARM. BUT, Desert Storm Weasels did fire off over 50 Shrikes in that war, so all you need are proper decals for ODS or a wraparound Weasel. BTW, if you do build one of the kit marking options, the paint directions goofed on the lower surface- the 36118 should pretty much mirror the upper surfaces and not be overall 36270 as the instruction sheet shows.

As partial as I am of the grey scheme, I'm thinking about trying out a wrap around SEA scheme for this one.

Grabbed mine last night after I found out when their shipments come in here.  A guy on Ebay has resin antenna kit for it and is working on a resin pit, if not already out.  Will grab a PE for the office when available.   If not FOD covers them probably an intake correction kit and an exhaust kit for her would be the way to go,

Personally don't like the look of the frameless windscreen.  Too used to the old style I guess.  Has a decent loadout of Shrikes, Sparrows and Sidewinders and an ALQ-119.  Half the decal sheet is for the small print stencils.

rw

The outside looks very good. I will wait for Eduard to come out with the pit pe. At this larger scale I think it is a must. The resin seats are available and are a huge improvement over the kit seats. Still way cheaper way to go at this big scale.

I picked up one today at my local Hobby Lobby.It was about $35.00 with tax included.They only had one so I was happy to find it. She looks pretty good and I really like the Idaho Air Guard markings.

Sounds like that's the way to go, alright. I checked the online guys, and $44+shipping is as cheap as I saw. It's really nice that they left some "E" parts in it for the parts box.

Yep it has the frameless windscreen and the regular one. I plan on getting some resin seats, intake covers and possibly some pit pe and do some scratch work.

Just got mine this afternoon, too. Says it has the frameless windscreen as well, but I haven't opened it yet. It's gonna look good next to the "E" from St Louie....

I just bought it today (with 40% Coupon) and was $35 with tax. Before I opened it I read a couple of reviews giving it favorable ratings, citing things like using FOD covers on the intakes and resin seats to improve the details.

I opened the box and took a peek inside and it looks huge. It has a choice of regular or flattened tires, great decals with full stencils, decent looking pit except for the lack of details on the seats and canopy, delicate recessed details and full weapons load. I think it may have the F-15 tank used by the Weasels. I have to find my Scale in Detail book for details.

All these shortcomings can be remedied with some scratch building and some pe and resin updates.

This thing is gargantuan  measuring about 23" long. Not a bad kit for $35.

The older F-4E it's based on was a pretty bad kit.

What happened to their supply of Tamiya?  I started going to Hobby Lobby a year ago; at that time they had a few Tamiya supplys left but they never restocked.  I only know they sold their kits because of what i heard on here, and I got a 109 and p-47 on eBay that had their price tag. All my Hobby Lobby sells is old-molded monogram kits :(     Is it this way in your Hobby Lobby as well?