THE BEST F-4B PHANTOM IN 1/48 SCALE

[@jcwoodman5285]

Nice review & comparison!🤗 I just finished the Academy kit and was pleased but the parts do need far more prep than Tamiya. The Academy is about $40-50 US so is about half the price of Tamiya. Plus the Academy comes with excellent cartograph decals... So if you love F4s there are excellent options, I do love Tamiya though!🤗

[@keunghoa]

Thank you for sharing your comment. I’d say those Eduard limited releases (Good morning Da Nang, etc) would have to be best value for money: good Academy parts , Eduard ‘s PE cockpit detail sets, paint masks and Cartograf decals, plus full colour instructions, if you can still get them…

[@alexchubbymclynn6060]

I do crew with your opinion, the only thing that really drives me mad about F-4 from Academy is that one has to install the main landing gear almost at the very beginning of the assembly process. That is something I can't understand since all the small parts of the landing gear become breaking prone. Because of that I have only two Phantoms by Academy. Tamiya is great, so is Hasegawa. Early Monogram is also good, still could be found on eBay (but decals are sometimes dead), early Testors/Italeri is good too, modern ones have some geometry problems, way too shallow backbone seam line which requires lots of sanding, and somehow Italeri still do not make retractable airbrakes. But the kits are good though. Isralian RF-4 is my favourite. But Tamiya is great. Especially in 1/32 scale!) But the latest F-4B, you are right, is an amazing kit.) Thanks!

[@oneastrails]

I'm also a 100% positive I built the Hasegawa 1/48 Phantom before 1986. Was the colorful VF-51 CAG bird you show on the Tamiya box. I built it while still single and living in barracks so it would have been 83 or earlier.

[@keunghoa]

Amazingly Hasegawa is still selling those pre-2000 F-4 kits today. I have in my stash an F-4G from 1990 that I will review soon. Thank you for your interest and comment.

[@benchlife9375]

Very nice kit I'm in the process of building this one now .....only gripe is the decals other than that excellent.

[@keunghoa]

Tamiya’s decals are much better now, but still a little thick compared to the like of Cartograf and after market decal makers’.

[@christiankirkwood3402]

Or masking, which is a skill building exercise even if they're "ready made" - why bitch about something that's hardly a secret of the model making "universe" - there's no pleasing anyone, is there. Seek an option or alternative, why moan? *As for stencil data, there are plenty of great aftermarket decal set's. You build skills moaning.

[@bigfec]

Ignore the trolls especially the Auzzie t**t! Nice review - I’m building the Airfix 1:72 and it’s amazing how well you get to know the individual parts, so seeing this, you can immediately see the differences in the bigger scale I’m curcurious, what are the paint marks on some of the sprues for? I can’t figure that out!

[@keunghoa]

Thank you for your comment. The dark spots on some sprues are actually shadows caused by the oblique lighting used to photograph them, because of the light coloured plastic, it was quite difficult to show details otherwise. Tamiya used intricate shapes on their sprue trees following the contour of the parts to provide maximum protection.

[@bigfec]

@@keunghoa Ah ha - my theory was that the sprues with the black paint were marked either if they needed painting before building in or that you had sanded/cleaned them up while still on the sprue. I was wrong with both. Sounds like you animated a photo - my assumption was a steady hand on a video camera, hence my confusion! Thanks for putting my mind to rest!

[@reefta]

After building the kit, everything is 10/10 Well beside one thing The decals are godamn bad, extremely thick, not even softner could get the details below visible, and the sharkmouth was awfull to apply

[@keunghoa]

Tamiya’s decals are notoriously thick, the major downside to their models, best to get aftermarket decals as backup

[@miroslavgabaj3379]

Zoukej Mura,,the best

[@keunghoa]

The Zoukei Mura Phantoms are in a different class, very detailed and come with large number of parts, so will probably appeal more to the more dedicated modellers, but they are definitely among the best Phantoms available today.

[@serwolf2443]

...It's only a Tamiya commercial!!!😬😬😬😬😬

[@keunghoa]

I have the Hasegawa 1/48 F-4G, the Zoukei-Mura 1/48 F-4F and F-4S, the Academy 1/48 F-4B and now the Tamiya 1/48 F-4B, so the claim that Tamiya’s is the best is based on what I have compared it to. My opinion is based on value for money, quality of the kit, ease of build.