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Hasegawa 1/72 F-4EJ Kai Phantom II

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

Overview

Few aircraft are as iconic as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. Its upswept wingtips, hulking fuselage, and twin J79 engines made it a memorable sight (and sound) around the world. Its success as an aircraft can be seen by the huge number produced, over 5000, and by the fact that it is still in service today with a handful of air forces worldwide. Japan is one of those air forces, and they maintain a fleet of over 100 Phantoms in the Japanese Air Self Defense Force.

The Kit

Hasegawa has been revisiting their classic 1/72 F-4 Phantom line, with their earlier F-4B/N re-release and now with this, their F-4EJ Kai Phantom II kit. The F-4EJ Kai is the Japanese version of the Phantom, and this kit provides all the necessary parts to accurately represent one of those planes. Molded in the standard Hasegawa light gray plastic, the kit comes with recessed panel lines and one very impressive decal sheet. More on the decals later, though, as we'll look at the plastic bits first.

For those not familiar with the Hasegawa Phantom family of kits, these are broken down to produce the maximum number of variants from as few molds as possible. The end result is a line of kits that cover all but the British Phantoms (which had different engines resulting in significant changes to the fuselage). The downside is that there are quite a few more seams to deal with than a traditional model. As most of the differences revolve around the fuselage, it is this area that will be the most challenging in that regard, as we shall soon see.

First, though, let's look to the cockpit. While this is a new release, it is not a new tool, and this kit actually dates back quite a few years. This can be seen in the cockpit detailing. While considered to be quite good for its time, it does seem rather dated now. All the instruments and console details are provided in decal form, and while the decals are beautifully done, some might wish for raised detail here. Still, under a closed canopy, these will look just fine. The seats offer a bit more detailing, with separate pull handles and a multi-part assembly that has the seat frame and the cushions separate. The completed cockpit fits onto the top of the nose wheel well, which then fits onto the lower fuselage front, and here the assembly fun begins.

The fuselage construction begins with that cockpit/lower fuselage assembly. This fits into the underside of the two-piece front fuselage assembly, which then gets a separate two-piece nose. The front of the cannon is also separate, and also split into halves. Finally, there is the upper fairing piece that the rear canopy connects to. Overall, for the front fuselage, there are a total of eight major pieces, not counting the canopy or cockpit. As many of these joints are vertical, which could result in difficult steps if not aligned properly, I would recommend assembling these in a different order over what the instructions suggest. Instead of assembling the nose separately, I would assemble each side separately, to create two complete fuselage halves. By building the kit this way, you can make sure that the vertical seams are perfect, without any steps, and only have to worry about the longitudinal seam.

While on the subject of the fuselage, the intakes are separate, and while nicely detailed, there is a slight issue in that they are blanked off. While this blanking takes place a bit down the intake, it is still noticeable when looking down the intake. This can be minimized by some creative painting (airbrush a bit of a gradient, fading to dark gray on the inside of the blanking plate), or one could cut that part out and create a simple duct. Personally, I'll go for the creative painting option, as that works pretty well and is much easier than the other way.

Once the fuselage is together, the rest of the assembly is pretty simple. The wings are in three main pieces, with a one-piece lower wing and separate right and left upper halves. The outer wingtips are separate, allowing for alternate versions. Make sure you use the right ones here, as the JASDF Phantoms have extra antennae on the wingtips. For underwing stores, this kit comes with the wing fuel tanks, two styles of centerline tanks (this release uses the newer, F-15 type), and inboard pylons with chaff dispensers and Sidewinder missile rails. No missiles or other underwing stores are provided, and the instructions suggest you source these from the Hasegawa weapons series.

The landing gear is nicely done in this kit, with the nose gear featuring separate oleo scissors and gear doors with separate lights. The main gear has tires with separate hubs (again, make sure you use the right one here, both for the tire and the wheel hub, as the kit includes both the skinny and the fat tires). Another option provided are both styles of burner cans, so when you're finished building this kit, you will have quite a collection of spare Phantom parts to store away.

Of course, the real fun in this kit is the decal sheet. Japanese Phantoms, outside of the special scheme examples, generally carry very little in the way of individual markings. Standard are the hinomarus in six positions, the black nose number and tail serial, and a squadron marking on the tail. This kit comes with three options: 87-8414 from the 302nd Squadron with a large colorful eagle on the tail, 97-8416 from the 306th Squadron with a small black circle with a yellow eagle's head on the tail, and 97-8417 from the 301st Squadron with a frog's head on the tail. All three options are camouflaged in a two-tone gray scheme.

Where this decal sheet really shines is with the stenciling. What JASDF Phantoms lack in terms of individual markings they make up with in the form of comprehensive stenciling. One glance at the decal sheet shows this, as only the upper left corner has the individual aircraft markings. Nearly all of this sheet is relegated to that stenciling, and it is here that Hasegawa has really done a great service for the modeler. Not only did they provide this stenciling, but they provided it in such a way as to greatly simplify the application. In the past, one could come across a decal sheet like this where each and every stencil was a separate decal. Hasegawa decided to do things differently, and has provided these stencils grouped together, so instead of applying 20 separate decals, you only apply one. While this makes adding these stencils much, much easier, it also increases the chance of silvering, due to the large areas of clear film. So when you finish your model, put down an absolutely flawless gloss clear coat and check often.

Conclusion

This is still one of the best 1/72 Phantom kits out there, so it is great to see Hasegawa refreshing the line with re-releases. The good kit, coupled with the very impressive decal sheet, will make this an enjoyable model to build. My thanks to Hasegawa USA for the review sample.