Bilek's 1/72nd
F-4E/F & F-4G
Phantom II

By Norm Filer

History

What can one say about the History of the F-4 Phantom series? One of those "must includes" when talking about significant players in military aircraft history. The E still flies in many countries today, and will continue to do so for many years to come. Germany still uses the F and forecasts continued service for several more years. The G Wild Weasel was unique to the USAF, and is now out of service after a very brief stint with the Nevada and Idaho Air National Guard.

Germany, and Japan as well as many other countries have applied some very spectacular color schemes to the E and F Phantoms. Many of the commemorative schemes result in great additions to the modeler’s display case. Mating this kit to many of the aftermarket decals available already should provide Bilek with good sales for a long time.

The Kit

As I looked at this kit and pulled open the bag, I had that "this sure looks familiar" feeling that we often get when looking at "new" kits these days. After playing with the parts for a bit, I dug into the bottom of a rather large stack of to-do Phantom kits and came out with a Testors/Italeri F-4/E/F/G Wild Weasel kit. Bingo, we have a match! Absolutely the same kit. Only difference is the little flat plate below and behind the rear cockpit in the right fuselage half is blank on this kit. On the Testors/Italeri kit it has the Italeri "A", name and "made in Italy."

Does that make the Bilek kit a bad kit? Not by a long shot! I have several Testors/Italeri Phantoms in my collection, and would consider it a strong second place tie with the Fujimi kit as far as good 1/72nd Phantoms go, with the overall winner being the Hasegawa kit. One advantage to the Bilek kit is the ability to build one of three different versions from the same kit; the gun nosed E, the German F, or the USAF Wild Weasel G version. To do the same with the Hasegawa or Fujimi kits you would need to buy at least two kits.

Unlike the Haseagawa kit, which gives you no external ordinance, the Bilek kit provides one Standard ARM, a Shrike and four rather nice. AIM 9J Sidewinders, two wing fuel tanks and the big 600-gallon centerline tank. Not much applicable to the E/F modeler, but good stuff for an early Weasel.

Detailing is good, but are fine raised panel lines rather than scribed/recessed. Since the kit fits together well, with not a lot of sanding or filling required, and the drab paint will not show a lot of the detail anyway, the raised but fine panel lines should not be considered a big detriment.

The only area that I would consider being critical about is the cockpit. And perhaps I should say that this applies to all the 1/72nd Phantoms, not just the Bilek kit. The interior parts only superficially resemble the interior of any version of the real airplane. They have a front and rear instrument panel, they are in the right places and they also provide some representation of the side consoles. Bilek does a nice job of delicate raised detail to be (carefully?) painted. What is lacking is the overwhelming amount of added instrumentation on all three versions modeled. The front instrument panel of the late Phantoms defies the pilot to see anything ahead of the airplane. Everything from the top of the glare shield to the top of the windscreen bow is stuffed full.

If the front cockpit of the real Phantom is full, then the GIB, who apparently was never expected to see outside anyway, is really buried. None of this is represented in the kit. The front panel stops at the glare shield, and the rear panel does not extend above the side rails, and totally lacks any of the extensive rear of the instrument panel details that are so noticeable on the real airplane. Instead we just get a flat area between the front seat and the rear panel.

The real seats, to use the figure skating scoring system, would be about a degree of difficulty of about 9.5. Bilek gets a score of about 6. While their effort does resemble the Martin Baker Mk 7, it fails in several areas. The most notable being the back/headrest area. The real seat has a large box behind the headrest that contains the drogue gun and extraction parachute. This area is open on the Bilek seat and the error is very noticeable. The seats are molded in left and right halves and will require some difficult clean up down the seat centerline after assembly. Also there is no provision for any seat harness. Clearly a good place to invest in a couple of after market MB 7s.

The only other noticeable problem is with the painting instructions and decals. There are a wide range of options provided. German, USAF, as well as a totally fictitious Israeli F-4G Wild Weasel. None of the options are especially noteworthy or colorful, but do provide good examples of each version.

Conclusion

My suspicions are that this kit is intended for the European modelers who may not have good access to the Italeri, Testors, Fujimi or Hasegawa offerings. No matter who or where Bilek intends to market the kit, it should hold its own very well. While it may not be the "state of the art" demanded by some builders, it still provides a good solid and generally accurate basis for building the F-4E/F or G versions of the phabulous Phantom II.