The Aircraft

The JASDF is nearing the end of service for their F-4EJ Phantom IIs. They have ordered F-35s as replacements. This aircraft is one of two from the 302nd Squadron which were celebrating the retirement of their F-4s. This one is the black one. They also had a white one.

Japan will still have some Phantoms for about a year, depending on F-35 deliveries.

The Model

This kit was originally produced by F-Toys, a Japanese company specializing in pre-painted kits which are easy to assemble and finish. Platz then acquires the molds and makes kits which are pretty easy to assemble, but need to be painted and decals applied.

Assembly

The assembly is not complicated, but to reach a desirable finished model, you need to do some work. I have a photo of one fuselage half with the really large holes for the other half to fit into. The idea for F-Toys builders is to slide the halves together, and no glue will be needed. In order to cut down the gaps between fuselage halves, I had to enlarge these holes, then the parts would fit. The wings and horizontal stabilizers were pretty good. I had to leave the canopy and landing gear off until after the decals.

PAINTING

This one was pretty darned easy. Gloss black overall, with some special metallic colors for the exhaust cones and the area under the tail and on the horizontal stabs. I used gloss black, so there was no prep needed for decals.

Decals

Decals were marvelous. Also incredibly hard. Those eagles on the sides took up the whole side of the aircraft. They were on the nose, the intake splitters and on to the rest of the fuselage. On both sides. Then there were the feathers, the eagles on both sides of the tail, huge decals on the top of both wings and a decal for the cockpit. Thank goodness for the single hinomaru on each of the bottom wings. A spray of Future to prevent splitting or flaking, and I was ready to finish.

Final Assembly

There really wasn’t much left. The landing gear went together nicely and fit pretty cleanly. The gear doors have tabs on them to keep them in place. Easy to glue. The nose probe took a little work to get the pin to fit in the hole, but it’s in there.

And the whole project was finished.

Overall Evaluation

This kit is fine, I’ll recommend it for the markings. It can be built into a decent display model.

Many thanks to Platz/F-Toys for this nice kit, and thanks to IPMS USA for providing the chance to increase my knowledge of anime.