Monogram 1/48 F-4C Phantom "FINAL REVEAL"!

[UKguyInUSA]

Hello Guys,

Below are the images of my "Final Reveal" for the Monogram 1/48 F-4C Phantom. After the images, I will include some notes regarding this build; my opinions of the kit in terms of quality, cost, value for money etc and any points to look out for if you decide to buy and build this kit.


I hope you like the following views, and, forgive me for all the photos, but I always have a problem trying to decide what to show!




































































































I bought this kit for $13.19 from Hobby Lobby using their 40% discount coupon that is downloadable from their website to anyone living in the USA. Their normal retail price is $21.95 and you can also buy this from either Hobbylinc.com or Scalehobbyist.com for $18.95.

Even at the higher price of $21.95 and considering this kit was tooled in 1979 and has subtle raised panel lines and rivets, this kit is a steal and offers great value for money.

Decals go down great with no silvering, but be prepared, there are over 200 decals and stencils to apply and they took me two full days to do them. I give the decals a score of 10/10

Quality of molded product: The parts are molded well, very little flash if any, but molded with subtle raised details, which I personally don't mind. There are visible ejector pin marks on the horizontal stabilizer and the missiles, so these will require filling an sanding to eliminate them. There was zero warping of any parts, but the missiles did have some parting-line miss-match which requires addressing to get rid of the stepped seam lines. My rear canopy had a molded-in black speck. I give the Quality of molded product a score of 8/10

Quality of Engineering/Fits: All the parts went together very well, with only the need for filler around the Air-Intakes where they mate to the fuselage halves. The rear angle is too shallow and leaves a gap that needs to be filled and smoothed. The way that the rear horizontal stabilizers are designed to mate together isn't very good. The stepped mating faces on the tabs only leave a small surface area for bonding the two together to enable them to rotate simultaneously. This isn't enough, so they come apart and they do not function as they should. I bonded mine together with Super-Glue, but it still didn't work, so, I decided to glue them in a set location within the tail of the plane, meaning that they are permanently fixed and will not rotate. I give the Quality of Engineering/Fits a score of 8/10

Assembly/Painting and Decal Instructions: All three come together within the same black and white booklet. Assembly is straight forward and easy to understand,painting instructions are clear, except that only colors are called out with no manufacturers reference numbers, although for the 4 outer camouflage colors, they do give the FS numbers that can be converted to your preferred paint manufacturer. Decals, there are lots of them, but they can be confusing, so patience is needed and I suggest you familiarize yourself with the decals before you begin applying. You'll also find that there are a couple of instances where the decal instructions call out 4 of the same decal in different locations, but there are only two decals, and, another instance, the instructions call out 2 decals of the same kind, but there is only one on the sheet. I give the instructions a score of 7/10

Packaging: There are two bags of grey sprues and a bag with a clear sprue inside that is found within one of the bags containing grey sprues. These are within a card exterior box base and lid which is pretty sturdy, has great artwork and some images of the finished model around one side of the box. I give the packaging 9/10

Value for money: 10/10!

Would I recommend this kit...yes, absolutely, it offers a great looking build with lots of weapons and nice cockpit details that looks great built OOB! There are after-market extras that can be purchased for enhancing this kit, such as resin cockpit tub and ejector seats, PE parts and resin bombs should you wish to do a version loaded with bombs instead of missiles.

Below is my "Final Reveal" YouTube video for this build:


[youtube]rM6Pc8jsM88[/youtube]


Thanks in advance for watching and commenting and for those of you that have followed me through this build, much appreciated!

Cheers,

Martin

[gustavlekstal]

wow the figure gives the plane perspective! Amazing work

[Aliktren]

Awesome work and great review

[UKguyInUSA]

wow the figure gives the plane perspective! Amazing work

Thanks, Gustav!

Yes, I like having the Pilot figure standing next to his plane, I thought it looked pretty cool and gives great perspective, as you mention!

Thanks for watching and commenting

Cheers

Martin

[patrickroos]

Turned out really good!
Very cool paintwork with the red/White.
Nice exhausts and overall nice detail look to it.
Well done mate on an old kit!

[Spook]

Another great phantom.nicely done fella.I'll be looking to add this to my stash after following your build.

[FishBowlMan]

Lovely finish, Martin, and great to read your "post-build" summary. A build to be proud of, I reckon.

[UKguyInUSA]

Awesome work and great review

Thanks Ali, appreciate your comment!

Cheers,

Martin : )

[UKguyInUSA]

Turned out really good!
Very cool paintwork with the red/White.
Nice exhausts and overall nice detail look to it.
Well done mate on an old kit!

Thanks, Patrick....appreciate your comment!

Cheers,

Martin

[Jmart95]

Very nice, Martin! Great job, especially on the stripes(if I remember correctly from your build log, it was masked and painted) and the overall finish

[Hillbilly]

Absolutly stunning! You should be very proud of this one.

[rodrant]

Hi Martin , seems a very good work on that kit ! The build is great , and again a superb paint job !

Always say this , but I should build a Phantom one of this days .They are amazing planes !

[Goose]

Very nice end.
love the comments and the scoring at tthe end

congrats mate

goose

[billlarisa]

Beautiful Phantom..i love the paint scheme...

[UKguyInUSA]

Another great phantom.nicely done fella.I'll be looking to add this to my stash after following your build.

Hey Spook, thanks for watching and commenting, greatly appreciated. You won't be disappointed with how cheap this kit is, great value for money!

Cheers,

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Lovely finish, Martin, and great to read your "post-build" summary. A build to be proud of, I reckon.

Hello John, thanks for watching and your kind comment, much appreciated! It is a build that I've thoroughly enjoyed doing, I think because for how cheap it was, it was more than I expected it to be! I might just do another one in the US Navy colors, but will have to get after-market decals for that version.

Cheers,

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Very nice, Martin! Great job, especially on the stripes(if I remember correctly from your build log, it was masked and painted) and the overall finish

Thanks for watching Jmart, and I'm glad you like how she turned out. And, yes, I masked and painted the red and white stripes on the wing-tips.

Cheers,

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Absolutly stunning! You should be very proud of this one.

Hello Steve,

Thanks for your kind comment, much appreciated! I do like her a lot, actually! I think because she was so cheap on the wallet, and because of her age, I had low expectations, but she delivered a lot more. Great value for money and highly recommended!

Cheers,

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Hi Martin , seems a very good work on that kit ! The build is great , and again a superb paint job !

Always say this , but I should build a Phantom one of this days .They are amazing planes !

Hello Antonio, Thanks for taking a look and commenting You should go and get yourself one; every plane builder should have one of these in their collection!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Very nice end.
love the comments and the scoring at tthe end

congrats mate

goose

Thanks Goose, glad you like her. I do the scoring hoping it helps other modelers thinking of buying this kit to make a confirmed decision. I picked this kit up every time I went into my local hobby shop, but never bought it because of the age, and with it being a Revell/Monogram kit. I only bought it because of the 40% discount voucher I found out about on their web-site. But after building it, it's worth every penny of the actual retail price before the discount

Cheers,

Martin

[rm6239]

Brilliant work. What a great job, love the use of the figures, this is crying out for a base, get a ladder etc and you will have a great scene.

Also it was good to read your comments on the model, after being so disappointed after purchasing and building the Revell A-10, I've never brought another of their kits, that might change with this one though.

cheers
Rossco

[Timmie]

wow,very nice job, especially love your painted red and white stripes.
you made this old bird shine

grtz.

[UKguyInUSA]

Beautiful Phantom..i love the paint scheme...

Thanks, Bill....glad you like how she turned out and thanks for watching

Have a great weekend!

Cheers

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

ah, the f-4 is like a buxom girl who can love you or crush you. so pretty, yet so menacing.

another great build and an excellent review of the kit!

Hey Will, love the analogy!

Thanks for watching and commenting, glad you like her

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,

Martin

[Goose]

Hey martin, your link to the video is wrong, it doen t work. Weird

[Tangles]

Very nice Phantom, and great review.

[UKguyInUSA]

Brilliant work. What a great job, love the use of the figures, this is crying out for a base, get a ladder etc and you will have a great scene.

Also it was good to read your comments on the model, after being so disappointed after purchasing and building the Revell A-10, I've never brought another of their kits, that might change with this one though.

cheers
Rossco

Hello Rossco,

Thanks for watching and commenting, much appreciated! I was disappointed with a Revell kit that I bought when I first started modeling in January 2013; their 1/48 P-40B Tiger Shark....it was the worst piece of crap ever. Flimsy thin material that flexed when you held it and broke joints open. Holes in the undersides of the wings to represent wheel wells, gaps all over the place that requires tons of filler, that because of how flimsy it was, cracked open when you handles the plane. After that experience, I thought to myself, "Never again will I waste money on a Revell kit". I had picked this kit up so many times when I had visited the Hobby store and then put it back down because of the above experience. But then, I got ahold of a 40% discount coupon and thought "What the hell, if it's another crap kit, it's only $13.19 wasted"....I was pleasantly surprised! I've been looking at the A-10 kit as well, but if you had a bad experience with it, then, I'll let that one stay on the shelf!

Cheers,

Martin

[UKguyInUSA]

Very nice Phantom, and great review.

Hell Simon,

Thanks for watching and commenting, always appreciated, and, glad you like how she turned out in the end!

Cheers,

Martin