Scale Aviation Modeller International 08.2018

an ALQ-87 in one of the front

Sparrow bays, and GBU-10 Paveway

I LGBs on the inner wings. This is

a configuration used either with

an onboard AVQ-9 “Zot Box”

laser designator or with another

aircraft doing the designating.

I went with the second option

(how often do you get to use

Paveway Is?) If I had had enough

references I might have attempted

an AVQ-9 (basically a box fitted

to the left side of the inside of the

rear canopy), but I didn’t, so let’s

assume there’s another aircraft

out there doing the lasing!

Throughout the build I had done

the weapons as a background task,

making up all the AIM-7s and -9s

in the box (using the “parts not

for use” to make -9J/Ps instead of

-9Es) and digging though some

of the Hasegawa weapons kits

for the ALQ-87 and mount, the

GBU-10s, the SUU-23, and the

TERs (as I didn’t know which load

I was going to end up doing).

I had fitted the Sidewinder

rails to the pylons early on, hoping

I could mount four AIM-9J/Ps,

though I suspect this was an

unlikely load. But now that I got to

the point of mating up the GBUs,

it was clear that Sidewinders

wouldn’t fit at the same time,

so it is unlikely the launch

rails would have been fitted.

With the centreline tank, the

pylons, outer wing tanks, AIM-

7s, and the ALQ-87 fitted (Stages

39-44), the last things to fit were

the seats (dressed up with some

coloured Eduard belts, supplied

by your kind editor), canopies

(Stage 38,) and a ladder (excellent

fit of the canopy parts by the

way, but I’ve said that before);

and I was calling it done.

CONCLUSION

I love the ZM Phantom; I have now

built two, and having spent hours

staring at pictures (so you don’t have

to), I am aware of a few issues. There

are the minor things like the lack

of seat belts, the overlooked slight

differences between the Navy and

Air Force seats, the lack of canopy

framing, and the differences between

LORAN and non-LORAN cockpits.

These are mostly easy aftermarket

fixes if it really bothers you.

The same is true of the strake

under the stabilator. Hypersonic

have you covered, or you can do it

yourself, or leave it as-is and 99 out

of 100 people either won’t notice or

won’t care. The rear fuselage curve

problem is something that I didn’t see

myself, but once it’s pointed out it’s

apparent that this kit is slightly phat

(get it? Fat but with a ph because it’s

a Phantom? Suit yourselves...) round

the rear end; but again it’s subtle. The

exhaust area issues I’ve highlighted

haven’t, as far as I know, been noticed

or mentioned by anyone else, so

I may be imagining some of it?

I think it’s true to say that as kits

get better the tiniest of issues get

met with a level of condemnation

that really isn’t justified. This is far

and away the best Phantom in 1/

scale (maybe any scale), and I really

hope to build more as ZM extend

their range. Go on ZM, you know

you want to do a Royal Navy one!

REFERENCES:

• Web searches and Osprey books
  
  
  • Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units
    in Combat ISBN 9781841766584
  
  
  
  

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