like features sticking up, and
the instructions would have you
remove one of them. I removed
both, as I couldn’t see either on
any of the pictures I found of
Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF)
F-4Ds, which was my preferred
choice. I would suggest checking
references as, while I found some
Vietnam era pictures showing
the rear tube, it doesn’t look
to be present in all cases.
Stages 11 and 12 deal with the
engines and intakes. The engines
are nicely detailed but not nice
enough to bother with the stand
provided (and if you do exhibit
one of the engines there’s going
to be a very big gap in the model).
The engines have two vanes on
the intake cone that were not on
the -J kit, which I assume are the
differences between the J79–GE-
used in the F-4J and the -15 used
in the -C/D (which just goes to
show the research that has gone
into ZM’s Phantom Phamily).
The intakes are a two-piece
affair and as such are not seamless,
needing a little filling and sanding.
Stage 13 has you open up the holes in
the lower wing part for the pylons
(if required), and then Stage 14 fits
the intake/engine assembly and
the flipper plate for the forward
Sparrows, (also if required).
This is followed by Stages 15
and 16, which fit the main gear bayparts and the upper wing sections;
the fit is as excellent as you would
expect. Oh, remember that bit
about opening the holes for the
pylons? I didn’t (for the second ZM
Phantom running) and had to work
out where the holes should be from
the outside. I managed it, but learn
from my stupidity and think ahead.
Stage 17 fits the nose bay door
actuator, but I knew it would get
broken and could be fitted later,
so I moved on to Stage 18, which
joins the upper fuselage to the
wing assembly. Now I had a model
looking a bit more like a Phantom!
The instructions now move
on to the intakes and exhausts
(Stages 19 and 20). In my -J review I
discussed how nice the intake area
is, and the only difference here is
which parts need painting which
colour. One problem with Phantom
kits is that when you come to fit
the intakes, you need to give some
thought to painting, not just the
back of the splitter plates and the
area behind them (as those bits
are hard to paint when they’re in
place), but also the intake trunking.
On the Air Force examples (and
I’m assuming that, as the IIAF
bought Air Force models, they were
painted the same way) a section of
the aft part of the variable ramp
(inside the intake) is painted in
the local camouflage colour, as is
the inside of the trunking itself.On that basis I take exception
to ZM’s instruction to paint the
inside white. The trunking section
from Stage 12 should be white,
but these bits shouldn’t be.
But what colour should they
be? The Hi-Decal instructions
(and various websites) say that the
colours are FS30400 Sand, FS
Dark Brown, FS34079 Dark Green,
and FS36622 Light Grey. I had the
latter two as Xtracolor tins in the
paint store, but the other two were
an issue for me. While FS30400 is
available from Xtracolor, I could
find no obvious FS30140 in a tin.
So I went with some suggestions
I came across to use RAF Light
Stone for the Sand and RAF DarkEarth for the Dark Brown, as I had
both of these Xtracolor tins in the
stash. So I painted these behind the
intake areas, inside the intakes,
and behind the splitter plates,
assembled and fitted the intakes,
and they looked pretty good.
One thing to mention is to
not forget to remove the faint
raised lines on the intake parts
that indicate where the AN/
ALQ-126 antennae are supposed
to go (on the variants that
have that system fitted).
I ignored the next two stages
that deal with the exhaust sections,
as they can be done after painting,
and moved onto the wings and
the control surfaces, Stages 23 toWWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • AUGUST 2018 • 9
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