complimented by the Wingnut
Wings website which not only
gives you many hints and tips
on building World War One
aircraft generally. But also has
a further 59 period reference
photographs of the Junkers D.1 as
well as colour photographs of a
painted kit during construction.
Finally, the kit supplies five
marking options and Wingnut
Wings admit that they have made
some guesses on the colour call
outs based on period photographs
of varying quality. As an example,
my favourite option is an aircraft,
which has purple and green wings
over either a light blue or off-white
under surfaces, but the fuselage
could be interpreted as being
either black or red. This aircraft
also has two fuselage bands one
of which is white, but the other
colour could be red (black fuselage)
or black (red fuselage) or possibly
even yellow or green! Whatever
you choose! Decals are supplied
for each, it is all down to how you
interpret the supplied photograph.
CONCLUSION
I must apologise to one of our
contributors because despite me
saying he could have this kit when
it was announced, I have now
evoked my Editor’s privilege and
moved it straight onto my own
workbench (AAAGH the power!).
My decision was made based
on the sheer quality of the plastic
mouldings and the detaileds
instructions. And with only one
wing and no rigging even I should
be able to construct this World War
One aircraft without mucking it up!
Now, what colour should
I paint that fuselage?
Our sincere thanks, to Richard
Alexander, Wingnut Wings General
Manager for supplying this kit before
its official release ad by the time you
read this, it will be available from
their website at http://www.wingnutwings.
com as well as a number of specialist
retailers around the world including
Sprue Brothers in the United States
and Hannants in the United Kingdom.
F-4D Phantom II
Zoukei-Mura 1/48 F-4D Phantom II Super Wing Series No.7 by Peter Marshall
MANUFACTURER: Zoukei-Mura
PRODUCT NUMBER: SWS 1/48 No.7
SCALE: 1/48
TYPE: Injection moulded
PANEL LINES: Recessed
PARTS: Lots (and lots! I make it about 390.
Not all used)
T
he Zoukei-Mura F-4C has
recently been given the
full “first look” treatment,
so this will just mention the
differences between the C and D
release. To be honest, though,
there is not an awful lot!
The most obvious difference is
the decal options: ZM have chosen a
couple of Vietnam era schemes, one
(65-0593) in the standard SEA tan,
medium green and dark green over
light grey, and the other (66-8812)
with the same upper colours but
black undersides. This latter scheme
also features the LORAN towel rail
which adds some visual interest.
I find it interesting that ZM’s
colour guides show the side profiles
with slightly differing camouflage
patterns but with the upper
surfaces identical, suggesting they
have some reference material to
support the side patterns. That
said, I have seen a picture of the
right side of 812 and it doesn’t
match the paint instructions,
and I would suggest that the
instruction to paint the whole of
the wing tanks black is incorrect
too, as on the pictures I found it
looks like the tops are still green.
The only difference to the
plastic provided between the -C
and the -D is that in this boxing
Sprue L (or “Runner” as ZM refer
to it) replaces K, which was in
the -C kit. This has the different
cockpit panels and front coaming
appropriate for the -D due to the
newer radar fit, the larger under
nose fairing, and the correct tail
tip (though it’s worth noting that
early -Ds didn’t have the RHAW
fairings, and this configuration is
possible from the parts in the box).
Weapons provided are for
four different AIM-9 variants
(D/E/J/L) and two different AIM-7s
(E-2/M). As the two options in the
box are from 1971 and 1972 the
suggested load out of AIM-7Es
and AIM-9Es seems appropriate.
Having built the ZM F-4J last
year I’m really looking forward
to this one. It will feature in
SAMi in a few months time.
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