Aires

1/48 RF-4B Phantom Detail Set For the Hasegawa RF-4B Phantom

Stock Number: 4330

Reviewed By  Dave Morrissette, IPMS# 33653

MSRP: $117.95 www.aires.cz I have had the Hasegawa RF-4B kit in the stash for a while now- I always liked the markings and was going to get around to building it, someday. When Aires supplied IPMS with the full detail set, I know the day had come. For this review, I am going to concentrate on the detail set and its installation. There are dozens of excellent reviews of the Hasegawa kit out there and some excellent builds. Lets look at the Aires set. The first thing that hits you is the Price. When this kit first came out it was over $85 and now lists for over $100. As Aires says on their web site "Welcome to the world of Heavy Details". First and foremost, the resin casting is second to no one, anywhere - it is perfect and extremely details on all parts- no air bubbles, no seam lines, just perfect resin. The set addresses four main areas- the cockpit, the wheel bays, the camera bays and the exhausts/afterburners. There are 54 resin parts and a PE fret of about 50 pieces. You also get film instrument panels. In detail, you get the following: Two types of exhausts, long and short, with engine faces, PE parts and cast exhausts ducts with no seams to sand A full cockpit including PE instrument panels, seats with PE belts, sidewalls and various sticks and levers. Detail for the canopy is also included. All three wheel bays cast in detail resin with new gear doors and retraction arms A complete set of open panels and complete camera bays including clear resin for the camera windows and cameras. This includes a complete resin insert for area forward of the cockpit Not much on the Hasegawa kit is not changed or detailed. I will break down the installation of these parts into segments. There is a lot of the kit that need to be removed prior to installing the resin replacement parts. Also, multiple sessions of dry fitting is a requirement. One last thing, prior to starting, all the casting blocks were removed from the resin parts and they were washed in soapy water. The cockpit is an easy substitution. All that is needed is to grind out the coaming over the instrument panel and smooth the sidewalls and fit is very good. The cockpit is a complete replacement with seats, PE instrument panels and side walls. Casting is perfect and all that was needed was some test fitting and grinding. This was done with a Dremel Stylus and accomplished in quickly. On to the next test fitting. The nose and the exposed electronics bays were next. Cuts have to be made to remove access panels on both sides of the nose. Panels are removed for access to the area behind the camera bay and also rectangular cuts need to be made to accommodate the panels beneath the cockpit. This makes the nose very weak and caution is needed. I then test fit the resin camera bay which is a magnificent three piece casting and it fit very well. Be careful of cutting out too much- go inside the lines and test fit often. Next were the three wheel wells. The nose one fit well with little only a little grinding on top to allow the cockpit to fit. Good point to mention here was that when I was fitting parts, I added all of the parts. For example, when I added the nose gear wheel well, I also added the cockpit and the nose section- it all has to fit together. The wheel wells in the wings were another story. First, grind the existing wheel wells out of their locations, square up the edges and then thin the area on the bottom wing thin to allow the best fit. Then I have a process- thin the upper wing to almost paper thinness. Take the wheel well, a sheet of glass, a piece of 100 grit sandpaper and lots of water and sand the wheel well top. Check the fit but adding the wheel well and taping the wing together. Repeat as needed. This works slowly but maximizes the fit. In the end, the wheel well top and wing top are both paper thin but fit well. A quick check of the exhausts showed they could be added after painting so I set those aside. Painting and assembly is next. I am going to only hit the highlights for this part. In the nose, the cameras are clear cast resin (perfectly I might add) and the lens areas were masked with white glue and then painted, washed, dry brushed and flatted when I then removed the glue. A quick drop of clear and the cameras were good to go. The entire inside of the nose was painted weathered black and set aside. The cockpit was painted next and looks great with no special painting issues. The cockpit and front wheel bay were installed- a mistake as the two rectangular electronics bays should go first. I got them in but it was a tight fit. I did leave the instrument panel and seat out of the cockpit also as they fit perfectly and could be added later. The front camera bays were assembled and the detail is great. All the parts were then trapped in the fuselage as I glued it and the fit is good. The wings and wheel wells are added then. To get rid of that pesky seam at the edge of the resin wheel wells, I used Aves Apoxie sculpt (a water soluble, two part material that dries hard as a rock). I chose VMFP-3 and painted the kit per the instructions (I loved the green tail and fox). All that was left was to add the afterburners (beautiful and great fit- I went with the shorter cans on this one), the canopies (more PE and detail parts) and a few other details. Last were the electronics bay doors and camera bay doors. I think that normally I could build this kit in a few weeks to a month but with all the extra details, this all told took well over three months. A lot of that time is prepping the model to receive the resin parts. Was it worth it- heck yes! If you want the ultimate RF-4B, you need this detail set. Aires also offers the exhausts, cockpit and camera bays as separate items. Most highly recommended but a little resin experience would be a good idea. My thanks to David Lajer and Aires for the opportunity to review and build this set.

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