Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

Eagle Strike's 1/48 scale Last Wild Weasel Phantoms are available online from Squadron.com

Eagle Strike 48-149 provides markings for three F-4G Wild Weasel Phantoms in FS 36118 dark (gunship) grey over FS36270 medium grey camouflage scheme.   The individual machines are as follows.

68-557 of the 190th Fighter Squadron, 124th Fighter Wing.  Her markings comprise:

• Shark mouth (with a flashy gold tooth) and 'eyes' for the nose
• "Last three" of the serial for the forward facing nose gear door.  This decal is actually 7557 and I don't know the significance of the first numeral 7
• Crew names for the canopy rails
• Outstanding Unit Award ribbon with four clusters (the clusters are a separate decal) for the sides of the intakes.
• WW unit identifier with the aircraft serial number in grey as a one piece decal
• Tail art comprising the Idaho with stylized mountains
• Stencil style national insignia
• Data block
• A complete set of slime lights

69-232 of the 561st Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Wing.  The supplied markings comprise: 

• Artwork of a cartoon weasel for the splitter plate with the letters YGBSM (you gotta be s******* me)
• Crew names for the canopy rails
• "Last three" of the serial for the forward facing nose gear door. 
• 561st Fighter Squadron shields for the port intake a 57th Fighter Wing shield for the starboard side
• TAC shields for the fin
• Black and yellow checkers for the fin top with the squadron insignia incorporated into the centre of each.
• WA unit identifier with the aircraft serial number in grey as a one piece decal
• Stencil style national insignia
• Data block
• A complete set of slime lights

69-7295 of the 561st Fighter Squadron 57th Fighter Wing.  The supplied markings are:

• Shark mouth and 'eyes'
• Crew names for the canopy rails
• "Last three" of the serial for the forward facing nose gear door. 
• 561st Fighter Squadron shields for the port intake and a 57th Fighter Wing shield for the starboard side
• TAC shields for the fin
• Black and yellow checkers for the fin top (this time they are without with the squadron insignia)
• WA unit identifier and 561 FS in grey with a thin black outline for the fin
• Small AF697295 serial number in grey for the forward part of the fin
• A smaller rendition of the cartoon weasel/YGBSM artwork on a shield for both sides of the rudder
• Stencil style national insignia
• 1963 PHAREWELL 1996 titles for both sides of the fuselage in white
• A bowing cartoon "spook" with the words "USAF PHANTOMS END OF AN ERA" in grey for both sides of the fuselage.
• Data block
• A complete set of slime lights

Stencil data is sparse but the main and visible items are supplied for each aircraft. 

The decals have been printed in Italy by Cartograf and are really superb.  Absolutely everything is in perfect register even the complicated TAC and unit shields.  The whites appear to be dense enough to survive application over the gunship grey and there is a minimum of decal film surrounding each subject.

The placement guide is the standard A-4 sized sheet that shows colour full left hand side profiles and right hand side profiles of the nose of each option.  There are also plan views of the upper and lower surfaces.

The decal sheet and placement guide are packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag. 

The recommended kits are the Hasegawa and Esci ones.  If you decide to use either of these kits be aware that they have been around for a long time and depict early-build
F-4Gs.  All the options depict machines in their final year of service and as such may be different from what is in the kit box.  References and photographs of these machines abound.  Do a quick Google before you start construction so you can get it right. 

If, like me, you can never get enough Phantom sheets for your stash do yourself a favour and go and grab this one.  It provides excellently printed decals for three complete machines on a single sheet and is well worth the money. 

Recommended.

Thanks to AeroMaster / Eagle Strike Products for the review sets

On-line sales are available from the AeroMaster Products / Eagle Strike Productions web site.
 

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2004 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 03 November, 2004
Last updated 03 November, 2004

Back to HyperScale Main Page