Red Pills Models F-4B

[Marcel111]

Red Dog, that's a very nice Tamiya Tomcat nose!

 

As a reminder, here's a magnified shot of the equivalent Tamiya nose. From what I'm seeing, I won't be able to get the Red Pill model to this standard since the surface detail is too coarse.

 

 

I'm really disappointed. Small producers like ICM with their AH-1 are able to produce kits with beautiful surface detail. In case any manufacturer is reading this, the things that me and my modeller buddies in general find by far the most important when we build models are (1) Accuracy (a) Shape (b) Surface detail and (2) Surface detail refinement. All the bells and whistles stuff is secondary since we can handle that ourselves and/or it will be handled by the AM guys. Coarse surface detail is really a deal breaker since the only way to fix it is to fill the detail and re-scribe.   

 

At the price offered, I'd expect the quality of the kit to be at Tamiya Corsair level, not this.

 

Cheers,

Marcel

Edited May 8 by Marcel111

[Tony T]

13 hours ago, Marcel111 said:

...

At the price offered, I'd expect the quality of the kit to be at Tamiya Corsair level, not this.

 

Cheers,

Marcel

 

In the ideal world, but Tamiya aren't making a 1:32 F-4B as far as we know. A real shame. But Red Pill is. 

 

Use of filler is anticipated, to lose some of the die-cast look. Frankly, I'm not sure we need to be seeing any panel lines on a 1:32 F-4 nose apart from the refuelling probe cover and dielectric panels. Just paint.

 

Tony 

[Breaker]

I'm at work and skimmed through the thread - Just to confirm, there's no proper cockpit included it's just 3D decals? Might be a deal breaker for me, I hate the things. 

[Dave Roof]

3 hours ago, Breaker said:

I'm at work and skimmed through the thread - Just to confirm, there's no proper cockpit included it's just 3D decals? Might be a deal breaker for me, I hate the things. 

 

I believe that is the case. Looking at the sprue shots, the instrument panels and side consoles appear to be smooth. Yeah, I'm not a fan either and prefer to paint the details. 

[Breaker]

Irritating to say the least then. Price doesn't bother me, I can understand it's going to be high, same as Jetmads and I've had 5qty~ of their jets. 

 

I was intending to get one as support for the later models but between me 'whinging' about panel line quality and and the lack of a standard cockpit, I think I'll stick Tamiya + AM for now. 

[DugyB]

On 5/8/2025 at 12:58 PM, Tony T said:

RPM's not much different from JetMads really, giving us something new that we want. But why does a 3DP kit justify arm & a leg prices whereas 'mere plastic kits' should be as cheap as chips? The tooling for "proper kits" is massively expensive; if anything, surely it should be the other way around!?

   I'm aware of the pile-it-high sell-it-cheap plastic clothespegs argument, but we are in a new reality of more select subscriber kits in 1:32, and if JetMads put out a 'proper' plastic styrene Draken, Streak or Viggen I would have jumped in with both feet even at £290/€340 each (but I don't pay high prices just to sting my eyes with an all-cyanoacrylate-glued kit — where on earth is the pleasure there?) 

 

There seems to exist large stashes of Tamiya Phantoms dulling enthusiasm but we don't have an OOB B in 1:32 and the Es, the only Tamiyas which have a pretty good nose shape, are apparently no longer in production. With Tamiya all but gone, RPM may do well to issue the late F-4E 2020 Terminator version next, which will be popular at home and abroad. 

I'll hang on and hope that they make a J. 

 

Tony 

…….. and a C, and a D, ….. and a G ….. 

[DugyB]

This thread got me thinking, I wonder how many of us has sunk a bit good coin on a, or any model, to then continue to sink another chunk of change/coin on after market parts and accessories which sometimes have come close too, or even surpassed the price of the model. And then not even blinked an eye.  I’ll wait and see how this fella builds up, I think it’ll build up to an impressive model, hope I’m not proven wrong.  

Edited May 9 by DugyB

[Dave Roof]

1 hour ago, DugyB said:

This thread got me thinking, I wonder how many of us has sunk a bit good coin on a, or any model, to then continue to sink another chunk of change/coin on after market parts and accessories which sometimes have come close too, or even surpassed the price of the model. And then not even blinked an eye.  I’ll wait and see how this fella builds up, I think it’ll build up to an impressive model, hope I’m not proven wrong.  

 

There is a difference between buying a single kit for $400 and spending $150 for a kit, then adding aftermarket that surpasses the price of the kit, or the price of the more expensive kit. Aftermarket isn't "needed", and it all doesn't have to be purchased at one time.

[Tony T]

Well, if you can persuade Red Pill to issue a vanilla edition, good luck. I'd buy an all-up B and J plus an 'overtree' J. Trouble is, I don't see any plastic legs (or tyres, are those vinyl-rubber?) so you'd need to source landing gear as well as cockpit instruments.

 

3 hours ago, DugyB said:

…….. and a C, and a D, ….. and a G ….. 

 

Have still got some really spectacular Eagle Strike, Cutting Edge and Caracal decal sheets for SEA camo and ANG 16473 Gray F-4C/D schemes. And Hill Gray II F-4Gs, if you mean the Weasel version. Would love to build a couple of these.

 

Tony 

[32scalelover]

When I am looking at the sprues, I am seeing the intake trunks split in half just like the Tamiya ones.  If I am looking at it correctly these will be as big a pain to get smooth and will need to be replaced by seemless ones just like I have for my Tamiya kits.  Or am I missing something??

 

Greg

[csavaglio]

Buying a fully restored car (red pill) is almost always cheaper than buying a project (tamiya), but the sticker shock of a restored car is pretty off putting for many, while the prospect of metering out money/effort into a project car spread over time is much more attainable and justifiable. 

 

In the end, you still usually have to put more money and effort into a car, even if was restored (preferred cockpit, intakes, non rubber tires, etc).

 

Honestly, the shapes on the Tamiya kits don't bother me $400 much and after seeing a built, uncorrected revell by one of our members here in person a few weeks ago, the horrors in the box are much less noticeable on the completed kit.  A B isn't unique enough to justify the cost, or I'd have a CE conversion in the stash by now. 

 

Another analogy, for the pure pure purpose of making sure the horse is dead, there's a reason the flipped house down the street that was fully renovated took 10x longer to sell... It was priced 30% higher than any house in the neighborhood had ever sold for.  The owners ended up getting it marked way down (sprue bros lightning sale ) and they've been putting money in it ever since they moved in. 

 

If you're going by pure monetary value in the box, Tamiya Cs and Js are pretty readily available for around $100 without scouring swap meets and such where I routinely see them even cheaper, so even after your choice of cockpit, intakes, wheels, and exhausts, you've still got plenty in the budget left for however far you want to go. 

 

I wish them the best of luck, but I think the sticker shock is a problem. 

 

Also, like that restored car, I'll prob end up with one when the perfect storm of the right deal, mood, and disposable income hits. Because I have zero self control. Please see my 57 Fairlane, empty bank accounts, and busted knuckles for reference. 

 

 

[Grunticus]

21 minutes ago, csavaglio said:

Honestly, the shapes on the Tamiya kits don't bother me $400 much and after seeing a built, uncorrected revell by one of our members here in person a few weeks ago, the horrors in the box are much less noticeable on the completed kit.  A B isn't unique enough to justify the cost, or I'd have a CE conversion in the stash by now. 

 

 

 

 

I agree. There really isn´t that much wrong with the Revell kit, it certainly does not deserve the amount of flak it gets online for the nose, seat heights, and gear. All easily 'corrected', cheaply. The Red Pills kit looks good but I would have to see detailed high-res sprue shots and see a build thread to form an objective opinion on it. And I probably will not fork out €3-400 for it, even if it turns out to be as spectacular as anticipated....I think 😎

 

Edited May 10 by Grunticus
Added opt-in for still buying it

[Tony T]

Lovely looking 32nd TFS F-4E Grunticus. Beautiful finish. 

Where are the decals from? I'm interested in doing a FY68 hard wing E with Falcons, but need the CR codes, Wolfhounds insignia and maybe 17th AF badge too. 

 

Re: RPM F-4B, we've yet to see the plastic trees and a complete build, tyres and the decal options. A lot of variables yet. No dead horses as far as I can see; more like a game of chicken and I'm still full throttle.  

 

Remember €340 looks to be the pre-order price. Even then, I'm guessing €110 extra with import VAT and postage to the land-of-UK. I seem to be in the small group of the committed surrounded by sceptics, but Cold War jets are my thing. 

F-4B, Hunter T.7 and Meteor F.8 all this year. Pretty amazing, if expensive.

 

Tony

[Lee White]

8 hours ago, 32scalelover said:

When I am looking at the sprues, I am seeing the intake trunks split in half just like the Tamiya ones.  If I am looking at it correctly these will be as big a pain to get smooth and will need to be replaced by seemless ones just like I have for my Tamiya kits.  Or am I missing something??

 

Greg

Hi Greg, I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but it may be helpful for those with Tamiya Phantoms, and perhaps even the RP kit when it comes out- A now-departed LSP member named Ruzlkampf built a F-4S from the Tamiya kit, and devised an ingenious method for turning the kit parts into seamless intakes. I tried it, it works. Check out his build thread for more info.

 

Edit: Found the build thread-

 

 

Edited May 10 by Lee White

[John1]

2 hours ago, Lee White said:

Hi Greg, I don’t mean to hijack this thread, but it may be helpful for those with Tamiya Phantoms, and perhaps even the RP kit when it comes out- A now-departed LSP member named Ruzlkampf built a F-4S from the Tamiya kit, and devised an ingenious method for turning the kit parts into seamless intakes. I tried it, it works. Check out his build thread for more info.

 

Edit: Found the build thread-

 

 

I used his technique as well, it works great and saves a significant amount of $. 

Edited May 10 by John1