RESKIT F-4 Sidewinders, Sparrows, Pylons unboxed 1/32

[CANicoll]

Hi folks,  For my Twins Group build of the Tamiya F-4 Phantom II I ordered some Reskit parts to spruce up the build.  This is the unboxing of those bits.  More will be posted in the WIP thread here.  I ordered three of the Reskit bits for my build:  The 3D Printed USAF Inboard Pylons for the F-4, RS-320446, AIM-9L Sidewinder Missiles, RS-2-0236, and the AIM-7E Sparrow III Missles.  Pylons are two to a box and the Missiles are four to a box. 

All three came in very sturdy Cardboard boxes: packed tightly with foam inside:

The Sparrows are so long they barely fit in the box - I can't close the box again after I opened it.

AIM-7E Sparrow III Missiles

Each Missile is 9 resin parts (missile body, 8 separate fins) along with a PE fret for the missile rocket opening.  In a nice touch the PE fret has an extra missile end.

Two different paint options are provided - all white, and white and grey.  23 stencils and color bands on EACH MISSILE!?!

Also included is a decal sheet for the stencils as well as the colored bands.  Interestingly, the writing of the missile type is skewed, but the rest of the decals look fine.  The clear film seems a little thick.

The resin parts are finely cast and the fins are razor thin.  LOTS of work to be had separating all of these pieces from the bases.  

The missile bodies have nicely molded recessed places for the fins with clear differences in the mounting points to prevent errors.  Should also keep alignment straight.  The noses of the Sparrow missiles are very sharp, too much so and will need to be trimmed back a little bit - but it shows the high level of detail possible.

 

AIM-9L Sidewinder Missiles

Each Missile is 9 resin parts (missile body, 8 separate fins), with two separate resin nose options - a clear lens and a protective (?) cap,  along with a PE fret for the missile rocket opening, no extras this time, but with PE tabs for the rear fin.  And a decal sheet with stencils as well as color bands.

The missile bodies again showing where the fins are placed.  Alignment should not be an issue.

Showing how thin the fins really are.  They are also somewhat translucent they are so thin.  I forgot to take a picture of the front fins, sorry!

Clear lens option as well as protective caps?  Those metal tabs are going to be a chore to get attached the side of the rear fins.

 

USAF Inboard Pylons - 3D Printed

Each pylon is 3d Printed, but still comes with two options for with or without the AN/ALE-40. The challenge will be to separate the parts from the 3D Printing bases.  Fortunately, Reskit has a video on YouTube to show you how!

And here is the ubiquitous stencil sheet, with a penny for size.  I'm going to go blind with all these stencils... These look to be printed differently from the missile decals - I don't see any clear film on this decal sheet.

Incredible detail!  The removal of all the 3D Printing supports looks to be daunting, but the video shows it is pretty easy, just take your time and be VERY sure what you are cutting.  I wonder how well the pieces will sand.  Next I'll get the kit styrene parts to put next to the 3D printed parts to compare the detail and we will see if they are worth the time, effort and cost.  They look pretty good though!!

 

Comments are welcomed!

Edited May 19 by CANicoll
Update

[mark31]

The reskit stuff is just great.

To remove the supports just take your time.

About the decals mine where thin on the sidwinders and harms with a bit of decal setting no problem at all.

 

Mark

[BlrwestSiR]

Those look very nice indeed Chris. I have some of the Eduard middles and the one I don't like about them is they cast the fins integral with the middle body but you then have a sizable casting lug to cut off. I ended up breaking a few of the fins off doing so. The separations on the Reskit ones make much more sense from that point. 

Carl

[CANicoll]

Carl, I agree with you.  It will be a lot of work, but makes a lot more sense to cut at the attachment lug.  I'm looking forward to freeing up the pylons too.

[GusMac]

I've bought the Sidewinders and Sparrows for my Viggen build and they do look excellent. As you say, the stencils look a little intimidating though.

[Martinnfb]

Reskit is the top at the moment, thank you for the review Chris.

[CANicoll]

You are welcome, Martin!

[CANicoll]

Here is the comparison of the kit pylon to the 3D printed Reskit one:

And a close up of the front of the pylon:

And a not great picture of the actual pylon.  The Reskit does have the rivet pattern but it might be a bit overdone.

 

[CANicoll]

Freed the weapons pylons from their 3D printed frames.  I found three tools very useful in separating the part from the 3D printer links:

Xuron 9180 PE sheers (right side of photo), nippers, and a knife with an #11 blade.  Where the Xuron scissors don't fit, the #11 blade does a nice job on the thin connections.

The #11 blade does a good job of cutting off any nubs (shaving) and then a final smoothing with a medium/fine grit sanding board.

So far so good!

[Landlubber Mike]

Those look really sweet Chris!