[b-huj]

Without getting into too much technicalities regarding the different variants of the Phantom II, Herpa again disappoints with its newest "Death Angels" 1/200 model.

The marketing shots are overexposed, therefore hiding most of the detail. By taking the model out of the box, one will notice inmediately that the colorful livery does seem quite attractive, but a closer look will reveal that panel lines, yet again, are inconsistent, too wide and too deep.
The left and right "cheeks" are not symetric, the right side seems a bit shrunk.The entire nose area seems drooping. The cockpit canopy is simplified, and there the two canopies are flush with the overall cockpit line, which is completely misrepresenting the Phantom. The inlet lip is also a mere featureless (and a bit oversized maybe) plastic sheep, the inlet itself is a bit blown up.
Moving towards the back, the most prominent dorsal antena is missing, and again the panel lines are inconsistent. The engine exhausts are a bit on the thick side, with feathers a bit too simple, but do seem to have been built with the downwards angle taken into consideration. The tailfin is missing some details too, but it is well camuflaged by the colorful livery.

Moving to the belly of the model, one will be struck at the simplicity of the tooling. The nose gear is 1-piece, no separate pieces for the side door, front door and strut. This sacrifices a great deal of detail when compared to the other manufacturers models. The plastic intake connects poorly to the metal body of the mold, leaving a huge gap that the white paint cannot hide (there is no happy livery down here). The armament in general is poorly molded, pylons are huge and oversimplified. Again, the panel carving here is dramatic and there is some flashing on the seamlines. Main landing gear is also quite simple, missing almost every detail except the black tyres. The weel compartments are qute shallow compared to the Hogan test-mold, which surprisingly goes quite deep into the not-so thick wing.

Sockingly, the arrestor hook is molded on the fuselage, and not a separate piece, and given the "classic herpa 1/500" horizontal stabilizer arrangement, the arrestor hook is cut in half and the mold is "rounded" at the edges, making it look rather silly. Again, it is 1/200, it is a small model, but both Hogan and WAC/Gulliver achieved a better effect here with a separate piece. Separate pieces require assembly, which impacts QC and costs...Herpa always taking the shortcut since their F-104! The panel "lines" at the rear end of the model are quite thick, as in the rest of the model. A closer look at Hogan and WAC/Gulliver (not pictured yet) will reveal the intricate "bug's butt" structure, of overlapping metal rings (yes, 1/200 model!!) in a stepped slope.

In the heft department, Hogan's test mold is quite heavy, while the Herpa one is quite light (wonder if they use the same kind of metal. Overall, the WAC model (earliest of the 3, released some years ago), has the most imprinted details (amazingly intricate and I imagine very expensive), The cockpit frame of the WAC model is one piece and does not have the frames molded, also missing the detail that Hogan did capture. I am a bit confused as to what is the exact shape of the nose area, WAC's model is quite thin on the cheeks, the Herpa one is ovbiously mishappen and cannot be used as reference, my Hobby Master 1/72 F-4 is also a bit on the thin side...but images of the real Phantom reveal a round profile that Hogan's version seems to have achieved.

I will leave you with the pictures of the Herpa F-4J and the Hogan development mold, in primer only.

[b-huj]

more pictures for your reference.

[b-huj]

last of the newest 2 and some of the Gulliver/WAC version...did not take all the pictures of the WAC version as I wanted because the light was gone and it the model is quite dark compared to the other two...you can still see that the Japanese version is filly decorated with warnings all over, but also has the gap between plastic part for the intake and main metal body.

[Big Stick]

Bring on Hogan!! They are definitely so much better!!

[b-huj]

Here we are again with pictures of the 3 models, nose profile of Herpa, Hogan and Gulliver/WAC in that order. The WAC is a different version, the F-4J and F-4B made by Herpa and Hogan respectively should have the same radome and nose area profile, but the models are quite different.

[b-huj]

Overall of the WAC/Gulliver version, unfortunately, the paint is quite dark, and the lighting conditions today are just as poor as yesterday.
Hopefully you still get an idea of how intricate the printed details are on this one.

[Gambit]

When can we expect these new Hogans?

Who has the best prices for the Hogans in the US?

[Tapemeister]

Originally Posted by Gambit

When can we expect these new Hogans?

Who has the best prices for the Hogans in the US?

In all goes according to plan, late Sept to early Oct. Not sure who has the best price, where are you located at?

[Gambit]

I live in Calgary, Canada

I'd like to buy from a store in California as it only takes 7 days to get here by stagecoach.

Anything east of the Rockies usually takes 4 weeks!

[Tapemeister]

Originally Posted by Gambit

I live in Calgary, Canada

I'd like to buy from a store in California as it only takes 7 days to get here by stagecoach.

Anything east of the Rockies usually takes 4 weeks!

Give Burbank House of Hobby (in LA) a try.