Italeri 1/48 RF-4B Conversion

The Italeri 1/48 F-4E kit is a retool or rebox of the old ESCI kit though it looks to have gone through an upgrade with fairly fine recessed panel lines and relatively good fit. The wing assembly attachment to the fuselage was a good tight fit. The only issue encountered is that the old ESCI molding split the forward fuselage just behind the intakes. Italeri appear to have ammended that by splicing the molds together bit as a consequence there is a nasty seam line to take care off before assembling the intakes. Most of the issues I encountered were self inflicted by having to remove the lower segment of the forward fuselage in order to install the Paragon RF-4B conversion. Although the conversion is intended for the Hasegawa Phantoms, it fit surprisingly well to the Italeri mold.