For the F-4E, the system was fit to all surviving US aircraft starting from serial number 71-0224. This is also the first aircraft to get the Target Identification System Electro-Optic (TISEO) applied to it from the factory.

For the RF-4C, the system was fit to most all the surviving US aircraft in the later production blocks. There was not any real pattern to which aircraft got the upgrade, so watch your reference when deciding if you wish to use the upgrade on any given RF-4C model.

The easiest defining attribute to the ARN-101 fit is the diamond-shaped, aerodynamically clean LORAN antenna on the aircraft spine. This antenna is located about halfway between the back of the rear cockpit and the front of the vertical tail. To go with the LORAN antenna are a number of smaller dimple and blade antennae. Rounding out the fit are a slew of static discharge whiskers located on the wings and tail.

The set provides many of the needed updates to accomplish the ARN-101 upgrade on the airframe.

• the LORAN antenna for the spine
• a new para-brake door with refined dimple antennae
• assorted blade antennae
• a new turtle-deck for behind the rear cockpit with associated antennae
• a replacement left wing root leading edge with a TISEO camera fit (this is for F-4E updates, only)
• NOT provided are any of the static discharge whiskers

The "Up" Side

• Shapes, sizes, and contours on all the pieces look really good.
   
• The TISEO camera detail inside the wing fairing is exceptional.

The "Down" Side

• There is some tricky cutting of the kit required to use the TISEO piece. It follows panel lines of the kit, but the lines are not all straight and easy. Getting a perfect fit with only panel line edges (and no filler) will be most difficult.
   
• The instructions are incomplete at pointing out all the locations of the static discharge whiskers. They show the ones on the vertial tail surfaces, but they ignore the ones on the horizontal tails and wings.
   
• The modeler needs to figure out how to cover the TISEO camera fairing with a clear window.
   
• This is subjective, but the relative worth of the set is diminished by the fact that these pieces are mostly all available now through the various Hasegawa Phantom releases. The RF-4 kits provide the LORAN antenna and all the F-4E kits provide the TISEO. The turtle-deck with its associated antennae come in all the USAF releases (F-4C/D/E/F/G). Some thin styrene sheet could make all the blade antennae for a mere fraction of the cost.
   

• one F-15-style fuel tank (split into two pieces)
• the two bellow hard-points where the tank attaches to the Phantom centerline
• minor detail pieces for the pivot-point on the back end of the tank
• attachment details (instructions show them, my set did not have them)

The "Up" Side

• Many Hasegawa Phantom releases do not include this tank in the box. With this set, now you can add this detail to any Phantom kit.

The "Down" Side

• The inverse of the good point, many Hasegawa releases do have this detail in the box. Modelers need to buy and investigate the kits before just unconditionally buying this set.
   
• The two-part tank can be cumbersome to assemble. I have had other sets do this two-part style and it can be exceedingly hard to get just the right amount of slag removed from the pieces so that the two mate without producing a distorted tank. The fact that both pieces must be oriented exactly to each other will further compound the issue.
   
• There are sway bracing struts on the real tanks that are not captured in the set or mentioned in the instructions.

• station 2 and 8 pylons
• separate add-on flare and chaff dispensors for the rear ends of the pylons
• alternate Sidewinder missile rails (Aero-3B and LAU-7)
• alternate Sidewinder missile rail mounting points
• sway braces for the lower pylon where the ordnance attaches

The "Up" Side

• I have waited too long for these to be available. I hope to see US Navy style pylons in the future.
   
• The flare and chaff dispensors are correctly detailed with the dispensors installed. Every other set before (including KMC) has not gotten these dispensors correct.
   
• Alternate missile rails and mounting point so that the set will work for most any Phantom user. The instructions indicate which combinations go to what users.

The "Down" Side

Believe it or not, there is a down side to this set.

• The pylons do not have the large sway braces at the top of the pylons where they attach to the wing. All Hasegawa kits have these braces inappropriately molded to the lower side of the wing. They should be part of the pylons, not the wing, with about three quarters of an inch gap between them and the wing.
   
• On a pickier point, the pylons are identical, not handed for left and right. There are minor variations in the scribing and details that technically require a left side and right side, but what is present in the set will work.
   
• I am hoping it is just my set, but my sample came with two left side flare and chaff dispensor pieces and no right side ones. Anyone know how to get replacement parts from AirDOC?

• a replacement nose cone with varied IR sensor fairings (I know, only early F-4Cs had IR sensors, but the fairing remained even when the IR sensor was removed).
• a replacement forward nose wheel well door with appropriate Air Force details
• replace main wheels with Air Force style hubs
• a couple minor antennae for on the replacement nose wheel well door

The instructions state (correctly) that to do a full conversion, you will also need new horizontal tails, new engine exhausts, and new weapons pylons at stations 2 and 8. The instructions fail to mention you will also need a new cockpit.

The good news is that these other items are readily available from various manufactures, including AirDOC. AirDOC 48003 and 48010 (reviewed elsewhere in this posting) provide the tails and weapons pylons. Aires and Eagle Designs provide very nicely molded engine exhausts. KMC is the only company to date that I am aware of to have made the F-4C cockpit. Black Box is the only company to date that I am aware of to have made the F-4D cockpit.

The "Up" Side

• two underwing fuel tanks
• two underwing fuel tank pylons
• two sets of fins to attach to the rear ends of the fuel tanks

The "Up" Side

• Good castings.
   
• One-piece tanks assure true-ness of the tank, as averse to a two-piece style. This seems to only be true of the 1/48^th scale set. The instructions mention that the 1/32^nd scale set has two-piece tanks.

The "Down" Side

• I am not an expert, but I read a report from someone that the way the casting block is attached to the bottom of the tank eliminates the possiblity to detail this area (pipe endings and check valves). These seem easy enough to add, though.

• a replacement fuselage section with external refueling pipe
• a length of separate pipe tipped with the refueling probe

The "Up" Side

• The style of providing these pieces duplicates nicely the details of the real items.

The "Down" Side

• There is some tricky cutting of the kit required to use the pieces. The cuts follow panel lines of the kit, but the lines are not all straight and easy. Getting a perfect fit with only panel line edges (and no filler) will be most difficult.

• a LAU-7 missile rail
• a Sparrow missile well adapter and pylon
• assorted sway braces

The "Up" Side

• Good details
   
• Easy construction and installation.

The "Down" Side

• None

Across all the Hasegawa Phantom releases, there are two differnt sizes of horizontal tails. The earlier releases with raised scribing (slotted or un-slotted) have an undersized tail that is a bit smaller than it should be. The length of the trailing edge of the horizontal tail on a real Phantom is 99 inches. The raised scribing Phantom kits scale out to 96.5 inches. The difference in scale is about 1/16^th of an inch. This may not sound like much, but it is noticable.

When Hasegawa retooled and engraved various portions of the Phantom kits, they changed the tail size so that it was closer to correct at 98 inches. Unfortunately, they never engraved the un-slotted tails, so any kits (even new releases) of versions that need un-slotted tails get the slightly undersized, raised scribing tails.

Now, enter the after-market companies to try to fix the problem. KMC was first with a "fix". They took the already undersized, un-slotted, raised scribing tails and engraved them. Following the anatomy lesson above, they would have been better to start with an engraved, slotted tail and just cut off the slotts, sanding the leading edge back to an airfoil. This second approach is what AirDOC has done.

The problem is that AirDOC did not just stop there. They also removed the arrowhead shaped reinforcing plate from the top, middles of the tails. They are very few Air Force style Phantoms that lack this reinforcing plate. Thus, the usefulness of this update set is limited to only aircraft that do not have the reinforcing plate on them. These exist, but they are in the vast minority of airframes.

The best use of these tails is on early F-4B and F-4J airframes, before they were retro-fitted with slotted tails. Most all F-4C/D tails had the arrowhead reinforcing plate applied from the very beginning. Thus, these tails really are not F-4C/D tails. I can only hope that AirDOC releases another set with the arrowhead plates. If they do, I hope also that they realize that the arrowheads were on the bottom of the tail as often as not and provide tails with arrowheads on both sides. Until then...

The set provides the following pieces.

• two horizontal tails

The "Up" Side

• The tails are closer to the correct size than the old KMC pieces.

The "Down" Side

• Having no arrowhead reinforcing plates limits their usefulness.
   
• No instructions. Anyone that can not figure this set out should not be modeling in the first place, but having an instruction sheet could outline some of the limitations of the pieces as I have stated in this posting.

Recommended -- If you have need of tails without the reinforcing plates, go for it. For my own uses, I will not buy many more copies of this set and instead will keep cutting off slots from engraved, slotted tails. I will also continue to hope for AirDOC to release a followup set.