To lead off, I will say this is the most well-engineered kit I have built in any scale! Design and fit are amazing, requiring only a few swipes of 600 grit paper at the joints. I will be using one of the options from the out-of-print Yankee Air Pirates sheet.
I basically shook the box and the cockpit and majority of the fuselage are done:
The wing molding allows you to “droop” the flaps with a few light cuts, super easy!
Moving ahead on the build, I primed the splitter vanes and some seams with Gunze Light Gull, then attached the intakes and inner wing tops. Awesome fit all around!
Wings, nose, and fuselage are complete, starting to spray all the white areas and parts. So much white 
Took a break from airbrushing and painted up the Wolfpack seats. Need to tune up the yellow/black on the rings, but these are a nice improvement over the kit seats.
Looking very good, great progress 
After completing the seats, it’s back to spraying white paint! I blocked in the trailing wing areas (to be masked) and also got a first coat on the centerline tank, pylons, and Sparrows…
Couple more spray sessions with some silly putty masking, and the light gull and white are done! Black anti-glare and corroguard leading edges are next.
Nose and anti-glare are masked and ready for black paint. I also worked on stripes for the Sidewinders and Sparrows (Med cruise loadout).
how are you finding the assembly of this kit?
The design, parts breakdown, and fit are all amazing. If you build 1/72, you owe it to yourself to get one of these Fine Molds Phantoms.
I am once again masking, this time for the corroguard and natural metal areas.
Assembly and detail painting of landing gear, doors and Sidewinders while the gloss clear cures on the fuselage…
Navy F-4s require so much masking!
But the results are worth it; once the corogard edges dry (Vallejo Aluminum) it’s time for decals 
You have to do something to keep the idle hands business on a cruise.
good luck withall those decals.
I saw a quote the other day that said:”If you ever run out of reading material get yourself an American aircraft” 
