1/72 Hasegawa F-4D Phantom II

by Michael Riedel

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Used to be my first model where I tried to add some detail.  It is famous tailnumber 463 of the 555. TFS, 432. TRW.  This jet was the highest scoring aircraft of the US Forces in Vietnam. It ended up with 6 killmarks on it's splitter plate at the end of the Vietnam war. I built this model in 2000.  Decals where from Superscale's Mig Killer Sheet, but only the tailcodes, numbers and crew names were used since this sheet was already very old, the rest came from FOX-1 F-4C Gunfighter and the kit decal sheet.  Actually the configuration is a little bit wrong, but I didn't know then.  The killmarks are painted the way the aircraft returned on the 28. August '72 when the Pilot Cpt. Steve Ritchie got his 5th kill. But on that mission he jettisoned all his external tanks and launched all 4 AIM-7E-2's. The following night, the Stars where repainted in a different manner, so the jet never appeared in this way of config. and killmarks.  Besides that all the Combat Tree F-4D where carrying a noise ALQ-87 ECM-pod under the right wing pylon and a deception ALQ-101 ECM pod under the left wing pylon. The Cutting Edge Decal sheet also got that wrong!  I put AIM-9E's on the PHANTOM since I destroyed the AIM-9J's ( which should be there) while trying to correct the thickness of the fins. The AIM-9s and ECM-pods are from the HASEGAWA weapons set. The AIM-7's where taken from FUJIMI F-14 kits and the RBF-flags were from REHEAT. Seats and Photo edged parts are from Verlinden.

Click on images below to see larger images

To add a little bit realism the ailerons where drooped, the rudder offset, the speedbrakes slightly opened and the left tip of the external wing tank was painted in a slightly lighter green and a little bit different pattern than the other tanks.

For 5 years now, I've thought about building this jet again, with all the minor things corrected, but you know, once you've got little kids....

Michael

Photos and text © by Michael Riedel