1/32 Tamiya Hellenic Air Force F-4E

 by Thanos Mentzelopoulos

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This was my first attempt to model a big scale F-4E and the whole enterprise took place about ten years ago. Sorry for the poor quality of the photographs, for they are scanned, because the model now resides at my cousin's living room, who happens to be an F-4E pilot himself!  Well, the model had an excellent fit and overall detail quality, very good clear parts, and an amazing load of weapons, from which I chose the most usual one for the "Defenders of the Aegean" Hellenic Phantoms.  I chose the Aegean blue camouflage scheme because of the level of weathering these machines suffer from! Sometimes it can get even worse than what you see here. 

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No resin or photo-etched parts were used during the construction process. I opened the air-conditioning panels on the right side under the cockpit and added all the internal detail, according to photos of the real thing. The model was painted with Humbrol enamel colours (Aegean blue on the upper surfaces and Aluminium under the wings and the fuselage) because at that time I had not "discovered" the Model Masters range of metalizers. The Hellenic Air Force decals come from the Plastimodelismo decal sheet and the "ΠΑ" signs on the nose were brush-painted. After painting, the model was given a dark wash, some panels were resprayed with a lighter shade of Aegean blue and specific areas even dry-brushed, while oil and other hydraulic leaks were represented with dry pastels. 

Certain details of the excellent cockpit and the open panels.  Yes, the F-4E is quite a big model!!!  You can also check out my other H.A.F. F-4E in the "Hill Grey II" camouflage scheme! 

Thanos 

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Photos and text © by Thanos Mentzelopoulos