It seems that the
majority of people who build aircraft models either have or intend to complete a
kit of the F-4E Phantom II. After gaining inspiration from the
wonderful reviews of F-4E builds on ARC, I decided to finally try my hand at a
'Rhino'. And really, who can resist building one of the most famous
all-weather attack aircraft of the USAF...the look alone is enough to get the
modeling gears turning. I won't bother with historical context as this has
been covered very well in past reviews. I used Hasegawa's 1/48 F-4E
Phantom II kit for my build, which by the way is getting harder and harder to
find these days. Aftermarket items include Eagle Strike decals (#48150
Vietnam Warriors), True Details Resin Martin Baker MkH7 ejection seats, canopy
masks by EZ Masks from Canada and armament stores from Hasegawa 1/48
Aircraft Weapon Sets A, B and C. I admit that I'm a historical junkie of
American airpower during the Vietnam war and so decided to model my kit
after F-4E-35-MC Phantom II 67-308 'Betty Lou' of the 469th TFS based out of
Korat, Thailand in 1969.
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Overall the fit of
this kit is good and construction was straightforward with minimal filling
and sanding required. The cockpit was painted with both Flat Black and
Gunship Gray with washes and dry brushing to bring out the details. The
True Details resin seats are great and look superb when accents are applied.
Probably the most tricky part of the entire build was positioning the wings
correctly against the fuselage subassembly. This requires a three stage approach
of gluing the forward portion of the wing to the fuselage first, allowing it
dry and then progressing to the middle and finally aft section of the wing, with
sufficient drying time between the stages. Doing it this way avoids the
need for C-clamps or any other device to hold the two subassemblies together
while potentially denting or marring the surface from the clamps. I used
parts for the early F-4E (i.e. shorter gun barrel without the extra vents) not
the late version. After the main body of the aircraft was complete, I
focused my attention on constructing the underwing stores and landing gear.
As usual, most of my
time was spent painting and weathering the aircraft. Vietnam-era F-4Es had
notoriously filthy ventral surfaces and grimy and/or faded dorsal areas and this
kit would be no exception. I started by pre-shading all panel lines and
'shadow' areas with Flat Black. Wheel wells and the inside of the
wheel covers were given a light coat of Tamiya Flat White Primer followed by a
light mist of Tamiya Flat White. The wheel wells were masked and a
few fine mists of Tamiya Flat White Primer were then applied to the ventral
surfaces followed by a few light coats of Pollyscale U.S. Tactical Light Gray
(FS55394), focusing on panel centers. Where needed, particular areas were
masked with blue tack in preparation for the SEA camouflage scheme. I
first airbrushed two light coats of Dark Tan (FS30219) over much of the
dorsal surfaces followed by a lightened tint of 60% Dark Tan mixed with 40% U.S.
Tactical Light Gray applied to panel centers and random locations were
sun-bleaching would occur. My next step involved affixing handmade paper
stencil patterns with very small quantities of blue tack to mask off areas that
would remain Dark Tan. The distance between the paper stencil and the
model surface varies from 1/16" to 1/8". Positioning the paper
stencil at this distance from the model combined with about a 30 degree angle on
the airbrush spray creates a subtle 'feathered' look to the demarcation lines
that resemble 'free-hand' without having to do so. Again, two light coats
of Medium Green (FS34102) were applied followed by a lightened tint of 60%
Medium Green, 20% U.S. Tactical Light Gray and 20% Tamiya Flat Yellow applied to
panel centers and random locations. Additional paper stencils were affixed
to prepare the model for the final paint. You guessed it, another two
light coats of Dark Green (FS34079) followed by a lightened tint of 60% Dark
Green, 30% Flat Yellow and 10% U.S. Tactical Light Gray in panel centers and
random areas. Model Master Chrome Silver was applied randomly along
leading edges to simulate chipped paint. The entire kit was then given a
coat of Future and areas of the vertical stabilizers and aft fuselage section
were masked for application of Alcad II Aluminum, followed by White Aluminum and
Dark Aluminum to particular panels. The nose was painted Tamiya Flat
Black. Another coat of Future and the kit was ready for decals.
The decals were
great and adhered nicely with a few coats of Solvaset. Another coat of
Future and it was time for weathering. I first applied an acrylic Neutral
Gray wash to the ventral surfaces and an acrylic Flat Black wash to the dorsal
areas. A coat of Future and black and burnt sienna oils were used to
simulate leaks and grime. Varying shades of gray pastels were applied
after a coat of Future and Clear Flat. Another coat of Future (is this
starting to sound like a broken record...) and Tamiya Smoke was airbrushed over
the entire kit randomly. Flat Black was airbrushed to simulate exhaust
stains. Another coat of Clear Flat, more weathering with pastels and
finally I sealed the kit with two more coats of Clear Flat.
Oh but I wasn't done
yet...I wanted this bird to be fully loaded so after consulting my references, I
decked-out my kit with a nice combination of missiles and bombs typical of F-4Es
making sorties into North Vietnam in the late 1960s. I placed six Mk82 on
an MER along the centerline fuselage, three M117s on TERs for each wing,
three AIM-7 Sparrows and one ALQ-87 ECM pod. Painting and weathering all
of the underwing stores took about 1/3 the time I spent on the aircraft.
At this point, you may notice that the starboard underwing fuel tank is a
different shade of Medium Green than the rest of the aircraft. Underwing
fuel tanks for F-4s during the Vietnam war were interchanged among the different
aircraft on the base, so a set of underwing tanks were not necessarily assigned
to only one aircraft. Using this information and a bit of artistic license
I purposely changed the tint of the Medium Green of the starboard underwing
tank to represent one that may not have received quite the amount of
wear-and-tear that the aircraft itself had undergone. I think this makes
the kit look a bit more dynamic and realistic.
I finished the kit
with another light coat of Clear Flat, painted the oleo struts of the
landing gear Model Master Chrome Silver, the red lights with Tamiya Clear Red
and green lights with Tamiya Clear Green. I lost track of how much time I
spent on this kit, but it was well over 50 hours, mostly devoted to painting and
weathering. In summary, this was a great build of a great aircraft.
As always, thanks to all the many contributors of reviews to ARC. It's
nice to see other people's work that provides inspiration for many of us.
Eric
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