¹⁄48

F-4B Phantom II

history

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor aircraft/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it was also adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force, and by the mid-1960s had become a major part of their respective air wings.The Phantom has been called "World's Leading Distributor of MiG Parts".

the model

Here is my recently completed Hasegawa F-4B Phantom II in 1/48th scale. Although it is an older offering from Hasegawa, it builds up into a great representation of the mighty Rhino. I used a resin Black Box cockpit tub for the interior. I had robbed the seats from the set for another project years ago so I used some Verlinden resin Mk.7 seats instead. The Verlinden seats offered superb casting detail and really accented the Black Box tub.

construction

The build was straightforward and no issues were encountered. Since I was building an early F-4B I had to remove the second chin lobe from the radome sensor. Also, this F-4B did not have the ECM fairings on the fin cap. I had the appropriate fin cap in the spares box so I cut off the kit fin cap and replaced it with the right variety. Aires resin burner cans were also installed and the detail on those was simply excellent.

The model was then primed with Model Master Enamel Primer and any seam issues and blemishes were fixed.

painting

The plane was then painted with Model Master Flat Gull Gray for the top and Insignia White for the undersides. Now it was time for the weathering. The Osprey Publication, “U.S. Marine Corps Units of the Vietnam War” was used as a reference. Photos indicated very heavy weathering and wear from intense combat flying and harsh weather conditions. Also, these F-4’s had been passed from squadron to squadron so there was a lot of repainting and touching up going on. Post shading was applied to the underside using an old bottle of Polly Scale Dirty White. Post shading was applied to the Gull grey using a lightened tone of the original base coat. The afterburner area was treated with various tones from the Model Master Metalizer line. Overhead tarmac shots showed a lot of these planes did not have any walkways yet, so I did not paint any on the aircraft. Vallejo Dark Rubber was used to simulate the chipping and wear on the radome. Washes composed of Pledge Floor Wax and acrylic black paint were applied to the wheel bays and landing gear. Fluid leaks and stains were created using Burnt Umber and Raw Umber Oils. Once the weathering was done the plane was given a gloss coat of Pledge Floor Wax.

final touches

The ordnance for my F-4 consisted of Zuni rocket pods and Mk.82 Snakeye bombs. These came from a Hobbycraft A-4 kit. The Hobbycraft ordnance was nicely cast and uses a simple sway brace/pin system to mount the items.

decalling

The decals were then applied to the model. My intention was to depict an F-4B from VMFA-323 “Death Rattlers”, since I have always loved their markings. I had a CAM Decal sheet for one of their aircraft and it had a brown radome with the snake motif on the fuselage. However, there was another plane depicted in a color plate Osprey book, “#17”, which had a white radome and the snake motif on the tail. I decided I wanted to depict that one. I used generic Trumpeter numbers, which came from the new Skywarrior kit, to depict the correct serial number and nose number for my plane. The decals went on without any problems.

At this point all the sub assemblies were applied and the plane was given a flat coat of Testors Dull Lacquer which was thinned with Metalizer thinner. All in all, this was a fun build and I was glad to have another “Rattler” for my collection.