Jens

This are going slowly at the moment. I have finished applying the decals to the cockpits though. Jens

I have more than 1,200 pictures of Spangdahlem F-4Gs on my computer, plus a database of F-4 Phantom pictures from books and magazines (with more than 500 F-4G pictures registered), and my conclusion is that 69-7566 was rather camera shy (especially in the Euro I scheme). 69-0269 does appear in a few photos, but not from ODS, and 69-7234 is mostly seen during its time at AMARC or as a drone. I would be more interested in whether some markings were overpainted like they were on some Hill grey F-4Gs. I am not sure they would have been heavily weathered, but I bet they were dusty. Jens

Nice progress Pappy! The finish on those stores is awesome. Jens

Another small update. I have been working on the two cockpits today, and the decals are drying as we speak. Here is some of the smaller things I have been working on. The holes in the rear end the landing gear fairings have been filled and sanded. The same goes for the holes underneath the wing tips. The position light has also been removed, and the resulting hole has been filled and sanded. The part still on the sprue is the tail cone. I have added the rear RHAW sensor from the 3D Wolf set. The fit was perfect, aided by the rivets on the kit showing the outline. One of the two pylons fitted with LAU-88 and AGM-65 has been assembled, and last but not least the engine pods are taking shape. Jens

Going through the Don Logan A-10 pictorial history I have found that airframes up to and including at least 77-0222 had the wing tips with low light position. Also, some of these airframes are seen in 1980/81 with the high position light, so that does indicate that it has something to do with the chaff/flare dispensers. The mail man has brought me these: Anyway, I have been working on the engine pods, wings and some pylons and stores. I will get a bit further with them tomorrow when Phantom726 is going to visit me. Jens

Just a small update. I painted the charcoal grey tonight. I did have some unexpected issues with my compressor but I managed to get the model painted anyway. I was rather surprised the grey areas are so few and so small. I never noticed that before. Jens

It looks like it needs an entire correction set for the aft fuselage. Something is off; either the fuselage is too fat, exhaust to pointed, or a combination. Jens

Tonight I painted the last few bits black followed by the lighter green of the pattern. This is by far my favourite part of scale modelling, and I can spend hours in front of the paint booth. Jens

It could be 80-0194 as it was on strength with the Flying Tigers at one point. Jens

Don't you have a part form a real F-16 too? 🤔 Jens

Nice progress! May I ask how you're going to get a smooth paint job around the engines? I have left mine off initially because I'm afraid I will get rough or inconsistent paint in those areas. Jens

Despite my A-10C and my two JAWS A-10As have taken up most of my modelling time I have had the chance to give most of my A-10A a black base. A few parts were added after the black base so I will have to give it another go. That's not a problem though, as I tend to black base my kits when I have to paint black anyway. I a really looking forward to painting this one in the European I scheme. Jens

Update: The wheel wells have been painted, and both nose wheel bays have been glued to their respective fuselage half. The wings are ready to be assembled. Speaking of wings... I have been working on the wing tip modifications. Since I won't be able to mask those tiny lights anyway I figured I might just as well take the harder route of gently removing the moulded lights, clean them up and relocate them. The lower left wing tip has had its light removed and a small piece of scrap plastic inserted instead. That's all for now. Jens

AK makes an FS36373. The others should be available too. Jens

There is a picture of BuNo 153026 in Colors & Markings of the U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom, Part II - Pacific Coast Squadrons, C&M vol. 22 (Bert Kinzey & Ray Leader) (Detail & Scale Publications). It wear modex 203 instead of 200 though. I have a couple of pictures of 153026 as NH 200. The one matching the profile is from the starboard side, and it has a red badge on the splitter plate too. Otherwise it looks like the profile. Jens