NontasB

Hi @cpoud117, Unfortunately the RF-4B is "officially" still in progress. Unofficial, I have not dealt with it since 2016-2017 and it is closed into a box with other unfinished projects. Someday I hope it will come up again at my bench, in companion with the other Phantoms that are in progress too. Nontas

Thank you Gene and jean for your nice words!! Next step in the build will be the pseudo-intakes and painting...I hope it will be nice at the end. Regards, Nontas

Thank you all for your nice words!! Regards, Nontas

Black Mamba and Billn53 thank you for your nice words!! Bill, I prefer to build the worst kits of my stash first for experience and later in my life to enjoy the greatest ones. 🙂 Regards, Nontas

Thank you all for your nice words.🙂 Mike thank you also for moving the thread to WIP. 🙂 Regards, Nontas

Dear administrators, By mistake I posted the QF-4E build under the Ready for Inspection section instead of In progress builds. Sorry for that... If you please tranfer it to the correct section, I would be grateful. Thanks, Nontas

Hello to all, Another one in progress build, another one Phantom and a vintage build. The kit was started in September of 2020. The inspiration was the last unmanned mission of the QF-4E version in 2016 https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/5065/the-phantastic-qf-4-phantom-full-scale-target-drone-takes-its-phinal-unmanned-phlight 000 by Nontas B, on Flickr 001 by Nontas B, on Flickr 002 by Nontas B, on Flickr 003 by Nontas B, on Flickr 004 by Nontas B, on Flickr 005 by Nontas B, on Flickr 006 by Nontas B, on Flickr 007 by Nontas B, on Flickr 008 by Nontas B, on Flickr 009 by Nontas B, on Flickr 010 by Nontas B, on Flickr 011 by Nontas B, on Flickr 012 by Nontas B, on Flickr 013 by Nontas B, on Flickr 014 by Nontas B, on Flickr To be continued... Nontas

Hello to all, Another one in progress build (in total there are 12...), this time is the F-4S Phantom in 1/72. I chose to start with the kit of Italeri instead of the one from Hasegawa because I wanted to experiment with this old kit and to scribe it, detail it etc etc. For the hasegawa double kits that I also have, there are in my stash a few aftermarket details (cockpits, exhausts etc), so, It will be far easier build when I"ll start with those ones. The inspiration photo is the following . https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Navy/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4S-Phantom-II/676821/L 000 by Nontas B, on Flickr 001 by Nontas B, on Flickr 002 by Nontas B, on Flickr 003 by Nontas B, on Flickr 004 by Nontas B, on Flickr 005 by Nontas B, on Flickr 006 by Nontas B, on Flickr 007 by Nontas B, on Flickr 008 by Nontas B, on Flickr 009 by Nontas B, on Flickr 010 by Nontas B, on Flickr 011 by Nontas B, on Flickr 012 by Nontas B, on Flickr 013 by Nontas B, on Flickr 014 by Nontas B, on Flickr 015 by Nontas B, on Flickr 016 by Nontas B, on Flickr 017 by Nontas B, on Flickr 018 by Nontas B, on Flickr 019 by Nontas B, on Flickr 020 by Nontas B, on Flickr 021 by Nontas B, on Flickr 022 by Nontas B, on Flickr 023 by Nontas B, on Flickr 024 by Nontas B, on Flickr 025 by Nontas B, on Flickr 026 by Nontas B, on Flickr 027 by Nontas B, on Flickr To be continued... Nontas

Hello to all, This model was started in September of 2019 after a 2 year hiatus of modelling. It was started as a good way to return to full scale modelling. My thought was to build a panther different that the usual blue ones. Hasegawa had out of the box the decals for the Advanced Training Unit 206 (ATY-206), so I started it immediately. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F9F_Panthers_of_ATU-206_at_NAS_Pensacola_1956.jpg G000E by Nontas B, on Flickr G001E by Nontas B, on Flickr G002E by Nontas B, on Flickr G003E by Nontas B, on Flickr G004E by Nontas B, on Flickr G005E by Nontas B, on Flickr G006E by Nontas B, on Flickr G007E by Nontas B, on Flickr G008E by Nontas B, on Flickr G009Ε by Nontas B, on Flickr G010E by Nontas B, on Flickr G011E by Nontas B, on Flickr G012E by Nontas B, on Flickr G013E by Nontas B, on Flickr G014E by Nontas B, on Flickr G015E by Nontas B, on Flickr G016E by Nontas B, on Flickr G017E by Nontas B, on Flickr G018E by Nontas B, on Flickr G019E by Nontas B, on Flickr G020E by Nontas B, on Flickr G021E by Nontas B, on Flickr G022E by Nontas B, on Flickr G023E by Nontas B, on Flickr G024E by Nontas B, on Flickr G025E by Nontas B, on Flickr G026E by Nontas B, on Flickr G027E by Nontas B, on Flickr G028E by Nontas B, on Flickr G029E by Nontas B, on Flickr G030E by Nontas B, on Flickr The model now is waiting for a nice opportunity to spray the white and the red. To be continued... Nontas

Thanks for the answer Giorgio. Indeed, black is the most common I guess to both Panthers and Cougars (specially to Cougars). Black is my intention to do , but I want to be sure. The real airplane that I'm building was transferred to Argentinian Navy and now is on display. What color would the plate be when it was at service? The plate seems heavy weathered in the following photo. USN BuNo 125116 - Argentinian Serial No 3-A-106 https://www.airfighters.com/photo/9464/L/Argentina-Navy/Grumman-F9F-2-Panther/0421/

Hello again One more question, since I haven't found the answer yet. The area behind the ejection seat headrest what color would it be in gull grey-white ERA? I have seen photos with interior green or black in dark sea blue ERA and grey (?) or black in grey-white ERA. If the cockpit was painted in the later dark gull grey with black consoles and instruments, the plate behind the headrest should be grey or black? I have read also that everything above the canopy line would be black (including the plate?) Also the ejection seat seems to be grey too and not with a black headrest as in the most photos that I have seen. The F9Fs that later transferred to Argentina had black headrests. ("My" Bureau Number is one that later transferred to Argentinian Navy) Anyone with an idea? Thanks in advance, Nontas

Thanks again for the answer. So I guess I will go for a dark gull gray cockpit and only the consoles panels in black. Nontas

Thanks for the answer. I am a huge fan of tailhooktopics.blogspot. It is one of the best sites ever for all enthusiasts of US Navy planes (like me). I have seen the specific photo. For a midnight blue bird before 1954-55 the colors are correct. For the later ERA of gull gray over white the colors were the same? I believe they changed to dark gull gray and black. I'll ask also at the blogspot if anyone knows.

Following my previous question about F9F-2 colors and as I have read the below topic and the http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com, I have a cockpit color question. In gull gray/white era (1956-1957) the cockpit in F9F-2 Panthers was dark gull gray and black. The instruments were definitely black. The cockpit side walls over the instruments were black? The cockpit side walls under the instruments were black? (left and right of the ejection seat) The back of the cockpit was black or grey? The floor of the cockpit was black most of it and grey up front? The ejection seat what color it was??? Most photos are with grey seat and black headrest. Or with the new rules that applied , the cockpit was painted dark gull gray and only the instruments were painted black? (like all the later jets) All photos I have find are from previous eras and cockpits are interior green/black. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance, Nontas

Thank you all for your answers and for the information provided. So, white it is for the wingfold. When the build is at a good stage, I will post photos. Thanks again, Nontas

Thanks again for the information Giorgio. Your help is much appreciated. My will is to paint the wingfold white. It is much easier during the painting process of the model and looks more familiar and correct with the rest of grey/white jets of the later era. But as you said things don't always work this way and maybe the wingfold remained in the previous colors in some birds.

First of all I would like to thank you Giorgio for you answer. Interior green is also an option and I guess it was the most common after an extra research that I have made. The Cougars indeed when they were painted in gull grey over white, had white wingfolds. The wheel wells had been painted white also. Aluminium wingfold is also an option for the Panthers. In photos of ATU-206 birds with folded wings (1 or 2 are all I have found) show something like this. White flaps and perhaps aluminium the rest or something similar like the following photo. (sorry for the small photo) Could it be white all over? And the darker area to be just weathered or a shadow?

Hello to all, I have started the Hasegawa F9F-2 Panther in 1/72 and I am planning to build it as an ATU-206 bird, 1956-1957 era and I will use the kit decals. At that moment the Panthers of ATU-206 had been painted gull gray over white. In the kit instructions it is mentioned that the wheel bays etc had been painted white. I guess this is correct since all the later airplanes that had this camouflage (gull gray over white) had white wheel bays. I am looking information about the color of the wing fold mechanism. In the midnight blue schemes the wheel bays and the wing fold mechanism were midnight blue. When they started to paint the Panthers gull gray over white, the wing fold mechanism was painted white also or remained midnight blue? I have seen some colored photos with the scheme that I am building but I can't match the color. In those photos, the flap side is white (I guess) and the rest of the wing fold mechanism color seems like something dark, maybe midnight blue or it is just shadow of the wing and it seems like that, or heavy weathered (liquids-oils etc) that have made the area look just dirty. Does anyone know the wing fold mechanism color in gull gray over white schemes??? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Nontas

Absolutely great model!!!! Excellent result and accuracy of the real plane!! The more I look at the finished model, the more I like it!! Regards, Nontas

Great progress Tony! I really like your painting technique using the mascol for fadings! Also great choice of subjects in the Tomcat family. As a huge Tomcat fan that I am (I plan to build all 30 USN F-14 squadron planes in the future) , I like to see on models more rare squadron schemes than the usual ones. Sluggers is one of them...you don't see any models of VF-103 before they became Jolly Rogers... Keep it up! (My love is a VF-202 F-14A Block 140...) Regards, Nontas

Absolutely great!! Excellent model!! Regards, Nontas

Excellent work Tony!! Very very nice Tomcat and realistic painting at the exhausts!! Regards, Nontas

Excellent!! Very impressive work!! Regards, Nontas

Awesome!!! Great weathering, just like the real ones!! Regards, Nontas

Wow!! Really really nice Starfighter!! You turned a very simple Italeri kit to a masterpiece!! Regards, Nontas