VT Red Sox Fan

@f111guru--very interesting info on bomb loads and ECM locations--from photos, the seems MER loads on stations 1 & 9 were the exception to the norm. Grew up in VT, but now am in the South East, heading to Mid-Atlantic. If you are hunting VTANG F-4D display, it has been relocated to the VT militia museum at Camp Johnson--believe the EB-57 is at the ANG base--its been a while... Best, Erwin

Ron, thank you for compliments! The perspective is very valuable--FWIW, I did see a few pics in Drendel's book Air-Air load outs ant gun pod--I believe they were in 67 - 69 time frame. That said, not having served during this time frame I do not have your bench of knowledge. Was it normal for air to ground missions for ECM pods to go into the AIM-7 wells? Great photo! Best,Erwin

Iain--well done--really liked the historical reference photos--best, Erwin

Very impressive--cant believe this started out as a plastic kit--well done! Erwin

Spadgent--it was awesome catching up on this thread--now following--your research on paint schemes earlier was fascinating and the build is of course spectacular--best, Erwin

Well done--cant wait to see how the filters work with the final coat... best, Erwin

My mind is blown--this is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!! Best, Erwin

@Gene K, @giemme & @stevehnz--great points by all! I do think Monogram's cockpit is very detailed OOB--it is hard to beat. By the way your silver Mosquito looks awesome! Steve--I totally get it with the moving and fast paced lives we live that frequently keep us away from our workbenches and brushes--I am not looking fwd to packing up my workshop--the only consolation will be unpacking it Thank you all for the awesome feedback & thoughts on how to improve

Shalako--I do believe you are correct on the display--working on my marketing techniques! Thank you for the thumbs up--Best, Erwin

Ian, your ongoing build is inspirational! I am a 1/72 modeler with new mold Air Fix Typhoon waiting for some like you to come and spark interest--you most certinally did! The framing of your cockpit and colors used are fantastic--the engine is 1st rate... I am following from across the pond w/ interest--best, Erwin

Thank Steve--means a lot coming from a fellow builder. I hope I was open minded in my thoughts about the different Phantom kits and my growing skills--tried to find your latest build to grow my knowledge but couldn't find it--pls let me kow--I bet I can learn a lot from you! Best, Erwin

I like to think this build grew me in the most important way—building e-friendships with fellow modelers who have helped me greatly improve—but most importantly I love following their current builds—it is what our hobby is all about. Special thanks goes to @giemme, @Gene K, @billn53, @f111guru, and @RidgeRunner for their awesome support and contributions. I hope the pictures of the finished model provide some satisfaction in how much you can build on potential for growth! The final portion was simply bending the intake air speed probes out of copper wire and painting the Alclad 2 Airframe Aluminum. Ok, on to my observations for Monogram’s F-4C/D kit. In my humble opinion, it is the one to beat in 1/72—its major let downs are incomplete intake trunking (shared with Hasegawa F-4s and solved with @Gene K intake technique), a canopy that requires some work to fit properly—my one piece canopy also cracked, and I have to say the kit's clear plastic is extremely brittle—this model uses a canopy from another Monogram F-4. I purchased a Rob Taurus canopy set designed for Hasegawa's kit for my next Monogram F-4 build--I plan on building it w/ the canopy closed so I think the Hasegawa lines can work towards a clean fit. The vari ramps are also need work OOB to be accurate & they are weakest part of my build since I did not improve them—on my next build, I will likely junk them in favor of a Hasegawa. It would be great if Academy scaled down their 1/48 F-4C/D, but until I believe the advantages of Mongram’s effort nudge out Hasegawa’s (barely) Some will argue the raised panel lines are a major detractor and give a big advantage to Hasegawa—to my the eyes the finesse of Monogram’s work does not let the overall project down. I probably did not do the Monogram Mafia justice with my sophomoric stretched sprue work—but hey, I am getting better and do not run away from raised panel lines like I once did. If building a Vietnam war Phantom, one must also check their resources as Monogram clearly used a post Vietnam F-4 to base their 1/48 and 1/72 kits given the reinforcing plate on the stabiliator. On my particular version, I sanded this off and leveraged foil and stretched sprue to rebuild the detail after looking at a lot of pictures and video clips of F-4s in Vietnam. In my opinion, strengths of Monogram's kit abound—the cockpit rivals aftermarket sets required to bring Trumpeter’s F-105s up to date—not too bad for a kit over 30 years old! One could argue that not providing cockpit boxes for the LORAN antenna is a major oversight given the amount of effort Monogram put into this project—I would agree, but for those interested, Detail and Scale’s F-4C/D volumes covers these upgrades well. I was also impressed with the ECM stores—I cant argue with those who say the quality of the weapons stores is about average, but to me they look the part. Monogram is to be commended for including the gun pod on the kit--@giemme used it as a basis for opening up his gun pod, and it looks accurate to my eyes out of the box. I do wish Monogram had scaled down their 1/48 camera to 1/72. Special thanks to @f111guru for sharing his period weapons loading pictures which played an important role in arming this Phantom. I believe Monogram’s wheel wells, drooped flaps, wing fule dumps and air breaks are strengths over their Hasegawa cousins. Some might argue that Monogram should have done the air break struts as a separate parts—I would agree, and am considering drilling this part out and working a replacement strut as @giemme did in a future build. The natural metal tail section is impressive and looks awesome with foil and Aclad II—I believe Alcald 2 would have been fine overall, but I still like a foil base. The landing gear are impressive and with help from @giemme build, @Gene K and Scott Wilson’s rundown in ARC the main wheels ironically became my favorite and most satisfying part of this project—no resin, just friendship, air brushing and research! As far as after market additions and techniques go, here is my run down. The Airwaves photo etch worked fine for me in this build—perhaps my expectations were low going into the build, but I believe they look the part—I do acknowledge that without @giemme and @Gene K pulling me out of the fire, the modifcations required for a Vietnam bird might not have happened. The Aires Hasegawa burner cans fit without issue and are a major strength of my build—kit cans just cant compete. Painting—ok, I am going to catch flak—but I still liked the Top Notch vinal masks to start my camo scheme. Please note I said start—I found it very doable to modify the scheme based on historical pictures. Now the biggest slam on me—this will be my last spray can camo scheme—the layer of paint out of the can is simply too thick for this scale. The tons of valuable feedback I receved me have convinced me te airbrush is the way to go While the washes reduced contrasts and scaled the camo, I believe it would have turned out better with an airbrush. I might still do the very light underside greys in a spray can, but I am now a full airbrush convert. I was especially impressed with how I got a nice dull with simple Testors lacquer flat with an airbrush vice the frosting @billn53 & I experienced on our Thuds. This Phantom benefitted immensely from it. I was very happy with Print Scales decals—the fonts seemed spot on and I appreciate they pursued some unordinary subjects. Based on my research over the last 6 months, the only things they missed on '601 were the final kill mark was a half vice a full star & there was no "601" on the front strut door. One other shortcoming was the red and white stripe did not extend the near full length of the canopy as photos indicate it did—Tamiya Red and white easily solved this problem. My only issue with Print Scale is that they insist on not sharing the resources of their research on the markings. This would be very helpful in accurizing the paint schemes for their markings. @RidgeRunner and I discussed this in my last build. For what its worth Martin, I included the The Honey Pot II with its kill marking based on the picture you provided following my build—thus proving its never too late Got to say I think it looks awesome with 601—thank you for your help! I was also overall happy with Microscale’s F-4 stencils, although I think they could have supplied the prominent stencils on the landing gear and air breaks. I believe a fair criticism of my observarions would be that I have not built the Hasegawa kit. I think my bias is based primarily on the fact that, 1) raised panel lines are not a detractor for me & 2) the cockpit, wheels, wheel wells, air break and flaps did not require the elevating work @giemme needed to initiate on his build. I believe, where my build fell short is more a critique of my skills and not of the kit’s. TO be clear, I am a fan of Hasegawa and have 2x F-4Cs in the stash—one could call me out here—I am saving them for a light gray scheme as I believe the engraved panel lines will work more in my favor vice the forgiving nature of the Vietnam scheme with stretched sprue repairs. Revell Germany or Revell (whoever owns the molds), if reading, please consider re-releasing this classic F-4C/D—you did the F-4J—why not the F-4C/D—you’d give the competition a run for their money! (I had heard Accurate Miniatures was loaned the molds) Better yet, maybe I is time for an updated F-4C/D in 1/72 given the impact of this work horse in the Vietnam War. Academy—please consider making a C/D version of your F-4 family with full intake trunking! I am toying with a couple next Phantom Ideas—converting and Academy F-4J into a D (use unslotted stabilaotrs/engrave a air- air refueling receptacle while eliminating probe door/update cockpit--is that all I need to do?)--I am also thinking of pulling an @giemme and integrating a Monogram F-4C/D wing onto an old Hasegawa F-4E for a more accurate Vietnam long nose, or diving head first into Airfix’s Fg.1 (been tracking @Gene K's comments closely). Then I go back to wanting to build “The Saint” now that I have a refrence! All that said, I know this for sure, my next Phantom will be better than this because all of you have made the time to help me! I am about to pick up the family and move based on our recent promotion, so I will be a lurker until we unpack out of carboard—but I guarantee you will all inspire me to build—I think the starter project for our next place will be a Paul Boulton Defiant—it is Britmodler after all and I need to pay homage to those who linked us together! That said, I might just take a crack at the Airfix FG1 kit with my Big Ed Set since I might be going through Phantom Phreak with drawl—lurking on @Gene K's blogs convinced me the Big Ed would be a wise investment Thank you all again for your inputs and help in making this project a satisfying build that I love to look at on my shelf. It has been an awesome build--and I am sure you will be happy to hear that my wife and kids are still staying with me after all this Hope all is well & build on! Erwin

I am now B-58 smarter--thanks for making the time to square me away--these power plants will be impressive on the completed B-58--best, Erwin

Billn53 this is looking great--learning alot from your build! I always thought the intakes up the compressor on the B-58 were NMF--but I think you are going with NMF/white combo--I know your research is first rate, so was curious if I am off on your vector for this build, or if my limited understanding of the B-58 is off... looking great! Best Erwin

Smooth paint job--why XF-20 on only the front half of the Sidewinders--really looking great!