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Hallo again I applied the decals and stencil. The set is from Isracast, IAF-58, F-4E/RF-4E Kurnass Part 1. Application of decals was very seldom, since I hardly could slide them on the surface of my model. Because of this situation, I demolished my board checker tail. I had one other set of decals at home, for a second Kurnas. Well, the decals are easy found and located. I have the advantage to know Hebrew. I used the short version of Hebrew stencils and additional the panel numbers. For this purpose, you absolutely need the rules for the stencils. You can download them from the Phantom society. They are for the J-version, but you get along with it. If you stick only at the instruction of the decal sheet, you are lost for sure. This is an accurate map of all Phantom maintenance panels. As I said all! With full explanation too. If you see this document, you may also get further and read all stencils of the Phantom. If you got it, you may notice what nonsense usually happens, when stenciling a jet. Here I want to set a step in quality. A jet is a model to me, if the basic stenciling is accurate. In size, and the writing too! It took me at all 4 days long to apply all stencils! Well, now it is done. The completion is finished. Some critical situation occurred, due to the resin cockpit and hood installation. The rear actuator was too short and the necessary angle was hampered by the resin contour. Now it is done. Actually the accurate stenciling of a Phantom has the same value to me as accurate rigging on the Fe2b. Happy Modelling

Hallo again Now the spraying process. I decided not to build the a/c #134, because of irregular camouflage. I did not have the top view. So I decided to switch to a/c #310, where I have the decal sheet also. The pattern is regular late one. This pattern I have in my Kurnas book (Israeli Phantoms 2). This pattern I scanned. Afterward I took my photo shop and took each view as a single photo. This photo I imported in my Corel Draw. And scaled it up, to the real size of my model. I took the wingspan, to control, because this measure is easy to control. And also with the according length of the fuselage I did my left and right hand view of this a/c. With my masking material from Tamiya and my other tools I started. As written in my article: For the body surfaces I used the new MODEL CRAFT flexible masking tape. This is more flexible as this from Tamiya. It is new. I saw it first time in SAM magazine. Well, the color I used are all on C from Gunze. The UV-Cut from GX-112. Afterward I took the Tamiya panel line liquid in black and brown on the extra wash on the underside. So, you may see the result. Happy modelling

Hallo again Actually, I took a break during the holydays. Now I finished the gear and some other small parts. The complete airframe I prepared for getting a base color on it. C 316. Next I sprayed the rudder in yellow (For the 69 squadron) and also the black areas, radom, canon and radar. The red light on the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer I also added. Now the aluminum surfaces are awaiting me. And the pre shading. As you see, the Pitot tube is done and the refueling probe. Happy modelling

Hallo again The fuselage is now clean, all gaps filled and all over polished. To be honest, that was a day of disappointment. The cockpit is basically a phantom cockpit, but by no means consistent with this version. All exact connection points are missing. Here in particular the basis for the pivot point of the front hood. So I had to drill the already finished cockpit and destroyed some wrong details. The instruction of the AIRES cockpit is some sort of arbitrary, no comment. That has nothing to do with modelling, but it is just as if it were modelling. The kit is missing indeed the AOA probe. For now, I can say that ZM is the only kit that is accurate enough to speak of a phantom of the corresponding version. Despite all design flaws. Well, the glasses I installed, and I will go ahead with the gear detail next time. Happy modelling

Wonderful! I am pleased to see such a wonderful making of a model. Please contact me, I am on a Kurnas and 4 Raam in the pipeline! Happy Modelling

Hallo again Now the steps in this session were the resin cockpit from Aires. Just to say, the cockpit is nice, but far away from a true F-4E. It is some arbitrary artificial something. It was my choice. Painting as a basic color, I used 306. After spraying it, I masked a lot and sprayed gloss black. The gloss is important for painting afterwards. On a flat color, you cannot paint, as you want. Color will take her own way, you never intended. Semi-gloss is afterward not easy to paint, better results I achieve with a gloss coat. Only so you can paint self-determined. For the paint of the cushion of the ejection seat, I used 312. The gray for the parachute was 305. The seat belts are 306. The extension for the radarscope is useless. You cannot put the ejection seat in! I used some placards from Eduard. It is a nice adding. Also from the etched parts the very end of the cockpit section. As a kit part it is just plain! Well, after the installation in the fuselage all together I glued it together. I will sand and polish it. After that, the cockpit section will get the black paint on top. Well so far. All modelers of the forum a merry Christmas! Enjoy it! When you unpack your gifts and discover some nice kits, enjoy it! WE all share such a nice hobby and have the chance to forget the grey world (…when days are grey…) outside. Happy modelling

Nice Me 410, Roman. Congratulation. Go ahead, your model looks realy good!

Hallo again After a break of a few days, I was offline, because I spent time with my model railway. Here I had to move many locomotives, to keep them in best condition. Anyway, my Kurnas made some progress. The weapons I finished. To mention: I used aluminum foil, for the fastening bands, as they are used. I think that looks quite good. The resin cockpit fits quite easy, due to the fact, that the front wheelbay is not so deep as it should be. The conversion for the Israeli Phantom, the refueling probe at the starboard side, is also quite easy. You see the refueling probe with some metal part. Now I strengthened the fuselage at the rear end for the elevator. The front fuselage at the starboard side: Here I made a hole for the AOA from Master. The AOA is not on the model! For me: A jet without AOA, pitot and temperature probe is not complete. Yes, I know there exists some jets without AOA too. Now I have a big question to every member of the community: Does anybody have a full register with all panel numbers of the phantom, and each location? I would need it desperately, since the stencil sheet is much too arbitrary! Thanks you all in forward for your engagement! Happy modelling

Hallo again Now the spraying of the externals is almost finished. I did the initial spraying with white base, because of resin items. In addition, most of the painting is done. Weathering and oil color is now the next step. It is not so easy to get precise information of the operative weapons. Most of this information I got from the books, which I showed you at the beginning of the entry of the Kurnas. The a/c of my choice is number 134. The famous photo, does not show you an Kurnas before take off. It is just at the apron. It was taken for any other reason. Maybe as an advertising. The AGM-142 was sold to many countries. This a/c and some other of the Kurnas fleet of the squadron 69 have red air intakes! What this indicates I have no idea yet! Happy modelling

Hallo again The decision I made for the Kinetic weapon set. The thin fin on the AGM-142 are too difficult to glue. Just the safety reason. The pylon is from the weapon set of course, since no other special pylon for the AMG-142 is available. This pylon is extended, since the weapon is so long. The centerline tank: Here I was not sure, what to take, since the Kurnas fleet changed over to the F-15 tank. This I have here too. The standard tank I assembled too, but I will use it for test spraying. The data link pot with external pylon I have from the weapon set. This pod is installed in my case at the right outer wing pylon. Never left, because of the ventilation panel. The additional LAU for the Sidewinder is from AirDoc. This usual equipment became necessary; due of the AIM-7 was withdrawn from service at this time. The AIM-9 is in my case from ZM. They are in a very good quality. All weapons I did with metal pins and holes, so that assembling is easy straight forward. The nozzles and wheels are also from resin. The cockpit from Aires also. I did all the cleaning and sawing at once, so that my workbench will be without a heavy dust load in future sessions. From the plastic kit, I had to remove six items from the wing, and healed the surface with CA and surfacer. The future steps are spraying and finishing all external loads and pylons. After that the installation of the resin cockpit. Happy modelling

Hallo again The Mitsubishi F-1 in 1/48 from Hasegawa was the basic for this model. The model is equipped with training weapons. The colorful air-ship rocket is the eye catcher. Since much of the F-1 fleet is stationed in the very north at Hokkaido, the surrounding is very different from central Japan. Here we are at the same northern position as Vladivostok i.e. Sapporo. The northern part is very close to Sakhalin and the eastern part faces the Kuril Islands. This F-1 are always in close contact with the Russian air force. Happy modelling

Hallo again This is the Trumpeter 1/48 kit. I used etched parts from Eduard and stencils from Bregnun. The Su-24 was for me a challenge. I never saw this a/c in real. Yes, most a/c I know in reality, also the old birds. This one not at all. So I had to use just the web and my own feeling. A new and in this case the very first experience to me. No literature I could rely on. Yes, sometimes it is fun, just to guess. Well, finally you may find out if my guess was good or false. Happy modelling

Hallo again The EF-111 is the 1/48 kit from HB. I used the etched parts from Eduard and I think this was all. The a/c is for me interesting in the navigation aids, as terrain following and stellar navigation. The kit is not so difficult; the aerodynamic of the open wing was for me the most exiting feature. Happy modelling

Hallo again Now the weapons: Isracast versus Kinetic Weapon Set of the IAF. The resin AGM-142 is good looking in detail, but the distortion at the seam line is not to oversee. The other detail is the soft panel line to cut at the top for the glass. The chance to get the cut perfect is actually not so great. This is the advantage from the plastic parts of the IAF weapon set. I will see. I prepare all four agm-142, and I will choose at the latest moment what to take. The resin pylon from Isracast is necessary, since this is a special extended pylon. The outer wing pylon for the data link pod is also included. Etched parts makes the arrangement of an actual pylon including dispenser cassettes possible. Therefore, the resin kit is necessary for my version. The data link pod is also resin. The kit from Hasegawa versus ZM is a world. I will use my verdict later on. The engineering from Hasegawa is much better, all joints and seams too. ZM should learn all the basics of engineering, because as it is now, they destroy their good job by miserable basics. Happy modelling

Hallo again I will start an F-4E Kurnas in 1/48 from Hasegawa. The kit as shown in the photo. My aircraft will be F-4E Kurnas from Hammer squadron #134. Carrying the Popeye air/surface guided missile with data link pod. The a/c will have Hebrew stenciling. It is from the year 1987/1988. My detail sets are very accurate and I hope that this kit will be despite the age still worth to build. By the way: You get soon access to walk around also from the Kurnas If you built already this kit with the Aires cockpit, I would really enjoy to listen to your experience! Happy modelling