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New tool kit from Meng Model - ref. LS-015 - McDonnel Douglas F-4G Phantom II - WildWeasel Source: http://www.meng-model.com/en/contents/59/512.html Box art V.P.

Finemolds is to release from August 2020 new tool 1/72nd McDD (R)F-4E/EJ Phantom II kits. Source: http://www.finemolds.co.jp/202006-08NEW.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recap - ref. FP37 - McDD F-4EJ Phantom II - JASDF - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP37.html - ref. FP38 - McDD F-4EJ Phantom II - JASDF - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP38.html - ref. FP40 - McDD F-4EJ Kai Phantom II - JASDF - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP40.html - ref. FP41 - McDD F-4E Phantom II (early) - USAF - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP41.html - ref. FP42 - McDD RF-4EJ Phantom II - JASDF - released https://finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP42.html - ref. FP43S - McDD F-4J Phantom II - US Navy - VF-114 "Aardvark" - released https://finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP43S.html - ref. FP46S - McDD F-4C Phantom II - Air National Guard - released https://finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP46S.html - ref. FP47S - McDD F-4D Phantom II - USAF - The First MiG Ace - released https://finemolds.co.jp/FP/FP47S.html - ref.72737 - McDD F-4EJ Phantom II - Tactical competition 1982 (306th Sqn) - released https://finemolds.co.jp/FP/72737.html - ref.72738 - McDD F-4EJ Phantom II - Tactical competition 1995 (301th Sqn) - released https://finemolds.co.jp/FP/72738.html - ref. 72743 - McDD F-4J Phantom II - U.S. Navy - “Midway 1978” - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/72743.html - ref. 72838 - McDD F-4EJ Kai Phantom II - JASDF Last Flight Memorial “Blue” - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/72838.html - ref. 72843 - MccDD F-4J Phantom II - US Marines - VMFAT-101 "Marlins" - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/72843.html - ref. 72846 - McDD F-4C Phantom II - USAF - Wolfpack 1967 - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/72846.html - ref. 72937 - MccDD F-4EJ Kai Phantom II - JASDF Phantom Forever, Thank you 1971-2021 - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/72937.html - ref. 72938 - MccDD F-4EJ Kai Phantom II - JASDF Last Flight Memorial “Yellow” - released https://www.finemolds.co.jp/FP/72938.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Connected or not to the Platz project? https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235037980-172-mcdonnell-douglas-f-4ej-phantom-ii-new-tool-by-platz-release-in-2019/ V.P.

Hellenic Airforce F-4E Phantom II (AUP)

The 1/48th McDD F-4B Phantom II announced by Academy (ref. 12232) should be out for the third quarter of 2012. Source academy homepage: V.P.

After about six months, I've finally completed my 1/48 scale Hasegawa F-4G Phantom "Wild Weasel". The kit itself was fine (other than the mysterious missing RWR), but I had primer related problems, or masking tape problems, or paint problems. Either way, I spent far more time scraping and reapplying paint than I'd have liked to. I wanted to do a Spangdahlem bird with shark-mouth, so decals came from Milspec (sheet 48-007), paints were Hataka (first time using them), a few bits came from my Eduard/Academy F-4, and I splashed out on a more correct AN/ALQ-131 from Eduard to replace the AN/ALQ-119 supplied in the kit. @Mark V provided some good information about colour schemes and likely load-outs - hence it's carrying a single dummy HARM missile (admittedly with fins), drop tanks, and an empty TER on the starboard inner pylon. Thanks also to @bar side, who was tackling the same aircraft at the same time and provided a lot of inspiration/information. Over-all, I'm mostly happy how it turned out. There are a few issues - the cockpit glazing's a bit wonky (could have done with the one-part canopy version), I messed up the starboard shark-mouth, and the tyres could be sanded/flattened so that both nose-wheels touch the ground. There are a few places where you can see I've had paint issues. However, the Hasegawa kit has held up well for its age and I'd happily build another one. Build Thread Here The photos are taken in my new light box, using a Sony A5100 with a 55mm prime lens. Still getting the hang of this serious-photography-with-an-actual-camera lark...

At the IPMS/USA 2017 National Convention Zoukei Mura confirmed Source: https://www.cybermodeler.com/special/ipms_usa/ipmsusa2017.shtml V.P.

Hey all, Happy New Year and hope everyone had a good holiday What should have been my last completion of 2022 is instead my first completion of 2023 . After my F-15C, I started work on Tamiyas excellent F-4B. A lot has been said about the design and engineering of this kit and how they've built on all their recent 1/48 releases and it's all true - this kit is as close to perfect in terms of fit and any issues were entirely on me. That's not to say it's all perfect - I am not a big fan of Tamiya decals because they tend to be on the thicker side so instead I used a couple of AM sheets: Furball Aero Decals 1/48 US Navy Phantoms of the Vietnam War: https://www.furballaero-design.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=48-076 AOA Decals 1/48 Phantom Airframe Data (Stencil type): https://www.aoadecals.com/48013/home.htm From the Furball sheet, I chose to build the CAG bird from VF-84s 1965 deployment on USS Independence. AG200 originally had a grey and white tail with a white on black Jolly Roger and yellow fuselage stripe, but seems to have been repainted at some point in 1965 with an all black tail with white markings and a yellow on black stripe. It was a struggle finding images of AG200 in this scheme - most of the images I could find were of the VF-84 F-4Js, or of the previous scheme. I found this image on Wikimedia of a lot of the VF-84 birds in the right scheme: I also found this photo of AG200, though judging by the Phantom in the back I think the livery is the older one: And finally I found this image of AG200 in the right livery: So armed with this wealth of references of my intended aircraft, I set about getting a few AM sets: 1/48 Eduard Brassin F-4B early tail caps 1/48 Flying Leathernecks AIM-9B rails 1/48 Eduard Brassin Triple Ejector Racks 1/48 ResKit MK.82 thermally protected bombs with MK.15 Snakeye fins 1/48 Quinta Studios F-4B Interior 3D decals Now for the photos! The main upper fuselage colour is MRP-098 Light Gull Grey with various MRP colours used for pre/post shading. The underside colour is MRP-004 white with post shading with MRP-257 Clear Doped Linen. The black nose and tail are MRP-005 and the yellow is MRP-142. Various other MRP, GSI and Tamiya shades were used here and there for colour variation, post shading. The weathering was done with with AK enamel panel line washes, Abt 502 oils and water colour pencils. I don't have any evidence that AG200 ever got this dirty and as the CAG bird for the squadron it was probably taken care of more than other jets, but given they were deployed for a lot of time in the Tonkin Gulf on board Independence it's not hard to imagine it getting dirty. I kept weathering to a minimum on the top side concentrating on staining in the walkway are wing root areas, some panel fading due to the sun and modest streaking. The Furball decals turned out great in the end, but I had trouble getting them to conform at first and they shrugged off my usual decal solutions (Mr Softer/Setter Neo) so I used the nuclear option of the Tamiya Mark Fit Super Strong which definitely got them to settle but was pretty much a one shot approach so I had to get the position right first time. The main markings came from the Furball sheet and all the tiny stencils were from the AOA sheet - it was really tedious doing these, but a Phantom isn't complete without them The "shield" behind the Star and Bar on the intake is for the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club - a nickname for the US 7th fleet which spent a lot of time from 1961 onwards in the region The characteristic metal work at the rear was again done with MRP metallics over an LP-1 base. I used a variety of their metallic colours to give some panel variation and then used various clear tones (blue, brown & smoke) for the heat staining on the stabilators and the main fuselage. Finally I applied thin coats of exhaust soot over the fuselage. Final weathering was done with oils. While I try to dip my canopies for clarity/protection - I couldn't get the Future/Pledge to dry correctly and stay on the canopy like it did with the F-15C - I think that something about the shape was causing surface tension issues and causing the Future to bead up and run. So this one has been polished with Novus 3 step plastic polishing compounds and the shine/clarity is still pretty good. I've left the canopy loose to allow access to view the interior which is very detailed due to the Quinta set, but mostly invisible with the canopy in place A closer look at the upper surface heat staining - I wanted to get that burnt metal without flooding the area with colour so I dilute the MRP paints with Mr Color Rapid Thinner The staining on the walkways and the panel fading was done with oils stippled on neat and blended with a soft wide brush. On top of this, darker, more localised weathering was also applied The Quinta cockpit set is remarkably detailed - certainly better than I could have painted The underside weathering was inspired by that first image - mostly streaking with some light staining around the fuel tanks and engines. A closer look at the ordnance - the ResKit and Eduard TERs lined up pretty well and with some brass pins they fit well - the bomb weathering has been kept pretty minimal since unlike 'Nam based Phantoms which had large outdoor weapons storage, carrier ordnance was stored internally. The characteristic heat staining pattern on Phantom rear fuselages was replicated with 0.7mm Aizu tape over the bare metal before the heat staining colours were applied. Once done and the tape removed, all the panels received the same soot/smoke treatment. This was a really enjoyable build and the Tamiya kit is great. I'm also happy with the final result so I'd say 2023 is off to a good start! Thanks for looking

Finally finished, after a hiatus and a couple of other kits since starting this I felt like cracking on with it again. This is the 1/48 Italeri RF-4E kit; I used different tailplanes (unslotted for the RF-4C) and cut and filed down the jetpipes. Everything else I needed was included in the kit, certainly as far as I could tell anyway, though I may try and find some more accurate inner pylons. Strangely, two canopy windscreens are included but neither seem to fit properly! Again I’ll see if I can get another, otherwise I might fill the join. Apart from that I’m fairly happy with it. Paint was Tamiya spray cans, AS-13, AS-14 (greens) and AS-15 (tan). I used aftermarket decals to depict the Phantom as it was at Alconbury in the early 80s, still in Vietnam-style camo but wrap around. I scratch built the canopy mirrors and fuselage aerials, plus a couple of extra cameras in the nose. All comments, suggestions, Alconbury memories and banter warmly welcomed!

Phlipping Phantom Phinally Phinished!!! Tamiya Kit Aftermarket: Eduard Wheels Eduard Space RBF tags Quinta Belts Paints - SMS and Alclad for the metals over a Alclad mix of 70% grey and 30% black microprimer (less cover up than a straight black). Touch up paint patches with darker and lighter iterations of the base mixes sprayed through a stencil. Weathering - Abteilung oils and lighter fluid over a Mr Hobby gloss coat (thinned 3:1 levelling thinners to gloss with extra retarder added) Matt - Alclad Klear Kote Flat thinned with lacquer/cellulose thinners (really pleased with how well this stuff goes on and how flat it is) Decals: Impact 1:48 VMF(AW)-531/VMFA-531 Grey Ghosts Part . Very thin, had a habit of breaking and the original tail markings wrinkled under the gloss coat made a set of masks with a silhouette cutter and 3 attempts later still not right (the small stars are about as fine as you can get and tricky to not get bleed under) Furball Aero Design 48-077 USMC Phantoms came to the rescue. Different airframe but same markings First time trying focus stacking in Photoshop. Build Log is here

My latest completion the Hasegawa 1/72 McDonnell Douglas RF-4B Phantom II, I used the Reskit 3D printed Engine Intakes on this, a bit of surgery is required for them but I think they are worth the effort, Aires engine exhausts an Eduard Etched brass in the cockpit. I used the kit decals and finished with MRP and Tamiya Lacquers 1/72 McDonnell Douglas RF-4B Phantom II by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr 1/72 McDonnell Douglas RF-4B Phantom II by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr 1/72 McDonnell Douglas RF-4B Phantom II by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr 1/72 McDonnell Douglas RF-4B Phantom II by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr 1/72 McDonnell Douglas RF-4B Phantom II by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr

First completion in a while. Tamiya's superlative Phantom kit with FineMolds' Nano-Aviation seatbelts. Painted with Mr Hobby lacquers, panel wash with AK Interactive and Ammo by Mig enamels, and weathering with oils. Hope you enjoy the photos. Feedback is most welcome! Mark

FH-1 Phantom 'Marines First Jet' (72335) 1:72 Special Hobby The FD later FH-1 Phantom from McDonnell has always suffered from the fact its older brother the F4H-1 (later F-4) Phantom II has stolen most of the limelight associated with the "Phantom" name. Originally designed and first flown during WWII the aircraft was straight winged. The Phantom was the first Jet to land on a US Aircraft Carrier, and the first jet to be used by the US Marine Corps. Only 62 were made but the design lead into the follow on aircraft from McDonnell the F2H Banshee. These aircraft would position McDonnell as an important supplier to eh US Military. McDonnell must have thought a lot of the Phantom to bring the name back for the F-4. The Kit This is a rebox of their new tool kit from 2017 with decals for the USMC. The kit arrives on three sprues of grey plastic, a clear spure, a small PE fret and a sheet of decals. Construction starts in the cockpit. The seat and instrument panel are made up with the panel as decal. PE belts are included for the seat. The cockpit floor also form the top of the front wheel well. The well sides are added along with the front and rear cockpit bulkheads. The cockpit can then be placed in the fuselage, the instructions recommend putting 3 grams of weight in the nose. Next up the engines and there trunking are built up. There are fan fronts and exhausts are added. Construction then moves to the wings. The main wheel wells must be built up ad added into the lower wing along with the intake trunking. The upper wings can then be added. The leading edge parts of the intake are then added. This is a nice touch so you don't have to clean up a seam in the intake area. The front landing gear is built up and added to the front along with the gear doors. This is then followed by the main units and their doors. The belly tank is then fitted along with the arrestor hook. To finish off the tail planes are added along with the engine exhausts and finally the canopy. Markings There appear to be printed in house but look good and should pose no issues. You get 4 marking options with any colour you want as long as its Gloss Sea Blue! the markings, including extensive stencils are mainly white. Bu No, 111788 7-LC - USMC VMF-122, MCAS Cherry Point 1947-49 Bu No. 111794 I-BC - USMC VMF-122, MCAS Cherry Point 1947-49 Lt Col M.E Earl C/O BU No. 111761 2-LC - USMC VMF-122, MCAS Cherry Point 1959 - T/SGT RM Lurie BU No. 111793 3-BC - USMC VMF-122, MCAS Cherry Point 1947 Conclusion It is great to see this over looked early jet now being injection moulded in 1/72. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Having finished a Revell FAA F4U (bloody over-complicated thing!) and my Sword Gannet, I took a few weeks off to contemplate what was next. Thought I'd take longer to think about it, but I went up to have a tidy of the 'bench' and whilst I was there had a look at the stash. Narrowed down to the following candidates.. I was very close to doing the lifeboat but the recent Top Gun hype has put me in a bit of a US Navy mood, so the Phantom won out in the end. That poor Lightning, it keeps getting so close to the top of the pile, only to be cruelly denied. Maybe next time.. Rather than the Sundowners on the front, I'm doing this as one of the alternative schemes, inspired by the lovely, well thumbed, volume Such a good book! Obligatory sprue shot (although I've hidden most of it!). I'd shied away from this for a while because I really didn't fancy painting the gloss white undersides. Now I have an airbrush I don't have that excuse. This will be a test, though, as I've so far struggled to get decent gloss finishes with the airbrush. Have tried pledge and Mr Color GX112 but I never get the high gloss (and smooth) finish that I really want. Always ends up closer to Satin and a little rough feeling. Any tips most welcome! Not much achieved so far, just a few bits painted. Since the white and grey is hard to brush I'm going to break with tradition and spray the cockpit, wheel wells, intakes, drop tanks etc. I don't normally get the airbrush out for small things as I spend more time cleaning it that actually painting, but I think its necessary this time.. Wish me luck! Al.

this was another on-and-off project but one of my best if I do say so myself. Without further ado, here she is: I really enjoyed making this model in the end, there were sooooo many stencils though! I'm definitely taking this one to Scale Scotland 2022! (If I go)

The NMM (the Dutch National Military Museum) had organised a small event for photographers as a kickoff for their summeroffensive event this weekend on saturday and sunday! It was an enjoyable little event with some familiar planes,but still worth it! These aircraft are on static display standards only! cheers, Jan

My take on the Airfix 1/72 McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom (493) Since contracting Covid-19 earlier this year, I am finding modelling can be bit of a trial sometimes. To help combat this, I decided that my contribution to a current ATF GB was going to be the 1971 boxing of the Airfix Phantom. It was supposed to be completely OOB, with no aftermarket stuff, no weathering, no scribing and a hairy stick finish. However, I had to use aftermarket decals and decided the IAF scheme needed an airbrush. The scheme and armament fit might not be totally accurate but I don't mind as it gave me some enjoyment. Dave

What not first! Spunky VI early F-4E in Nam with an asymmetric load out as discussed in forum. FineMolds release from 2021. will add pictures tomorrow Chris

So, having had my arm twisted by @Rabbit Leader (all I did was mention that I happened to have a Matchbox Phantom and then next thing I know, here I am… ), here’s the start of what will undoubtedly turn out to be a long drawn-out build (although not as long as a certain pair of Airfix Hawks have taken…). I originally purchased this kit from Beatties maybe 40 years ago – if you look closely at the box you’ll see I paid the princely sum of £4.50, reduced because the clear parts were missing.

Hi all. This is the Hasegawa 1/48 F-4G Wild Weasel, my latest finished model. For this build I used an Aires cockpit set, ResKit engines, Master Pitot tube and Speed Hunter Graphics decals. A few underwing parts came from various Hasegawa weapons sets. The pylons were rescribed and detailed a bit as these still have raised panel lines. The same goes for the underwing fueltanks. The intake covers were scratchbuilt from plastic card and strip. The pull handles on the ejection seats were made from twisted yellow and black painted copper wire. As usual, I painted the model with MrHobby paints, in this case H305 and H306, over a black primer from Alclad. Weathering was done with Abteilung 502 oilpaints and Tamiya panelliner. Thanks for watching.

I love the Phantom. I think it's my second favourite military aircraft only beaten by the Avro Vulcan I remember seeing them at the airshows I went to as a child in the 70's, always giving a fantastic display. I love the whole look of the airframe, the way the tail planes slope down in position to the end of the wings kicking up, just brilliant. I've had this in the stash for a while. Last month I was watching some YouTube videos on the British Phantoms and I couldn't resist it any longer. I built it straight out of the box, no third party add on's, no third party decals. The kit was a pleasure to put together with all parts fitting together very well and needing little or no fill and sanding. I love the new style Airfix instructions, they are very easy to follow with lots of space for notes if you need to make them. Paint wise, I used a mix of mig and Vallejo model air with Alclad 2 for the metal finish abound the rear, all applied with an air brush. Between the paint and the decals I used a couple of coats of Pledge floor polish and after the mammoth decalling job I gave it a coat of Vallejo satin varnish. It was then finished off with some weathering and a Flory wash. I did quite a bit of research into the weathering before starting. I wanted it to look well used, without being over the top. Here's some pictures of the finished model. Thank you for looking and I hope you like my interpretation. I know the upper silver probe has bent up on the above image. It has since been back into the hanger for repairs.

Phantom FGR.2 (04962) 1:48 Revell Following a period of cancellations and upheaval in the UK aircraft industry the Royal Navy & Royal Air Force found themselves lacking capability in the 1960s. The decision was taken to purchase the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom already in use in the US. An F-4K (FG.1) version was developed for the Navy and an F-4M (FGR.2) for the Air Force. These aircraft were not the same as the US ones as it was agreed that larger and more powerful Rolls Royce Spey engines would be fitted and the radars would be built under license by Ferranti. While the F-4J was the basis for the UK models the fuselage was redesigned by BAC to accommodate the larger engines. These changes would mean that the unit costs would more than treble over the F-4J. Due to changes in the Navy 20 aircraft originally ordered were transferred to the RAF, then in 1978 following the loss or HMS Ark Royal all remaining Naval aircraft were turned over to the RAF. The Kit This is a reboxing of Hasegawa's kit from the 1980s. this is still the only injected plastic kit in 1.48 scale of a British Phantom. Despite its age this is still a good kit. Revell last reboxed this kit in 2004 and it has always been sought by modellers for its better price and better decals than the original Hasegawa kits. The kit comes on 7 sprues of grey plastic and one clear sprue. Construction starts in the cockpit. The seats are made up first. These come without belts and are fairly simple as they are designed to be used with the kits pilot figures. The cockpit tub is then built up. Instrument panels, bulkheads and side consoles are fitted to make a complete assembly. The front wheel well is also fitted under the cockpit. Once this is made up it can be put inside the fuselage, and the fuselage closed up. On each side then the intakes can be assembled. Next up construction moves to the wings. The lower section contains the centre section, and the left & right uppers contain the folding parts at the ends of the wing. Separate flaps are provided which can be modelled up or down. The wings can then be attached to the fuselage. At the rear the engine exhausts and tail top fairings are then added. The auxiliary inlet doors are added along with the tailplanes. At the front the nose cone is made up and added. The landing gear is then made up and added. The front has twin tyres while the mains one large one. Each gear leg has its own retraction struts and doors to add. On the underside the air brakes are also added. Moving back to the top sides the intake ramps are added along with the 4 part canopy. The main canopies can be open or closed. For stores the kit supplies the main centre line tank and both wing tanks. Also for the centre line there is a 25mm gun pod and the large EMI reece Pod. Sparrow/Sky Flash missiles are provided for the fuselage, but while sidewinder rails are supplied for the wing pylons there are no missiles in the kit. Markings The new decal sheets which looks like it comes from Cartograf by the serial number features 3 aircraft wearing different schemes. XV470 - No. 56 Sqn RAF Wattisham, 1992 In the Later Grey Scheme. XV408 - No. 92 Sqn RAF Wildenrath, 1991 In the overall Blue anniversary scheme. XT898 - No. 2 Sqn RAF Laarbruch 1974 In the Grey / Green over light grey scheme. Conclusion It's a great to see this kit back in Revell's line up. The same plastic with much better decals, and dare we say at a much better price point. Highly recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

In 2022 Jetmads is to release a 1/32nd McDonnell FH-1 Phantom resin kit Sources: https://www.facebook.com/JETMADS2016/posts/950570759198543 https://www.jetmads.com/product-page/1-32-fh-1-phantom Douglas X-3 Stiletto thread is here: link V.P.

Good evening mates, to be honest, at the moment my Jaguars’ main wheel bays are a little too demanding in terms of …inspiration and I’ve ended up postponing and postponing them. Now there are a few things happening to other members that have let me understand that probably…it’s normal to loose a bit of motivation when a project is taking too long to be brought to an end. Fritag has a perseverance I admire, but we’ve just seen he just went through what first it looked like an experiment (with those PE) and it may turn out as a new job!!! Ex-FAAWAFU was a bit tired with his Sea King and is now going Through Supermarine’ production!!! Perdu is passing with nonchalance from a “Perduxbox” Buccaneer to a “Pernovo” Gannet, Martian’s putting everything else momentarily aside to start a Kamov 28. Forgetting for a moment he did momentarily put his Roc project aside to go on with what seems to have been another project momentarily put aside … the Karel Doorman’s last cruise. This last Thread , whose meaning I understood only on a second time (initially I thought Karel Doorman was a friend of Martian’s!!!) reminded me an old dream I had for a long time , but I never started for lack of …existing models in the right scale (for me 1/48). Back in 2011, on one of my many journeys to the UK, I had bought Aircraft magazine’s April issue, to have something to read in the night. ] In it there was a beautiful article about Ark Royal’s last cruise.I literally felt in love with the opening page picture ( here below ) and I started dreaming of a diorama depicting a Gannet, a Phantom and a Buccaner parked on the flight deck. All those coloured tails were wonderful and a Wessex as that depicted in the article’s third page would have been a nice addiction. At that time, I discussed the idea with my friends modellers and I must say the picture was a real success. But then, the idea only remained an idea for all these years. The “Royal Navy… air” I’ve been breathing since I joined BM and in particular Martian’s friend Karel’s thread brought the old dream back to my mind. The only thing I’d liketo avoid, is to bring the Jaguars to an end first and start working to the Ark project every now and then. About it I have a question for the well informed,: did these helicopters belong to a Squadron ? The aircraft on board the Ark during her last cruise I found what follows: 1. NAS 809 on Buccaneers. 2. NAS 892 on Phantoms. 3. NAS 849 on Fairey Gannets EAW3. 4. ??? on Westland Wessex. 5. NAS 824 on Westland Sea kings. 1. I had been waiting for years for a Decent Gannet AEW 3 in 1/48th , but finally went for the Sword model in 1/72nd, as I saw it and couldn’t resist! That was my first model in 1/72nd after more than 20 years!!! The model looks great and I thought to depict it while landing… …so I purchased the Eduard PE flaps ( I love that system and some times I’ll scratch build it for my Wyvern, which I…left momentarily aside a few years ago!!!). Of course, the fact this set is dedicated to the Revell EAW1 kit wouldn’t have been a problem…untill I heard on this version the wing was shorter!!! My wife, whom I call “Treasure” is always disappointed as she says I don’t listen to her and she’s got to tell me twhat I’ve got to do at least twice! Eduard Staff may have been listening , and that’s probably why I had a doupble copy of theinstruction sheet!!! Anyway this isn’t going to be important, as I’m not going to use most of the set!!! I also purchased the ALLEY CAT decaal sheet dedicated to thie version of the Gannet, as I heard the orignal stencils are so thin, the ay just …get lost in the decalling process. 2. The news that Airfix British Phantom’s will be released in the next few months, together with the high quality standard this glorious Manufacturer has reached in their last products, did the rest! I’ve got it on order. I also ordered Xtradecal dedicated sheet 72268, to have more choice. The Phantom doesn’t say much in the parking configuration, much better to show it ready to launch, maybe with the deck’s heat deflectors open. 3. Perdu’s Matchbox Buccaneer’s thread gave me strength and I bought aRevell reboxing of the thing. If I follow Perdu’s instruction , I can do it!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNIrEYimmXs …sorry, but I couldn’t find the english version!!!! The only problem seems to be the decal sheet: I’ve got the Airfix sheet for 1/48th kit, but 4. Italery Wessex will be chosen to represent the SAR aircraft. About it I have a question for the well informed,: did these helicopters belong to a Squadron ? I can’t identify the crest on the top starboard (…correct…???) side, behind the cockpit. 5. Hannants seems to have only the Airfix kit on stock, which should be a new tooling. Any ideas if there’s some PE or decal suggested for the version belonging to NAS 824 on board Ark Royal in her last cruise? On second thoughts, I’m getting interested in depicting the Ark herself. The model which seems to be the closest one to this configuration of the famous ship seems to be Fujimi 1/700th scale kit. The main question mark for a project like this is: how to develop it? I mean, the first idea started from was a diorama with a Gannet, a Phantom and a Bucc as shown in the picture. This could do, with all aircraft in parking configuration with wings folded. On the other hand, these aircraft could be depicted in a quite effective “ready to take off” pose . • The Buccaneer is quite singular in both cases, ( wings and airbrake folded or nose up , ready for launch).Even showing it on the lift notfully up wouldn’t be bad!!! • The Phantom’s best configuration is with th nose gear extended , ready for launch. • The Gannet is quite singular with folded wings , hook down, open canopy and ladder out, but it’s not bad even with those curious flaps extended. Even a pre-flight configuration could be interesting , with a couple of crews and what seems to be a starter, as seen for Buccaneers too. At the moment I’ve already started cutting the Gannet’s flaps, just to discover the Eduard PEset is wrong for this model. I could still use the folding mechanism struts( if this is the right name for them!!!) and modify the flaps cut off the wings. • The Wessex could be depicted parked with folded rotor or even i 1/144 scale in the background of a Buccaneer or the Phantom ready for launch, as shown in one of the article’s pictures. • The Sea king is the less colorful of the party and is still a question mark. Suggestions are welcomed. I could : 1. build a big base depicting the flight deck for the three aircraft as in the article’s picture; 2. Build a separate base for each model; 3. Build a big base with some sort of …”islands “for each model, something like my F-15, as in the picture below.I like this idea, but room might be a problem. That’s all for now… enough written modelling , for this weekend!!! Hope I’ll soon share some real modelling. In the meantime, any answers to my questions or suggestions are welcomed. Thanks for your patience!!! Ciao Massimo

Tamiya is to release a new tool 1/48th McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II kit - ref. 61121 Sources: https://www.tamiya.com/japan/featuredreleases_early2021.html#Static https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/61121/index.htm Price is not cool https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/TA61121 V.P.

Hello Happy Phantom Phanatics (and others!)! Here is my last Phantom from my USAF Phantom saga (for the time being) : the Hasegawa RF-4C. Another Hasegawa classic, well known, built with the same amount of modifications to the base: Complete refurbished cockpit, resin wheel wells , belly louvres, airbrakes, ailerons, riveting, etc as already mentioned in my previous builds. routine... What was not routine was stuffing the camera bay accordingly to the version depending on the aircraft mission. To simulate the KY camera lenses, I used the tiny iPhone or mobile phone lenses, that gives a realistic effect, especially when you replace the too thick kit transparencies by thinner windows. For the markings and version I chose a Desert Storm warrior from the Alabama ANG, the "Boss Bird", thinking that the Carpena decal sheet will add more value than the Hasegawa one. I will come later on this subject ; The choice was also made based on the good iconographie about that particular aircraft. Camouflage pattern is fairly simple, the Hill Grey, but "toned downed" to respect the scale effect. I weathered it quite a bit because of the harsh Middle East conditions. Decals: I started to use the Carpena sheet 7270 (desert storm part 2) but it turned to be disastrous: most of the decals started to break into small pieces when wet, some markings were not accurate (e.g. white shading of the Code Letters, shark mouth...), so finally I had to use a mix of self-made decals, paints and use some Hasegawa ones which are, unfortunately, too thick (well known default). No armament, the configuration is max range with an AN/ALQ 131 ECM pod (aftermarket), as seen on some pix. The result is that this beast is not on the top of my F-4 list, but i am too lazy to start another one. maybe one day... Here are the pix: The true flying camera: The fake one: ... and the little dio: I scratch built the ladder, the sound generator comes from the Hasegawa but, as the other pieces, is completely wrong so rebuilt: That's it for that saga, hope you enjoy the poor-quality photos, critics happily accepted, may be I will be tempted by the FM F-4 one day!