'No holds barred' 1/48 F-4C Phantom

[Air-to-Air]

Original artwork by Lou Drendel. http://www.aviation-art.net/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

[1] INTRODUCTION

[Air-to-Air]

INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome to my ‘no holds barred’ build of a Vietnam-era F-4C Phantom.

In my opinion, you couldn’t start with a better base kit than Eduard’s 1/48 Good Evening Da Nang! (Limited Edition Kit 1193).

As you may be aware, Eduard’s kit is based on the sprues from Academy’s 1/48 F-4C “Vietnam War” (Kit 12294).

Eduard has added resin exhaust nozzles, ejection seats and wheels, photo-etched cockpit details and afterburner flame holders, wheel and canopy masks and five decal options for aircraft operating from 1966 to 1968. Furball Aero-Design designed the decals and Cartograf printed them.

Eduard’s website has more details about the kit’s contents and instructions for those that are interested.

Objective

My objective is to accurately depict an F-4C Phantom, serial number 64-0665, in flight on operations over South Vietnam. This aircraft was stationed at Cam Ranh Air Base in 1969.

What’s a ‘no holds barred’ build?

The expression ‘no holds barred’ has its origin in wrestling. It means a wrestling match in which there are no restrictions or rules, anything goes.

A ‘no holds barred’ build is one in which there are no restrictions on what the builder does to achieve his (or her) objective. Aftermarket resin and photo etch may be used, parts may be scratch built using any material and parts may be cannibalised from other kits.

I think it’s an appropriate expression for this build as I will be wrestling the plastic, resin and etch into submission.

Aftermarket accessories

Aftermarket accessories will feature throughout this build. They will be evaluated alongside the kit options at the relevant points in the build.

Acknowledgements

Much of the detail that will be presented in this build, wouldn’t have been possible without Gene K’s contributions to Britmodeller.com (and elsewhere). Gene has regularly contributed to modeller’s F-4 Phantom builds and his links to reference material and images of operational aircraft has been of valuable assistance to me.

Much to my surprise, when I contacted Gene earlier this year to confirm a number of details, I learned that he had occasionally flown the aircraft I am going to model! What are the chances of being able to talk to a pilot of an aircraft you are modelling from 50 years ago? Thank you Gene for your service, your ongoing contribution to our hobby and thank you Britmodeller.com for bringing us all together.

I also have to acknowledge Giemme’s (Giorgio) recent 1/72 F-4C build of Gene K’s primary operational aircraft ‘Sandy Bay-Bee’ (stationed at Cam Ranh Bay Air Base). Giorgio’s build is 50+ pages of modelling goodness and well worth reviewing if you are going to build an F-4C. Giorgio’s work in progress thread can be viewed here and the completed model can be viewed here.

Your contribution

One of the main reasons I am doing a build thread is the opportunity to get input from others. Whilst I have done some research concerning the subject of the build, I am not an expert. You’re welcome to contribute additional information and suggest modelling techniques.

A word about images

All of the images in my posts are hosted on my private Photobucket account with an attribution to the original source. I don’t link directly to original sources because (a) the webmaster may move an image if it generates ‘excess’ traffic, and ( as websites are updated, addresses periodically change, either of which could result in a broken link and diminish the usefulness of this thread. If you own an image in one of my posts and you’d like to discuss its usage, please message me.

Updates

Rather than aim for periodic updates on this build, I am going to prepare updates on discrete elements of the model, for example: ejection seats or exhausts. I will endeavour to give plenty of opportunity for input at various stages.

Tighten your restraints as we climb to cruising altitude…

(I know it’s an F-4D but it’s a very cool image.)

[Phone Phixer]

Wow, impressive introduction. Looking forward to this.

Comfy chair & popcorn at the ready.

[Bozothenutter]

following this ....working on a Hase -D with Blackbox cockpit and seam;less suckers intakes....on the last I really don't know where they get their legendary status from....next time i'm going with Dmold.

[Duncan B]

This is going to be good if the introduction is anything to go by.

Duncan B

[exdraken]

Great start and introduction!!

The progress must not lag behind now! 😉

[Bozothenutter]

Just thought of something...if I'm not too cheeky, and if you are using SAC landing gear...could I have the plastic kit ones?

Might be useful since the 'bays I'm adapting to the hase kit are for the academy

[Air-to-Air]

Just thought of something...if I'm not too cheeky, and if you are using SAC landing gear...could I have the plastic kit ones?

Might be useful since the 'bays I'm adapting to the hase kit are for the academy

I won't be using SAC landing gear because I am doing this one in-flight.

I'd be happy to contribute the spare landing gear to your build. Please send me a personal message with your address details.