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What F-4 hatch is this?


bar side

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Hi I am building an Italeri 1/48 RF-4C and it has hatch on the left side fuselage about three quarters of the way back.  Any idea what it is for?

 

rvmkb9b_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&f

 

The kit has a door which the instruction say should be split horizontally to show it open, but the best I can see is could this be the RAT?  If so should there be a turbine on show if the doors are open?

 

F4RAT.jpg

 

But that hatch looks to far forward for the one on the kit.  Any ideas?

 

 

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So searching for photo flash on an RF-4 came up with this

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQetSD5ZdKgvhU9wERg3D1

 

as I suspect the kit door will be a poor fit & I have now seen one open, I think it will be open on my build.  Cheers guys

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7 hours ago, Ratrace said:

It's for the flash dispensers.

Yep- it's the bay that houses the photoflash cartridges- they were ejected upward and outward for night photography.

Mike

 

 

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10 hours ago, bar side said:

So searching for photo flash on an RF-4 came up with this

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQetSD5ZdKgvhU9wERg3D1

 

as I suspect the kit door will be a poor fit & I have now seen one open, I think it will be open on my build.  Cheers guys

Adds a bit of colour to the a/c too. Just a bit annoying because I have just finished one where I used red for the whole interior of the bay as I couldn't find a picture - oh well.

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17 minutes ago, iainpeden said:

Adds a bit of colour to the a/c too. Just a bit annoying because I have just finished one where I used red for the whole interior of the bay as I couldn't find a picture - oh well.

Yes, was looking at the navy rf-4s with red hatch interior. Was wondering if the usaf ones were the same or not until I found this pic.  Not easy to know what to search for when looking for mages

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On 7/25/2018 at 11:25 PM, 72modeler said:

Yep- it's the bay that houses the photoflash cartridges- they were ejected upward and outward for night photography.

Mike

 

 

They were also reportedly used by at least one recce Phantom crew over Vietnam, to shoot down a Mig.

The story I heard was that a Mig came alongside an RF-4, knowing that the plane was unarmed. The recce crew tilted the plane and salvoed the photoflash carts into the Mig. I have no official confirmation of this story though.

 

Larry

Phormer Photo Phantom Phixer

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On 7/25/2018 at 4:24 PM, bar side said:

So searching for photo flash on an RF-4 came up with this

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQetSD5ZdKgvhU9wERg3D1

 

as I suspect the kit door will be a poor fit & I have now seen one open, I think it will be open on my build.  Cheers guys

The other problem, aside from the poor fir of the photoflash bay doors, is that the "representation" of the photoflash ejector racks is TOTALLY wrong.

The shape & dimensions of the two racks are wrong, as are the number of carts shown.

 

You can see what one of the 2 different types of photoflash ejector racks looks like here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-LA-307A-Aerial-Photoflash-Cartridge-Ejector-NSN-6760000151927-RF4-ACFT-/121242992723

 

 

Larry

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/28/2018 at 9:52 PM, ReccePhreak said:

They were also reportedly used by at least one recce Phantom crew over Vietnam, to shoot down a Mig.

The story I heard was that a Mig came alongside an RF-4, knowing that the plane was unarmed. The recce crew tilted the plane and salvoed the photoflash carts into the Mig. I have no official confirmation of this story though.

 

Larry

Phormer Photo Phantom Phixer

That’s a cracking tale Larry.  Adds a whole new dimension to just leaving a couple of doors open on a kit

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  • 2 years later...
On 7/25/2018 at 3:55 PM, bar side said:

Hi I am building an Italeri 1/48 RF-4C and it has hatch on the left side fuselage about three quarters of the way back.  Any idea what it is for?

 

rvmkb9b_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&f

 

The kit has a door which the instruction say should be split horizontally to show it open, but the best I can see is could this be the RAT?  If so should there be a turbine on show if the doors are open?

 

F4RAT.jpg

 

But that hatch looks to far forward for the one on the kit.  Any ideas?

 

 

RAT Air Turbine

 

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On 7/25/2018 at 10:16 PM, iainpeden said:

Only on the RFs and I assume they're only open when being loaded or used, which would be in flight.

The question I'd like to know is could they be shut again once the flares had been fired off or did they stay open?

If they can be closed again I am guessing that they would be opened on landing so the ground crew would know they needed refilling/checking in the same manner as when ours had used the AAR probe, they would deploy it on the taxi in so it could be checked over during the AF servicing.

 

Duncan B

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5 hours ago, Duncan B said:

The question I'd like to know is could they be shut again once the flares had been fired off or did they stay open?

If they can be closed again I am guessing that they would be opened on landing so the ground crew would know they needed refilling/checking in the same manner as when ours had used the AAR probe, they would deploy it on the taxi in so it could be checked over during the AF servicing.

 

Duncan B

They are closed after use in flight, but can be opened by the aircrew after landing, so the servicing crew can put in the safety pins and check for misfires or unused photoflash cartridges.

Larry

Phormer Photo Phantom Phixer

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