Dogfight Double: Showtime vs Toon

[Enzo the Magnificent]

10 May 1972 was a busy day in the skies above North Vietnam.  This was the second day of the Linebacker campaign so the skies were filled with bombers and attack aircraft.  US aircraft downed at least eleven NVA fighters, while four US aircraft of all types were lost.

 

Three of those NVA aircraft were downed by a single crew: Lt Randall "Duke" Cunningham and Lt(jg) William Driscoll.  This crew had previously made two kills and became aces on this day. 

 

Their final engagement of the day was with the notorious Colonel Toon.   Subsequent evidence shows that "Colonel Toon" was actually a fictitous character created as a combination of US aircrew paranoia and North Vietnamese propaganda.  Nevertheless, the pilot on that day was an extremely skilled combat pilot.

 

I won't relate that combat in detail. Instead, I will refer you to this link:  https://theaviationgeekclub.com/showtime-100-vs-colonel-toon-the-most-epic-1-v-1-dogfight-in-the-history-of-naval-aviation/  

 

Cunningham and Driscoll were flying an F-4J of VF-96 off USS Constellation.  Their callsign was Showtime 100.  Cunningham and Driscoll survived ther day.  Sadly, Showtime 100 didn't.   It was hit by an SA-2 SAM on egress and had to be abandoned.

 

I shall be building both combatants in this thread.  Showtime 100 will be from the Academy F-4J kit, which includes decals for the aircraft in the box.

 

 

The Mig-17 is from the recent Airfix kit.   It seems that the boxtop markings are from the actual aircraft downed by Cunningham and Driscoll in their epic dogfight.

 

[modelling minion]

Nice choice Enzo, and a stand out moment from the war.

Should be a great double build.

[Brad]

Nice one. It was more than 7 on May 10 though; Dose and McDivott got a MiG 21 over Kep early in the day, Oyster flight accounted for 3 MiG 21's, 3 of course scored by Cunningham/Driscoll, Showtime 102 flown by Matt Connelly got 2 more MiG 17's and I think Shoemaker scored 1 Mig 17....I'm missing at least 1 too. It was indeed a busy day!

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good morning Enzo

Very interesting subject I take a seat to follow your build ..

Have fun

Patrice

[Valkyrie]

Great one to watch 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

11 hours ago, Brad said:

It was more than 7 on May 10 though

Thanks Brad.  I've updated my initial post.   

[theplasticsurgeon]

Great stuff Enzo.

Following with interest  -  as this Phantom kit is a resident of my stash.

[trickyrich]

all hail Enzo!!!  

 

Welcome along good  just  dear leader..... 

 

Very nice subjects you've chosen, if the Academy F-4J is like a scaled down version of the 1/48th one then it should be a treat with that build. Pity though it's in the multi-colour plastic!!

 

They should look great together, again great choice, good luck with these......hmm will more follow??? 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

9 hours ago, trickyrich said:

hmm will more follow??? 

Well, there's the three Broncos and a Sheridan...

[trickyrich]

...oh yeah I'd forgotten about those.....

 

But you know those old adds on TV flogging unless stuff........ "but wait there's more......"

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Lets have a look at the Academy F-4J.

 

This is actually quite a bizarre kit.  Of late, Academy have been producing some kits that can be built as snap-together models.  This is definitely one of them.  It is slightly simplified in some areas (notably the canopies cannot be built open) but there is also som very complez slide moulding involved.  It also reminds me of the old Matchbox kits in that various sprues are moulded in different colours to cut down on the painting required.  To further facilitate a quick easy build for youngsters, there is a sheet of waterslide decals and an alternative sheet of stickers! 

 

The upper fuselage is in one piece.  No joint lines to be sanded down!   

 

 

The next sprue is also moulded in grey and contains all the patrts that would be expected to be in that colour, with the addition of the cockpit.  I know that the flap uppersurfaces should be white, but there is a sticker for that...      The intakes are engineered to be as nearly seemless as possible, with some careful slide moulding involved.

 

 

Now onto the white parts.  You can see how the ordnance fitting is simplified by the large locating pins on the pylons.

 

 

There are two of these sprues. The missiles are somewhat simplified.  It doesn't bother me, but there are plenty of alternatives available if required.

 

The MK.82 bombs are an odd shape.  I wouldn't be using them anyway as Showtime 100 carried Mk20 Rockeyes on this mission.

 

 

Undercarriage parts, belly tank and the inner sections of the intakes.

 

 

And into the black, again with some excellent slide moulding, particularly on the exhausts.

 

 

There are parts for the long and short intake ECM pods, neither of which have markings in the box, so I imagine that Academy have their eye on further released.  I have also heard of an F-4B boxing, but nothing seems to have come of that.

[modelling minion]

An interesting looking kit Enzo, I like the idea of the single piece upper fuselage.

[trickyrich]

I have been reading about these model, Academy has done a lot of work to make them quite simple as you mentioned but still retain some nice details. A sort of grand version of a snap-fit model. There's quite a reasonable part count by the looks of it as well.

 

Just add some nice AM stuff and you'll have a really nice model......just a pity about the Matchbox coloured plastic!   Though I can see why they did it!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The kit provides open auxiliary intakes with no detail inside.  So I got hold of the Aires detail set.  I don't know how much will be visible, but I'll know it's there.

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

So, on with the build.

 

The intakes are such a good fit that they will be practically seamless.

 

 

 

 

I always liked the Hasegawa kit setup because the intake splitter plates can be added at the end of the build, greatly aiding painting.  This kit has a similar setup.

 

However in contrast to the Hasegawa kit - and every other 1/72 Phantom I have ever built - the intakes fit incredibly well! 

 

 

And there is plenty of space for nose ballast, in contrast to the Broncos and He 219 that I've built recently...

 

 

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The auxilary intake interiors are ready for fitment.

 

 

The cockpit is nicely detailed but without decals for the instrument panels.  I don't have a good track record in painting 1/72 instrument panels.  I thought I had a suitable Eduard Zoom set somewhere, but no...     So I robbed some decals from and Italeri kit.

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Upper and lower fuselage assembled.  I simply clicked them together and then ran liquid cement into the joints.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.   

 

Wing uppersurfaces and fin ready for fitment.

 

 

Main assembly complete.  The tailplanes are just push fitted at the moment.

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

That is really nice work Enzo, looks like she has gone together really nicely too, in fact it looks like an incredibly well fitting kit.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Once the primer is on, it just looks like any other Phantom kit!

 

[Hewy]

Looks a decent little kit enzo, snap together must mean no misaligned seam sanding horror stories too

Edited September 6, 2020 by Hewy

[Enzo the Magnificent]

2 hours ago, Hewy said:

snap together must mean no misaligned seam sanding horror stories too

Indeed.  The location pins really aren't taking any prisoners! 

[FortyEighter]

Nice work so far Enzo.  It's a shame that Academy haven't engineered the 1/48 intakes like they have in your kit 🙁

[trickyrich]

that kit does look like it went together without any issues at all!!  Oh why can't I have a model that does that! 

 

Nice swift progress as usual, well done! 

[Lifeline]

Great progress, Enzo...

A bit of heads up if I may, but I remember several reviews (both in the internet and from local modeler here) said the kit's decal is rubbish. Like Academy decals from the old days, it's thick, and not conforming well on the kit. 

 

And you might want to scrape off the oversized slot for the landing gear doors.

 

Cheers,

Mario

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Lifeline

[Enzo the Magnificent]

3 hours ago, Lifeline said:

A bit of heads up if I may, but I remember several reviews (both in the internet and from local modeler here) said the kit's decal is rubbish. Like Academy decals from the old days, it's thick, and not conforming well on the kit.

 

Thanks Mario.  I had a suspicion that might be so.  I have a Plan B.