RoG F-4F Phantom 1/72

[Nigel Bunker]

I recently built an F-4F in Norm 72 camouflage from the Revell kit. No complaints, it went together nicely.

 

Then this afternoon I was having a cup of tea and my eyes wandered to the F-4F. I thought the intakes looked big so I got the steel rule out and started measuring the gap between the splitter plate and the inside of the intake.

 

The results were:

 

Hasegawa & Fujimi J-79 engined Phantoms    6.5mm

Airfix and Fujimi Spey engined Phantoms    7.5mm

Revell F-4F J79 engine  8.5mm

 

If I'm right, has nobody else picked up this error? I have done a quick Google search and found no reference to it. Or have I messed up the assembley of the kit?

 

Any ideas?

[f111guru]

26 minutes ago, Nigel Bunker said:

I recently built an F-4F in Norm 72 camouflage from the Revell kit. No complaints, it went together nicely.

 

Then this afternoon I was having a cup of tea and my eyes wandered to the F-4F. I thought the intakes looked big so I got the steel rule out and started measuring the gap between the splitter plate and the inside of the intake.

 

The results were:

 

Hasegawa & Fujimi J-79 engined Phantoms    6.5mm

Airfix and Fujimi Spey engined Phantoms    7.5mm

Revell F-4F J79 engine  8.5mm

 

If I'm right, has nobody else picked up this error? I have done a quick Google search and found no reference to it. Or have I messed up the assembley of the kit?

 

Any ideas?

Honestly Nigel I have not. I've done a few in 1/72nd scale over the years but have not noticed any difference. I've never set it to scale drawings either. Most were D model from Monogram at the time and had bad words for how the intakes went together. The others were in 1/48th scale and this is my primary go to scale.

 

So, this brings up an interesting point. Which is correct in 1/72nd scale. I don't have an F-4 near by to go measure. Is it the 6.5mm, 7.5mm, or the 8.5mm or something totally different.

 

Would the Rolls Royce Spey engine aircraft have a larger intake or not? I do not know. One would think with the larger engine as the F-16 did with the GE engine installed.

 

Good point for our phantom phanatics is this group.

 

All The Best,

Ron VanDerwarker

[Hook]

3 hours ago, f111guru said:

Would the Rolls Royce Spey engine aircraft have a larger intake or not?

They would. Speys need more air that J79's.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

[iainpeden]

Nigel, I am assuming you are talking about the width of the intake.

Certainly the Spey versions had a slightly wider intake due to the higher air capacity needed by the turbofan engine. How this measure up in 1/72 I am not sure but it won't be much.

I have just had a quick look at the Revell one and Hasegawa one side by side and the former does look to be slightly larger. The Revell one has always had a reputation of being not "quite right" - fin tip too square, cockpit area thin, canopy just off.

No definitive answer sorry.

[Antti_K]

Hello Nigel & Co.,

 

The width of the intake in a 1/72 scale Spey Phantom should be 6,18 mm (measured between the intake lip and the surface of the "Vari-ramp" and perpendicular to the aircraft center line). Your measurement sounds good.

 

The intakes were slightly wider in British Phantoms but the "real magic" was inside the intake duct. If a jet engine requires say 20% more air, then by increasing the area of the intake by 20% should compensate for that. But. This rule only applies to subsonic aircraft. The intake duct internal contours should do the job, if the calculations are made for supersonic speeds. In British Phantoms the intake duct is wider and slightly higher further back than in F-4Js.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[72modeler]

@Antti_K,

Sure wish the Finns had bought Phantoms- can you imagine how neat they would have been in the three-color camouflage? PH- serials?  

Mike

[Gene K]

The RoG 1/72 F-4 has more problems than just the intakes, including for example the canopies, the nose shape, the fin cap, tanks ... . The kit's excellent engineering and molding are wasted owing to really poor research.

 

Gene K

Edited July 23, 2021 by Gene K

[Stashaholic Steve]

14 hours ago, 72modeler said:

@Antti_K,

Sure wish the Finns had bought Phantoms- can you imagine how neat they would have been in the three-color camouflage? PH- serials?  

Mike

There's your next "what-if" project right there!

[Antti_K]

18 hours ago, 72modeler said:

@Antti_K,

Sure wish the Finns had bought Phantoms- can you imagine how neat they would have been in the three-color camouflage? PH- serials?  

Mike

 

I wish my friend, I wish. I have had a chance to sit in a Phantom on two different occasions (both were USAF F-4Es). Some 30 years later I am still very impressed.

 

EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) decided to completely re-write the theoretical knowledge instruction syllabus for General Navigation. The new syllabus is filled with Mental DR techniques best suited for jet fighters (TAS 480 kt. at 500 ft) and various rules of thumb. I then suggested to my boss (as leading air navigation instructor and CTKI) that we should sell all of our Diamond DA-42s and Embraer Phenoms and fill the apron with F-4 Phantoms. As non-air crew he didn't get my point and looked like a fish on dry ground!

 

A Phantom in Finnish paint scheme... Now why didn't I think that myself😉

 

Cheers,

Antti