F-4D 48th TFW USAFE Monogram 1/72eme

[PATRICK FROM THE SANDS]

Hello Everybody!

 

After the "E", the "F" and the "G`" already presented, now its is the turn of the "D" version to continue my Phantom saga. For that Rhino I used the old Monogram kit, which was - and even after the Hasegawa relates - to my opinion, one of the best Phantom ever produced at that scale before the arrival of the FM series.

 

The overall level of details is very good and impressive for such an ancestor, the cockpit is just stunning, you can even find the electric connectors on the AIM-9B of the kit! Shape and size obviously fit the plan, Monogram masters its subject but the downside is unfortunately the raised panel lines. Unlike Hasegawa, the kit comes with a full load of missiles and ECM pods and the little pilots are very convincing! Last but not least, the kit comes with the airbrakes and the belly louvres opened, which is not the case in the vast majority of recents kits at that scale, needing a painful surgery. 

This kit has a particular story as I bought it long time ago with the idea to do a "C" but, under the express order of my son, I built it OOB for him without too much work. Then - and after his permission - I decided to de-construct it completely, remove the old paint and start again with the surviving remains, not wanted to spend money in another pricey Hasegawa. I spent a lot of time engraving the panels, riveting the surface again and adding some extra works when it was needed (tail hot area with extra metal plates, dropped ailerons and obviously the intakes inner tunnels). For the cockpit, I used the original one enriched with some PE and wiring. 

In order to complicate a little bit the built, I opened the nose section to show the radar and the one upper panel on the left wing, using an old Verlinden kit. However, doing so I had to scratch build the whole radar blackboxes behind which were omitted by Verlinden (the radar is given in its stowed position). It took me quite a while to modify the radar antenna by adding the tiny IFF interrogator dipoles and the mechanism to extract the whole stuff from the inner fuselage. Adding details inside the radome was also an interesting challenge at that scale! 

I added an SUU-23 gun pod, but I modified the gun muzzle and fairing, as the kit and the Hasegawa ones are too simplistic. The missiles's fins are made from an aluminium can sheet. 

Color and markings: To please our British Modelers friends I chose a Phantom based at Lakenheath during the "good old days in East Anglia", belonging to the 48th TFW before the Aadvark era because I found few photos of some of their birds with an interesting variation of the traditional SEA scheme, the original FS 30219 Matt US Tan being replaced by a lighter color. XTRA Decals instruct to use FS 34201 (SAC Bomber Tan) but I was really not convinced by that tint at that scale, so I made my own mix (forgot the reference). Some patches of FS 30219 were still there, especially on the fin. I used  the XTRA Decals X72072 sheet for some parts of the markings, the rest is home made as I wanted to represent 66-504, having a left and right photo profile. 

To finish, I made simple dio inspired by a photo but without figures (I'm far from being a pro in modeling figures) to put the model in situation. I used aftermarkets products (ladders and tool box from Brengun) and scratch built the rest for the accessories.

 

Here are the photos, which quality is not tip top (sorry for that):

The real Phantom:

My model:

 

the little dio:

 

To conclude, if you have this kit, you can build it easily OOB and slightly sand the raised panels if you wish (not a concern at that scale) to have a fairly nice Phantom.

Thank you for your patience reading this topic and enjoy the photos! 

 

 

[Mohawk]

A wonderful model of a wonderful aircraft,well tidy mun

Regards

Mohawk

[binbrook87]

That's a stunner my friend 👍 Really great work on the old girl. Some of these old Monogram kits are really very nice indeed. They certainly were state of the art back in the day.

As a Brit i really do appreciate the LN aircraft and especially the 'off-tan' that was used in some of these aircraft....very unusual. Originally when i first saw photos of these i thought that it was just a poor colour reproduction of old photographs...but alas not the case. I love the 'proper tan' touch up patches you've shown.

 

I've got one of these kits in my collection to build yet but I'm not brave enough to rescribe the panel lines so will have to use some clever pre-shading i think 😁 Interestingly I've also got a Hasegawa F-4C/D too....and surprisingly found that it has raised details too 🙄

[PATRICK FROM THE SANDS]

7 hours ago, binbrook87 said:

That's a stunner my friend 👍 Really great work on the old girl. Some of these old Monogram kits are really very nice indeed. They certainly were state of the art back in the day.

As a Brit i really do appreciate the LN aircraft and especially the 'off-tan' that was used in some of these aircraft....very unusual. Originally when i first saw photos of these i thought that it was just a poor colour reproduction of old photographs...but alas not the case. I love the 'proper tan' touch up patches you've shown.

 

I've got one of these kits in my collection to build yet but I'm not brave enough to rescribe the panel lines so will have to use some clever pre-shading i think 😁 Interestingly I've also got a Hasegawa F-4C/D too....and surprisingly found that it has raised details too 🙄

Thank you much!  I built also the C version of the Rhino from Hasegawa (next topic to come), I was surprised by the level of non-details in the cockpit for example between Hasegawa and Monogram within which you can even find the rear part of the instruments of the RIO... and the comparison doesn't stop here! I am sure you will enjoy building them, fitting is very good. A slight sanding, as I recommend, will solve the raised panels issue. Cheers! 

[SAT69]

There's impressive modeling and then there's IMPRESSIVE modeling. Yours is definitely the second. An extraordinary build.

[PATRICK FROM THE SANDS]

7 hours ago, SAT69 said:

There's impressive modeling and then there's IMPRESSIVE modeling. Yours is definitely the second. An extraordinary build.

Thank you, this is too much! It is true that I spent quite a lot of time to make the most of this kit, but as I said earlier the basis is very good and deserve some improvements. As usual key to success is good set of documents and photos, I used essentially that one for the radar:

:

 

Thanks again and Happy modeling! 

[F-32]

Beautiful work, that looks awesome

[Vultures1]

Stunning Phantom and a great display of modelling. The radar in particular is excellent - well done!

[canberraman]

A magnificent feat of modelling with a terrific diorama to match!  Well done and thanks for sharing.

 

Mark

[Chrisj2003]

Wow. I like everything about this. Stunning detail. Phabulous. 
 

 

Chris

[Spitfire31]

Superb Phantom. A beautiful example of what can be created even from an elderly kit with skilled hands and good references.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[RidgeRunner]

Very nice, Patrick.  

 

Martin

[Bertie McBoatface]

I wouldn't attempt that level of detail in a much larger scale! In 1/72 it is astonishing. That's a candidate for 'Best Ever Phantom seen in 72'

 

No, wait, considering where you started from with the old Monogram. It IS 'Best Ever.....'

[PATRICK FROM THE SANDS]

3 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

I wouldn't attempt that level of detail in a much larger scale! In 1/72 it is astonishing. That's a candidate for 'Best Ever Phantom seen in 72'

 

No, wait, considering where you started from with the old Monogram. It IS 'Best Ever.....'

Thank you for the compliment! However, based on RidgeRunner recommendations, I have decided to remove the missiles and modify the external load... More photos to come! 

[Winenut]

oh my goodness

 

What you have created here is amazing!

 

Great subject and awesome result....1/72.....are you kidding???

 

😀

[PATRICK FROM THE SANDS]

1 minute ago, Winenut said:

oh my goodness

 

What you have created here is amazing!

 

Great subject and awesome result....1/72.....are you kidding???

 

😀

euh...no, I don't do any 48 scale kit because, as an expat, it is too big as I will need one day to pack-up and go somewhere else for retirement (Models HATE travels!). However, I will post some few new pix with a modification to that build, suggested by RidgeRunner soon and I will put a ruler as a proof. 

[PATRICK FROM THE SANDS]

Hello Phantom Phanatics!

 

Following RigdeRunner recommendations, and in order to stick more to the real thing, I removed all missiles (AIM-9 & &) from my model (the F-4D from LN were "nuke" and not air superiority) and replaced them by a more "authentic" load: a SUU-21 pod, on the port inner pylon. It took me some investigations to sort-out what it was exactly when I found this well known photo of an LN F-4D loaded with this strange white pod:

After scanning some posts in this forum, I found the exact nature of it. Having one left from an ESCI F-104C kit, I compared it with the one seen on the photo and I figure out that I had to modify it as SUU-21 for F-4 are truncated in the rear. So, I modified, painted and weathered it accordingly (these pods were quite dirty in general)and here is the result:

 

 

 

Thank you all for your help and happy modeling! 

[Parabat]

Great reference photos, so where is the model?! This is excellent work as many have said, one of the best Phantoms I've seen in terms of detail and looks.