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Alconbury Phantom


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19 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Having looked at far too many photos of RF-4Cs to be considered healthy, I think I’m going to go with the following:

 

SEA camo

Wrap around

Rounded nose

 

It means I can use the aftermarket serial 68-0564 as I don’t have too many other suitable decals to make a different serial. I was going to do light grey undersides but I’ve only seen 564 with wraparound and black tail codes. I’ll use the light grey when I do a 57 FIS F-4E one day …

 

Nose sort of dry fitted ready for spraying. I’ve left out all the cameras and windows for now to save lots of fiddly masking. 
 

1561-E30-E-1-FF9-4-E14-BFBB-6115139-FAA1

 

Since this photo I’ve sanded off the plates at the front of the camera bay door and added those two little bumps.

 

 

Hi Lord Riot,

 

Great work on the AR RF-4C so far. 

 

As you've decided to do an SEA schemed all over camo with the rounded recce nose, the following image from my collection might help you. Taken at Owl End in 1983.

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Mark

 

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Thanks @canberraman that’s a wonderful photo! Thanks to you and @Jabba I’ve got some great reference images now. Interesting this one has the black stars & bars, it looks like there were various combinations as these were repainted. I’m thinking of using the coloured insignia but not sure yet. 

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1 hour ago, Lord Riot said:

Thanks @canberraman that’s a wonderful photo! Thanks to you and @Jabba I’ve got some great reference images now. Interesting this one has the black stars & bars, it looks like there were various combinations as these were repainted. I’m thinking of using the coloured insignia but not sure yet. 

 

I have just had a quick look at some of the other photos that I have and one of the first I saw had the coloured "star and bar" with the wrap around scheme, but I cannot make out the number or whether it has a rounded nose. Will have a better look later.

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It’s worth a trawl through AB Pic.  Found this one but I am sure there are better on there

 

1318714-large.jpg

 

Have a look.  I just filtered for RF-4C & Alconbury

 

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/search/?type=McDonnell+Douglas+F-4+Phantom+II+RF-4C&airport=RAF+Alconbury+(EGWZ)&date_taken=&information=&tag_fields=[]

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That’s brilliant, thanks @bar side, that’s exactly the jet I’m doing! I did look through AB Pics but don’t remember that photo, so thanks for finding it.

 

More progress, I’ve now sprayed the areas of darker green. I’ll roll some blu-tack worms later ready for spraying the lighter green, then finally the tan. 

 

DE76-D425-8224-491-B-82-B5-6-FBD89-DEB1-

 

FD3-D4768-354-E-432-B-B400-09-D3-F9-B3-D

 

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  • 1 month later...

It’s been a while, I’ve rather lost all mojo for military kits thanks to world events, so this is now in the loft, perhaps to be resumed another day. In the meantime, following a break from modelling I’m going to do a few civilian types for the time being. Apologies to anyone who was interested in this build, I’m sure it’ll be back at some point.

 

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I feel very much the same I think. I just couldn't face sitting down and modelling military aircraft since Feb 24th. I also can't continue reading the 809 squadron book I'd just started and I had a few nights in a cottage on Anglesey near RAF Valley booked a few days in and I just couldn't take my camera and stand snapping fighter jets as I had planned when it was booked. There were some F-15s doing missed approaches in glorious sunshine, but the sight of them filled me with a sense of dread.

 

I feel a bit better now as the fear of an all out nuclear war has reduced somewhat, but I'm not sure when I'll feel ready to pick up again. I was wondering if I was the only person that found the conflict had this effect. Let's hope that there are signs that the worst has passed and that some peace can soon return to Ukraine.

 

One thing about the era we both tend to focus on is that these aircraft thankfully never went to war and you could say that they successfully kept the peace throughout the 1980's.

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@Filler mate that’s exactly how I felt too, so much so I just haven’t read or watched any news other than local or sports. All my USAF stuff is now in the loft, and I’ve sold quite a few kits, lost all interest in modern military now. I bet there must be quite a few people affected this way. Probably seems very minor compared to what the Ukrainians are going through but it’s certainly affected my mental well-being. Raise a glass of beer to peace. 🍻

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  • 7 months later...

It’s been a while, but with my Vulcan disaster I need to get back on the horse, and what better horse to get on than a Phantom! I hate having multiple kits on the go, or part finished ones, so rather than start something else I thought I’d finish this one before deciding whether to bin the Vulcan all together or try and strip all the paint off and go again.

 

This is where I left off with the Phantom.

 

A50-CBEBA-2077-4-B43-BDBA-39-CF076730-FE

 

It was coming along quite well, so barring any more paint pitfalls let’s see if I can get it done.


5-F393-D21-C687-4-D71-AAEB-80-BB60351-A8

 

Going to make a start before England v NZ.

 

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Good to see you back at the Phantom!  Getting towards the end of my Euro One Weasel I am getting more tempted to a rounded nose RF-4C.  Think I still have decals for Starize in the box

 

a7a85df823d8a782772bfae6d1791b8e.jpg

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It’s hard to decide whether the tail fin leading edge camo is the darker green or lighter. On ‘Starize’ above it clearly looks lighter, as on 370…

 

88-DA7-CA9-CC1-E-49-AF-A3-EA-7456-DF234-
 

But this one looks darker.

 

9-B687-D8-F-D0-D2-46-F4-B3-E8-9020-EEF79
 

Maybe just how it’s in shade?
 

This side the leading edge of the fin looks to match the lighter green.

 

A00-C1-E17-12-A0-4-ABB-9-B24-4-B8934-C0-
 

 

Anyone have a definitive answer?

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If it will actually stop raining for a few minutes before it gets dark I’ll get the tan sprayed. 

 

243-E3762-A747-4745-A1-E6-85-CDB29-E0-DF

 

Meanwhile, it looks as though I needed to modify the kit tailplanes. There’s a definite reinforcement plate on them, so as well as filling in the slats with plastic card, I sanded them down and rescribed the panel lines ready for these aftermarket parts.

 

401-EF574-814-F-4771-9132-E834-C1654-F87

 

A1-A0-FF6-B-BCC3-4-F3-A-A2-F7-D02-AE51-A

 

 

 

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All dry, and the big reveal shows just a couple of areas to touch up. Overall I’m quite pleased with the general look and colour of it, though I do wonder whether the dark green is just a little too dark? 

 

1-BC5354-C-B925-4-ADB-8234-E5-CE81903-D1

 

1-C3-B8-BDA-36-E3-4-B26-8172-D29698-F948

 

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Looks great. Planning on doing a wrap-around round-nose Arnie mod 68-564 myself using the Hasegawa RF-4 with suitable mods, and for something different have the Eduard Pave Drag to put on the centreline...

https://www.eduard.com/eduard/brassin/aircraft/1-48/an-avq-26-pave-tack-pod-for-f-4-1-48.html

You can still find them on e-thingy. 

Spectacular machines. Your model looks the part.

 

Tony 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

All dry, and the big reveal shows just a couple of areas to touch up. Overall I’m quite pleased with the general look and colour of it, though I do wonder whether the dark green is just a little too dark? 

 

1-BC5354-C-B925-4-ADB-8234-E5-CE81903-D1

 

1-C3-B8-BDA-36-E3-4-B26-8172-D29698-F948

 

Looks great! One of my favourite camo schemes is the wraparound F-4s and if you look at photos the dark green does seem to vary greatly, sometimes only just darker than the light green and others a very dark blackish green. Even if you take into consideration the photo quality and reproductions there were definitely variations. You may also find that after gloss and matt coats the colours will look slightly different again. Great work so far though 👍👍

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Thanks gents, that’s good to read that you think the colours are right. There does seem to be a variation not only between dark greens but also the camo patterns on similar schemed RF-4s. 
 

@bar side ours look almost identical! 😂

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