Popular Post Selwyn Posted July 31, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 31, 2022 Back in the mists of time (1979 in fact) at the age of 17 ½ I left the family home and Joined the RAF. My bedroom was the small room our three bed semi, which my mum rapidly tuned into her sewing room (she was a seamstress by trade). When I visited on weekends/leave I graduated to the second bedroom so that wasn’t a problem anyway. Fast forward forty years to 2020, after a long illness mum died leaving me the family home (Dad had died in 2005), and I moved in that year. Since then I have been progressively clearing the house and recently hit the biggie, clearing out the loft! To my great surprise I found a box full of my stuff that Mum had packed up when she converted the bedroom, and in the box I found a small stash of kits that I had long forgot I had. One of the kits was the very very old Airfix Phantom. Scalemates tells me its the 1963 mould, and the boxing is from 1973, and according to the box top I had purchased it from Woolworths for the astronomical sum of 55P! Revelling in nostalgia I decided that I just had to build it! Now I do remember building this kit as a schoolboy, as the Israeli F4E version, So this time it had to be the US F4B. Assessing the kit, it was all there, flash free, decals were another thing, being incredibly yellowed and curly, and well past their sell by date, So it was a deep breath and a deep dive into the decal stash for a suitable replacement, which was found on an old Modeldecal sheet 2, A US Marines F4B of VFMA-531 base at MCAS El Toro California in 1968. Very fitting, a 1960’s kit with a 1960’s scheme. Below is the result. I went with the kit supplied all AIM7E weapons load, don’t know if it was a correct config for this aircraft but hey ho. Is it my best build? Hell No! Is it an accurate F4B? Hell no! Was it a filler monster? surprisingly not! Did I have a lot of fun building it? Hell yes! Many thanks to my wonderful mum for packing it away so carefully back in 79. Selwyn 83 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Brilliant find. Brilliant story. Brilliant result. Made me smile on a damp Sunday morning. I well remember that 60’s kit with the big red flash on the spine. Well done Selwyn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HansReggelsen Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 I too built this kit when I was a kid back in the 70'es. I built mine as the IDF F-4E. Great to see an old warhorse built into a really nice model! Thanks for the memories! Cheers Hans J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 @Selwyn that looks the part; mine was in the F-4B box art scheme. Well done to your mum too, mine tended to pack my models away in the bin. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinChipmunkfan Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 What a nice find to remind you of earlier times your Phantom looks good. It may have been superseded in terms of accuracy but nostalgia builds have their own attraction- I have an Airfix Hawker Hart in the queue.🙂 Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Great build on the old Airfix, well done indeed ! Wulfman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilspen Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 I enjoyed the story. Good old Mum. I too remember building in the IDF scheme. Your build looks great. It is nice to see your nostalgia build. Cheers Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulaero Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Great heart warming story and some classic modelling, very nice 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 What a wonderful story, and a great build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Blimey, that's turned out alright, hasn't it?! absolutely superb, sir. And what a great story, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autle Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Really good backstory and modelling Selwyn, isn't it amazing how our parents shape our lives in one way or another. As it happens my dad build this for me when I was about 4 or 5, can you imagine how happy I was to work on these fantastic looking aircraft in the RAF during their last few years. Money just can't buy memories like that. Thanks for the post, do you have the original box art. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted July 31, 2022 Author Share Posted July 31, 2022 9 minutes ago, Autle said: Really good backstory and modelling Selwyn, isn't it amazing how our parents shape our lives in one way or another. As it happens my dad build this for me when I was about 4 or 5, can you imagine how happy I was to work on these fantastic looking aircraft in the RAF during their last few years. Money just can't buy memories like that. Thanks for the post, do you have the original box art. well I have the original box if that is what you mean? Selwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Nice job on this old kit Selwyn, it looks better than its years would suggest. 👍 Well done your Mum, they're special people, I still have kits that mine packed up forty years ago when I was on my OE & they shifted from our family home. Luckily I had their new address. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG X Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Lovely story Selwyn & a lovely build too. I lost my mum in April & it has hit me harder than I ever would of imagined. God bless the mums - Steve 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted July 31, 2022 Author Share Posted July 31, 2022 1 minute ago, BIG X said: Lovely story Selwyn & a lovely build too. I lost my mum in April & it has hit me harder than I ever would of imagined. God bless the mums - Steve Yes, you kind of think mums are immortal, lts a shock when they leave. 2020 was a terrible time for our family. My mums elder sister died of COVID on a Sunday, mum died of the big C just 48 hours later. still not totally over it, my heart goes out to you and your loss. Selwyn 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane39 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Fantastic story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantherhawk27263 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 A very nice story and very nice build of my least favorite Phantom kit of all time. This is the only kit I've ever stopped building and thrown away because it just didn't look enough like a Phantom to me. Many here in the US talk trash about the old Revell kit, but I think it looks more like a Phantom than this kit, all of which makes the job you did here even more impressive. Great job!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Lovely story Selwyn. Hope that building the kit brought back lots of happy memories of your childhood and your Mum and Dad. The model looks great too. I built one a while ago and was pleasantly surprised when the original big old red flash transfer settled across the spine without breaking up! Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 Lovely job, and wonderful story, too. As for the all-Sparrow armament, I think that's consistent with one of the F3H Demon's loadouts, so entirely believable for 1962 or '63. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted August 1, 2022 Share Posted August 1, 2022 A great back story Selwyn, tinged with much sadness concerning your losses. I also had this kit back in the day and I also turned it into an Israeli E, with much filler and a couple of toothpaste tube tops to represent the longer exhausts! Happy days indeed. Your B has turned out to be a very respectable rendering of that nostalgic Airfix offering. Great job! Thanks for sharing. Terry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryanm Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Great Phantom, great nostalgia blast, great story! The old Airfix F4B must be one of the most made models of that era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RupertTheBear Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Love a good story from memory lane Beautiful Phantom as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markh-75 Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Very nice job too! I always remember this kit with the two tailplane parts having those little cams on so that the tail could tilt up and down! Ahh, Memories😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplasticsurgeon Posted August 5, 2022 Share Posted August 5, 2022 Top build, and story Selwyn, sorry for your loss. I've built a very incomplete (no cockpit interior or undercarriage) 1/72 Hasegawa F-4B in those markings, and have repainted my build of that Airfix Phantom as Olds1 from that Modeldecal sheet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted August 5, 2022 Author Share Posted August 5, 2022 20 minutes ago, Markh-75 said: Very nice job too! I always remember this kit with the two tailplane parts having those little cams on so that the tail could tilt up and down! Ahh, Memories😉 And it works on this kit build! Selwyn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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