Clement Great work so far! Your freehand camo looks very convincing too.
7 August 2023, 21:46
Marius Thank you mates! I wasn't sure at the beginning if the blurry edges from the free hand airbrush painting are realistic enough, but the pictures of the era didn't show any clear hard edges either, rather the contrary, but depends on the machine. In some cases, the edges were very blurry/airbrushy indeed also on the real aircraft.
9 August 2023, 08:46
Clement I think you nailed it. What did you use in terms of paint thinning, airbrush air pressure etc?
9 August 2023, 16:16
Marius Thank you Clement! I used around 20psi with an airbrush nozzle of 0.2mm and with a mix of ~65% Mr. Thinner and ~35% Mr. Hobby (C) paint. I started by doing the camouflage contours first, requiring 3-4 passes from very small distance. But I did many tests before.
10 August 2023, 09:12
Vincent The scheme already looks great. The metal effect are also very good on the elevator.
@Eric, I used Mr. Hobby paints, which are really good if used in the right dilution ratio. I have shown the exact paints in my album photos #9 and #12.
Paul Moore That is a marvelous looking F-4E. I had to look at the text to verify that it was 1/72 vice 1/48! Congratulations.
5 November 2023, 12:28
Paul Moore And thank you for the description of what you added, how the aftermarket parts were and if needed, historical notes, paint info, etc. etc! That was all VERY helpful. I'll try to start doing that with my postings. I'm glad you expanded on the ordnance load out. I thought it was not realistic but your explanation was very helpful as well.
One last thought …. Where did you get the AN/ALQ-87 ECM pod (at least that's what I think it is)?
5 November 2023, 12:53
Mike Siemers The Phantom looks so good in the IDF paint scheme, great job on the build.
Paul, I am honestly happy the text helped you, but that's because you took the time to read it. Under the comments section (in the album) you can also find a short article about the history and action of IDF F-4s during the October 1973 War, in case the topic is of any interest to you. I enjoy writting short articles for almost all my projects.
The ECM pod is indeed an AN/ALQ-87, which I took from a separate Finemolds kit with ordnance (US Air-to-Air Missile Set #2..70s) (Fine Molds FP44, 1:72)). When you're here already inside an album, scroll down to the end of the page, where you'll see the project's title once more with a preview picture. If you click on that, you'll see the full list of all aftermarket parts I used, which you can directly click/access.
6 November 2023, 15:11
Cuajete Phantastic painting job. Very nice color scheme.
Congrats!
11 April, 18:46
bob rivett awesome F4, really like the stand as well.
I recently purchased the 1/72 scale Trumpeter A6A, as well as some of the ordnance kits from Fine Molds and Hasagawa, going for a heavy load out. Haven't started it yet though, still working on Mig-15, -17 as well as some F9 panther kits. Actually I have 12 kits in the que before I get to the A6A.
Neuling Top build and interesting infos. Thanks for showing/telling!
12 April, 08:38
Marius Thank you scalemates Cuajete, Bob, Ekki, Patrick and Neuling. It was a rare case where most things went right.
13 April, 17:00
一生还一夜 This Phantom is definitely the best I've appreciated on scalemates！
18 April, 01:33
一生还一夜 I'm researching on whether the GBU—8 can be equipped on the F4E during the Vietnam war.The finomlds kit provides no extra weapons despite its high quality.
18 April, 01:38
Marius Thank you for the appreciation, I am really flattered.
Regarding the GBU-8s, yes, they were certainly used in the Vietnam War, but NOT on the F-4Es back then. The GBU-8 was used in combat in the early 1969 for the first time. In Vietnam it was only a small number of F-4Ds from the 25th TFS that dropped the GBU-8.
Initially they used the rear cockpit radar scope, but ended up adding small TV sets to the rear cockpit to get better results. The TV screen was fixed on the right-side console of the WSO in not the most comfortable position. The WSO had to shield the screen with one hand against sun light and try to lock the target with the other. They used directly the bomb's seeker head for broadcasting the image in the cockpit. So no other external devices retrofitted on the aircraft were necessary. For target locking, the aircraft had to be more or less aligned with the target in boresight mode. For improving the locking and image contrast, the usual ECM pods had to me removed from the forward AIM Sparrow wells (as seen here in my Israeli F-4E) and fixed under a TER from under the wings pylons. This measure would have offered a more constant ambient lightning to the GBU-8 seeker and reduce optical interference. Other tricks and small changes further improved their performance in Vietnam.
Also Israel received from the US some GBU-8s for the first time during the famous emergency resupply mission of mid-October 1973 (Operation "Nickel Grass"). This new weapon could be launched from the already modified F-4Es freshly supplied from the USAF inventory. The GBU-8s were used for the first time by Israel in the October 1973 War after only a few days since delivery with just minimum instructions and familiarization. The very first practice flight was the combat mission itself.
Indeed, the Finemolds kit does not include any weapons, but the selection of equipment for the F-4 Phantom is so big, you can not include them in the kit without doubling the price.
Marius
8+
Clement
Vincent
Edouard Carr
Paul Moore
Mike Siemers
bob rivett
一生还一夜
