F-4B - US Navy - 1972
The upper picture depicts the F-4B NL201 (153019) as deployed on the USS Coral Sea in 1972. This is the machine with which the MiG-17 was downed in March 1972. Since the VF-111 was transitioning to the F-4Ns in mid-1974, this specific aircraft was passed to the VMFA-531 at MCAS El Toro, California.
The lower picture depicts the F-4N NL201 (152278) as seen at some point in 1975, therefore a totally different machine that has nothing to do with the encounter against the VPAF from March 1972.
Interestingly, the yellow star is painted upside down.
LATER EDIT: while the decals are matt and with good adherence, they are very thick and there is no way the national insignia can mold itself on all of those details from the wing's folding area.
The fit is generally very good, even excellent in some areas.
For now just some superficial pre-shading.
A constant reminder to self: NEVER test new paint on a good model.
After several repairs, the main colours are applied. Walkways next.
It's the 5th-6th time I need to locally sand down the paint and repaint. There was something particularly bad with this brand new paint bottle I had, probably expired or was improperly stored in the shop.
Some of that pre-shading effort is now partially gone after all of these repairs.
I also tried adding some texture to the walkways with insufficiently thinned paint in combination with a small airbrush nozzle (0.2mm) and higher air pressure.
Those stripes don't necessarily need to be perfect, since contrasts and edges will not be that strong at the end.
One hour of masking for 20 seconds of air and paint.
That means more flexibility for shading. For instance, the Alclad Steel (which I will be using later) is particularly thick from the bottle.
One a side note, there is an ironic combination of the word "morbidity" from the newspaper with the awful smell of these metallic paints. Maybe it's a sign to finally switch to acrylics, but I am still heroically resisting.
The contrast is of course quite strong, as expected. A further run of "Jet Exhaust" on top should blend in the colours.
The lightning doesn't help much, but it looks nicer in reality with more visible but still subtle blueish-purple shades.
Washes and oils should further blend together the colours from the exhaust area. A later dry brushing with Aluminium should bring up details from the exhaust pipes themselves.
These Microscale decals are quite old and I am a bit afraid something will go wrong.
LATER EDIT #1: the decals are of good quality, but the sheet is missing the "USS CORAL SEA" writing for the NL201, while the shark mouth is totally out of scale and cannot fit to the model. This renders this decal sheet close to useless for my project.
Nevertheless, I will try using as many decals as possible from the initial Hasegawa decal sheet (like some stencils, shark mouth, etc.)
LATER EDIT #2: it seems there is an entire philosopy and mythology with respect to the topic of stencils applied on the mid-life F-4s
This photograph of the "NL202" is dated for 1972 and shows only some major stencils, but most of the ones applied in the factory are no longer there.
Looking back at the close up picture of the "NL201" dated from the same period (picture 5 from the album), there is similarily close to no stencile visible any more. Check also this insightful discussion here:
arcforums.com/forums..-f-4-stencil-colors/
I mean, not that I don't want to soak and apply 300 stencils, it has nothing to do with that.
#1 In the top left picture there is the decal sheet included in the initial kit. While some decals can be used, they represent a Sundowner aircraft from after the Vietnam War, therefore insufficient for the NL201 machine
#2 In the bottom left picture there is the decal sheet from another older Hasegawa kit representing exactly the NL201. I found it on Ebay for a good price. There is a fundamental difference in quality between these two decals sheets (#1 and #2). While the ones from #1 are matt, with good adherence but very thick the ones here from #2 are very glossy, full of silvering but fairly thin.
#3 The left picture represents the Microscale sheet. Unfortunately, the writting "USS Coral Sea" was completely missing, therefore I had to find an alternative decal sheet (the one from #2).
I really thought that the combination of all the three decal sheets above is more than enough to finish the model. Guess what, it's not the case 🙂.
The main issue was the sun painting from the vertical tail. The decal for the tail from Microscale (#3) was just desintegrating and crumbling all over, while the Hasegawa decal (#2) was not molding itself at all over the details and looked quite bad in my view.
I thought I will have no other choice but to paint the tail, but I managed to find in the last moment a fourth decal sheet, the one from Print Scale (not shown here). Personally, I really like their decals, since they are very thin and always setting nicely on the surface details. Waiting for them to arrive.
While these two books are including some very technical terms, making them a bit more difficult to read at times, overall they are giving a fascinating insight in the Navy F-4 Phantom operations during the Vietnam War. Plenty of details regarding the technical status and equipment of the era, detailed recollections of encounters with enemy fighters and combined with a bit of overall history of the conflict.
The same "Hot Metal Violet" and "Hot Metal Blue" were used at the trailing edge area of the stabilizers.
As mentioned before, the NL201 aircraft had in 1972 close to no stencils after repaiting.
I am personally super happy about the quality of all Printscale decals I have used so far in terms of print quality, film thickness and adhesion. Sadly, in many cases their decals aren't well researched or historically incorrect. It is partially true also in this case, but nothing I could not overcome.
Very special thank you to Frantz44 who was very nice and sent me from his own stash the decals for the VF-111 from Printscale (which were out of stock in all shops I knew).
The shark mouth was another challenge, since none of the decal sheets I had offered anything decent enough, since either the shape, the size or the quality were not OK. In the end, I used the Hasegawa decal sheet from this kit, but Hasegawa obviously didn't account for the conic shape of the nose, so the decal was developing waves all over. I had to slice it in several locations, but it wasn't perfect and I'm not yet really happy about it.
More repair work to be done on the shark mouth and then sealing for washes.
My first ever F-4 Phantom, a project started 7 months ago. I'm in love with this Sundowners scheme and I don't regret choosing this subject with the interesting background history!
A big and special thank you for being ultra nice to Frantz44 for providing decals from his own stash and Antoine for all the long discussions and the big source of information he is!
The Print Scale decal sheet was actually my third try here, since the previous two brands were bad and I was at the point of actually painting the red sun rays by airbrush. I am glad I didn't have to do that.
Too bad, they would have added that nice extra detail effect.
The venerable Hasegawa kit is moderately and sufficiently detailed overall, but I added on the underside the additioonal screw lines where the case.
Basic and essential safety stencils were applied only around the canopy for these late Vietnam War Navy Phantoms.
Commentaires
ClementLovely work! How many kits do you have going on at the same time? Your production rate is pretty insane!
Bernd GrünNice build so far, Marius! I like the way of preshading of your rinos.
Congrats, mate! 👍
MariusThank you Bernd and Clement!
@Bernd: the pre-shading is unfortunately partially not that visible any more since so many repairs were required due to bad paint quality. I think I got an old or expired paint bottle when I ordered it.
@Clement: I wish my production rate would be that "insane". The truth is, I am constantly frustrated with my mistakes because I am sometimes not patient enough at some steps. I feel like starting 30 kits right now since I am so excited about some topics. I am currently having 3 MiG-17s and 3 F-4s in work, but I started them 4 months ago. I might finish them in 3-4 months, so that would be within a reasonable amount of time. I am planing two more MiG-23s this year, so considering the previously finished MiG-23 I might be at below 10 models this year. I think it's neither too much nor too less. But yes, the quality is a bit of a compromise, since I prefer to rather dive in numerous topics and read about the background instead of finishing two perfect models in one year.
MariusThank you Guy, Donald and Michael!
@Donald: I remember noticing your project back then. Very beautiful result on your side! Thank you for leaving here a comment since I had a look again at the discussion from your thread and I found out that the repainted Phantoms (after 1970) eventually had close to no stencils anymore. Particularly the NL201, had almost none except the few critical ones around the cabin. I had no idea, so thank you!
Otherwise, I like your first comment from your album: "Now I know everyone and their mother has done the Sundowners, but *I* have not. So there ya go." Same applies to me, this is my first ever F-4 Phantom!
CaptGPFBelieve it or not, your photo on the phantom metallics is what really helped inspire me on how to do the phantom exhausts better! I'm glad you shared this with us - you did an amazing paint job!
Only sad part to the sundowners was that air group was dissolved at the end of the Cold War.
-Antoine-F-4 Phantom, USN, MiG killer, everything there to get my attention! Very nice work so far, well done!
Mr JamesLovely, lovely, lovely.
Great tutorial on those exhausts. I'm halfway through a FGR2 and will give that a try.
MariusThank you guys!
I already started with the smaller parts.
@James: maybe try not to overdo it like I did. In my case, the overall contrast is too strong between the light and dark shades of those stripes.
MariusThank you Neuling! Two more Navy Phantoms are in work, with another Vietnam Era one.
-Antoine-A masterpiece, no less!!!! Well done Marius, you did this Hasegawa Phantom justice, really! Your build support easily the test of close-up pics, to the point one could think the scale is 1/48. I'm really happy to have been able to help a bit on the historical side. Hat off to you sir!
If I may, I think there's one little thing you can easily correct to give your F-4 an even better look. I don't know where you sourced from those Sidewinders, but but even the nice paint job you gave them is not enough to make them look right. They're just awful, especially the front part where the winglets are too thick with a wrong shape for an AIM-9D/G/H (Should have been a G in 1972, but whatever, both missiles looks exactly the same!) I recommand for those missiles a final trip straight to the trash can, and to replace them, maybe with Finemolds AIM-9D/G you can find (at lleast IIRC) in their 1/72 weapons set (US AtoA missiles set 2, ref. FP44). But again, and most importantly: Well done!
MariusThank you all for the very kind words! It's not perfect, I still made several mistakes.
@Antoine: I initially had the old Hasegawa missile set, where the Sidewinders were badly done and I was therefore looking for an alternative. I compared then some soviet R-13Ms to the AIM-9D and I had a first impression that the differences are not that obvious but in the end I don't like them that much either. I will replace them with the ones from Finemolds, which in the mean time also arrived.
SpanjaardHave you seen the eduard ones? I have used them in my phantoms, and quite happy about them
Album info
The famous unit VF-111 "Sundowners" has seen extensive action during the Vietnam War from the opening phases of the conflict. The VF-111 was initially equipped with F-8s, while the transition to the F-4B Phantom was done only in 1971 for this unit.
At the end the of first phase (1965-1970) of the Vietnam Air War, the Navy F-8s have had a higher kill-to-loss ratio than the newly introduced and more capable Navy F-4 Phantoms. This surprising result was caused by several factors coming together. The most irritating one was the constant malfunction of both the IF homing AIM-9B and radar homing AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, many of which weren't even launching from rail, in some rare cases even exploded on the pylon during launch, while major accuracy and tracking issues were originating from the missile's limited launching envelope and technological limitations. On top of that, the launch envelope was difficult to estimate by the crew during the heat of air combat, leading to a signifficant number of launches outside envelope, therefore a miss was garantueed even before launch. The issue of low missile success applies to the F-8s as well. Other critical factors were the lack of cannons for the Navy F-4s and lack of trained crew for air combat manouvering (ACM, aka dogfighting skills) deemed as no longer necessary in the era of "end game" missiles. These last two factors were not the case for the F-8 Crusader crews, which were both trained in ACM and also had built in cannons. Nevertheless, the cannons of the F-8s had their own technical issues as well, often jamming under high G maneouvering, leading to only 1 or 2 air kills with the cannons. Many other factors, such as the notoriously frequent and spontaneous malfunctions of the F-4's radar (making a lock for the AIM-7 impossible) or the improper rules of engagement left the Navy F-4 crews less succesful than anticipated.
These preliminary results have lead to a thourough investigation of the causes, ultimately resulting in establishingthe Navy Fighter Weapons School (aka "TopGun") on the 3rd March 1969. By the time the second phase (1972-1973) of the Air War over Vietnam commenced, several of the new Navy pilots were already trained in ACM, the short range IF missiles were improved to the AIM-9D standard while some Navy units received the F-4Js with improved radars. Altogether, the lack of cannon has always been felt for the Navy, whereas the Air Force was already equipping the new F-4E with a very effective cannon. While the count of the USAF F-4E air kills by cannon fire (6) during the Vietnam War might contradict the actual usefulness of cannons, it's still hard not to notice the dozens of accounts from US Navy pilots saying in interviews after singular encounters with the VPAF: "if we have had cannons that day, we would have taken down one or two more".
The VF-111 was assigned to the USS Coral Sea in 1972. On the 6th of March 1972, two F-4B's launched from the USS Coral Sea on a MiGCAP 50 miles north of Quang Lang airfield in North Vietnam where an A-5 Vigilante was performing a reconnaisance mission. One of the F-4Bs was the NL-201 (BuNo 153019) using the callsign, 'Old Nick two-zero-one'. That day, the NL201 was only in stand-by in case any malfunction occurs at any of the two other F-4s preparing for launch. Since one of the other F-4s did have a hydraulic leak just before launch, the NL201 was moved forward for take off. While in stand-by, the radio operator of the NL201 realized their own radar was completely down, therefore the mid-range AIM-7 Sparrow missiles aboard the NL201 were useless. The only available weapon left for this flight was the IF Sidewinder (AIM-9D) for close range.
Just arriving at the CAP location, the two F-4s were informed of one enemy aircraft in their vicinity. Actual visual contact with the sole and outnumbered MiG-17 was made very late resulting in a close range air combat at extremely low altitude. It appears that the Vietnamese MiG-17 pilot was very skillful and aggresive, but could not be succeed against a team of two F-4s. At one moment, the MiG-17 engaged the afterburner, which coincided with the moment the 'Old Nick 201' was behind trying to get a good missile lock. The excessive afterburner heat ensured a good lock and tracking for the AIM-9D Sidewinder. The subsequent impact at the extremely low altitude left no chance of escape for the VPAF pilot. Shortly after, 6 MiG-21's of the VPAF were closing in at a high speed in an attempt to get within the R-3 "Atoll" missile firing range. The two Phantoms successfully outran the MiG-21s in afterburner and managed to leave the hostile air space. They were refueled from an airborne tanker and managed to return to the USS Coral Sea (see link for a more detailed description: usscoralsea.net/aav.php#F-4%20AAV-3, or check the book from picture #29 from my album).
This was the first and only F-4 air victory of the "Sundowners" against a MiG during the Vietnam War. The victory mark was painted later on the air intake ramps as a black silhouette of the MiG-17. Interestingly, there is an additional symbol above the MiG-17 silhouette, a yellow star on top of the red circular background. It is close to certain that the yellow star refers to a much earlier air kill of this exact machine during an earlier cruise with the VF-213 as Black Lion 110. As on December 20th 1966, crewed by David McCrea and David Nicholls, this aircraft shot down an An-2 with an AIM-7 during a night interception.
It might be interesting to known that this exact machine still exists and is displayed inside the front gate at NAS Key West, Fl.
The VF-111 Sundowners eventually started the transition to the F-14A Tomcats in 1977 as the era of the Navy F-4 Phantoms was closing to an end.
References:
Peter E. Davies, USAF F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965-1968, Osprey Publishing
Peter E. Davies, USAF F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1972-1973, Osprey Publishing
Peter E. Davies, Brad Elward, US Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965-1970, Osprey Publishing
Peter E. Davies, Brad Elward, US Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965-1968, Osprey Publishing
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