F-4E Phantom II - IAF -
1. History
The McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II,is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,400 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. The F-4 was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations,and Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts. Active missions began in November 1969 with an attack on an SA-2 Guideline SAM site at Abu Sueir,Egypt. For the next five years the Phantom operated mainly in the surface attack role,taking out the hardest and most strongly defended targets. The model I built belongs at 119 Tayeset "Ha'Atalef" - The Bat Squadron Role: All-Weather Fighter. 119 squadron was first formed in September 1956 at Tel Nof (Ekron) under the command of Yoash Tsidon, (founder of the All-Weather combat doctrine for the IDF/AF). This Phantom would be able to bomb a target 480 miles ( 772 Km ) from its base and still have about 12 minutes of loiter to engage an enemy with its 20-nm cannon or four AIM-9 Sidewinders.
2. The Kit
The Revell F-4E is based on their earlier German F-4F kit. Note that this is a new-tool offering in this scale and not to be confused with the ancient Revell F-4E kit that suffered from serious shape issues. The KIT It’s, in medium gray plastic, features engraved panel lines, adequately detailed wheel wells, and a somewhat lacking cockpit. Ordnance included are two different centerline 600 gallon fuel tanks , four AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, two AIM-7F Sparrow missiles, an ALQ-119 ECM pod, and four AIM-9L/M Sidewinder missiles. the kit cockpit is a bit of disappointment, the weakest part of the model. The Martin Baker ejection seats are adequate but they lack harnesses. The cockpit has no sidewall detail, and the canopy sills are nonexistent. There is also no detail in the area behind the rear ejection seat. One other problem with the kit cockpit is that the rear seat mounts too low in the tub and should be propped up a bit if you use the kit parts. The clear parts are thin and transparent. The canopies are molded separately so they may be posed open, but the attachment points are minuscule and weak. The downside is that there is no internal detail at all, something very apparent on Phantoms when the canopies are open. For this, the modeler has to turn to the aftermarket. Other clear parts include the HUD, the forward navigation lights (but not the ones mounted on the rear part of the wingtips), the hydraulic pressure gauge window on the aft fuselage, the anti-collision beacon, and the two RHAW bumps on the leading edge of each wingtip.
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3. Opening of bulkheads for assembling M61A1 Vulcan Gun and Ammunition Drum.
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First of all, I prepared the Vulcan housings on the bottom of the fuselage under the radome. I opened the bulkheads by cutting along the lines that bound the panels. I placed the M61A1 Vulcan Gun from the old kit Hasegawa F-16A 1/32 scale and gluing with Superglue. It is advisable to glue small segments one at a time, proceeding with very quite. At this point I assembled all the sections and colored the M61A1 in black. Then I applied the drybrush technique to the M61A1 Vulcan Gun group with metallic colors from metallic Testor colors.
4. Cockpit and ejection seat.
I wanted to upgrade the cockpit area to include side wall detailing and replace the ejection seats with resin versions. To do this, I picked up a couple Eduard Brassin sets as the best resin around, and after seeing this set I would have to agree with their assessment. This set provides two seats for a 1/32 F-4E Phantom II. I scratch built the side walls for both cockpits.
5. Gear Bay.
The Revell gear bays are very sparse and devoid of detail. So, I decide to mess around with the main gear bays. Instead of buying resin, I have added bits and pieces of etch, wire and plastic to try and emulate this busy area.
6. Wings and vertical stabilizer.
The Revell model fits nicely and is very quickly assembled. But, outer wing panels glue to the main wing assembly with about a 25 degree angle of dihedral. The instructions erroneously call for an angle of 18 degrees. The correct angle is 12.5 degrees. To get the proper angle for the outer panels, the modeler has to do a bit of filing of the joint surfaces and filling the resultant gaps when the pieces are glued on.
7. Fuselage
The fuselage complete with negative panels is dimensionally scaled, but requires some minor adjustments. Before starting any work, it is good to sand the whole model with a sheet of sandpaper No. 500, slightly damp, for two reasons: 1° to eliminate the porous appearance of the surface, 2° to bring the paneling back to a thinner negative. The Exhaust Nozzle they are really horrible, so I wanted to upgrade with Photoetched old set F-4E Phantom II Exterior set by Eduard.
8. Fuel Tanks and Weapons .
I decided to use only the tanks placed under the wings. As for the choice of armament, I opted for a variant of the Sidewinder, the BRASSIN 1/32 AIM-9B Sidewinder, normally used by the Israeli air force.
9. Decals .
Before I applied a coat of polish sealed (Gunze Sangyo Hobby Color 030 clear gloss ) the paint in preparation for decals. I have applied many decals already included in the Kit. But, regarding the stars of David I have self-made Paint Masks. The masks are made from thin masking tape, which is easy to be peeled off and doesn’t leave any stains. The tape is tested on clear and painted model too, you must carefully removed after painting.
10. Canopy and cockpit
I had to remove a seam, which required a great deal of sanding. Toothpaste was used to polish out all of the sanding scratches after the seam had been removed. And after I used Johnson Wax Wood, Beeswax. After this phase, I fitted the photoetch parts by model Technologies in the canopy and in the fuselage.
11. Camouflage and Markings.
Marking is taken from an image of the book " McDonnell F-4 Phantom II: Spirit in the Skies (World Air Power Journal) [Jon Lake] " Israeli Air Force 119 squadron in 1973 Base Tel Nov.
I used Gunze Sangyo Hobby Color paints for almost all of the painting, except for the main wheel, air intake and landing gear bays well ,with Tamiya Mini X-2 Gloss White Acrylic. Upper surfaces, with Sand FS33531, Red brown FS30219, and Pale Green .
12. Weathering.
The weathering of the model is very important and this entire task was undertaken carefully. In order to give prominence to the panel lines I added diluted Acrylic. The darker colors were added to the lower areas of the panel lines with the lighter shades along the edges. This latter operation will give a certain depth to the model and will eliminate the flat appearance of a standard paint scheme. For the lines between the panels I used colors I used OIL - MAIMERI PURO mixing with THINNER 5816604 - Petroleum essence (278 - Burnt Sienna - 535 - Ivory Black - 018 - Titanium White ).In conclusion you will paint all the surfaces with a semi-transparent paint (This is my technique (glossy acrylic G.S. COLOR 030 paint diluted with white spirit at 20%).
13. References.
* McDonnell F-4 Phantom II: Spirit in the Skies (World Air Power Journal) [Jon Lake]
* Verlinden Book Lock On No.8 McDonnell F-4 Phantom II
* Mid-East Aces: The Israeli Air Force Today (Osprey Colour Series)
* Illustrated Guide to the Israeli Air Force [Bill Gunston]
* F-4E Phantom The Hammers Squadron Ra´anan Weiss- Nr. 1- Publisher: IsraDecal
* F-4 Phantom II in action - Aircraft No. 65 - Publisher: Squadron/Signal Publications; 1st edition (May 1, 1984)
* McDonnell F-4E Phantom II Author:McGovern, Tim - Publisher: Aerofax
