International Scale Modeller

Hi guys
With a wide open topic like in this GB i can basicly build about 90% of my stash
But after about a year or so of only building armor i was i need of a change
So instead of finishing my current stuff i decided to build some planes for a while

And i wanted to start with the Eduard Good Evening Da Nang kit
A rebox of Academy's 1/48 F-4C Phantom kit wich is sold as a Eduard limited edition kit
The difference between the Academy kit and this one is a bunch of new decal options , colored and regular photo etch by Eduard and resin upgrade parts by Eduard
In this kit the resin pieces provided are for the wheels , ejection seats and the exhausts but more on that later in this post when i show the contents of this kit

First a bit of history of the F-4C
The USAF F-4C is a slightly modified version of the F-4B flown by the US Navy in the 60's
Dubbed the Phantom II ,the jet was originally designed for the Navy so the Airforce wasn't all that thrilled to adopt it in the first place
There was a habbit of having different planes for both branches
The C version for the USAF was slightly different having a different cockpit layout (mostly in the rear),a different nose and slightly different elevators , also some electronics where changed but that isn't visible so less important for the model
The Phantom was following the newly adopted idea that fighter jets didn't need a gun/cannon and all they needed were missiles
This was quite a common idea during the early part of the 60's

The Phantom can carry up to eight missiles of 2 types ,4 of each type
The AIM-7 Sparrow radar guided mid range missile(about 40 km)
Wich at the time had a bad service record as a lot of them didn't work all that well and from what i have heared on 11% of them actually hit their targets ,some simply fell from the plane not even igniting let alone flying to their target
There was a habbit of double tapping the trigger to launch 2 of them just in case 1 wouldn't work or lost the target
The other was the somewhat more reliable AIM-9 Sidewinder , a heatseaking short range (8 km) missile
This is the missile that sends a ring to the pilots headset to notifiy him the missile has a target lock
It actually sends off a sound the enitre time it is trying to lock on but the sound changes the moment it has a lock
Hence the term "good tone" used by pilots ,meaning they could fire the weapon
However the Sidewinder's heatseaking head had great difficulty locking on to a target if it flew low and fast over the treetops in Vietnam
So the the Phantom pilot either had fly at the same height or even lower so the missile had the sky as a background of the intended target
But overall it was a better liked weapon compared to Sparrow

After a few years of the Vietnam war pilots noticed that the often needed a gun on their plane
Either because the missiles didn't work/coudn't lock on , they ran out of missiles or the target was that close the systems couldn't get a lock or the weapon was unable to arm and detonate at that short of a range

Eventually later versions would get a build in Vulcan 6 barreled 20mm rotary cannon with firing rates up to about 4500 to 6000 rounds a minute
The early option was the SUU-16 gun pod
This carried the same Vulcan cannon but it was mounted on the centreline fueltanks position
Pilots had to go "boresight" (the radar stops moving ,also giving a static aimpoint on the hud) to use it and basicly guess the distance between themselves and the target
The power needed to drive the gun didn't come fron the Phantom's power aupply but from a small fan ,wich would spin a generator/dynamo that would them generate the power needed to operate the gun
The downside was that the plane would have to fly 500 km and hour or faster for this to work reliably
The SUU-16 would later be replaced by the SUU-23
Basicly the same weapon but now it was connected to the pilots HUD and got it's power from the plane
This would prove a better solution allthough it does mean you can carry 2 fuel/drop tanks instead of 3

The Phantom was poweres by 2 J-79 eniges
Some of the strongest in use at the time
This gave the Phantom the edge when it came to top speed and climbing speed over other and often Soviet build jets it would encounter
The problem with these engines however is that they are thirsty ,especially when they used their afterburnes
So fuel was often an issue for the pilots ,wich in turn makes the gunpods a good weapon but also a problem as they could carry less fuel
But the Phantom did have the option of in air refueling wich extended their operating range and time if needed
But all that speed and power did come at a price
Because of the engines and other design features the Phantom was big and bulky
So comparing it to the MiG's it would encounter it was faster and could climb better
But the MiG's were more manouverable

In the end the Phantom would be replaced in frontline service by the F-14 Tomcat for the Navy and the F-15 Eagle for the Airforce in the 70's after the Vietnam war
It however stayed in service for a long time in units like the Air National Garde and several training units in the US
It had it's official "Pharewell" a couple of years ago when it was retired from the last units that had them
it was also used by other nations in various subtypes like the UK ,Turkey ,Germany and Japan


And so with that short history lesson over
This is the kit

20190709_165259 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Quite a nice box art of a Phantom in the SEA camoscheme
SEA stands for South East Asia


20190709_165317 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
A look in the box


20190709_165440 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Quite a big pile of parts by the looks of it


20190709_165904 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_165914 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_165922 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_165933 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170004 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170013 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170030 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170042 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170057 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170105 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170116 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170126 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170136 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170208 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20190709_170238 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
So yeah , it is quite a lot of styrene
But this all comes from the Academy kit that serves as the base for this kit

We also have

20190709_170351 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Decals


20190709_170508 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Photo etch and pre cut masks


20190709_172904 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The resin bits for the wheels , exhausts and seats


20190709_172711 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And ofcourse the instructions


20190709_172720 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
This is the plane i will be building

And as a small addition to the kit i have this set

20190709_213414 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
I picked it up a while ago ,basicly it was too cheap to pass up for a full set of resin missiles with photo etch and decals
So i won't be needing much of the kit parts for that

The plan is to make it in to a overwatch configuration with the 8 missiles and the SUU pod from the kit ,that isn't in the instructions but it is easy enough to put together
And ofcourse the 2 fueltanks under the wings

And that is all i have for now
I actually started building it last week
So a update should be on here soon when the building part is done

Thanks for having a look
Take care
Cheers
Mark

I am in Mark for sure

Looking forward to this one Mark! Love the Phantom!

Must see if I can dig something out for this GB!

Thanks guys

The build went quite well
So well in fact that i finished the construction
All be it with various sub asemblies

So while i am here allready i can post the build update at the same time


20190709_213220 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The build starts like any other plane
With the cockpit
Because of the colored PE i had to remove all the raised detail of the instrumentpanels and some regular PE was added


20190709_221739 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
I then started to build the lower rear fuselage section


20190709_225731 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Wich only means building the main landing gear bays


20190709_231606 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And adding the upper half of the wings


20190709_231615 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Then the airducts where put together


20190710_011336 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And the air intakes


20190710_014032 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And some bits on the upper fuselage


20190711_101153 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Once all those bits where build i primed and painted the parts


20190711_104624 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And placed the colored PE
at this point the throttle was missing
It was a mistake in the instructions that i didn't spot so it went in the rear cockpit
I fixed that later on when i finally noticed it


20190711_104630 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Some call the colored PE cheating
My take is a bit more simple
I sure can't paint that detailed so i will use it


20190717_222609 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
After the painting the sub assemblies where ready to be put together
I didn't weather the cockpit at all because the surfaces that would look weathered will be hidden by the seats later on
And i plan on adding the crew aswell so that means even more stuff cramped in there so i figured it wouldn't be visible and i then didn't bother to do it


20190717_224525 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
I don't remember it from the previous Phantom i made but this one had some nasty seamlines
I filled them up once the construction part of the build was done


20190718_094031 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The tailsection
The C version has different elevators then the B
But they are just testfitted because of all the masking that needs to be done on them
I will be painting them as seperate parts


20190718_094712 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
It is starting to look like a Phantom now


20190720_011742 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The front landing gear was added
In case of the Phantom you can easily add all the doors and other parts
The landing gear bays are white on the inside ,so is the bottom of the Phantom (Vietnam era planes anyway) so that makes painting a lot easier


20190720_014700 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The same goes for the main landing gear
I decided to keep the airbrakes closed
The 2 little doors in the middle (no idea what they are for) can't be placed in a closed position so i had to place them like this


20190720_123900 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
A start on the pylons and fueltanks


20190721_145245 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The resin missiles
The AIM-9 Sidewinders come with clear parts for the seekerheads or caps if you want to display it with remove before flight tags (included aswell)
But those clear parts will get added after painting


20190721_222401 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The other resin bits


20190721_222418 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And the exhausts
I will place the endcaps once they are painted
Last time i didn't and it causes quite a nasty backblast when you try to spray paint in there (i could have known that but i made a little boo boo)


20190721_223146 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
I then used some clear green to tint the windshield
The actuall real plane that i am building still excists
But i couldn't find any photo of it so after googling i found most had a tinted windscreen ao i added that aswell
It is a bit light and maybe a second coat would give a better effect but by now there is a mask on there so i will just leave it like this


20190721_230638 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Some clear bits are glued in place
I did sand the fuselage where these parts go as i had some problems in the past when i was glueing the clear parts on a painted surface


20190721_231542 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And then it is basicly ready for painting
I do need to put most parts on sticks at this point and prepare everything for painting but the construction is over

And talking about painting
That is not yet started , it has been crazy hot in the Netherlands for the past couple of days
I think the UK had very similar weather
So painting was out of the question
I tested it on small scrap piece and even the primer would start to crack because of the very short drying time
So that is on hold for now
Instead i will be picking another kit from the stash , a AFV kit as i can completely build those before i paint and keep myself entertained that way

Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Takw care
Cheers
Mark

Holy crap!
BOOM !!! she is together
Smart move on holding off on the paint when weather is not ideal
I will keep looking in for updates and avert my eyes from searching online for a kit!

Twokidsnosleep wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2019 4:34 pm Holy crap!
BOOM !!! she is together
Smart move on holding off on the paint when weather is not ideal
I will keep looking in for updates and avert my eyes from searching online for a kit!

Thanks Scott
If you can't find the same kit , the good evening Da Nang kit that is
Then you should look for the Academy F-4C if you want a USAF plane
Or a B for an early US Navy or US Marines plane
Those are the main versions during the Vietnam war as far as i know
Later on both branches used more modern planes like the F-4J wich all 3 had i think
But the Academy kit is a very nice kit to start with
The added upgrades from this kit are a real nice bonus but you could get them as seperate sets aswell ,if you want to

Looking good Mark, I do like an F-4 Phantom

Kevthemodeller wrote: ↑Sun Jul 28, 2019 10:03 am Looking good Mark, I do like an F-4 Phantom

Thanks Kev
I find them intresting ,they are among my favorites to build but if i had to make a top 5 i think it would just miss out
Personally i like the F-14 , F-15 and F-16 more as far as western jets go
But that could be a age thing as those were the best jets when i was getting in to modelling (late 90's)
Other favorites are the MiG-29 and SU-27
I still like the Phantom though