Tamiya F-4B Phantom Conversion (Finished! 25 Sep)

[Finn]

Here is one firing Zunis:

 

 

you can make out the Sidewinder and Sparrow in the aft well(s).

 

Jari

[easixpedro]

Thanks for the pic Jari!

Here's what I'm debating. First off, VF-213 from around April 1967, which saw the first strikes on Haiphong and Kep (VF-114 was doing a/a and bagged a couple of MiGs while 213 was busy dueling w/ Flak sites).

 

 

Forget this guys name (I'll have to dig, but he was a RIO and passed away just a few years ago).

 

Tempted to do this one, with CBUs, but reality is the racks would be clean coming back aboard!  Check out that A-6A--they're going hunting! 100% certainty that this is the strike on Haiphong's Power plants done on 20 April 67. Kitty Hawk and Ticonderoga teamed up to bomb 2 different power plants. LCDR Mike Estocin was awarded the MoH for his Iron Hand efforts during the strike. I've got a DFC write up for one of these A-6A crews, where they lost a motor and continued to the target and took out 3 SAM sites. When I asked the pilot about it, his response to me was he couldn't remember--it was just one of 17 DFCs he earned in Vietnam...!

 

Here's VF-114 earlier in the cruise in the a/g roll.  Just trapped w/ unused 2.75 inch rocket pods (must've of aborted due to weather--look at the wet flight deck).  I honestly like the look of the Zuni pods myself.

 

 

Here's one after banging off the angle with a similar loadout.  I also like the 67-68 VF-114 markings better--more ORANGE! I still can't fathom flying these jets with loud obnoxious colors. I mean, I know the Phantom smoked and they'd see 'em coming anyway, but the wild paint schemes just made it even easier...

 

Anyway, decisions, decisions.  CAM used to make F-4J markings for both squadrons. With a little bit of piecing together, I could use them for an F-4B. Of course the sheets are long out of production, so I'd have to find 'em first. And CAM decals are notorious for splitting apart, but beggars can't be choosers!

 

More soon!

-Peter

[ziggyfoos]

13 hours ago, easixpedro said:

 

 

 

Excellent detail in those pics

I like the "home is where the heart (is?)" scrawled in the grime on the fuel tank. Stenciled on USS Kitty Hawk needs some respray!

[allthumbs]

9 minutes ago, ziggyfoos said:

 

Excellent detail in those pics

I like the "home is where the heart (is?)" scrawled in the grime on the fuel tank. Stenciled on USS Kitty Hawk needs some respray!

 

...love this photo too. It shows off the original McAir factory applied maintenance and data markings (futura font?).

[easixpedro]

Aren't they great?!  There's a hole slew of them I got from a Kitty Hawk vet in private group on FB.  I flew from her for a few years, so it's fun to see the multiple generations talking about the same stuff.  There's some racier sayings on other graffiti that I won't post. I love the general grime. Look at all the grease on the catapult tracks in the first photo.  That stuff ends up everywhere.  

As for the faded "Kitty Hawk," I think it's a factor of sun fading and probably washing/scrubbing the planes.  Kitty Hawk was a conventional carrier (i.e. steam boilers). The stack gas from the exhaust was super corrosive. Couple with the cleaner that's used to scrub the airplanes, I can easily see them scrubbing off markings that weren't original from the factory. I'm sure the squadron markings were applied with proper masks and a spray-gun and therefore longer lasting. "Kitty Hawk" was likely applied w/ old school metal letter masks and a spray can of black paint. (they were still doing it that way when I joined the fleet in the 90s)

 

Also check out the TERs. Back in the day squadrons painted all the various 'support' equipment in their squadron colors to make it easily identifiable. From bomb and missile racks to the boarding ladders for Skyhawks. All that stuff has it's own serial number and is tracked by within a squadron inventory, so the colors made it easy for the lowly airman doing the inventory to recognize when the Aardvarks (who used orange) had cumshawed a piece of equipment.  (Cumshaw is one of those weird nautical terms--it's essentially a midnight requisition/scrounging of something. AKA Stealing it).

 

Anyway, the Blacklions' squadron color was red. Check out how grungy and faded that bomb rack is. It's almost a purplish-brown!  There's lots of details that will be fun to recreate!  I think of what Pig just pulled off with his H-60 and I would love to be able to pull off that level of weathering.  Someday...

 

-Peter

[Finn]

Here is another example how dirty they got on carriers, in this case a J that has been walked on:

 

 

Jari

[easixpedro]

A couple more photos for you.  If you can put up with FB, it can be a tremendous resource. I follow a ton of museums and history pages. Some fascinating stuff.  This is from the Tailhook Association, posted today:  VF-102 during America’s 68 cruise. @JeepsGunsTanks dad was on this cruise ...he could even be on the flight deck in this pick! Love it for the loadout. Note there’s no frangible nose cone on the Zunis. That’s  the cardboard cone that would vaporize when the launched...gave a semblance of aerodynamics to reduce drag on the rocket pods.

This pic was shared by the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. Apparently an old Naval Aviation News pic. But illustrates perfectly what I’m going for! After seeing this, I’ll likely try and make it just a bit off centerline too. Think of the skill it took to get this shot with an old school camera, and then have to go develop the film to see if you got the shot!

 

-Peter 

[Finn]

Peter i hope you can keep the wings level:

 

 

Jari

[JeepsGunsTanks]

1 hour ago, easixpedro said:

A couple more photos for you.  If you can put up with FB, it can be a tremendous resource. I follow a ton of museums and history pages. Some fascinating stuff.  This is from the Tailhook Association, posted today:  VF-102 during America’s 68 cruise. @JeepsGunsTanks dad was on this cruise ...he could even be on the flight deck in this pick! Love it for the loadout. Note there’s no frangible nose cone on the Zunis. That’s  the cardboard cone that would vaporize when the launched...gave a semblance of aerodynamics to reduce drag on the rocket pods.

This pic was shared by the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. Apparently an old Naval Aviation News pic. But illustrates perfectly what I’m going for! After seeing this, I’ll likely try and make it just a bit off centerline too. Think of the skill it took to get this shot with an old school camera, and then have to go develop the film to see if you got the shot!

 

-Peter 

 

 

Man there is nothing cooler than 60s Carrier ops! I love me some Phantoms! But all the planes are really great.   Awesome project so far!  These pics have been great.  Were those Zunis on the Phantom for Flack suppression? 

[easixpedro]

6 hours ago, JeepsGunsTanks said:

 

 

Man there is nothing cooler than 60s Carrier ops! I love me some Phantoms! But all the planes are really great.   Awesome project so far!  These pics have been great.  Were those Zunis on the Phantom for Flack suppression? 

I feel the same way! And yes, the Zunis mean they’re escorting a larger package and are about to go duel with some anti-aircraft guns. In reality, not fun for either party...

[easixpedro]

8 hours ago, Finn said:

Peter i hope you can keep the wings level:

Jari

That I will! That’s a pretty dangerous maneuver—correcting lineup in close to the ramp is usually disastrous and likely fatal. (It usually leads to a quick loss of power and altitude that’s hard to recover from). 
 

Peter

[easixpedro]

Drug out the Phantom and started getting after it. Wasn't happy with the leading edge flaps...had essentially built a step into the edge of the wing kind of like every Skyhawk kit produced. Popped them off and fixed it. They're nice and smooth now.

 

Also got the other wing modified and on. Still need to do the flaps.

 

 

On the radome I set about to make the IRST, which obviously isn't included in the J kit.

I used an the IRST from the Academy kit that I had laying about the spares box. Blew it up to 1/32 on a photocopier to give me something to work off of.

 

I had saved a piece of sprue from my 1/24th Hellcat build...its huge, and a solid chunk of styrene.

 

I chucked it in a drill and started sanding it down to get the approximate shape. Then I put a piece of sandpaper on the radome and used it to sand the sensor to shape.

 

Will go back and scribe the panel lines on it in a bit. I'll have to decide what year I'm replicating...thinking an early 67 jet without the nose portion of the radar warning antennas.

 

More as I get around to it. Hopefully some during the Independence Day weekend,  after that life starts picking up again with a bunch of college visits for the next kiddo.

-Peter

 

[Anthony in NZ]

Woo hoo, great to see you back at this! And such a great update too.  Nice work on the sensor under the radome, looks spot on. 
 

Love the early Phantom 

 

thanks for the inspiration buddy 

 

cheers

Anthony 

[easixpedro]

1 hour ago, Anthony in NZ said:

Woo hoo, great to see you back at this! And such a great update too.  Nice work on the sensor under the radome, looks spot on. 
 

Love the early Phantom 

 

thanks for the inspiration buddy 

 

cheers

Anthony 

Thanks! You've been busy too, which motivated me a bit. Just wasn't feeling the creative juices flow with the Prowler nor the Huey, so drug this out. Fun to actually snip plastic vice dorking around on the web watching other fellas do it. Hoping to get some more time between Barley Pops and celebrating our tossing aside the Monarchy and all...

-Peter

[easixpedro]

Alrighty Amigos. 

Quick snaps to show the port wing done. Flaps attached and a wash to check for errors. I've spotted a few already and have filled the lines. 

 

Next up is the lower part of the wing to see if I've obliterated all that detail.

You can also see I've got the tail glued together  (though not attached). Need to decide on a squadron and markings so I can decide which RWR gear to attach. Am feeling lazy and may pick an earlier one so I don't have to make the antenna on the leading edge...

On this photo you can see how I ended up with a low spot where I replaced the wheel hump. Had I taken a bit more time the fit would've been perfect like the other side. Easily fixed mind you, but just goes to show how you can mess things up when rushing. 

-Peter