1/48 Hasegawa F-4J Phantom II

Gallery Article by Adrian 'DREN' Garza on Oct 15 2013

 

 

VF-84 Jolly Rogers

Hello my PHriends. This is my F-4J PHANTOM II. A classic from Hasegawa. Despite Academy's recent entry in the quarter scale Phantom court, Hasegawa still holds it's own with their offerings in the 'SPOOK' sector. I have built this kit and the other variants, many times and it never gets old to me. Always a pleasure.

Because of my soft spot for naval aviation, I could not resist in dressing this fine bird in the stark and handsome livery of the VF-84. This load out of CBU's (cluster bomb units) is not typical of VF-84. I just wanted to demonstrate the naval PHANTOM's attack capabilities. 

 

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Aero Master decals 'PHANCY PHANTOMS' Pt. VI, supply the JOLLY ROGERS markings, along with some of the kit's stencil markings. Aero Master's "victory stripe" decal (that drapes over mid fuselage), seemed to be on the short side and joined in the wrong degree of angle. Of course this was only discovered during application. I quickly removed it before it completely adhered itself and opted to hand mask a negative space, silhouette of the victory stripe. Sprayed a base of white for the yellow to follow. Masked the borders with narrowed cut strips of TAMIYA tape and hand cut each individual "chevron" mask, then positioned and spaced them accordingly within the borders, along the stripe. Sprayed the black "inlay" color, peal off the masks after proper drying time and voila! A clean victory stripe that touches down nicely to the wing roots. 

Paints are by Model Master Acrylics and Tamiya Color Acrylics. Gloss and flat clear finishes are by Floquil. Metallics are Alclad II. 

True Details resin wheels for the feet and Martin Baker MK7 ejection seats in the office, along with Eduard photo etch and scratch details. 

Aires exhaust cans and ordinance from Hasegawa's weapons sets, round off the details. 

I hope you enjoy viewing this "black bearded pirate" as much as I enjoyed building it. 

Adrian 'DREN' Garza

      

Photos and text © by Adrian 'DREN' Garza