greif8 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Hi all, this build was a new experience for me as I have never built a jet aircraft before. The end result was not bad for a first time build, though there is a lot of room for improvement. The learning curve was steep and I made a few mistakes along the way, but overall the model looks like a fairly accurate representation of an F-4J Phantom II that flew with VF-151 during the late 1970's. 3-Wire's flight deck base adds to the flavor also. The model is not perfectly marked. Some of the mistakes are due to my lack of knowledge and inexperience. And some mistakes are due to just not having the decals to mark the aircraft in VF-151 livery during the time period it represents. All that being said however, the guy I built it for; a friend who flew as a RIO in VF-151 is very happy with the model, so I got fairly close to getting it completely right. Another first with this build was using Alclad II metallic paint. Airbrushing the Alclad paint turned out alright for a first run, but I've got some learning to do to say the least. I did not weather the model much as the jets in the reference pictures I have from my friend look pretty clean and well maintained. Enjoy the photos! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
polo1112 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 A wonderful model on a beautiful Diorama!!! What can we ask more? Congratulations for your work! it is very impressive. Bravo. Polo. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Netz Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Clean build, any kit info you care to add??? Curt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolfgun33 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Wow. For your first jet it looks great!! Nice job. :thumbsup: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Collin Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Great Looking F-4... terrific for your first jet. Cheers Collin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
greif8 Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Thank you for the kind and generous comments guys. To tell the truth, I was a bit apprehensive about posting the build given the top quality work on jet aircraft that is displayed on here. Netz, the kit is Hasegawa's "Showtime 100" kit with a Legends cockpit. My friend bought the kit a few years ago and never built it. He asked me if I thought I could build a fairly accurate replica of a VF-151 F-4J for him, and I agreed to give it a shot. Getting the markings right turned out to be the toughest part of the build. I first bought a set of Cam Decals from Sprue Brothers that were listed as having VF-151 markings. The decal set actually has VF-151's sister squadron VF-161's markings - Doh!. Plan B, I bought the old Microscale set that has VF-151 markings on it and thought I was good to go. Unfortunately the decals were so old they fell apart when dipped in water, so I had to go to Plan C, which was to use the kit decals to piece together the squadron and aircraft numbers. I also got the USS Midway decals of the Cam set. Unfortunately, they are Low-Res which were used in the mid-80's on the F-4S Phantoms, so they are a bit out of place. Sorry for the long tale, but hopefully the Phantom experts out there won't think I'm completely clueless as to what right looks like. Ernest Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 That looks very sharp. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.