We got there in the end, and here is my Phantastically late Phantom.
The Build:
This is the very basic Airfix kit from decades ago. All OOB except for some minor home-made improvements. The RIO got a panel and some cockpit detail. The back of the cockpit received a blank to hide the otherwise exposed fuselage behind it. The model required a lot of filling and sanding. The small cockpit windows between the two canopies were created from spare clear plastic laying around from left over packaging. A second pitot tube was created from spare sprue and installed on the tail fin (one is for the instrumentation, the second for the Q-feel system for the horizontal stablisers (Q-feel is also known as artificial feel, essential for an all-moving surface like this).
Build thread here http://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/joes-sig-airfix-f-4-phantom.18130/
The Unit:
VF-31 is a well-documented US Navy squadron which has as it's emblem and mascot the famous cartoon character Felix the Cat, running with a large spherical bomb with a lit fuse. Their nickname ‘Tomcatters’ was adopted in 1948, and was a reference to the unit’s specialty as a night fighter squadron. In 1964 VF-31 transitioned to the F-4B Phantom and then to the F-4J four years later. In 1972 a VF-31 F-4J Phantom shot down a MiG-21 over North Vietnam and in doing so they became the only US Navy fighter squadron to achieve aerial victories in three wars (World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War). In 1980 VF-31 and USS Saratoga concluded a 24-year period of continuous service together, the longest in naval history. In 1981 VF-31 transitioned to the F-14 Tomcat.
The Aircraft:
F-4J Phantom II Build No.155812 was subsequently converted to F-4S standard and used by the US Marine Corps. The last unit to operate it, VMFA-251, retired F-4S 155812 in August 1985. It is now stored at Davis-Montham AFB, Arizona in storage park 71015.
[ATTACH]78691.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78692.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78693.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78694.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78695.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78696.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78697.IPB[/ATTACH]
The Build:
This is the very basic Airfix kit from decades ago. All OOB except for some minor home-made improvements. The RIO got a panel and some cockpit detail. The back of the cockpit received a blank to hide the otherwise exposed fuselage behind it. The model required a lot of filling and sanding. The small cockpit windows between the two canopies were created from spare clear plastic laying around from left over packaging. A second pitot tube was created from spare sprue and installed on the tail fin (one is for the instrumentation, the second for the Q-feel system for the horizontal stablisers (Q-feel is also known as artificial feel, essential for an all-moving surface like this).
Build thread here http://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/joes-sig-airfix-f-4-phantom.18130/
The Unit:
VF-31 is a well-documented US Navy squadron which has as it's emblem and mascot the famous cartoon character Felix the Cat, running with a large spherical bomb with a lit fuse. Their nickname ‘Tomcatters’ was adopted in 1948, and was a reference to the unit’s specialty as a night fighter squadron. In 1964 VF-31 transitioned to the F-4B Phantom and then to the F-4J four years later. In 1972 a VF-31 F-4J Phantom shot down a MiG-21 over North Vietnam and in doing so they became the only US Navy fighter squadron to achieve aerial victories in three wars (World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War). In 1980 VF-31 and USS Saratoga concluded a 24-year period of continuous service together, the longest in naval history. In 1981 VF-31 transitioned to the F-14 Tomcat.
The Aircraft:
F-4J Phantom II Build No.155812 was subsequently converted to F-4S standard and used by the US Marine Corps. The last unit to operate it, VMFA-251, retired F-4S 155812 in August 1985. It is now stored at Davis-Montham AFB, Arizona in storage park 71015.
[ATTACH]78691.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78692.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78693.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78694.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78695.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78696.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]78697.IPB[/ATTACH]
I'm not a big fan of the phantom, it's too big, clunky and everything wrong with the US, embodied in an aircraft.
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