academy f 4c

8/15/2019 Academy F 4C

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Do you have a ‘Holy Grail’ build? I’msure every modeller has one. Thebuild to end all builds. For some it’s

a kit that isn’t produced that you someday hope for, or one so complex andinvolved that it doesn’t play well with your busy life or limited budget.

Mine is one I’ve been dreaming of doing for over

fifteen years - the most prolific MiG killer of the Vietnam

conflict, ‘Oyster (OY) 463’. This was an F-4D Phantom,which ended the war with more kills than any other

single airframe. Two of these kills came at the hands of

Capt. Steve Ritchie, the Air Force’s only pilot ace (the

others being Weapons System Officers) and along with

the Navy’s Randall Cunningham was the only front-seater

to achieve ace status during the conflict. In addition to

Ritchie’s two kills,

‘463’ claimed four more North

Vietnamese MiGs at the hands of

other American pilots.

Around fifteen years ago I happened

across an old Microscale decal sheet showing

the airframe in late 1972, after Ritchie’s fifth kill.If memory serves, even at that time the sheet had

been out of production for some time. My intention at

the time was to use the decals right away on a

Hasegawa build. However, I somehow was able to face

the reality that I might only get one chance at the build,

so I held on to the decals waiting for my skills to develop.

I also secretly hoped that someone would do a newer

tooling of the F-4C/D. Years later when Academy

announced their new-tool F-4B I knew the C/D would

soon follow, so anticipation for this build began to grow.

Having patiently waited to start this build for more

years than I care to admit, I decided to start collecting

aftermarket; the dream build was becoming a reality. For

this kit I choose Eduard Brassin Wheels and

Exhausts, as well as their fabric harnesses. I also grabbed

the Brassin Weapons Set packaged specifically for this kit

which includes four Sparrows, four Sidewinders, and

twelve Mk 82s. Resin ‘Martin Bakers’ from Aires were also

used to dress up the cockpit. My aftermarket foray was

rounded out with DEF Model FOD covers and Remove

Before Flight tags plus Steel Beach Slime Lights.

Work began in the cockpit. And while the kit detail is

fairly nice, I was hoping to add the Aires resin set, but

could not get it to fit at all. I’ve seen some builds squeeze

it in, but I have no idea how they managed, honestly, so I

opted to use the seats and photo-etch bits in conjunction

Holy Grail

Phantom James Dickerson builds the 1:48Academy F-4D as a Vietnam WarMiG Killer – and achieves amodelling goal in theprocess!

F-4D PHANTOM24

This build represents the most prolific MiGkiller of the Vietnam conflict - ‘Oyster 463’

Manufacturer: Academy

Scale: 1:48

Kit Type: Plastic injection moulded with etch

Kit Number: 12294

F-4C/D Phantom


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with the kit pieces. The Aires seats are quite nice

and while they come with etched harnesses, I opted to

test my nerves with the Eduard fabric options. I really like

to use fabric belts when possible, but this was my first

time doing so in 1:48. They worked beautifully and have

more life and detail than metal, but they are a bit

tedious. The seats were sprayed with a base of black and

details were brush painted with Vallejo Model Colours,

after which the Eduard etched parts were added. A light

dry brushing of Neutral Grey added some depth and the

cushions were washed with AMMO of Mig Brown Wash.

The cockpit interior was then painted with a Tamiya Sky

Grey XF-19. The kit consoles come as separate pieces that

made painting a breeze, and the seats were test fitted

before a Dark

Grey oil wash was added

to the cockpit tub.

With the cockpit out of the way I

moved to the Eduard exhausts. I’d say if

you’re only adding one aftermarket item to

this kit the exhausts should be your

choice. They are highly visible and the

Eduard pieces are exquisite, but the best

part is they are drop-in replacements. The

fan assembly was finished in Alclad Dark

Aluminium and washed with black to add depth. The

cans were sprayed with Alclad Steel. The burner cans

Model Aircraft | December 2015

H O L Y G R A I L P H A N T O M

25

Adding details to the cockpit

and ejector seats

Alclad products

really makes the

exhaust areas

stand out

Adding the tan colour …

… and then applying

some shading


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were first sprayed with Alclad Exhaust Manifold and then

I masked off and the feathers were sprayed with Alclad

Jet Exhaust. Some transparent blue was lightly sprayed to

add some heat discoloration. For ease of painting, the

burner cans were left off the model. The rest of the

exhaust assembly dropped then into the installation

braces, and were secured with epoxy. This allowed me toadd the cans at the end of the build and avoid having to

mask them.

With the exhaust and cockpit completed, it was time

to move on with assembly, and there are a few points

that are worth mentioning. First, the sidewalls for the

main landing gear are a bit fiddly. In fact, there is at least

one aftermarket jig meant to help assembly. Take care

with alignment, and use the lower wing half to guide

you. You must attach the main gear before closing the

wing halves together! Also, the splitter plates have little

location tabs on the tops. If you remove these you can

slide the plates in at the end of the build. This helps

immensely with painting since you won’t have to squeeze

your airbrush behind them. I completely ignored the

intake assembly since I opted for FOD covers! Assembly

was then rather straightforward and required no filler.

The kit’s one-piece fuselage is

certainly it’s biggest selling point,

but the moulding process does

mean you’ll need to clean off some

seams.

Painting is where the fun begins for me, and the

Phantom was no exception. Southeast Asia three-tonecamouflage is by far my favourite, so I was looking

forward to dusting off the airbrush. After priming with

Tamiya Surface Primer I began on the underside with Mr.

Color Camouflage Grey FS 36622. Normally I prefer

to post-shade, but this colour is so light I’ve

not had much luck with it so I opted for

a pre-shade RLM 66 Dark Grey. The

base colour was slowly built up in thin

layers over the pre-shade until the

desired effect was reached. Then using

Blu Tack to mask off the demarcation

between upper and lower surface colour I now

moved to spraying the Mr. Color Light Tan FS30219, laying down a clean full coat of the base shade.

Once the base colour was dry I use a lightened mix (about

80% White) to lighten panels in random areas. Next, I use

a Dark Brown to darken along some of the panel lines.

The next step was to blend the shading layer back in.

For this I used a lightly thinned mix of the base colour

misted over the shading. This left an effect similar to

pre-shading, but with more variance and depth, in my

opinion. Next came Mr Hobby Medium Green FS 34102,

and for the soft demarcation I used Blu Tack ‘snakes’

about the thickness of a pencil and shaped them onto

the model to match my references. When I move to

painting I take care to spray at 90 degrees

to the surface, and this ensures an even

demarcation. It won’t be as hard edged

as masking tape, but is not as soft as free

F-4D PHANTOM26

… and the

lower surface

The pitot covers add a touch of realism

Close-in on the canopy and forward fuselage

The completed upper surface

Vietnam camouflage scheme …


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H O L Y G R A I L P H A N T O M

hand spraying, and I find this method perfect for the

scale representation that you would see on the real

thing. The same shading technique is used on both the

Medium Green and the next colour, Mr Hobby Dark

Green FS 34079.

For painting the Phantoms signature heat shielding

around the tail, I once again turned to my trusty stash of

Alclad. First I sprayed a layer of Duralumin for the upperportions and on the stabilizers. This was allowed to dry

and then I masked off the lower portions and sprayed

Steel where appropriate. Painting was wrapped up by

handling details such as the radome, the

green and white tail and canopy frames.

The model was then clear coated with

two applications of Alclad Aqua Gloss

and allowed to dry for a couple of days.

Decaling was a daunting task. First I

decided to apply the airframe specific decals from

the old Microscale sheet. I was worried about how they

had held up, but despite my apprehensions they held up

well. Within minutes of application they had settled intothe details without any solution. For the stencils I opted

to stick with the kit decals. Academy is using Cartograph

on new kits and these performed beautifully. The

application of stencils took five or six bench sessions and

care must be taken to force all the air from under each

decal to avoid silvering, and as there are close to three

hundred of them, it takes time! The decals were then

protected with a coat of gloss and I moved to doing my

washes, and here I used a combination of colours and

went with AMMO of Mig Dark Brown Panel

Line Wash for the topsides and Deep

Grey Panel Line Wash for the

undersides. I find

that Alclad finishes have trouble holding an

enamel wash because of their smooth surface,

so for the heat shielding I used Pro Modeller

Black Wash.

Next, I moved to handling the final ‘fiddly

bits’ as I call them, and the Phantom is a

pretty complex subject when it

comes to these details.The landing gear and

their various doors

take some care to install,

as do the multi-ejector racks

and weapons pylons, which

were assembled off

model and added at the end of

the build.

Some final details were then

added to liven things up. First I used

DEF Model Remove Before Flight tags,

and I also wanted to replicate the

protective sleeves used on the sensors on the

tail. After studying some reference images I decided to

shape these with aluminium foil and an old airbrush

needle. These were then painted red and the flags added.

Placing the project you’ve dreamed about for many

years on your shelf is bittersweet. It’s great to be proud of

the job you’ve done and relieved that you did your vision

justice, but it leaves a void. I guess all I can do

now is move on to another ‘Holy Grail’ buildto dream about. Hopefully this time it

won’t take fifteen plus years to realise

that dream. MA

Model Aircraft | December 2015 27

Fully loaded!

I used AMMO of Mig Dark Brown Panel Line

Wash for the topsides and Deep Grey Panel

Line Wash for the undersides

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