1/48 Hasegawa F-4G Phantom #177

Gallery Article by Shawn "Phantom" Weiler on Apr 6 2015

 

      

I used to only build in 1/72. Then switched to 1/48. This might be my very first 1/48 Phantom. It has been on my shelf for over 25 years. Maybe over 30. At one time it was the crown jewel. Lately it became an eye sore compared to what I have made lately. Phantom 176 was a F-4B from Academy and Vegabond decals for the flag scheme VF-84 in 1964. This Phantom was the Hasegawa version with very lacking Superscale decals from back in the day. In fact I think this model may have been touched up once or twice in the past. Good clue of this was when I found one of the tails was secured in place with scotch tape that had been painted over.

 

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As I was getting ready to garbage this kit I got to thinking..."This might be my FIRST" big scale model" Can't toss it. But it can not stay looking as bad as it is. So I bought a can of oven cleaner and sprayed it down. Either that paint is some strong or oven cleaner is a lot weaker then it used to be. It took 4 sprays and scrap downs with a wire brush. It did not come out perfect but it was better. I had to repair a bunch of stuff, like re-securing the folded wing tips. I cut off the "N" style fin tip and replaced it with a RWR-less fin from the spare bin. The big repair was the tails. They were just too thick with paint and nicked in places. Lucky I had a spare set from my last Academy build. Not really the right style but it does work much better.

The F-4G as VF-213 used in the mid 60s over Viet Nam were a experiment in many ways. Most important was computers on board to aid in landing aboard ship. These computers required the removal of much of the number one fuel tanks space. Bet the computers required for that would fit in your cell phone today. Model wise that made no difference. The big thing is the paint scheme. It was thought, quite correctly, that the grey and white with colourful squadron markings were indeed to easy to see. So camouflage was tested. For one reason or another it was not adopted fleet wide. One reason was the dark green planes were harder to see on the ship at night. So, at the end of the day I have a paint scheme I surprisingly have never done before and was able to save one of my first ever Phantoms. I added a shot of 176 with this build and one of the model as it was being repaired.

Phantom

Photos and text © by Shawn "Phantom" Weiler