1/48 Hasegawa F-4E

by Tyler White

--------------------

 

Last fall I signed up for a summer class that would take me to Vietnam the following summer.  It renewed my interest in Vietnam era aircraft and I built this F-4E.  I would have loved to build a C/D version, but they seem to be hard to find, and I even read a review on line that suggested the Hasegawa plane had raised panel lines like the B/N version. Yuck!  I went with this instead.  All I added were some bombs and ECM pod from a Hasegawa weapons set.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

 

This aircraft was based out of Udorn Thailand and was credited with one Mig kill.   After my 3 week visit to Vietnam I had a hard time even imagining what it must have been like walking down the same streets during time of war.  My experiences there are something I will always treasure.  I am glad that Vietnam is a peaceful and prosperous land today, but the air war there in the 1960s and 1970s have provided a tremendous history of aerial combat, something I hoped to pay tribute to.  This is my fifth phantom in the past 2 or 3 years, and the only other jet that I have been working on are super hornets.  Both are called Rhinos by the people that fly them.   I have lots more Rhinos in my closet, and I look forward to building them all!

Tyler

Photos and text © by Tyler White