2 New Hasegawa 1/48 phantoms

[zero]

These appeared in Hannants listing a little while ago as coming soon Items, but whilst browsing looking for a FG MK1 I found there now available in Japan from hobby link

1/48 F-4N (carried out the first carrier landing of a F-4 on H.M.S. Ark Royal)

http://www.hlj.com/product/HSG09878

1/48 RF-4E Hellenic Air force Special

http://www.hlj.com/product/HSG09883

Enjoy (I will be)

Dave

Edited September 8, 2009 by zero

[Andrew]

.......

1/48 F-4N (carried out the first carrier landing of a F-4 on H.M.S. Ark Royal)

.......

G'day Dave,

Interesting to see these boxings, their boxtops and the included decals. I hope they do similar in 72nd scale. I'm curious to know what the basis of the above statement is, though; I think the illustrated scheme dates from '73 or so, well after the RN had taken their own jets to sea in the Ark.....

Andrew.

[zero]

G'day Dave,

Interesting to see these boxings, their boxtops and the included decals. I hope they do similar in 72nd scale. I'm curious to know what the basis of the above statement is, though; I think the illustrated scheme dates from '73 or so, well after the RN had taken their own jets to sea in the Ark.....

Andrew.

Yep your right, I presumed that would be the case this is the text from Hannannt "F-4N USMC Phantom II VFMA-531 as landed on HMS Ark Royal 1974" I presumed it was the first phantom to land but by then, as you say, the RN phantoms would have been in service a while.

This seems to be part of the Answer.

- U.S. Navy USS Forrestal VMFA-531 Code: AA207

- It had landed on HMS Ark Royal in 1974.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:F-4B_VMF...1_ArkRoyal1.jpg

A U.S. Marine Corps F-4B Phantom II fighter (BuNo 151477) of USMC fighter-bomber squadron VMFA-531 Grey Ghosts on the HMS Ark Royal. VMFA-531 was assigned to Attack Carrier Air Group 17 (CVW-17) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) for a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from 22 September 1972 to 6 July 1973. However, the F-4B 151477, tail code AA-207, operated from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (R09) from 23 February to 6 March 1973. During that time it carried the squadron markings of No. 892 Squadron, Ark Royal´s F-4K squadron, on its fin.

Dave

Edited September 8, 2009 by zero

[Bandwagon 106]

Well spotted Dave, it also comes with VMFA-531s normal markings from the 1979-80 Coral Sea cruise.

Joel

[Troffa]

VMFA-531 were involved in Operation Evening Light/ Eagle Claw on that cruise if I am not mistaken. Hasegawa have missed a trick not including the I.D. stripes on the Decal sheet.

[M4rk]

Isn't this the USMC Phantom that did an emergency landing on Ark Royal, shortly before it sailed into Malta's Grand Harbour at Valetta? Malta and the US weren't the best of friends at the time so to save political bother the aircraft had it's US markings covered up and the tail was painted in 892 Sqn colours to allow it to blend in with the ship's own collection of F-4s. After leaving Malta the aircraft was ready to fly again so had the temporary covers on the US markings removed, but the tail colours were left because the pilot liked them or something. On returning to the USS Forrestal it was kept with the tail design for a while before returning it to usual markings. Or something like that. Read that from posts made by more informed members than myself on this site

[omegaman]

Isn't this the USMC Phantom that did an emergency landing on Ark Royal, shortly before it sailed into Malta's Grand Harbour at Valetta? Malta and the US weren't the best of friends at the time so to save political bother the aircraft had it's US markings covered up and the tail was painted in 892 Sqn colours to allow it to blend in with the ship's own collection of F-4s. After leaving Malta the aircraft was ready to fly again so had the temporary covers on the US markings removed, but the tail colours were left because the pilot liked them or something. On returning to the USS Forrestal it was kept with the tail design for a while before returning it to usual markings. Or something like that. Read that from posts made by more informed members than myself on this site

I beat HAsegawa to that one! See full story including my build of this phantom: -

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=35891

Anthony

[zero]

Many thanks for all the info guys, I certainly will be buy this boxing, so it really good to know the history of the event.

VMFA-531 were involved in Operation Evening Light/ Eagle Claw on that cruise if I am not mistaken. Hasegawa have missed a trick not including the I.D. stripes on the Decal sheet.

Could you clarify what you mean by that?

Many thanks

Regards

Dave

[Mark]

Love that Ark tailed USN F-4!!! Never knew about that, but now inspired!!

[Troffa]

Hi Dave,

I think that Hasegawa might have included the Black and Yellow (Or Black and Red Identification) stripes applied to the Coral Sea's air wing during operation evening light, a component of Eagle Claw, the failled attempt to rescue the US citizens illegally detained by the Iranians in 1980.

The A-7s got them as well, (And possibly the Tomcats on the other carrier) and a few decal sheets are available in 1/72 and 1/48 that have these stripes.

A few piccies of these markings are about- the F-4 Spirit in the sky book by Jon Lake has a pic of the sailors painting the stripes on one particular F-4N (Not from the gray ghosts though)

Easy enough to mask and spray though..

Pm me if you need anything else,

cheers,

Troffa

[roym]

VMFA-531 were involved in Operation Evening Light/ Eagle Claw on that cruise if I am not mistaken. Hasegawa have missed a trick not including the I.D. stripes on the Decal sheet.

Easy enough to paint.... just like the real thing...

VMFA-323

Here is the VMFA-531 scheme as the other option in the Hasegawa kit mentioned above. Still a nice scheme.

I think that Hasegawa might have included the Black and Yellow (Or Black and Red Identification) stripes applied to the Coral Sea's air wing during operation evening light, a component of Eagle Claw, the failled attempt to rescue the US citizens illegally detained by the Iranians in 1980.

The A-7s got them as well, (And possibly the Tomcats on the other carrier) and a few decal sheets are available in 1/72 and 1/48 that have these stripes.

A few piccies of these markings are about- the F-4 Spirit in the sky book by Jon Lake has a pic of the sailors painting the stripes on one particular F-4N (Not from the gray ghosts though)...

Troffa

They did..... USS Nimitz CVW-8.

Colours were related to squadron colours, so VF-41 and VMFA-323 (Coral Sea)- red; VF-84 and VMFA-531 - yellow.

Sorry for the thread hijack, we now return you to your scheduled programmes....

Edited September 8, 2009 by roym

[Troffa]

Lovely stuff Roy, thanks for the post!

[Bandwagon 106]

Eagle strike did decals for both the Gray Ghosts and the Death Rattlers for the Coral Sea cruise in Phancy Phantoms Parts II and VII, the instructions gave you the option of painting the ID stripes , (red for 323, yellow for531)or not (it was a long cruise after all!). Superscale did decals for the Warhawks of VA-97, one of Coral Sea's Corsair Units, they did include the stripe, orange in this case. An interesting fact about this cruise is that both Fighter squadrons in CVW-15 were USMC, something that hadn't happened since WWII.

Joel

[zero]

Hi Dave,

I think that Hasegawa might have included the Black and Yellow (Or Black and Red Identification) stripes applied to the Coral Sea's air wing during operation evening light, a component of Eagle Claw, the failled attempt to rescue the US citizens illegally detained by the Iranians in 1980.

The A-7s got them as well, (And possibly the Tomcats on the other carrier) and a few decal sheets are available in 1/72 and 1/48 that have these stripes.

A few piccies of these markings are about- the F-4 Spirit in the sky book by Jon Lake has a pic of the sailors painting the stripes on one particular F-4N (Not from the gray ghosts though)

Easy enough to mask and spray though..

Pm me if you need anything else,

cheers,

Troffa

Hi Troffa

Thank you again, and all of you for yet another Phantom fact I wasn't aware off. (I have a lot to learn about this bird yet!)

As you say these would be easy to replicate with paint and masking, but if you don't know about them in the first place, then thats a problem. (I have a lot of reading to do)

When I do stat build my collection, I think I will start with a couple of RAF birds, and place my nose well and firmly in the books!!!!

Cheers

Dave