1/48 Italeri F4 Zapped by the RN

[omegaman]

Finally finished is my Italeri F-4! Thsi was built to compliment my zapped Colonial navy aircraft, as seen in the following thread.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...l=colonial+navy

This aircraft has an interesting story behind it. Inspiration came from my dad's own story and www.phantomf4k.org which had reference pictures.

The phantom was cross operating from the USS Forrestal in 1972 whilst in the mediterranean. Whilst onboard the Ark Royal, the aircraft went unserviceable and went below decks for maintenance. As the Ark was due in Valetta during the aircrafts visit some action needed to be taken. the Maltese were in a spat with the US at the time and so it was thought that the Ark may not be allowed to dock. Some bored and cheeky engineers decided to refresh the paint work. When the aircraft emerged on deck it was sporting a Dark Sea Grey tail with 892 Fin Flash. Cardboard was also covering the US insignia.

When it was time to disembark the USMC pilot was very happy with his new paint job and requested to keep this for the remainder of the Forrestal Cruise. He was denied! This adds an interesting addition to my FAA collection.

Although it gets some bad press I liked this kit and I have another one to build a Jolly Rogers aircraft. The cockpit was not good so this was replaced with a spare Hasegawa one, as were the seats. The Aircrew are on detachment from my Colonial kit as were the spare GE jet pipes.

The model was airbrushed with Tamiya Acrylics, the Gull Grey was mixed by eye as they dont really do US colours. Xtracrylix clogged my airbrush . Weathering was done using washes of water thinned Tamiya Black, Brown and Dark Grey. Paint was sealed using Humbrol Satin.

I wanted the tomb inflight and so it is mounted by using a brass rod set into the the thickest plastic inbetween the jet pipes. The patch came from RIAT Fairford.

I hope you enjoy this aircraft.

And evasive action from my Typhoon

Anthony

[AnonymousDFB1]

Nice one Anthony

[Mark M]

i love planes with a story behind them

FAB

nice build

[tonyot]

I remember seeing a photo of this Phantom sitting on the deck of the old Ark when it was in Grand Harbour and love your model, really well done......

"Fly Navy"

Cheers

Tony O

[Andy Mullen]

Great story and amazing build Anthony

[Tango 1]

Great story and a superb model, I like that one a lot.

[omegaman]

Thanks all, I enjoyed this build. The pictures with flash seem to completely remove any weathering, it is a typical dirty USN tomb!

[F-32]

Very cool indeed!