Revell 1:48 F-4F Phantom II JG71 'Richthofen' (04522)

Hi,

Along with the Mirage F1AZ, I'm building this Revell F-4F Phantom, but not in the box decals, just as a 'plain Jane' line jet. I really love the look of the Luftwaffe Phantoms in their Norm 90 camo.F-4F Phantom II
The Luftwaffe had four Jagdgeshwader; JG71,JG72, JG73 and JG74. I'm going to build a JG71 'Richthofen' Phantom. These were upgraded to the ICE standard, basically an upgraded radar enabling them to use the AMRAAM Beyon Visual Range(BVR) missile. They can be differentiated between the old and the new Phantoms by the ICE Phantom's beige radome.
I'm going to do another 'inflight' model as the Tomcat worked out so well. I'm going to have 2 x AIM-9L's and 3 x fuel tanks.
I won't be adding much to this apart from some aftermarket decals where applicable.

The kit (The original box was pretty squashed)


The reference material;


Work so far;

To model the pilots correctly, I have had to alter the helmets slightly to make them look like the HGU-55G helmets used currently.
The HGU-26/34 helmet has a central 'slider' to lower and raise the visor and the oxygen hose is attached centrally. On the HGU-55G, the 'slider' is shifted to the left side of thehelmet and I've seen recent pictures with the hose on the left side of the mask.

HGU-26:


HGU-55G (with old style mask)


This is what the kit provides:
HGU-26/34


Modifications so far:
Removed the central 'slider' and the hose.

And a little more work done, got the cockpit painted and installed, glued the fuselage halves together and other bits and bobs.

The crew and seats, more work to come on these...


Cockpit


The two halves of the bulkhead between the pilot and WSO did not meet up very well, so I stuck some Dymo tape over the join to create a level surface.


The lower wing assembly met up quite well with the fuselage sides, not a lot of filling or sanding going to be needed on this one!

looking good so far, nice modifications to the helmet

Thanks Josh, I thought I should try and get it as accurate as possible as it'll be easily seen. The Hasegawa Phantoms are really nice, I've pretty much built it up completely, and the gear doors fit really well closed.

Good job

Regards, Bernard

Thanks Bernard, not much done today, work work work!

The crew have now just about been done. I painted the helmets and gloves Humbrol 127 Light Ghost Grey, the flightsuits Hu 76 Bronze green, the G-suits Hu 155 Olive Green, the t-shirts Hu 230 PRU Blue, the masks and hoses Hu 126 and the visors Hu 21 Gloss Black.I used Hu 67 Tank Grey to do some details like the mask straps and helmet/visor mechanism.
I also painted the German flag on the shoulders.
I decided to mount the hose conventionally, as it wouldn't fit otherwise.