Revell 1/144 F-4E Phantom Tribute to the 50th Anniversary of the first Phantom II flight By Bill Powers

Introduction

The Birmingham Air Nationals Guard unit was flying Phantom recon planes when a group of us began an IPMS Chapter, so it was natural for us to adopt Phantom Phlashers as our club name. For years we had Phantom contests, but that interest faded as new and even more exotic war birds were kitted. But May, 2008, is the 50th anniversary of the maiden flight of the Phantom II, so our club and others have added special awards to honor this anniversary. Which inspired me to build this tribute to those 50 years.

Construction

I didn’t want to spend a huge amount of time, money or have a finished product that was huge. Since I had been bitten by the 1/144 bug, this would be the scale. I bought the only Phantom II in that scale, the Revell kit, which I understand originally, was molded by Academy? Anyway...a real disappointment compared to Revell’s recent efforts! But as the only game in town...it provided an opportunity to hone modeling skills. A set of plans reduced in a copier showed the areas that were not “correct”.

The short version of these “opportunities” to make the shape “correct” is:

• sanded the top of the canopy flatter in profile and lengthened the front by ¼ inch

• increased the diameter of the nose from the canopy forward; added auxiliary intakes

• made new: splitter plates, tails, exhausts, arrestor hook, slats, missiles, wing tips

• closed up the gear doors

• added tubes to hold mounting clear acrylic rods

• whew!

My concept was to celebrate the anniversary not build a specific plane. So the model would be generic and painted in a solid neutral color. I mixed white and black to have a “true” grey color.

The colorful celebration would be on the base. The base is made from clear pine wood ¾ inch thick shaped like a fat teardrop formed by two circles; the smaller circle would hold the mounting rods and the larger the celebration logo.

Two holes were drilled in the top circle for the plastic tubes which “receive” the clear acrylic rod. These were position so the model is climbing almost vertical over the centerline of the base with a slight rolling action.

The logo was to illustrate 50 years in a colorful way. Checking the fonts on the computer, I selected a fanciful “50” and enlarged it to fit the circle. Digging in the spare decal box, I found markings for all the nations that flew the Phantom II, except Australia.

Since they only had these as “interims”, I could justify not using their insignia. Can you name all the nations that have flown the Phantom II?

I originally planned to have the “50” covered with the insignia of the nations that flew the plane, but...after much sketching and agonizing, I decided to have a background “50”, slightly larger, cut from 10 thousand plastic sheet, glued to the base and, painted the same color of the base. The insignias would surround this “50”. Then a”50” would be cut from dark blue decal and placed over the background “50”. In addition to the countries marking, I added some unit and other badges used on the Phantom.

I’ve just returned from our contest where Phantoms were in abundance, 21 at last count! It doesn’t take many 1/32 and 1/48 Phantoms to fill up space. My little tribute was overwhelmed by this gaggle, but hey...I did this for fun and myself. I’m pleased with the tribute.

For those fortunate enough to have seen the Blue Angels or Thunderbird Phantoms do their routine, the Phantom will be forever etched in our minds and hearts. So happy anniversary!