RF-4B Phantom II

I really enjoyed building this Hasegawa model. The fit was generally good, and it was a very interesting subject - an unusual RF-4B with the thick tires, bulged wings, and large engine afterburner canisters of the F-4J/S. I like to call it an RF-4J.

There were a couple of things that I did not like about the model that I did have to change. The ejection seats were sparsely detailed, and the intake trunking was non-existent. I remedied this by getting some True Detail intakes and ejection seats. The intakes came with the intake fans attached, but they looked too shallow, so I cut them out, added some vinyl tubing to extend them back further, filed the intakes to fit the fuselage halves, and voila, the intakes looked much better.

The decals are from the kit, mostly because this was such an unusual subject that it limited the aftermarket options, this being the most colorful one. Most model paints are not that brightly colored so I had to search for the bright green paint for the tail. I finally found an enamel from Kustom Kolor called "Bright Green" that I think matched almost perfectly. The only problem was that the tail fin decals did not adhere really well, leaving a silvery film visible in certain lighting angles. I did my best to hide the film by using a lot of SolSet and painted the larger areas over with the bright green paint.

After everything was painted, decalled, and put together, I think that the model turned out very well. As mentioned before, I love the Gloss Gull Grey over Insignia White color scheme, and this RF-4 with the bright green tail does not disappoint.