1/32 Tamiya F-4J

By Daniel Scislo

Image 01

We lived on the northern part of the Ruhrgebiet in Germany. That was low level flight area. The playground for the A10, coming from the UK, the F-16 from the Netherlands and the F-4s from Rheine Hopsten. And these Phantoms, boy what a sight. Coming low level, with smoking trail behind and then, with the afterburner on, Going straight in the air. I think I´ll never forget that sound. After years out of the hobby, I began building other stuff and worked a few years for model mags. But one day there was the chance to grab a cheap F4 from Tamiya. I put it in my shelf because I have not forget that sound. I was new in 1:32 and it took a few weeks until I get some aftermarket stuff. But after that I waste no minute to get it built.

Image 02

The Kit is very high standard, I know it, the rest of the world knows it too. I use the Eduard set for the cockpit. I love this stuff, you can read the instruments! OK, I understand….you know it too.The building process was very straight forward, the painting,too.

Image 03

I used Testors enamel for this. The VMFA 235 decals are from Yellowhammer and they are fantastic! A second sheet came from CAM with stencils. And that was fun! I did not count them, but I think there are 200 decals or so on this sheet. It was a lot of work. After hours of putting them on (and lot´s of four letter words) I sealed the model with Humbrol gloss coat.

Image 04

Then a oil based wash of burnt sienna and raw umber was put on the model and wiped away . After 48h drying time I dry brush the highlights with grey and white. And then the last coat of dull coat was brushed on.

Image 05 Image 06

A few years later, after this smoker, there was this impressive big box in my local hobby shop. It was a A-10 from a new manufacturer and I had this sound in my ears...

© Daniel Scislo

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This article was published on Wednesday, July 20 2011; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016