Academy/Revell 1/32nd F-4E Phantom

By Paul Raggatt

Here is my Academy 1/32 F-4E.

It is finished in RAAF '70-'73 livery when Australia leased them, awaiting the F-111. All the RAAF aircraft went through various upgrade programs, and the modified extended Gun-muzzle came in gradually to the type in ‘71.

This puppy took quite a while to get right. The Academy kit is a rehash of the Revell, so, yeah, not good but currently the only game in town for a F-4E. The kit was little more than a usable basic shell, which was fine because that's what we do. I figure it took 3 weeks alone to correctly manufacture the seamless engine intakes.

I scratch-built details inside the canopy frames with styrene quarter-round sanded flat on the base, thin flat sheet for the bulkheads and B guitar string for the handles. There are some folded metal holders for the mission cards on each of the right-side frames, too. I used thin Aluminum over styrene for the cockpit sills so I could weather them back to metal in places, and the seat oxygen hoses are cut from D string EB Super Slinky.

Here is a photo of the office, with the aluminum tubes that accept the brass pins of the canopies.

Here are the detailed canopies, painted in Tamiya Nato Black XF69.

I also cut and dropped the ailerons, opened the engine cooling doors and ordered all the usual suspects from Reskit and Aires.

Most of the reference photos came from this site on RAAF Phantoms.

Academy/Revell 1/32nd F-4E Phantom

By Paul Raggatt

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