Fine Molds displayed at the 2026 Shizuoka Hobby Show last weekend the 1:72 scale F-4F Phantom II “Melders”
This is partial text from the full article (usually with photos) at https://aeroscale.net/news/f-4f-melders-build
Fine Molds displayed at the 2026 Shizuoka Hobby Show last weekend the 1:72 scale F-4F Phantom II “Melders”
Hello!
That’s not “Melders” - it’s “Mölders”. Named to honor the German “Legion Condor” airman - guy who helped to bomb Guernica - but also fought socialists, so that’s OK… Later that name was banned and the squadron was forced to be called just M.
I have a personal story with them - when I was like 12 years old, one of my first “western” model kits was the old Hasegawa F-4F Phantom that I painted in just that paint scheme - like the second kit that I painted (the previous ones went unpainted, those were the days!). About two years later, about 1993 I was sightseeing Berlin and when we were in the Reichstag, an olive green busses pulled up, and they had a familiar logo painted on. So I went up to the soldiers and asked - are you from the Jagdgruppe Mölders? They sure were surprised. Thez talked to the teacher who was with our group and told him “A small boy from your group came to talk to us and he knew everything!”
Even more funny - I still have that old glue bomb and recently I decided to rebuild it - still using the old Hasegawa Plastic. In our shops it’s till available and can be had ridiculously cheap - like under 10$.
Have a nice day!
Paweł
The writing Moelders would also be o.k. I will get the kit and dedicate to my cousin, who served with JG74 as ground crew in the 1970´s. At that time, the squadron transformed from F-104 G Starfighter to F-4 F Phantom.
A brief history of Werner Mölders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_M%C3%B6lders
I will look forward to that