Thanks Carlos for those images, and Ryan for that link… It seems from actual F4 crews the “tint” is just indeed natural reflection from the extra thick armoured glass in that one area of the canopy … Nice bit of info …
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Yes, it’s not tinted, per se, but laminated armored glass does take on a tinted look due to its properties. While the surrounding curved areas are simply clear plexiglass or some other similar material such as polycarbonate.
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Bit of work done on the Phantom. Added the PE canopy detailing…
Mirrors
And one of the pilot canopy lower edges with the PE detailing strip.
Other side is the same, as well as the RIO canopy …
Seats fitted as close to the correct height as I can make out, bearing in mind these Resin ones were under scale.
Going to start on the canopy masks tomorrow after work, get those fitted and then start some paint work. The Eduard mask set gives you the set for doing the black edge, then another set for the overall cam scheme… So will try to do that.
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Looking great. Lots of good detail in there.
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Thanks Stephen… It’s coming along…
I got a lot of masking done, and sprayed the nose and the leading part up to the canopy in black.
I tried some very basic panel lines on large panel area to see what it came out like.
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Got the light Gull grey down.
Used the new AK RC range in the 17ml bottles… Seems exactly like the old range … Sprays great, did a 50/50 mix with thinners, drys hard in the same the old stuff did.
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Looks good.
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Thanks matey … will go for the lower tomorrow and use the AK RC Insignia white … Then the tail in the black …
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So want to build a Phantom.
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Live the dream !! 
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Did a base coat on the underside, all the landing gear door and rear stabilisers… Used AK RC Insignia White… Really like it and how it looks … It definitely has a nice tone, and flat white would really be to white in my opinion…
Will do another coat tomorrow evening and that should be ok… then it will be the tail and the black…
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Sooooooo an open question that requires a bit of feedback…
It’s about the weapon load out …
So it’s obviously going to be done as a Jolly Roger Navy Phantom.
Missiles will be Sparrows and sidewinders ( B or D )
Now the dilemma…I wanted to spice it up a bit and I get bored of the centerline tank and wing tanks on everything…
I also have the Hasegawa Weapons set C…
It says on the instructions that they had these as potential loads, so I was thinking it might look cool to have a M4 HIPEG cannon on the centerline instead of the large droptank and possibly the 2 wing tanks fitted … Or …
The centerline tank fitted and 2 AGM 45 shrikes on the outer wing pylons ? I know Shrikes may not be what would be fitted (on a Navy bird) but I thought it’d look neat ??
Any thoughts appreciated chaps
or 3rd nuclear option … centerline Mk4 HIPEG and AGM 45 Shrikes on the outer pylons … (all for bling !! ) and no drop tanks
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just searching for sundowners 1972 it looks like a lot of pics with a centerline tank with a cool red nose and bomb loads below sidewinders on the wing pylons…
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If you want to be absolutely accurate, Navy F-4’s rarely carried anything other than triple mk.82’s on the inboard. I’ve seen a few with Zuni rockets too. Marine F-4’s got more interesting stuff like napalm and rockets. Stuff that was probably dangerous to have on a carrier.
But, if you want to show something more interesting and exotic go right ahead.
Speaking of the HIPEG gunpod, would be interesting to see one actually being carried by something. I’ve not seen a photo of one being carried and used in action. I’ve got a shot of an IDF A-4 carrying one during the Yom Kippur War (Osprey’s IDF A-4 book), but that’s all.
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I found these while I was looking earlier, a Navy and Marine bird.
Well, I think they are mk4’s … same outline shape as whats in the weapons set box.
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I just ordered this sheet last weekend and should have it Friday.
Middle of the page he has load outs for Marine jets. You can what was realistic combat loads.
I think my bird will be VMFA-115 from ‘72-‘73 Nam Phong aka “The Rose Garden”. Then the H7 ejection seats I have should work.
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Use care with the last photo unit if you want a fleet accurate bird. VX-5 was a testing unit, they might carry things not approved for fleet use.
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Yeah I guessed it may be as the caption said it was based out China lake.
If I do another F4 in 1/48, I t will be a Marine one as I saw a cool decal sheet with a Phantom that was cross decked from a US Carrier onto HMS Ark Royal and had its tail repainted in the Ark Royal/Fleet Air Arm design.
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The Malta almost international incident.
One of those cool looking quirks of life.
Yep, China Lake is the test center for Marine/Navy aviation.
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Cool story, didnt know any of that
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