International Scale Modeller

Excellent job Mike the camo looks really effective. I'm just starting mine, I hope it's half as good as yours.

That looks awesome! Great work on that camo

A minor setback with today's update. While handling the Phantom above my workbench, I dropped it. This opened a seam on the top of the fuselage behind the cockpit. I was able to glue it back together, next I'll need to sand and repaint that seam. I also need to reattach the main wheels, a gear door, and the exhaust nozzles.

Setting all that aside, I opened up the box of missiles and smart bombs from Hasegawa.









I did not want to use the Monogram under-wing tanks, but I did need the integrated pylons. I cut them off to use with some weapons yet to be chosen.


phantom-83 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr



I came across another problem. I wanted to use the Bullpup missiles on the inner pylons, but the bombs in the kit were usually placed on the inner pylons. The kit does include two TER (triple ejector racks) and some LAU-3 rocket launchers. Then I found out gluing the launchers to the TERs to be a real PITA. The contact points are way too small to get good adhesion. Now I've got empty pylons for the outer wings. I will need to find some more wing tanks.

Below is my final load-out: four Sidewinders, three Sparrows, an ALQ-87 ECM pod, two AGM-12B Bullpups, and the centerline Vulcan cannon pod. All of the Monogram weapons were full of ejector pin marks and seams which needed to sanded and scraped off. Right now, the parts are in primer ready for paint.

See you on the next update.


phantom-84 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

I started painting the armament. They still need some details painted.


phantom-85 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


I also primed the canopy frames.


phantom-87 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


And I'm working on that seam repair.


phantom-86 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

I finished the last of the painting on my Phantom. Here, the horizontal stabilizer tips are painted Vallejo Model Color Medium Blue.


phantom-89 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr



I also painting the canopy frames, but alas, I did not same my custom Dark Green. I got close, but not quite right.


phantom-90 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

I clear coated my Phantom and have started decaling. So far I've got the upper surface stencils and insignias in place. Please ignore the defect on the clear coat; that will be fixed.


phantom-93 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

Looks great Michael

Looking awesome pal

I finally finished decaling my Phantom. The next step is a simple dirt wash.


phantom-94 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr

The camo looks really good...

Thank you all for the nice comments. The old original issue kit isn't horrible, it is just old-in-the-tooth with raised details and with some cockpit inaccuracies. Modern, more well engineered kits surely go together easier.

I am wrapping up this build. The ordinance is on.


P1010689 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr


P1010691 by Michael Keogh, on Flickr