Going full circle ??

[ij001]

Funny how ‘The wheel turns’* isn’t it ??

Back in the mid-1980’s I was just as much in to my modelling as I am now, but was not a member of a club and only knew one other guy who was in to the hobby. Then I met a bloke who not only was in to modelling as much as me, but was out on his own as much as me and was as deeply in to ‘modern jet’ building in general and F-4 Phantoms in particular as I was.

Over the years my Phantom addiction has waxed and waned as the plethora of kits and especially decals went away and other bright and shiny things took my interest. Well here we all are in 2016, I still love the hobby and because of my change in circumstances, I now have more time for it. And what has happened over the last couple of months or so ??

In part, inspired/provoked by a 'Let's build a Phantom' GB on Kiwi Modeller, I have re-discovered the F-4 Phantom as a ‘modelling muse’. In the last weeks, I’ve bought three 1:48 Hasegawa ‘Tooms (an FG1, a ‘B’ and just this morning a ‘J’). I have also started a 1:48 ‘C’ and rediscovered a 1:72 Fujimi ‘B’ built, and primered and yesterday afternoon I unearthed a 1:72 Hasegawa ‘J’ in exactly the same state.

Alongside a lot of other projects, it looks to me that the second half of 2016 will be my (Half) Year of the Phantom… 30 years on and here we go again !!


ldguy

Ian.


* TS Eliot – Murder in the Cathedral 1935

 

[moon puppy]

Nothing like the ol' Pig.

 

[Old Dog]

The Phantom was one aircraft I always thought was amazing in that it doesn't look like it should fly, wings bent up, tail bent down all sorts of stuff hanging out, I guess it proves that even a brick will fly if you give it enough power. That said I've always been attracted to it, must be the same thing that attracts me to those ugly German types.

 

[sharkman]

Ugly aircraft rock!

Aside from the A-10, the phantom is my favorite modern jet. I'd like to get the new Hasegawa RF-4E in Sea Camo kit, but I'll have to save up some coin for that!

 

[ij001]

My 'J' arrived this morning.
:yipee

Won't be wearing 'Showtime 100' markings when I build it (soon), haven't decided yet... maybe the other 'Connie' Phantom Squadron VF-92 'Silver Kings'.

Ian.

 

[ij001]

Continuing the ‘Wheel turns’ metaphor…
…Not certain whether I’ve ever mentioned how I came to buy/build my first 1:48 kit – Don’t worry it isn’t a l-o-n-g tale, and there is a resolve.

I was in my mid-teens in the very late 1970’s and was on one of my last summer holidays with my family in a small town in North Wales where we had a small holiday bungalow. On this day it wasn’t raining, and we were walking down to the village to get ice-creams from the general shop/post office. On the top of a dusty shelf I saw something so out of place that I did a ‘comedy double-take’; there were two Monogram kits, only those two, no Airfix, no Revell or Matchbox as you would have expected in a British village shop at that time.

No, there was a Skyraider and a Super Sabre in the then current floppy white boxes.

I didn’t have enough money in my pocket to buy one, so reluctantly returned to the house. Back there I did some grown-up thinking and concluded that it was pointless buying the kit in the village, as I’d only get frustrated because I couldn’t do anything with it until I got home. So the first weekend after we returned, I went to town (Liverpool) with a couple of friends and bought the Super Sabre at Beatties – if you lived in the UK in the 1970’s & 80’s and were in to modelling, going to your local Beatties was like a religious experience !!
* * *

In the intervening years I think that I’ve built two more F-100’s and ‘countless’ Monogram 1:48 kits however when the Trumpeter 1:48 Super Sabre came out a few years back I wasn’t too interested. Over the last few weeks though my interest in 1960’s/70’s era warplanes in general and Vietnam War machines in particular has been re-kindled so I took a look at what decals are available for the F-100 (in Vietnam), not surprisingly a vast majority are for camouflaged machines however I found Superscale 48-1243 was available at Hannants and that as they say, was that.

The kit is on its way to NZ from China, the decals are coming from Suffolk and I’ll be adding some other wee ‘extras’ over the next month or so. Won’t be hitting my bench until after my current commitments have been cleared but really looking forward to closing this particular circle and this time after three previous attempts finally do justice to the old ‘Hun’ in 1:48. If it comes-out as nice as the 1:72 Esci/Italeri one that I did a couple of years ago, I’ll be very, very happy.

AFN

Ian.

 

[iambrb]

The F-4 Phantom is a gorgeous aircraft. Like all things American in that time frame, it is large, long, heavy, and VERY powerful. The fact that Cunningham & Driscoll were able to repeatedly break away from that VN Mig-17 on their fateful flight/fight in thier F4 'showtime 100' until they were able to bring the fight one their terms shows American airpower at it's finest.

It is a beautiful plane and while I am thinking (mostly due to space) I am leaning more towards 1/72, 'showtime 100' and at least another in that USAF Camo of the 1970's are two of this type I intend to build.

Shoot just thought of another! I also think that an F4 in Israeli camo would be SUPER neat. oh man....whadda youse-guys doin' to me!!!!

 

[helios]

:laugh: Ian's a bad influence...that's all there is too it.

I've got a 1/48th J (Eduard Rockin' Rhino) in the stash. In addition, I've got further plans for a Shrike packing C/D and a later HARM equipped G. So I may have to work in either a B or S to even out the USN tally. Can't go having more USAF variants than USN of a Navy bird. That just isn't right.

 

[SA Dave]

Were going to need another Vietnam Group build

 

[ij001]

Were going to need another Vietnam Group build

Get it proposed, matey, I'll back-you-up !!



Ian.

 

[helios]

Were going to need another Vietnam Group build

Get it proposed, matey, I'll back-you-up !!



Ian.

You do that and I'll be forced to find me an EA-6A kit. :frantic


Or maybe dig out my Skoshi Tiger.

Or an excuse to snag that B-57G (Tropic Moon) at the LHS.

....but probably find an EA-6A.





So yeah...don't do it. :S
...yet

 

[SA Dave]

Were going to need another Vietnam Group build

Get it proposed, matey, I'll back-you-up !!



Ian.

You do that and I'll be forced to find me an EA-6A kit. :frantic


Or maybe dig out my Skoshi Tiger.

Or an excuse to snag that B-57G (Tropic Moon) at the LHS.

....but probably find an EA-6A.





So yeah...don't do it. :S
...yet

Its up It wont start until MP has Migrated the system anyway

 

[Hawkwrench]

I might do a AH-1 Cobra. It will be pretty basic, maybe some AM decals, but that's about it.

Tim

 

[helios]

Its up It wont start until MP has Migrated the system anyway

Oh you bugger! :pinch:


:laugh: