F-4B Phantom II - Sundowners

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Stunning Phantom! Beautifully weathered. 👍

Spanjaard
it certainly looks great. a beautiful Spook

Nenad Vilimanovic
Thanks all 🙂

scalemates
wooow, this is a beauty 👍

tyu
Please use your favourite internet search tool to find images of Navy squadron commander or CAG planes with your proposed amount of weathering. On carriers, planes were being washed at least weekly to keep salt and thus corrosion at bay, so weathering would be minimal considering panel line grime: squadron commanders and especially CAG planes would be kept to an even more pristine condition. And most most of the weathering on US Navy planes is due to corrosion prevention, so standard paint on affected areas (not like the darkened panel lines everyone seems to be doing) and lightened paint due to UV bleaching in all other areas. Panels usually are touched up with the standard paint, not a darkened version of it. Any pictures I have seen from BuNo 151000 shows less weathering as shown in your build. And in an Air Force setting: I have personally seen the F-16C Thunderbird 1 in cleaner condition in both general paint as panel line weathering than Thunderbird 2-7 while you would expect them to be similar. Lessons to be learnt: some planes are kept in a better condition, especially the squadron commander/ wing commander/ CAG commander personal mounts.

James C
Fantastic looking build, and I personally like the grimy/dirty look.
Very difficult to achieve and end up looking so well balanced and restrained.
A superb display of modelling skill mate 👍👍👍

Guy Rump
Beautiful 👍

Sebastian Meyner
Fantastic work mate 👍 I do like the weathering as is! ...since we all build models and not originals, I think you'll get away with it 😉

Mark Broughton
Extremely nice model, I think the weathering is well observed.

Christian Ristits
Fantastic!

Nenad Vilimanovic
Thanks, everyone again. It means a lot 🙂
@tyu
Building models for me is fun and also an exercise to achieve the most natural look I can. I'm still learning and trying different techniques. I search for the pictures of the desired look and try to replicate it. It doesn't necessarily have to be the exact plane from the kit decals, just the look I'd like to acieve. I'm not bothered with the 100% accuracy. But appreciate your comment, of course. I love learning things related to airplanes.

Luc B
Fantastic indeed!

Sven Schönyan
Phantastic Phantom!

Christian Ristits
...and I DO like the weathering very much. We are all doing this as a hobby and some artistic freedom brings the fun into it. I personally do not want to see a F-4 shown on display or perfectly cleaned, even a CAG Bird. If anyone knows better he can convince our community with his own build. 😉

Daniel
Fully agree with Christian, how boring would our hobby be without developing your own interpretation of the subject - and I like yours very much! 👍

So about aircraft-related fun-facts: the loadout might be prone for self-destruction if they fired an AIM 9 in front of the bombs. AFAIK they could carry 2 bombs and a winder per station, bombs low and side, the other side one winder. They burned down half the enterprise deck by having an apu exhaust too close to a zuni pod so I guess they were rightfully careful with heat + explosives.

tyu
Eh, Enterprise, APU? Please get your facts straight: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire for your renewed insight on that matter not to mention your completely incorrect explanation of load-outs, this is what you say isn't used [img1] Surely 3 bombs on a TER with 2 Sidewinders on both pylons used. Or this even more combustible configuration with napalm: flickr.com/photos/skyhawkpc/8634505365 And no idea how a subject is open to interpretation unless it isn't documented in any form. CAG birds seems to have been a very popular subject for photographers in any era.

James C
@ tyu - Do you make an effort to come across as condescending or does it just come naturally to you?

Mid Franconian
Whether the loadout or the finish is 100 % correct - I like your Phantom. And the overall impression is superb!

tyu
I had to google that word, english is not my native language. So stating inaccurate things is OK but telling people they are inaccurate is "condescending" as you put it? In that case: I guess it comes naturally, since i generally know what i am talking about.

tyu
Any other rants can be sent by PM, no need to derail Nenad Vilimanovic thread any further.

Sebastian Meyner
Mates: don't feed the trol. It's not the first time Mr. tyu uses somebody's thread to proof that you don't have to know the meaning of being condescending to be condescending.

Daniel
Well tyu for your renewed insight: I was talking about this one: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_fire

As for the loadout, I read that there was this loadout regulation in the navy on some forum where they discussed this pic:
[img1]
But that seems to be either wrong, or in a certain timeframe, either way, I like to learn as well 🙂

And for the "condescending": I like it when people clarify and give their opinion, and I'd also really like more dicussion around this place so I appreciate it tyu
(though you always sound really pissed mate 😉

Arif Saeed
Fantastic work Nenad 👏👏

Timmie
Great looking phantom.

Nenad Vilimanovic
Thanks again, everyone... it means a lot to me. Even discussion is good because I've learned something new 🙂

Christian Ristits
The Discussion itself is good and helpful - but there should be respect and politeness towards builder. Like we say in Austria: "Der Ton macht die Musik" 😉

Neil
Hi Nenad, Just wanted to add my own admiration and say that I personally LOVE to see a builders artistic interpretation. The alternative is we're all chasing a (who's most technically skilled) paint by numbers copycat completion of the real subject. That's not for me... I enjoy seeing a modellers personality shine through in their build 👍 🙂

Paul Moore
That is a fantastic build! I was a USN pilot and you've really hit the feel of a USN carrier aircraft! Concerning "personal mount of CAG/squadron CO birds" …. They were not their "personal mount". They had their names on them but every pilot got whatever jet maintenance control assigned them. I never saw ANY special attention paid to certain aircraft because someone's name was on it. Well that was my experience anyway in the Intruder community.

Nenad Vilimanovic
Thank you Paul. This really means a lot... coming from a genuine USN pilot. Now I'm completely happy with the build 🙂

Paul Moore
Nenad:
Did you get that effect with the panel lines with a wash, or something like draw them in with a pencil? Will you share your secrets? 😎
Paul

Paul Moore
One last question, if you did the build again, would you be satisfied with the Academy kit? Or would you spend the extra for the new Tamiya kit? I'd say your Academy is looking pretty darn good! I haven't bought either - yet.

Paul

Michael Kohl
This too is a great looking Phantom

Nenad Vilimanovic
@Paul Moore
I've used tamiya panel line accent color. I've also used an oil wash, but more as a filter and for stains.
Regarding the Academy kit - I've had some really bad experiences with other Academy kits, but this one surprised me in a good way. I think it is really a great kit, and worth every penny. IMHO... I don't see a good reason to spend extra on Tamiya.

Spanjaard
i can not talk about Academy in general, but about the phantom in 1/48, I fully have to agree with Nenad. I have one and it was a pleasure to build it.

Alexander
Looks really awesome! Great mixture of grey and more vibrant colors and a really nice weathering, I also like the metal colors. Definitely a smooth paintjob! 👍👍