F-4E Phantom II Hellenic Air Force
Comments
3 4 September 2018, 12:45
Michael HickeyStill needs some love in the cockpit and cleaning up before she's ready for the paint shop.
4 September 2018, 13:07
Konrad -Very nice Michael! The pit looks great 👍!
Now I'll take a seat a beer and enjoy your show😉! Cheers
4 September 2018, 17:39
Michael HickeyThank You Gentlemen for all your encouraging words.
@Patrick, in one of my Hasegawa F-4E kits in comes in the form of P.E. I've kept it on the fret, when I want to reproduce it I tape down the fret to a piece of .005" though plastic sheet. First I trace around the edge with a sharp pencil, then I'll get my tool that looks like a steel pencil but has a sharp point in the end of it, and trace around it again. The I unmask it from the plastic sheet and cut it out carefully with scissors. Marking it with the steel point makes it easier for the scissors to follow the marked line. Then you just simply glue it in place.
5 September 2018, 00:10
Michael HickeyToday I'll add some Milliput, while that is drying I'll make a mold of one of the GBU-8 HOBO's I have. I'll cast a couple of those tomorrow as these will be the weapons I'll put on the inner pylons. I'll try to keep this project moving at a steady pace, I'm very keen to get her to the paint shop.🙂
5 September 2018, 00:16
Michael HickeyAfter having a short break from this beast I've finally got the bulk of her painted, next comes the gloss coat of Future, then decals.
16 September 2018, 07:16
Michael HickeyNow that I've had to work on this bird I have all the decals on and am now on the home stretch. Now just need to weather, paint horizontal stabilizers, install exhaust and canopies and then finish off antennas.
10 October 2018, 02:26
Michael HickeyYour more than welcome Michael, which F-4 are you going to build?
10 October 2018, 03:24
Michael HickeyThanks Konrad, there weren't all that many decals to go on, soon my favorite part of this build, the weathering.🙂
10 October 2018, 07:04
Michael HickeyWell I'm calling this one done, she's been hanging around the bench for to long, so now she's got her new home in the cabinet.
14 October 2018, 08:04
Michael HickeyThanks Lode, I'm glad she's behind me, next an F-4J in the markings of VF-92.
14 October 2018, 09:30
Michael PhillipsFantastic work Michael, as usual... Gotta love Greek Phantoms!
15 October 2018, 03:19
Michael HickeyThanks fellas, Cliffy I also have a Greek RF-4E in the pipeline, she's sporting the Spook on her tail.
15 October 2018, 22:43
JensHello Michael 🙂 I thought you were the Ju 88 fan 👍 and then I have to look at this absolutely brilliant phantom of you 😄 👍 👍 👍 Congratulations and thanks for the pictures 👍
16 October 2018, 22:20
Michael HickeyG'day Jens, thank you for your kind words. The Ju 88's are on the back burner at the moment, at this point in time it's all ahead forward with different F-4 Phantom II variants. I'm just waiting on replacement decals from the U.S.A to come in and then I will be able to finish off my 1/48 F-4B in VF-51 Screaming Eagles markings. Good to hear from you again.🙂
16 October 2018, 22:41
Daniel KlinkPerfect implementation of the plane in the original picture.. Great job 👍
12 December 2018, 22:35
Michael HickeyThanks Daniel & Donald, I'm happy to have this bird in my collection.
13 December 2018, 00:14
Clifford KeeslerI know you are going to get tired of this question, but could you please tell me what colors you used. I have an RF-4E that I want to do in Greek markings, but the color callouts on the Instruction sheet are nowhere close to your color scheme.
17 December 2018, 22:06
Michael HickeyThank You Gents.
@Cliffy, the reason your colors for the RF-4E are so different is because they are. The Greeks bought their RF-4E's from Germany and remained painted in the Luftwaffe colors which consist of a wrap around scheme using a dark and light green and also an almost black color, Can't remember the RLM names and the decals for my Greek RF-4E are in the kit which is buried somewhere in my stash of moving boxes. If you like I can go and dig them out, just let me know and it won't be a problem.
17 December 2018, 23:29
Maciej BellosClifford, the first batch of RF-4s were purchased straight from the US and throught their entire operational life wore the standard SEA camouflage. So you have 2 options for your RF
18 December 2018, 04:24
Michael HickeyThanks for clearing that up Maciej, I thought the US only provided F-4E's and not the recce variant.
18 December 2018, 04:33
Patrick HagelsteinMaciej is absolutely right! One thing to watch out for RF-4E wise is that the US and German ones were of different batches and can be recognized by the shape of the camera chin. Rounded vs. angled.
18 December 2018, 04:46
Clifford KeeslerThank you very much guys. My instructions call out the SEA scheme, so I guess that will be correct then.
18 December 2018, 22:00
Maciej BellosSome more info on the Greek Phantoms. The first batch was 36 F-4E in SEA camo. A second batch of 18 more Es and 6 RF-4E also painted in SEA.
At some point in the early 80s I think, they got the so called Aegean Blue camo with blue upper surfaces FS35164 and either aluminum or FS36622 lower surfaces. The RFs remained in SEA.
After the Gulf War against Iraq we received another 28 F-4E from Indiana ANG. Those were later blocks painted in Hill Grey. They were painted in Aegean Ghost camo later on and were withdrawn from service after 2005 if I remember correctly.
From the initial 2 batches, 36 were upgraded in late 90s with the Avionics Upgrade Program which was centered around the APG-65 radar enabling the good ol' Phantom with a ton of new capabilities. Around 25 are still operational, as the fleet starts to show its age.
In the mid 90s we received 27 ex German RF-4E of which 7 were used for spare parts. They kept their German camo. All the RF-4E retired in May of 2017. I was there to bid Pharewel to the legend.
I may be missing some details but this the general picture of the F-4 service in Greek colours.
18 December 2018, 22:33
Maciej BellosHmmmm, I had the impression that I commented on how good a job you did Michael... Well, I hadn't! Great job in rendering a terrific looking Greek Phantom!
18 December 2018, 22:37
Michael HickeyThanks for your words of wisdom, always welcome, and thanks for the nice remarks about the kit, always appreciated.🙂
18 December 2018, 23:45
Patrick HagelsteinThanks for that addition Hans! 👍 I remember seeing that in a Greek Aviation book, can't remember the title though... 🙁
19 December 2018, 16:40
Album info
I'll do this F-4 Phantom in Hellenic Air Force markings, she'll be painted in the Ghost Scheme.
