F-4E - Israel - 1973
These F-4 Finemolds kits are a jewel, but not perfect. Some puttying and sanding around the air intakes and wing leading edges still necessary.
Long 6 months brake, since I was frustrated with paint quality and procrastinating the next step.
I have struggled for years with paint quality and this is finally the winner for me!!! Although these ones smell awful.
Free hand airbrush painting without masks this time, since I couldn't really identify in the pictured from 1973 any clear hard separation line between the colours.
Except for the third book (only partially), all others are highly recommended for scale model builders. Apart from historical facts and some political drama, there are plenty of rare historical photographs, colour profiles and technical data!
Regardless of the controversies, Tom Cooper is for me a pioneer in the study of Arab Air Forces (and not only), while his "Arab MiGs" series of six volumes being certainly the most valuable account of the state of Arab Air Forces between the early 1950s to 1973.
I've heard good things about these DXM decals, which I accidentally found on Aero Spezial Modellbauversand.
Luckily, also a full set of stencils is provided, which is excellent, since the decals from the Findemolds are close to unusuable due to terrible silvering and high decal film thickness.
A typical Israeli air refuelling system is mounted on the forward spine of this F-4. Such an upgrade kit is only since recently available in 1:72, but nowhere to be found. I am not sure at which point in time this system was retrofitted to the IDF F-4s, but a few F-4s certainly had this system installed by October 1973.
Note here also the additional (black) IFF Antenna, which is not visible in other photos of the number 159 from during the October 1973 War, probably retrofitted at a later point (?).
The F-4E (early) number 159 of the 119 Squadron ("The Bat") as seen during the October 1973 War.
The kill mark was nevertheless wrongly applied on the real aircraft, since the number 159 actually downed an Egyptian MiG-21 over Mansoura on the 7th October 1973.
Otherwise, the wiring behind the navigator's seat is added lead wires of 0.2mm diameter.
Also, note the wing tips typical to the C, D and the early E versions (as seen here). Only the later F-4E had a bulkier wing tip.
The wing slats of late Es were not present in the IDF Phantoms of 1973, but were retrofitted some time after the war.
On the other hand, the Quickboost resin rear mirrors from the canopy are a misery and I can't recommend them. The casting quality is overall sub-mediocre.... or maybe I was unlucky to get a bad batch.
Some F-4Es from later production batches delivered from USAF stocks to Israel through Operation "Nickel Grass" allowed for equiping of more advanced ECM pods with laser guided GBU-12 bombs.
Otherwise, the engine exhaust parts from the Finemolds kit aren't needing any urgent replacement with aftermarket parts.
Comentarii
MariusThank you mates! I wasn't sure at the beginning if the blurry edges from the free hand airbrush painting are realistic enough, but the pictures of the era didn't show any clear hard edges either, rather the contrary, but depends on the machine. In some cases, the edges were very blurry/airbrushy indeed also on the real aircraft.
ClementI think you nailed it. What did you use in terms of paint thinning, airbrush air pressure etc?
MariusThank you Clement! I used around 20psi with an airbrush nozzle of 0.2mm and with a mix of ~65% Mr. Thinner and ~35% Mr. Hobby (C) paint. I started by doing the camouflage contours first, requiring 3-4 passes from very small distance. But I did many tests before.
VincentThe scheme already looks great. The metal effect are also very good on the elevator.
Edouard CarrVery smooth finish to this kit, your detail on the exhaust shows your attention to this phantom kit. Great job 👍
MariusThank you so much Nicolas and Edouard, I am happy you like it!
I hope that the short article also sparked a bit of curiosity.
MariusThank you all for the kind feedback!
@Eric, I used Mr. Hobby paints, which are really good if used in the right dilution ratio. I have shown the exact paints in my album photos #9 and #12.
Paul MooreThat is a marvelous looking F-4E. I had to look at the text to verify that it was 1/72 vice 1/48! Congratulations.
Paul MooreAnd thank you for the description of what you added, how the aftermarket parts were and if needed, historical notes, paint info, etc. etc! That was all VERY helpful. I'll try to start doing that with my postings. I'm glad you expanded on the ordnance load out. I thought it was not realistic but your explanation was very helpful as well.
One last thought …. Where did you get the AN/ALQ-87 ECM pod (at least that's what I think it is)?
Mike SiemersThe Phantom looks so good in the IDF paint scheme, great job on the build.
MariusThank you Paul and Mike!
Paul, I am honestly happy the text helped you, but that's because you took the time to read it. Under the comments section (in the album) you can also find a short article about the history and action of IDF F-4s during the October 1973 War, in case the topic is of any interest to you. I enjoy writting short articles for almost all my projects.
The ECM pod is indeed an AN/ALQ-87, which I took from a separate Finemolds kit with ordnance (US Air-to-Air Missile Set #2..70s) (Fine Molds FP44, 1:72)). When you're here already inside an album, scroll down to the end of the page, where you'll see the project's title once more with a preview picture. If you click on that, you'll see the full list of all aftermarket parts I used, which you can directly click/access.
bob rivettawesome F4, really like the stand as well.
I recently purchased the 1/72 scale Trumpeter A6A, as well as some of the ordnance kits from Fine Molds and Hasagawa, going for a heavy load out. Haven't started it yet though, still working on Mig-15, -17 as well as some F9 panther kits. Actually I have 12 kits in the que before I get to the A6A.
MariusThank you scalemates Cuajete, Bob, Ekki, Patrick and Neuling. It was a rare case where most things went right.
一生还一夜I'm researching on whether the GBU—8 can be equipped on the F4E during the Vietnam war.The finomlds kit provides no extra weapons despite its high quality.
MariusThank you for the appreciation, I am really flattered.
Regarding the GBU-8s, yes, they were certainly used in the Vietnam War, but NOT on the F-4Es back then. The GBU-8 was used in combat in the early 1969 for the first time. In Vietnam it was only a small number of F-4Ds from the 25th TFS that dropped the GBU-8.
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Initially they used the rear cockpit radar scope, but ended up adding small TV sets to the rear cockpit to get better results. The TV screen was fixed on the right-side console of the WSO in not the most comfortable position. The WSO had to shield the screen with one hand against sun light and try to lock the target with the other. They used directly the bomb's seeker head for broadcasting the image in the cockpit. So no other external devices retrofitted on the aircraft were necessary. For target locking, the aircraft had to be more or less aligned with the target in boresight mode. For improving the locking and image contrast, the usual ECM pods had to me removed from the forward AIM Sparrow wells (as seen here in my Israeli F-4E) and fixed under a TER from under the wings pylons. This measure would have offered a more constant ambient lightning to the GBU-8 seeker and reduce optical interference. Other tricks and small changes further improved their performance in Vietnam.
Also Israel received from the US some GBU-8s for the first time during the famous emergency resupply mission of mid-October 1973 (Operation "Nickel Grass"). This new weapon could be launched from the already modified F-4Es freshly supplied from the USAF inventory. The GBU-8s were used for the first time by Israel in the October 1973 War after only a few days since delivery with just minimum instructions and familiarization. The very first practice flight was the combat mission itself.
Indeed, the Finemolds kit does not include any weapons, but the selection of equipment for the F-4 Phantom is so big, you can not include them in the kit without doubling the price.
Album info
The F-4 Phantom II was the epitome of the "super fighter" in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After years of arms embargo and struggles of the local Israeli industry to replicate and further develope Western (French) technology, the USA agreed in the late 1960s to sell the F-4 Phantom to Israel, among many other equipment types. This was regarded as a major diplomatic victory for Israel.
The delivery of the first F-4Es to Israel started in September 1969, with the first batch of 44 aircraft delivered until January 1971. By October 1973, the IDF received at least 122 F-4Es and 6 RF-4, out of which approximately 13 were already written off due to various reasons. From the remaining 109 F-4Es, 94 of them were actually operational at the dawn of the October 1973 War. All Israeli F-4 Phantoms received the same standardized camouflage painting with some small variations. The Israeli F-4Es were all the "early E" version with the hard (unslatted) wings and unreinforced horizontal stabilizers. A retrofit to the "late E" standard was implemented only after the October 1973 War.
Although Israel was precisley informed regarding the planed attack of the Arab countries one day in advance of the October 1973 War, the IDF failed to react accordingly. In the morning of the 6th of October 1973, the Israeli Minister of Defence advised a pre-emptive strike on Syria, but was declined, since US support would have no longer been available. Instead, the decision was taken to mobilize the entire IAF and wait for the first Arab strike. The IAF was ordered to re-arm its fighters for air defence and be ready at 15:00 local time, since according to intelligence, the first Arab strike would not happen sooner than 18:00. Therefore, when Arabs attacked at 14:00 (Egyptian time), the shock was even greater, since not only the re-arming process was not complete, but Israel was also slow in detecting the incoming Arab fighter-bombers.
Due to the chaos caused by the initial advances of Arab land forces, the IAF found itself in a very disadvantageous position during the first week of the war. Not having the surprise of a first strike while having to focus on two very distant fronts for both air defence, SEAD and ground support roles in the same time have lead to very high losses also for the IAF.
During the October 1973 War, the F-4 Phantoms together with the A-4 Skyhawks and Mirages IIIs/Neshers were the backbone of the IAF. According to official available IDF data, the IAF lost 6 aircraft in the first day of the war, out of which 5 where A-4 Skyhawks while only one was a F-4E. The loss count signifficantly worsened the following day on the 7th of October 1973, when 23 (!) aircraft were lost, out of which 8 were F-4Es. After just more than 24 hours since the conflict started, the IAF already lost 10% of its operational F-4E fleet. Further losses mounted for the IAF, as out of a total of 11 aircraft lost on the 8th October, 4 were F-4Es, while further other 4 F-4Es were written off on the 9th October out of a total of 16 aircraft lost. More F-4 Phantom losses followed, with 3 destroyed on the 11th of October (out of 12 aircraft lost), 2 more lost each day on the 12th, 13th and 14th, one more on the 15th, one on the 17th, two more each day on the 18th and 20th and finally one on the 21st, totalling 33 F-4 Phantoms lost during the entire conflict. This represented approximately one third of the entire Israeli F-4 Phantom fleet.
The high losses of the IDF during the first two days with several dozens of lost combat aircraft and approximately "500 lost tanks" (according to the Israeli ambassador to the US in his discussion to Kissinger, probably referring to all armoured vehicles and exaggerating), combined with the failed Israeli counterattack in Sinai on the 8th of October created great panic in the Israeli cabinet. T. Cooper and D. Nicolle are describing this moment in "Arab Migs, Volume 6" at page 50. It appeared that the Israeli ambassador to the US motivated Henry Kissinger with a subtle "nuclear blackmail" to immediately replace the Israeli losses. The IDF's Dassault MD.620 surface-to-surface missiles and six specially modified F-4Es were loaded after the 7th of October with nuclear warheads at the Tel Nov air base and put in stand-by to at the very least "influence Washington". The following famous airlift and sea resupply mission "Operation Nickel Grass" changed the course and possibly the outcome of the conflict.
The USAF units in Europe were ordered to hand over to Israel 37 of their F-4Es (first arriving on the 14th of October), while McDonell Douglas rushed further six newly produced F-4Es during the war. Some of the freshly supplied USAF Phantom only had the previous insignia oversprayed and replaced with the Israeli one. These machines were hastly sent to action while still wearing the USAF dark green based camouflage painting. Several other new equipment types were delivered as well, such as new ECM pods, AIM-65 Mavericks and AGM-72 Walleyes among others. Large numbers of A-4 Skyhawks from US Navy stocks and hundreds of armored vehicles were supplied in the next days as well, some by ship per sea.
The ceasefire of 26 October 1973 put an end to active military operations and ended the last major war between a large Arab coalition and Israel. More small skirmishes were to follow at the Syrian border, but the outcome of the war shaped the Middle East for the next decades to come, leaving behind plenty of controversies and tabu subjects, especially in the Arab world.
According to IDF records, the four F-4E squadrons (119 Sq. "The Bat", 69 Sq. "The Hammers", 201 Sq. "The One", "107 Sq. "Knights of the Orange Tail") scored by the end of the October 1973 War a total of 85 downed enemy aircraft, including one AS-5 Kelt, 14 Mi-8s (all downed in the first day of war) and 4 Su-7s while all others were MiG-21s and MiG-17s.
The F-4E number 159 of the 119 Sq. ("The Bat") flown by Refael Koren and Moshe Bartov shot down on the 7th October 1973 an Egyptian MiG-21 at Mansoura with an AIM-9D Sidewinder. The kill mark is visible on the nose in photographs taken after the war, but it was wrongly applied by thr ground crew as a Syrian one (with three green stars instead of two).
After continuous upgrades and modifications, the F-4 Phantom was subsequently retired from IDF service in 2004.
References:
T. Copper, D. Nicolle, et al., "Arab MiGs Volume 5", Harpia Publishing
T. Copper, D. Nicolle, et al., "Arab MiGs Volume 6", Harpia Publishing
Ra'anan Weiss, "The Israeli AF in the Yom Kippur War", IsraDecal Publications
Bill Norton, "75 Years of Israeli Air Force, Volume 1", Helion and Company
...and several other more
Group Build
1. Ianuarie pana cand 31. Decembrie 2022