The Modelling News: Brett builds a 200 year old Phantom: Part III The final approach..

Eduard’s Limited edition kit of the F-4N Phantom II “Bicentennial Phantom” is being built here on the news by our man Brett. 5 lovely decal choices, Brassin Parts and Fabric seatbelts all add to the nice Academy base kit. Let’s see how he put the weathering and final touches on his lovely build…

Build review Pt III: Bicentennial Phantoms

McDonnell Douglas F-4N Phantom II

1/48^th scale
Eduard Model Company
Limited Edition Kit No.1190
Available directly from Eduard or their Distributors worldwide.
Build Review by Brett Reynolds

Eduard "Bicentennial" Phantom – Part I
Eduard "Bicentennial" Phantom – Part II

Weathering

With a light coloured camouflage scheme, you don’t want to use a dark panel line wash such as burnt umber. I also had to be mindful that I was building what was a ‘show bird’ so I didn’t want to be too heavy on the weathering.

I had some of AK Interactive ‘Winter Streaking Grime’ and applied it along the panel lines and rivet detail. This ‘dirty grey’ colour looks perfect against the gull grey over white USN scheme. This wash would also act as a filter over the aircraft surface when I start removing the excess.

I applied a heavier coat of the wash on the underside from aft of the aux intake doors. This area tends to look filthier.

Using a wide brush with white spirits, I removed the excess wash moving fore to aft in the direction of air flow.

Additional washes were applied where it was needed. You can see here a little of the ALCLAD2 on the engines has worn off. This would be fixed before the end.

Some weathering pastels were applied along the black walkway decals.

Everything would receive a sealing coat of Model Master Flat Clear Lacquer and I can finally remove the canopy masking.

The metal exhaust areas received a mix of black and burnt umber oil washes to bring out the detail.

Final Details

Getting close to the end now; just need to finish off some of the final details before completing the assembly.

The Eduard Brassin wheels are airbrushed in flat black; with the wheel masks provided in the kit then applied. The wheel centres are sprayed white and they are finished off with the same weathering techniques as the rest of the aircraft.

The aircraft’s flaps, speed brakes and wheel well doors are all painted and weathered prior to fitting to the model.

I found the actuator rods for the speed brakes to be a bit too long so I’ve trimmed them down as shown.

The centreline fuel tank and wing pylons all painted up and weathered.

It should be noted, the kit does give the builder a full assortment of weapons on the Academy sprues, but as I chose to build this model as a ‘show bird’ while at its Naval Air Station, so I left the aircraft unarmed.

Finished!

This was my first Eduard F-4 Phantom II I’ve built. I found the kit goes together very easily for the most part. The Eduard additions and excellent Furball decals, take this kit to the next level. I am very pleased with the finished result.

This was the second limited edition boxing of Academy’s Phantom by Eduard after the ‘Good Morning Da Nang” F-4B. Next is the USAF’s turn with the “Good Evening Da Nang” boxing of Academy’s F-4C/D. All three editions share a similar array of Eduard goodies so things I’ve mentioned in this build review should apply for all.

Here she is in detail..