Kitbash a

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Combine vintage 1/72 scale owadays, my eyes pretty much While the F-4 is more often thought of
demand that I work in 1/48 as a MiG-killing dogfighter, during the
ESCI and Monogram kits to scale and larger. But they’re Vietnam War, especially Operation
create a Navy F-4J bomber open — pun unintentional — to Linebacker in late 1972, it established itself
an occasional 1/72 scale build, so they as one of America’s premier bomb haulers.
agreed to an F-4J Phantom II as one of the The specific Phantom I modeled is an F-4J,
BY GREG KOLASA last additions to my 1/72 scale carrier air BuNo. 155882, from the VF-213 “Black
wing collection. I had planned a basic out- Lions” operating off USS Kitty Hawk.
of-the-box project with a unique ordnance The kit I built is a 2016 reboxing by
load using an ESCI kit that has been Italeri with decals for four MiG killers. Be
around for nearly 40 years. It still builds warned, not all Italeri Phantoms are the
into a nice Rhino with recessed panel lines, sweet ESCI kit; the newer F-4S is a
good fits, and sharp trailing edges. somewhat crude retool.

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Test-fitting showed that the Monogram wing and integral lower fuselage don’t quite match
ESCI’s fuselage. That means a bit of work to make the replacement seamless.

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A potential deal breaker didn’t materialize because the ESCI wing is a superb match for the
One of the quirks of the ESCI kit is the Monogram fuselage and only light scraping was required for a perfect fit at the roots. Removal of
lack of the 600-gallon centerline fuel tank the upper-to-lower wing locating pins produced an even better fit
commonly carried by Phantoms. So I
grabbed a partial Accurate Miniatures 1/72
scale Phantom — no box, instructions, clear
parts, or decals — from eBay to get a fuel
tank. This kit is itself a rebox of the
Monogram F-4, which debuted in the mid-
1980s with one of the nicest injection-
molded cockpits available and still holds up
well today. I figured plopping the
Monogram cockpit into the ESCI fuselage
would involve little effort for a high payoff.
But a closer look at the Monogram kit
showed that, despite some heavy raised
panel details, awkward construction method
around the intakes, and large sinks along
the fuselage spine, the kit had posable
ailerons, speed brakes, and auxiliary air
inlets, and better landing gear. In addition,
Monogram offered nice stores, including 3
Triple Ejector Racks (TER) that I was But the solution of one problem begat another. The Monogram wingtips (left) feature molded-in
going to have to scratchbuild for the ESCI AN/ALR-46 RHAW antennas, incorrect for a Navy Vietnam-era bird. They are correct in the ESCI kit
kit. The build just got more complex as I (right), but, since I wanted to fold the wings, I will fit CMK resin wingtips (No. Q72214) that mirror
contemplated merging the two kits. the ESCI parts.

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A rough cut at the hinge line removes the tips from the rest of the Microscale decals for the instruments and a rear cockpit radar joystick
Monogram wing. Final trimming will be performed later when CMK’s are the only additions to Monogram’s otherwise nice cockpit.
extremely detailed (and fragile) hinges are installed. Everything else was detailed with careful painting.

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I rectified the ESCI kit’s lack of details with sidewall parts from the To prevent the ESCI fuselages halves flexing inward when I joined them,
Monogram kit enhanced with thin styrene strip and spare photo- I fitted a brace cut from one of the parts trees. Then I attached the lower
etched metal (PE) control boxes to mimic detail molded inside the forward fuselage using plenty of glue, because only a thin wedge of the
Monogram fuselage. lower fuselage will remain.

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I waited until the cement was completely set before making the cuts I connected those slices with a cutting wheel in a rotary tool and
necessary to adapt the ESCI fuselage to the Monogram wing. First, using separated the nose-gear bay from the ESCI fuselage. Periodic checks
a razor saw guided by tape, I cut fore and aft of the nose-gear bay. indicated how much of the fuselage needed to be removed.

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The remainder of ESCI lower fuselage was carefully removed, leaving I taped the ESCI intakes in place to show where the Monogram intake
the molded-in standoffs for the intake splitters untouched. undersides, molded with the wing, need to be cut to properly mate the
kits.

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At this point, taping the Monogram wing to ESCI fuselage shows the fit To compensate for slightly different lower fuselage lengths and fill a gap
is quite good with just a little refinement necessary. forward of the nose gear bay, I extended the Monogram fuselage with
laminated styrene.

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The Monogram wing lacks the carrier catapult hooks. I applied gel Rather than risk obscuring ESCI’s fine panel lines with primer, I lightly
superglue inside the wing at the hook location to protect against me dry-brushed flat white paint over filled seams to check my work before
drilling through plastic with a rotary tool. The ESCI wing provided the painting.
size and shape. I made the hooks with brass wire ground to a point.

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Just forward of the catapult hooks, I added the AN/ALQ-126 ECM Designed for Hasegawa Phantoms, the CMK hinges are too short (top).
antennas. After carving the shapes into the end of a styrene strip, I cut So I sliced the fuel dumps from the Monogram wingtips, attached them
them to length and glued them in place. to the CMK hinges, and blended the parts with thin Tamiya putty.

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The ESCI stabilators feature the raised “V” reinforcements unique to Air I used Monogram pylons all the way around, with the inboard ones and
Force Phantoms (left), while the Monogram parts are correct for the their TERs used out of the box with a single Sidewinder fitted. I cut the
Navy bird I’m building. Monogram’s raised detail is a little heavier, but outboard pylons from the fuel tanks, squared off the lower edge, and
the attachment method is far superior. glued on and shaped styrene sheet for an attachment point.

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I found a pair of Multiple Ejector Racks (MER) left over from an A-7 Often overlooked, small fins at the top rear of the centerline tank were
Corsair II project and glued them to the pylons. cut from thin brass and attached in specific locations.

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While applying the darker paint
colors over lighter ones is
preferred, the radome’s conical
shape and the air-conditioning
intakes make for challenging
22 masking. Instead, I painted it black
A load of eighteen 500-pound Mk.82 Low Drag, General Purpose bombs were added to the ejector racks. With with a few drops of white added
the pylons decaled and the centerline fuel tank appropriately dirty and scuffed up, the stores were flat coated. and masked it off.
See how I detailed the Phantom’s bombs in the July/August 2022 FSM.

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Cutting through tape over painted surfaces sometimes causes paint to A spare, scratched, ESCI canopy, was tacked in place with poster putty
chip when the tape is removed. To prevent this, I precut masks for the for painting. Cotton balls underneath ensured no spray entered at the
rudder balance tab over bare plastic and set them aside for later. canopy seams. I airbrushed the undersides and control surfaces gloss
white using a narrow pattern to keep the paint slightly uneven.

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I used paper masks with worn edges held above the surface with poster After photocopying the kit decals onto stiff paper, I cut out the
putty worms to produce a slightly soft demarcation and airbrushed walkways and marked the areas for masking. Some features had to be
gloss light gull gray. shifted slightly to match engraved panel lines.

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A slightly uneven application of gunship gray simulated walkways worn To contrast the dulled radome, I painted the antiglare panel with pure
by the boots of personnel servicing the aircraft. Notches are the ram-air black. It looks freshly painted just as on the real aircraft I modeled.
turbine and auxiliary air inlet doors, which are “no step” areas.

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Although SuperScale provides a decal for the fin tip, trimming around Trying a different technique for the steel and titanium panels around
the football antenna would have been challenging. Testors Dark Red the exhausts, I hand-painted pre-shading on the panels. A thin coat of
(No. 1104TT) matches other decal trim and painting yielded the often- airbrushed aluminum on the upper section and dark steel on the lower
overlooked slight step at the bottom edge of the cap. area yielded a realistic contrast.

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A black wash emphasizes what should appear as prominent seams Over black permanent marker pre-shading for the stabilator ribs, I
between the heavy steel and titanium panels and gives a realistic sheen masked and painted the metal surfaces with five shades of steel and
to the entire area. aluminum.

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FINAL THOUGHTS
BEFORE APPLYING SuperScale decals for VF-213, I dry-brushed
flat rubber to highlight raised panel lines and flowed in a dark
wash for recessed details. Various washes replicate grease, grime,
and dirty water streaks underneath. On top, fine sandpaper and a
dirty wash added tracks left during servicing. The twin pitot
tubes on the leading edge of the fin were replaced with fine wire
for the lower and fine wire slid into a hypodermic needle for the
upper. G.E. silicone glue dries clear, doesn’t fog plastic, and has a
strong, flexible bond, which is great for attaching canopies.
Except for the ESCI nose gear strut modified to fit the Monogram
well, all undercarriage parts are from Monogram. The only
addition was the nose gear door actuation strut, mostly to
reinforce the delicate door. The final touches were to hang all the
ordnance and attach the CMK folded wingtips. Although other
F-4 squadrons had more flamboyant markings, VF-213’s fits the
powerful lines of the big Phantom bomber.

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