Well After a post I read recently about the Esci Phantom I decided I did not want to waist a good kit so what to do?
I was trawling through the web when I came across this picture…
Inspired by this picture I had an idea, I would use the Esci kit to make a model of a VF-111 Sundowners Phantom in the Davis Montham boneyard. Doing this with the kit overcomes the biggest problem the cockpit or the lack of it as the Phantom in the picture has the cockpit protected. The actual build should be very simple as there is no cockpit to paint or detail.
All the main parts are attached just some minor filling, the worst fit was of the canopy which need some patience…
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On the underside all the pylon holes need to be filled. This was done with plastic card…
painted the metallic areas at the back first with Aclad jet exhaust to preshade then a coat of stainless steel and a few panels picked out aluminium…
Added a few bits to the base
Not to sure if I like the foliage at the moment but I’m not sure why cant quite put my finger on it.
The CAM decals went on with no problems settling down nicely with help from Micro Sol over a coat of Klear
Once the decals had fully dried (left overnight) another coat of Klear was brushed on to seal the decals and then Model Master flat coat was spayed on to prepare the the model for the weathering
To give the model the dusty sun bleached look of being left in the desert I decided to do most of the weathering with pastels and pigments. To do this I covered the model in water then randomly applied the pigments and pastels.
After the water dried and I was happy with the results I used a sharp pencil to bring out the panel lines and a very diluted coat of Tamiya Buff was sprayed all over the model to seal in the pigments and pastels. Finally certain panel lines were picked out eith heavily thinned Tamiya Smoke.
So that is the progress so far its almost done any comments, criticism or ideas welcome!
Originally I used Mr Surfacer 500 but it didn’t give enough relief so once painted and decalled I went over with typex and did the edges with grey pro marker.
On the real aircraft they use a product called Spraylat which is like a spray on plastic.
Originally I used Mr Surfacer 500 but it didn’t give enough relief so once painted and decalled I went over with typex and did the edges with grey pro marker.
On the real aircraft they use a product called Spraylat which is like a spray on plastic.
Lookin’ Good!!! next to the B-17 The F-4 Phantom is a VERY close second. I love that you too are not scared to take a Beautiful Lady and show her age, or death. I will be lookin’ forward to the conclusion of this build.
