After a small break in building, I wanted to build something special for a good friend. Capt. Craig “Pontiff” Pope. He’s been a pilot his entire career. He flew for UPS for 33 years. He was also a pilot in the Air National Guard. First flying F-4’s, then transitioning to the F-16. Because I wanted it to be a surprise, I couldn’t go to him for specific information. His wife helped me out with information I needed.
I pulled out all the stops on this one. It started with Tamiya’s F-4D. The cockpit was upgraded with aftermarket ejection seats, white metal pilot figures from Master Details, Hornet heads, and Quinta Studios cockpit decals. In an effort to make the pilot look like Craig when he was young,I took two photos of 8 different hornet heads. I sent them to his wife to pick out one,
The intakes were from Model Monkey. The exhaust tubes and nozzles were from GT Resin. The wheel, and missiles were from Reskit. The MK 82 bombs were leftovers from another kit. The ground crew, and ladder were from Video Aviation. The decals were from Speed Hunter Graphics.
Two days after I delivered the model to his house, he said he wanted to give me something to say Thanks. One of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten.
What a great idea and a very kind gesture! Your F-4 diorama looks fantastic!
Super cool. Outstanding diorama!
Great work @Cbowling!
What an amazing gesture from both of you. The Phantom looks great, nice work overall. I really like your work on the tug as well, it turned out very nice.
Cbowling,
Very impressive F-4D. I particularly like the Euro-1 camouflage. Great job on the “soft” demarcation between colors. I would love to do a 1/32 Phantom. I keep hoping that a new mold kit will show up. Your model makes me think i may bite the bullet and tackle the Tamiya D.
Thank you. The replacement intakes from Model Monkey were a life saver. As you know, the kit intakes require way to much work to fix. Putting FOD covers over the intakes was not an option for me.
I had to sand off the raised panels that were molded on (Battle Damage repair panels). I think if you were to just get the intakes, that would go a long way in correcting that glaring problem. Hope you tackle it!!
Wow! What a gorgeous build. I have an F-4 on the docket soon (I actually have 3 of them in the stash). I’ve been thinking of doing a camo/diorama like the one they have at the Denver flight museum (photo attached).
You have inspired me to go for it.
First and foremost, what a great tribute and what a way to pay tribute to a friend.
Beautiful build Chris! That Phantom is Phreakin Phabulous!!
Happy Modeling,
Mike
Thanks. You can’t go wrong with an F-4. Euro 1 paint scheme is so cool. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your build!!
Beautiful build for your good friend. Every detail done to the max! Congratulations.
That is so cool!
Happy Modeling,
Mike
Nicely Done!
Bryan Wilburn
Thanks for posting that photo of the Museum diorama! I was stationed at Lowry from 1974-78. Had no idea there is a museum now. I’ll be making a road trip to check it out.
It is a great museum, I spent 5 hours taking photos and video for reference images. Well worth the trip.
That looks like an amazing museum. What a collection of aircraft just in your couple photos. One more to put onto the list of places to go visit.
Yes, it is one of the best I’ve been in for jet modeling fanatics like me.
EA-6B, F-14, B-1, F-4, AB-8B, A-7, F-100, B-52 are the ones I can think of right off. They even have a full size X-wing fighter and a full motion flight simulator!
It’s very much worth the trip.
This is a magnificent piece of work. From the aircraft to the support vehicles and figures, this diorama is exquisite. I do have one question though. If this aircraft is based at Andrews AFB 1987, then why is he carrying a full bomb load, along with sidewinder missiles under his wing? When I first saw the pics I thought it was going to say based in an AFB in Thailand. Just my 2 cents.