ANGELO LODETTI

Aircraft Scale Models

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Israeli Phantom II F-4E - N. 147 119 Sqn. "The Bat" Squadron

1. History

In the early afternoon of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on October 6, 1973, alarm sirens interrupted the silence of the fast and the signal was given for the start of the Yom Kippur War, which has become a traumatic event in Israel’s history.

1973 -2023 - 50 years later

The Yom Kippur War left a deep mark on Israeli society

The generation that experienced the war carries its memories and scars in its heart.

The kit representing the Phantom (Kurnass) is dedicated to all the heroes who fought to protect the Israeli population from another imminent attempt at destruction.

The McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II,is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,400 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. The F-4 was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations,and Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts. Active missions began in November 1969 with an attack on an SA-2 Guideline SAM site at Abu Sueir,Egypt. For the next five years the Phantom operated mainly in the surface attack role,taking out the hardest and most strongly defended targets. The model I built belongs at 119 Tayeset "Ha'Atalef" - The Bat Squadron Role: All-Weather Fighter. 119 squadron was first formed in September 1956 at Tel Nof (Ekron) under the command of Yoash Tsidon, (founder of the All-Weather combat doctrine for the IDF/AF). This Phantom would be able to bomb a target 480 miles ( 772 Km ) from its base and still have about 12 minutes of loiter to engage an enemy with its 20-nm cannon or four AIM-9 Sidewinders.

2. The Kit

The kit is molded in gray styrene and presented on 14 parts trees plus one tree of clear parts. Surface textures are world class too, comprising crisply recessed panel lines and selected rows of rivets and fasteners. Sprue attachment points are fine and should require only minimal cleanup. The overall parts breakdown is fairly conventional with full-length fuselage halves, centre lower wing (non-slatted hard wing) with sections of the forward and rear lower fuselage moulded in place, separate outer wing panels and upper wing halves.

The parts are :

Beautiful front and rear cockpits
Stick, throttles and even canopy lock handles provided
Detailed Martin Baker ejection seats (no crew restraints provided)
Canopy can be posed in open or closed positions
Detailed canopy frames
One-piece canopy provided for closed option
Nicely detailed J79 engines
Optional engine stand provided
Intake ducts to the compressor faces
Intakes include pitots
Exhaust nozzles provided in open and closed positions
Detailed wheel wells and landing gear
Choice of normal or raised (take-off) nosegear strut
Leading and trailing edge flaps can be posed up or down
Ailerons molded separately and can be depicted in neutral (flight) or drooped (flaps down) position
Stabilators can be posed in your choice of three positions
Tail hook molded separately but depicted in up/stowed position
Speed brakes can be posed open or closed
Ventral aux air doors can be posed open or closed
Choice of stowable boarding ladder or larger boarding ladder (or none)

External parts include:

4 x AIM-7E Sparrow
4 x AIM-9E/J Sidewinder
2 x 370 gallon external tanks
1 x 600 gallon centerline tank
2 x TER
2 x MER
The decal sheet is printed by Cartograf and provides an extensive set of markings and stencils for the airframe and weapons.
For Israeli version I have used : Hi-Decal Line 48007 RF-4E/F-4E/F-4ES Phantom II. This is a decal sheet for all you Israeli Airforce fans out there. This decal sheet will permit you to build 1 of 8 Israeli F-4E's including 3 that flew during the Yom Kippur War in October 1973....one of which was one of the 36 planes supplied by the US and this plane flew in SEA camo.

I have used the following accessories:

1.Eduard F-4J exhaust nozzles 1/48 - Cat.No.: 648314 Recommended for kit: ZOUKEI MURA

2. Eduard Brassin F-4E 648012 wheels 1/48

3. Master Tube pitot F-4 Phantom II 1/48 AM - 48-050

4. Aires 4766 F-4J/S Phantom II wheel bay ZOUKEI-MURA

5. Eduard Cat.No.: 648188 M 117 bomb early 1/48

6. Part of instrument panel Yahu Models YMA4866

3. Opening the engine compartment

The first operation will be open the engine compartments, only that of the right engine. Create the doors, made from an old Hasegawa Phantom kit, see photos. With pieces of plasticard and the help of photographs via the WEB and personal documentation, I have build the engine compartment for the J79 turbine, many dry tests must be done, with closing the fuselage before gluing the engine. The engine is well made, but it needs to be further detailed with the addition of cables and plasticard parts, for this It’s necessary to look at many photos from various perspectives. . The Exhaust Nozzle they are too simple, few details, so I wanted to upgrade with Eduard resin.

4. Cockpit and ejection seat

I wanted to upgrade the cockpit area to include side wall detailing and replace the ejection seats with resin versions. The photoetching instrument are panel by Yahu Models YMA4866. After gluing the parts with superglue, I painted the entire cockpit in GRAY FS 36270Mr. Hobby H306. All the buttons are painted in white and some in red. After these operations, we will do the weathering, for the line between the panels I used color OIL - MAIMERI PURO mixing with THINNER 5816604 - Petroleum essence (535 - Ivory Black ).

5. Gear Bay

Landing gear, those from the kit are very good, they have good proportions, it was necessary to add wiring in copper, of various thickness, I also added a hydraulic jack not present in the kit, for this I used photographs taken from the internet, the wheels must be replaced with those of the Eduard Brassin F-4E 648012 wheels 1/48.

6. Air intakes

The first step to do is to prepare the air intakes, gluing the various parts and close all the cracks with Mr.Dissolved Putty Mr.Hobby. After you can spray the interior with Tamiya Mini X-2 Gloss White Acrylic. Once this operation is completed, the air intakes are glued to the two semi-fuselages. Unfortunately the alignment is not very precise, so it will be necessary to sand and close the fissures again with Mr.Dissolved Putty Mr.Hobby and superglue.

7. Fuselage and radome

The fuselage complete with negative panels is dimensionally scaled, but requires some minor adjustments. Before starting any work, it is good to sand the whole model with a sheet of sandpaper No. 500, slightly damp, for two reasons: 1° to eliminate the porous appearance of the surface, 2° to bring the paneling back to a thinner negative. Insert the nose, and the connection with the fuselage requires a lot of attention, and cut the panels in the right places to connect the parts of the two kits, see the photos for the operations performed.

8. Fuel Tanks and Weapons

I decided to use only the tanks placed under the wings. As for the choice of armament, I opted for a variant of the bomb, the Eduard Cat.No.: 648188 M 117 bomb early 1/48, normally used by the Israeli air force.

9. Camouflage and Markings

Marking is taken from an image of the Israeli AF in The Yom Kippur War Facts and Figures, By Ra’anan Weiss, Isradecals Publications.

Before painting the model with its three-tone IAF camouflage. I gave a hand of gray Mr. Surfacer 1200 and sanded and the kit,

to see if there were roughness in the surfaces.

After as in the reality I gave a base coat with Ammo of Mig: 221 FS33481 Zinc Chromate Yellow.

Again with the airbrush the lower part will be painted with Mr. Hobby Color Blue FS 35622, then the upper part with Mr. Hobby Color YELLOW FS 33531 and finally with the scheme in front of the two tones of green FS 34227 and brown FS 30219, I have not used masks,

but with the good airbrush IWATA NEO, following the contours of the lines marked with a pencil. For the air intake and gear bays well ,

with Mr. Hobby N.1 White Acrylic.. The Decals, some are part of the Kit SWS , for Israeli marking I have used Hi-Decal Line 48007 RF-4E/F-4E/F-4ES Phantom.

10. Decals

Before I applied a coat of polish sealed (Gunze Sangyo Hobby Color 030 clear gloss ) the paint in preparation for decals. I have applied many decals already included in the Kit. But, regarding the stars of David I have self-made Paint Masks. The masks are made from thin masking tape, which is easy to be peeled off and doesn’t leave any stains. The tape is tested on clear and painted model too, you must carefully removed after painting.

11. Weathering and finished model

The weathering of the model is very important and this entire task was undertaken carefully. In order to give prominence to the panel lines I added diluted Acrylic. The darker colors were added to the lower areas of the panel lines with the lighter shades along the edges. This latter operation will give a certain depth to the model and will eliminate the flat appearance of a standard paint scheme.

For the lines between the panels I used colors I used OIL - MAIMERI PURO mixing with THINNER 5816604 - Petroleum essence (278 - Burnt Sienna - 535 - Ivory Black - 018 - Titanium White ). In conclusion you will paint all the surfaces with Final semi-gloss with Johnson's Pledge Revive it - floor glass.