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Hongseob CHOI
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F-4J Phantom II ‘Showtime 100’, 1/72 Academy

October 19, 2017 · in Aviation · · 21 · 7.3K

Phantom II is always loved for all aircraft modelers.
I built my first one (because its' not possible to build just one phantom!) with Academy's new tool kit.

It is Snap tite kit so you can build without glue or painting (sticker included). it means also it has really good fit.
and detail is almost perfect. I can tell it is really good kit and it should be a good christmas present for little future modelers.

Academy's recent kit has two kind of decal. Cartograf and printed in korea one. unfortunately this kit 'showtime 100' has second one and decal problem is really terrible, it never sticks! and it is also famous for silvering. I had to put Markfit and heat it enough with hairdryer. and push them hard with cotton swap. after two boring days I won with this without any silvering.

for color I used industrial use laqueor spray as usual. I wanted to get hard weathering of old navy bird, but I didn't want too dirty to harm it's fancy marking. then I weathered with bright ivory oil color for most part. and I used dark color very strictly. I think it appears in pretty good look

One thing special is burnt exhaust metal finish. I painted and polished with black and rub with pencil powder, the graphite. it is very easy and effective way to have chrome shiny metal finish. but I weathered hard this time

thanks for watching!
this weekend here in Seoul start the '17 Seoul airshow, I'm really excited with this. hope to take some good picture to put on forum. Ciao!

Reader reactions:
11  Awesome

19 additional images. Click to enlarge.


21 responses

  1. Your phantom looks excellent. It could be mistaken with the real thing

  2. When I looked at this first, I was sure it's the new Zoukei Mura in 1/48.

    Congrats that you won your silvering battle. Fought some of these before too ...
    Looking forward to the pictures of the Seoul Air Show!

    • Yeah, It's just tomorrow. I'll update some photo soon,
      fortunatly after this kit Academy producted severel new marking f-4 kit with different cartograf decal. but this time I really wanted to have showtime 100..

  3. That's a great looking Phantom, my friend. Even more so in that scale. You have a talent there, sir (in all respects)...weathering, detail, photography - all of it. Looks better than MY F-4's in larger scales. Very nice work, sir.

    • I apreciate for all my friend. I alway jump assemble step without accuracy but try to paint well for having realistic look. maybe it's like the impressionist did..

  4. Phantastic Phantom!

  5. Some strong work on one of the better kits. Hongseob, you have done the famous line of "Its all in the details". The burner cans, the landing gear, and the air brakes all have been painted to perfection and show off what a good job Academy has done with this kit. Also, I like the use of powders or pastels? For showing some ware and tear.on the aircraft. "Show time 100" is one of the classic F4 subjects in modeling and coming up with a different angle to show off this classic takes a little thought. Two thumbs up. Looking forward to your next build.

    • Thank you Stephen. "God is in the detail" said Mies van der Rohe. but I'll say the devil is in the detail.. what a mass of work in here! After I've done with upper side, I just abbandon painting bottom side because I was just exhausted. that's why there's no picture of bottom 😉

  6. Arguably the most famous Phantom of the Vietnam War. Whats not to love about this one. Absolutely Phabulous!

  7. Thanks for the tip about using ivory oil paint. New idea, and I can see that it would work. Great job on the aircraft! Looks a great deal bigger than it is, lovely job on the markings.

    • I really liked use of ivory oil paint and already made 3~4 more build after this phantom. and it still works well. you can just paint thined oil color in vertical way with rough brush, for rain striking effect. then coat with clear and add ordinary wheathering you want.

  8. Very nicely done! Love the weathering. Fantastic job on this.

  9. You nailed the grimy look on this one! It looks as if it has had hundreds of dirty little hands (and feet) on it! I remember building Showtime 100 way back in the 80's at my Grandma's house. Since you can't build just one (similar to Lay's potato chips) I replaced it around 2012 with another Showtime 100! (Both Monogram 1/48.) There's just something about these markings that I like!

  10. Good looking F4 Hongseob, well presented.

  11. Phantoms seem to look in any scale, and this one is especially good! Great work, and the pencil graphite is a good idea, too.

  12. Beautiful work! I was thinking of maybe doing a F16 for my first jet, but now I think have changed my mind. Inspiring to see this Phantom:)

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