Academy 1/48 F-4C Phantom II

I built this one almost two years ago, but never got around to posting pics. And looking at them now, I think I know why - something is off with the lighting, and I guess it's about time to try it once again.

Anyway, the kit is the well known Academy Phantom, which is a nice one, although it has a few issues. The fit of the air intakes can be troublesome, and with this build I had to do quite some filling and rescribing. I had built the F-4B the year before, and for some reason fit was much better there.

The kit was built almost out of the box, I only replaced the seats with a pair of Quickboost resin pieces. Another area that could be replaced with aftermarket (I didn't) are the burner cans, as they look a bit bland out of the box.

What I really like about the Academy kit in all its variants is the huge amount of ordnance it provides. Various Sidewinders, Sparrows, Mk.82 bombs etc. will fill up your spares box nicely, and the Tripple and Multiple Ejector Racks (TER's and MER's) don't look to bad either. I ended up using the kit Mk.82's and centerline fuel tank, the Mk.84's on the outboard stations are from Eduard.

The SEA camo was airbrushed freehand on top of a black primer coat using Gunze Acrylics. The metallic areas are a mix of AK Xtreme Metal and Testors Metalizer paints. The prominent chipping on this bird was brush painted using Lifecolor Light Gull Gray, for the weathering effects I used some Mig Panel Line Washes and various oil colors.