Phantom Cockpit Museum Exhibit in 1/48
Step right up! The new Phantom Exhibit is now open!
Oh, the things that come from a modeler's work bench when one has too much time.
I was working on a project that back-dated a Phantom to a very early F4H-1. The conversion kit replaced the entire front fuselage of the 1/48 scale Academy F-4B. In between drying times of glue and paints on the F4H-1 project, I decided to make use of these spare parts and create a “museum exhibit”.
I did this for real when I was Ops. Manager of the New England Air Museum back in the 1980's, except it was an F-100 cockpit. This had been part of a simulator for the Connecticut Air National Guard which flew both the F-100A's and D's. We had the cockpit but not the room-size computers it must have needed to run it. I had to convince the curator to bring this out of storage and actually allow people to get in it! This is not something museum personnel were open to doing at this point in time. The exhibit was not as elaborate as this model, but kids (or adults) could get in and we had some lights and sounds for added effects. It has survived the public for all these years and still part of the museum's displays.
My original thought was for something simple – the cockpit on a base.
I built up the Academy cockpit, mostly out of box. I need to scratch-build the right wall in the rear cockpit since I needed the kit part for the F4H-1 and I added some details to the seats since they would be prominent.
The F4H-1 project used the bottom portion of the kit fuselage, so making my Exhibit sit flat was easy. I created the base from part of an old plastic sign that was 3mm thick. From there, things began to spiral out of control. The brown planked walk-way is a picket fence from a model train scenic kit, the railings are plastic tubes and the waiting bench seat is an unknown item from the spares box. I painted the yellow “safety marks” on the walkway and added the striped step at the entrance from sheet plastic.
At this point, the Exhibit had become the primary project with the F4H-1 sitting on the sidelines.
A major next step for me was adding a flight crew. I'm not much of a figure painter, but I save them from various kits. Monogram has had a number of kits with good standing pilots and crew. Our pilot is from the Monogram F-5 kit, along with a portion of the F-5 boarding ladder. I reasoned that the rear cockpit would be very hard to get into with this set up, so I put the REO, from the Monogram F-104 kit, in the cockpit and closed the canopy.
I'd run out of steam and needed to get back to the F4H project. I reasoned that you couldn't just leave a fully dressed mannequin unprotected. The public would strip it of all equipment in a day, so I added a clear case around it using plastic from some product packaging I had saved.
Finally, signage. You can't have an exhibit without some signs. I created the main exhibit label and small “Pilot” and “REO” labels in Microsoft Publisher and printed them on plain paper with my inkjet. I added a clear plastic cover to each and attached the main sign to the front railings and the small labels to thin brass rods.
And I called it done … before I came up with any more ideas!
It was certainly an interesting build. Not knowing where I was going and how to get there made it a challenge and I am quite please with the outcome.
Really great idea Chuck
Thanks, George. It was just one of those things that popped into my head as I was looking at the kit box of extra stuff left over from the conversion build.
That is a great idea and wicked cool result, reminds me of the F-8 Crusader forward fuselage at Pensacola you could climb in.
Can't wait to see the F4H-1.
Thanks, David,
The F4H-1 is coming alone. I hope to have it done by the end of the month to enter in the ValleyCon-34 contest in Mass.
Really awesome idea, perfectly executed, Chuck. Loved all your innovative approaches!
Well done!
Thanks, Spiros.
Always appreciate your comments.
A wonderful idea and ditto result, Chuck @charleshorner
Very nice details.
Thanks, John. Sometimes ideas and things just jell at the right time.
Great execution. Well done, Chuck
Thanks, Gary
Wow, great!
Thanks, Roland
I'd pay to sit in that!
Great idea and completion, Chuck. Looks Awesome.
Thanks, George. When I set up the real F-100 cockpit in the 1980's, we got the same reaction from the visiting public. I can't say that we were the first museum to do it, but many followed us.
Chuck, That is outrageous! What's not to love about the idea and the execution. Superb
Thanks, Dave.
Seems everyone enjoys this build. I hope it might inspire others.
Great idea, Chuck. Much better for you to let the creative juices flow rather than just pitching the unneeded pieces. Thanks for sharing your great work!
PS, the USAF museum in Dayton has an F-4 sit-in cockpit:
https://www.airhistory.net/photo/687770/66-7660
Thanks for the good words, Andrew. Yes, I've visited the AF Museum many times since the mid-1970's. I had relatives there that I could stay with so the 15-hour drive from Connecticut was easy on the pocket book. The Dayton area also has an excellent multi-day airshow every year which I've also attended many times.
Part of the inspiration for this build was the F-4 cockpit at the museum. My last visit was in August, 2022 when I saw the F-4 as well as the F-111 cockpit.
As I said before, when I created the F-100 piece at the New England Air Museum in the 1980's, this was a rare thing in the museum community to let people into the aircraft. It is much more common now.
Love it! That is really cool and is what modeling is all about!
Thanks, Scott.