This is my new project for a club theme build: F-4 Phantom.

I have a deadline of the first Sunday in May.

It is the Zoukei-Mura F-4E Early Phantom II.

I'll be building it as one of the F-4Es leased by the RAAF between 1970 and 1972 as we waited for the delayed F-111C.

They retained USAF camouflage and serials with the only change being the addition of RAAF roundels and individual aircraft numbers.

I purchased Mini Craft Collection (MCC) M.B. 7 ejector seats, mainly because the kit doesn't provide seat belts.

I also purchased Novascale decals and an Eduard SUU-20 training bomb dispenser.

The latter is because the Phantoms were only used for training and, apart from a few bomb drop tests, were never armed.

No air-to-air missiles were supplied, for example.

A beautiful entry, Michael @michaelt
Never knew the RAAF has used the F4.
Those ejector seats did come in a very luxury box I must say.

Excellent job on the interior, my friend @michaelt! The kit looks very detailed.

Beautiful work on the interior, Michael @michaelt

There has been some progress since my last post.

The engines and intake ducts have been painted and assembled onto the lower surfaces.

I didn’t bother trying to eliminate the intake seam - too much work for minimal gain on this one. I just assembled them and sprayed white primer down the holes.

The engines will only be glimpsed through a pair of cracked open vents underneath, so they got a quick silver coat and the fuseslage internals “cockpit green” which is otherwise green zinc chromate.

The cockpit has been trapped between fuselage halves. (Note to self, I need to add the two left hand levers to the sill and paint those on both sides).

The fit of the radome is ok but could use a little filler.

The full fuselage here.

The RAAF F-4s didn’t have the rear facing antena (Radar Warning Receiver?) on the fin tip so I used the one not indicated in the instructions. This needs a little filler as well.

The fuselage spine is a separate piece and is a little short at both ends when you line the panels up.

It also seems to be a little narrow, so what I did was pulled the lower fuselage apart while the glue dried to close the gaps. Plastic/glue squished out and, when dry, clean up was a quick scrape and sand. And a little filler each end.

After some research, I decided that the intakes were painted 36” back internally (timeline for this seems to be towards the end of the Vietnam war, which fits RAAF service).

Certainly, the few photos of open intakes on RAAF jets are inconclusive apart from looking dark - so no hint of white intakes.

Excellent job on your Phantom, my friend @michaelt!

I think every F-4 model I have ever built, regardless of manufacturer, has ejector marks in that exact location on the splitter plates, Michael @michaelt. Having a separate spine is a good idea to limit sanding, but it would be nice if it fit better so you don't have to fill and sand. Looking good despite the fill and sand areas.

You can see where the white putty has been applied, too.