1/32 Tamiya F-4J
by Daniel Scislo

We lived on the northern part of the Ruhrgebiet in Germany. That was low level flight area. The playground for the A10, coming from the UK ,the F-16 from the Netherlands and the F-4´s from Rheine Hopsten. And these Phantom´s, boy what a sight. Coming low level, with smoking trail behind and then, with the afterburner on, Going straight in the air .I think I´ll never forget that sound. After years out of the hobby, I began building other stuff and worked a few years for model mags. But one day there was the chance to grab a cheap F4 from Tamiya. I put it in my shelf because I have not forget that sound. I was new in 1:32 and it took a few weeks untill I get some aftermarket stuff. But after that I waste no minute to get it build.

The Kit is very high standard, I know it, the rest of the world knows it too. I use the Eduard set for the cockpit. I love this stuff, you can read the instruments! OK, I understand….you know it too.The building process was very straight forward, the painting,too.

I used Testors enamel for this. The VMFA 235 decals are from Yellowhammer and they are fantastic! A second sheet came from CAM with stencils. And that was fun! I did not count them, but I think there are 200 decals or so on this sheet. It was a lot of work. After hours of putting them on (and lot´s of four letter words) I sealed the model with Humbrol gloss coat.

Then a oil based wash of burnt sienna and raw umber was put on the model and wiped away . After 48h drying time I dry brush the highlights with grey and white. And then the last coat of dull coat was brushed on.