Ed Okun "Modeling Military History": 1/32nd scale Tamiya F-4E Phantom II of the Israeli Air Force #119 squadron in 1973

Squadron #119, "Tayeset HaAtalef" translated into English "The Bat", has a long history in the Israeli Air Force. Founded in August of 1956, it initially equipped with "Gloster Meteor F-13" all weather fighters. A few years later the squadron re-equipped with the more mission capable and complex French, "Vautour IIN". Shortly after that, the squadron accepted another French aircraft, this time Marcel D'assault's "Mirage IIIC" fighters. From their first introduction to the "Heyl HaAvir", these aircraft participated in many combat sorties against Israel's enemies. In Israeli hands, the Mirage IIICJ became world famous on June 5th, 1967. In "Operation Moked", the first ABA (air base attack) missions were carried out against airfields in three different Arab countries and spearheaded by French built aircraft. Hundreds of Russian supplied aircraft were destroyed on the ground, eliminating the threat against Israeli forces and population centers. The "Bats" emerged from the war as the top "Shahak" squadron.

The F-4E "Phantom II" was introduced into the IDF/AF inventory in September of 1969. Two squadrons initially flew the aircraft, #201 "The One" ("HaAchat") and #69 "The Hammers" ("HaPatishim"). In 1971, #119 became the third "Kurnass" squadron to become operational. In total, only 5 squadrons ever flew the F-4, numbers 201, 69, 119, 107 and 105 listed in chronological order of their equipping with the F-4 Phantom II. The IDF/AF Flight Test squadron borrowed planes from the operational squadrons to advance the capabilities of the "Kurnass" by adding Israeli designed modifications which included a fixed refueling capability, weapon attachments and unique electronic warfare instruments.

The story behind the build: In 1975, I was in IDF parachute training at Tel-Nof Air Force base and took a photo of an early production block, hard-wing, short cannon fairing, F-4E Phantom II ("Kurnass" or "Sledgehammer" in Hebrew) performing "touch and go" landings. F-4E #125 was a beauty, with a bright Red squadron chevron on the leading edge of the vertical tail and one Syrian MiG-21 kill marking on the right side of the forward fuselage. Here is how it appeared the first time i saw this aircraft.

Here is a detail photo of #125 nose section and the MiG kill symbol.

#119 squadron insignia as it appeared on Mirage IIIC and F-4 Phantom jets.

Another plane in #119 Squadron (#159), clearly shows the position of the "Bat" squadron badge

Kurnass #125 scored it's single MiG-21 kill in a huge air battle over the Syrian and Lebanese coastlines on September 13, 1973. Earlier that day, a pair of reconnaissance RF-4E Phantom jets were nearly intercepted by Syrian Air Force MiG-21s. The Syrian challenge developed into a huge, multi-aircraft dogfight involving at least 4 IAF squadrons (#101sq. and #117sq. Mirage IIIs and #119sq. and #107sq. Phantoms). In the end, the Syrians lost 12 MiG-21s and IAF Pilot Capt. Moshe Melnik and Navigator Chaim Barkan scored their kill in "Kurnass" #125. Incidentally, Capt. Melnik also piloted one of the RF-4Es that morning. The photos below show the relative size of the Mirage and MiG-21 compared to the much larger dual cockpit "Kurnass" The camouflage schemes are accurate and show the appearance of these planes during the 09/23/73 air battle. The Mirage IIIC, did not have the large Orange-Black identification triangles painted until during the Yom Kippur war exactly one month later. These were applied to prevent "friendly on friendly" losses. The Libyan Air Force having donated a squadron of MirageV to the Egyptian effort on the Southern front.

THE BUILD

It's been awhile since my last update, but so many fellow scale- modelers had asked me about this F-4E build on other forums, that I wanted to provide some more details of this model build-up. This is the outstanding Tamiya 1/32 scale (early production) F-4E Phantom II. The kit is super-detailed out of the box and has hundreds of parts included. It is very accurate in outline and in the right hands can be turned into a museum piece or "show-stopper". I spent about 3-4 months (whose counting anyway, what's a month or so between friends?) to finish the model. There are a couple of real problems with all the Tamiya 1/32nd scale Phantoms which I should mention. For one, the engine intake trunks are not internally accurate and I replaced these with aftermarket resin parts.

The other BIG problem are all the "Battle Damage Repair" patches. These annoying raised panels are sprinkled around the fuselage and require extensive sanding and re-scribing to remedy. The picture below was grabbed from the internet (Thanks, fellow modeler-photog for the use of your pic) . It isn't mine because I was too busy sanding to take photos..

Apparently, when Tamiya took measurements from an actual plane they (unfortunately) managed to find one with all these odd plates attached. I assume they thought this was standard for every aircraft and incorporated them into every version of their model. For a Japanese company to make an error like that is a mystery. The Japanese Air Force was an extensive user of the Phantom and I'm sure they had plenty to inspect. That is about the only real issues I have with this kit.

The itemized list of accessories and productes that I used follows:
1. "Seamless Suckers": resin Intake trunks
2. "Avionix": F-4E resin Cockpit
3. "Eduard" "Big edition" F-4E Phantom photo-etch sets
4. "Cutting Edge" resin weighted tires
5. "Cutting Edge" resin exhaust nozzles
6. "Zactomodels": AIM-9D sidewinder missiles
7. "CAM": M117 750lb bombs
8. "Mastermodels": pitot tubes set.
9. "Israedecal": 1/32 F-4E stencil decal sheet set.
10. Paints: Testors "Modelmaster" flat enamels
11. Clear coat: Pledge acrylic floor polish
12. Microscale decal setting solutions

INTAKES

"Seamless suckers" will correct this disappointing feature of the Tamiya kit which are the engine intake trunks. The kit intakes do not accurately replicate the smooth interior contours of the intake. Left as is, they are best either covered over or in this instance replaced with aftermarket parts. I chose the latter option and the result was well worth the investment. These resin beauties are a huge improvement to the appearance of the finished model allowing a clear view of the engine compressor fans.

In order to fit properly, a portion of the model needs to be cut away. You can see how much material needs to be removed in the photos below. The whole process takes about 10 minutes per side to get a good fit. If you attempt this yourself, constantly dry fit to avoid removing too much.

I painted the interior of the intake sidewall before gluing the splitter plate. This was the most efficient way to do it and saved me the masking contortionism I knew would be in my future if I didn't do it early on. The resin intake is pure white in color so it did not not need any paint.

COCKPIT

A well appointed cockpit is included in the kit although purists will need the additional sidewall details and the other gadgetry that make a 1960s fighter plane cockpit appear so busy and somewhat claustrophobic. I wanted to replicate just that look so I replaced the kit cockpit with the Avionix F-4E resin tub and sidewalls. Caution: Alot of dry-fitting is required to get the replacement cockpit into the right position. Any mistake in doing this step correctly will reverberate throughout the build. Here are some photos of the fit-up. At this stage I questioned my decision to go this extra step. A royal pain in the ass for sure. Here are some in progress pics. You can see how the back bulkhead and shelf behind the rear ejection seat needs to be removed and then sanded to a curved profile to match the new part.

INSTRUMENT PANELS AND DETAIL PAINTING

I admit that my days of super-detailing certain parts that will be hidden in areas never to be seen are over. That was a conscious decision based on 45 years of modeling and who knows how many wasted hours. I have super detailed engines only to bury them in closed fuselages, I have done complete interiors of tank turrets which will never be seen by anyone....You can understand that I am careful now of how much time I have left in my life to do this hobby. All that being said, I still like the details, so here comes "Eduard" to the rescue with a pre-painted photo-etch cockpit set. I used the kit parts and cleaned off the molded on details before attaching the photo-etch. Here you see the result.

At this stage, I started to paint all the cockpit tub details, instruments and ejections. The seats were another after market product but honestly I've forgotten who made them as they were in my spares. the addition of the "Eduard" photo-etch cockpit set combined with the Avionix resin gave me choices all along the way. Sometimes too many choices can slow progress. I tried to go logical and used either the most attractive, accurate or easily fit part. Not always in that order.

More to come........

BASIC ASSEMBLY

Here you can see some of the basic assembly steps prior to spray-painting and then how I started off the painting of the metallic tail assembly first. There is one piece of assembly advice that the Isradecal guys give in the stencil instructions set. You must move the location of the 370gal. wing tanks inward about 4.7 mm to be correct, which also means moving them forward slightly on the wing as well. I plugged the holes in the wing with stretched sprue glued in place and measured the new location for drilling. After that it all became "Basic assembly".

Here is the nose section showing the gun and gun door which I cut away to show it in the open position. Tamiya kit does not have that option but it appears on most of the photos of F-4E Phantoms in the ready condition.

GUN AND GUN DOOR

Sorry about the fingernails. I should have manicured before taking the photo....

TAIL SECTION/ BARE METAL PARTS

This area is important to a good model Phantom as the color must replicate the burnt appearance of the areas of the fuselage that are in-way of the afterburner blast. I used a gloss black to start and followed over that with various shades of ALCLAD II lacquer metallic paints. Following that, some flat black along panel lines to simulate a sooty appearance and some silver touching up on some of the screw heads. The horizontal anhedral tail was removed from the pivot assembly to allow for painting and reattached after that step.

WINGS AND THINGS

The next step was to attach the wings so that the nose could also be attached. This fit-up is also critical to avoid any unsightly gaps. I did have a couple of unexpected gaps but nothing too severe. Thin sections of plastic card stock closed the gaps without any filler. To my annoyance, the nose section is molded in clear plastic (same material as the canopies). This feature in my mind is very "gimmicky', meant to show off the internal positioning of the M-61 gun and radar but not detailed accurately enough to display. Because it is clear plastic, it is also hard to determine if the parts are aligned properly (paint ii all black, inside and out, before you start if you aren't going to display a clear nose) and also any glue marks are very visible from outside. Luckily, there was almost no noticeable seam between the nose halves and a very light sanding removed the line of attachment. getting back to the resin cockpit, care must be taken not to spread the fuselage halves when inserting this piece or other things will not fit later. I had yet another moment of panic at this point. No worries though, determination to stay on task being the key to finishing a project like this.

PAINT AND DECALS

I used Testors "Modelmaster" enamels overall to replicate the 4 color scheme. The Israeli camouflage pattern at this time was fairly standard varying only slightly from plane to plane. The colors as follows: Sand/ FS33531 Tan/ FS30219 Light Green/ FS34227 Light Blue/ FS35622

Some may notice in the finished photos, that the red turbine stripe on the fuselage is broken about mid-way down each side. This was intentional. I roughly cut-out the 1/32nd USAF insignia from another old decal sheet and then used the entire sheet as a mask to spray the fuselage color (slightly darker) over the stripe. This gives the appearance of a sprayed out USAF insignia which is exactly what occurred when the F-4E Phantom first arrived in Israel.

Here is a photo of the terrific book I used for most of my references. "Israeli Phantoms"

The Kurnass in IDF/AF service 1969-1988 Vol. 1 by: Shlomo Aloni & Andreas Klein

Here is the result of my freehand air-brushing session. It came out pretty well on the first try. If you are building an early Kurnass be sure to paint the wing fuel tanks in USAF SE Asia colors of Dark Green and light Grey. The IDF/AF didn't paint these in the fuselage colors until much later on.

DECALS AND FINISHING

Now we get to the fun part (really) and what makes a model different from anybody else's. Finishing is the real test of a scale modelers acquired skills as each modeler has signature techniques when combined are unique. Here's what to look for: Decals must be applied without silvering, the general appearance of the model surface must be smooth and weathering must be realistic and appropriate. So first the decals. Before I go too much ahead, I'd like to throw out a tip about the silvering problem which is caused by air trapped under the decal. At first everything looks good, but when it dries and a flat coat is applied, it's a big disappointment to see this problem appear. I found that adding a few drops of dish-wash liquid soap to the wetting solution breaks the surface tension of the liquid. This will keep the drops where they should be, under the decals. With so many decals to apply for this build, I tried everything until I found this out. This was the solution to my problem. Also, lovely as this particular decal sheet is with patches of small stencils grouped together, care must be taken with all that clear material in-between. Sometimes it is necessary to cut the larger ones into smaller sections. That's OK to do it this way and may help to position some more accurately.

After the gloss coating ("Pledge" floor-care acrylic finish in the USA or "Johnsons" clear everywhere else). The first decals that I applied are the national roundels. After that all the stencils go on. The Red chevron on the tail was spray painted through a mask made from tape.

Here's the Red "Bats" chevron going on.

After all the stencils go on, the next step is a second protective coat of gloss and then an oil wash of the panel lines. This is a heart-stopping process because when it's first applied it looks like shit.

THE PAYOFF

Here is the appearance of the model after wiping down all the oil wash with tissue and mineral spirit. I used spirits wetted cotton buds ("Q-tips" to us "Yanks") for the nooks and crannies.

WEAPONS

I decided to give this model an interesting weapons load-out that I had seen in numerous photos of Yom Kippur "Kurnassim" (plural for Kurnass). Here's a photo showing an aircraft from #107 squadron with the "asymmetric" loading I chose. This photo was colorized by a talented aviation enthusiast, Mr. Shay Finkelman. Thanks Shay! What you can see is a TER (triple ejector rack) loaded with 3 X M117 750lb bombs on the inboard right side pylon and 2 X AIM9-D Sidewinder Missiles on the left side pylon. I also attached 2 X AIM-7 missiles in the right and left aft recesses. The centerline MER (multiple ejector rack) has 6 X mk82 500lb bombs. I used the "Eduard" 1/ 32nd scale "Remove Before Flight" flags on Pylons, missiles, open doors and ejection seats. The English ones are OK to use for an early IDF/AF Phantom. I can only assume that they got tons of accessory equipment from the USAF when the first American aircraft initially arrived in Israel. The bombs have a tiny piece of red painted lead sheet on each fuse to simulate the armorers RBF tape. Nice touch.

The Sidewinders are beautiful versions of AIM-9D from Zactomodels. The Sparrow missiles are from the kit. Here you can see the M117s being painted. Electrical tape was cut thin to conform to the curve and protects the yellow painted area. An overspray with Olive-drab and voila !, a nice yellow stripe on the nose of the bomb.

CANOPIES

The kit canopies are very nice and with care look beautiful when completed. What you get are the clear parts that are then glued into separate frames. A nice feature but care must be taken with the glue when attaching these parts together. I used a black permanent marker on the bottom edges of the glass parts where these glue to the frames to avoid having a whitish line at that join. I also used the detailing parts in the "Eduard" photo-etch set to details the canopy rails. For the forward windscreen, I tinted the center panel green by using a permanent marker pen. I was careful not to leave any dark stripes in the tint by painting with minimum passes. After it had dried, I coated with "Pledge/ Future acrylic. The edges of the canopies were outlined with white decal material cut maddeningly thin. Some of these were treated to "Mike Grant" decals featuring microscopic rivet lines. Worth having that sheet around....