1:48 F-4C & F-4D Phantom II Gunfighter Phantoms, Pt 1

Phantoms with nose art

The war over North Vietnam brought the last great era of distinctive aircraft decoration. Phantom crews painted comic-strip characters and references to First World War legends on the nose, and commanders wore colored stripes around the fuselage. This sheet captures that period on eleven machines, among which there is no shortage of aircraft that claimed an aerial victory.

What appears on the sheet

• nose art, among it The Saint, The Blue Max and The Red Baron
• stripes of the wing commander and of the individual squadron commanders
• kill stars and the silhouette of a downed opponent on the nose
• special markings, for example a shamrock on the fin and a striped rudder
• both versions of the machine, that is the earlier and the later form of the fighter-bomber

Most of the machines belonged to a single wing, whose nickname carried over into the title of the sheet; one aircraft is listed with a different unit. Such a concentration on one unit has an advantage: the differences between the variants lie in small things, and the builder can build several models that make sense side by side.

Before application it is a good idea to check for your particular variant where exactly the artwork belongs, because it shifted from one example to another. Polish the surface with gloss clear, seat the decal on a damp area and push the rest of the water out with a cotton swab. Colored stripes across the fuselage are easier to lay in sections than in one piece. The model, paints and clear coat are not in the package.