1:48 F-4 B/J/N Jolly Rogers NAVY Phantoms Insignia & Numbers Paint Masks Set

A skull on the rudder

The pirate marking with a skull and two crossed bones has accompanied US naval aviation since the 1920s and found its most famous home among the Phantoms. A white skull on a black field, and with it yellow or white bands across both rudders - that is what the machines looked like around which the greatest part of modeling interest in carrier fighters still revolves.

Markings that reach beyond one version

The set aims at three different renderings of the Phantom, which is possible only because it concentrates on the markings and the numbers. Those do not change with the version of the aircraft: the engines, the electronics or the armament differ, but the area of the rudder and the position of the fuselage number stay where they were. If these were stencils cut to the outline of a canopy, transferability between versions would end with the first of them.

Where the limit of legibility lies

A fuselage number about thirty centimeters high comes out at six millimeters in 1:48, which is comfortable. The skull itself tends to be larger still. The critical places, on the other hand, are the internal shapes of the marking, that is the eye openings and the gap between the bones - those are around a millimeter and what decides with them is the precision of the cut and how firmly the film holds on the surface.

A few words on the procedure

The black field is sprayed first and the skull is masked into it only afterward. The reverse order leads to show-through and to the need to layer the paint. Before removing the film it is good to check whether the edge has not hardened dry and will take the paint with it. The kit and the paint shades are not supplied with this item.