shiny parts round the exhausts
(SUCH a good fit), the exhausts, a
few small clear parts (I often find
tiny clear parts a bit of a trial but
these again were an excellent fit),
the... hang on, the exhausts!
I know that I’ve been staring
at too many pictures but a few
things struck me here. To start
with, the exhausts look too deep at
the rear (caused by there not being
enough of a curve there) and in
the burner, the shiny part around
the exhausts has a bit of a shape
issue at the top – the cans look like
the petals start too far out (they
may also be a little short), as the
fixed section seems a little long.
This may be me seeing things
but check out some pictures and seewhat you think. I also realised that
all the pictures and profiles I had
found of the Iranian aircraft had
the large red-on-white “Danger
Arresting Hook” marking,
which the kit decals hadn’t
provided (and they use a
much larger red arrow than
any of the aftermarket
decals I could find).
The arrow I couldhandle with some red strips, but
the fact that I had already matted
the paint scheme was another
matter! But I had to try, and
fortunately the Eagle Strike
decals went down well,
and a quick matt coat
blended them in.
With all these
bits fitted it was
time to decide what
to hang underneath.TIME TO ADD SOME BANG
I had been browsing the Osprey
book, Iranian F-4 Phantom II
Units in Combat, and a couple
of options leapt out. One picture
showed a full loadout, with wing
tanks, a centreline SUU-23 gun
pod, inner pylons with TERs
carrying Mk82s or M-117s or even
Hunting BL755 Cluster Bombs (the
BL755s really appealed, something
very different on a Phantom).
Or I could do a deep strike
package of centreline and wing
tanks, AIM-7s in three locations,12 • AUGUST 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
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