major_clanger: Clangers (Royal Mail stamp) (Default)
Simon Bradshaw ([personal profile] major_clanger) wrote2015-12-28 12:19 pm

Latest Model: 1/72 F-4J

My most recent bit of scale modelling:

20151227_Acad_72_F-4J-15.jpg

I've written this up on Britmodeller.com and also commented on a thread there reviewing this kit.

A bit more background: this is quite a famous Phantom, being the one in which Randall Cunningham and William Driscoll became the US Navy's only flying aces of the Vietnam War. Their 3rd, 4th and 5th MiG shootdowns occurred in the course of one flight, which wasn't even a combat air patrol; sent on a bombing mission, they engaged North Vietnamese aircraft seeking to intercept other attacking US aircraft, and shot down two before ending up in what has become a legendary dogfight with a MiG-17. (For a long time it was believed the MiG was flown by 'Colonel Tomb', a supposed NV ace, but it's now thought he was a propaganda construct, although the pilot Cunningham engaged was no doubt very skilled.)

You might expect 'Showtime 100' to have been preserved in a museum, but in fact it survived Cunningham and Driscoll's final victory by a matter of minutes, being shot down by a surface-to-air missile as they exited the combat area. Cunningham and Driscoll ejected and were rescued, although unfortunately Cunningham has since become rather more infamous for being caught as one of the most corrupt US congressmen ever.

[identity profile] major-clanger.livejournal.com 2015-12-30 11:13 am (UTC)(link)
That's odd - they're working for me. The first goes to my post in the RFI forum, the second to my comment on the review forum thread, and the third to the top of that review thread.

I think my next 1:48 project will be finishing off the TSR.2 I've been working on for a couple of years!
ext_3375: Banded Tussock (Banded Tussock)

[identity profile] hairyears.livejournal.com 2016-01-06 01:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Delivering the TSR-2 years late and over budget adds an extra layer of authenticity to your modelling.