{"id":361,"date":"2022-06-08T20:53:16","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T03:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/?page_id=361"},"modified":"2022-06-08T21:01:04","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T04:01:04","slug":"models","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/?page_id=361","title":{"rendered":"Models"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Being an old retired guy with a little time on my hands, I decided to resurrect my dormant model-building skills and construct models of the Navy aircraft in which I have flown as a Naval Flight Officer. From the time I was six years old in the mid-’50s until the late 1970s I built both plastic and balsa models. For almost 40 years the model-building skills lay dormant until the late 20-teens. A collaboration with FCM decals located in Brazil using some photos that I had taken resulted in a decal sheet of VF-301 Tomcats. I had an old Monogram 1\/48th F-14A still in the box (partially started, but not finished in the mid-80s when I was actually flying in the aircraft in the Miramar Reserves) that had followed me through two moves, so I finished it as “my” aircraft using the FCM decal sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Monogram F-14A made up as ND 106 of VF-301. My name was on the rear cockpit of the actual aircraft.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On a 2019 trip to Seattle to visit the grandkids (and my daughter…) I dropped by Skyway Models in Renton where I found a 1\/72nd decal sheet which included a VF-121 F-4J that I had flown in while undergoing Phantom training in 1972. I had a Monogram 1\/72nd F-4J in the stash, so I took the decals and built the model with the addition of decals that I made myself to complete the markings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
VF-121 F-4J Phantom II that I flew in four times during training in 1972\/73. Decals were from esoterical, a British company. The red markings on the aircraft sides were not included, so I made those myself.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After this one was made, I found some TwoBobs decals for a T-2C of VT-4 to go on a Matchbox T-2C that had also been purchased back in the 1980s and sat in my stash until I got it out. I had four flights in T-2C Buckeyes during Basic Naval Flight Officer training with VT-10 at Pensacola in 1971\/72. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
VT-4 T-2C in VT-4 markings similar to ones I flew in during Basic NFO training at VT-10.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next in line was an RVHP resin kit of a North American T-39D with markings of one of the aircraft I had flown in at NAS Glynco, Georgia, during Advanced NFO training in the spring of 1972. It was the first resin kit I had done, and it had its challenges, but nothing too bad. The markings, as I had done on the VF-121 F-4J, were home made using Micro-Mark decal paper printed using a rather old Canon inkjet printer. Graphics work was done on a Mac using Adobe Illustrator. Lettering was done with the Long Beach shareware font ( https:\/\/www.tlai.com\/med_des\/lbusn.html<\/a> )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
RVHP 1\/72nd resin kit of a North American T-39D. I have time in this aircraft during my 3 months at NATTC Glynco\/VT-86 before getting my wings in June 1972.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then came a model of an F-4J from my fleet squadron, VF-21. It’s an Academy kit using Micro-Scale decals (mostly) with some home-made decals mixed in for accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
VF-21 Freelancers F-4J Phantom II in 1\/72nd scale from the Academy kit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After leaving the active-duty Navy in early 1977, I joined the reserves and began flying with the Miramar Reserves in January 1978. For the first three years, I was with a sub-unit (VF-1285) flying in VF-301’s F-4N Phantoms. Again, I raided my 1980s stash of models and rescued a Fujimi F-4S that I had originally bought in the early 80s when I was flying in those aircraft. Now, in the 21st century, I finally had the means to print my own decals, so I made an aircraft that I had actually flown in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
VF-301 F-4S from the Fujimi “Black Bunny” kit. None of the kit’s decals were used — all were home-made.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another VF-301 Phantom was next, this time an F-4N from Hasegawa that I had flown in while in VF-1285 from 1978-81.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
VF-301 F-4N in 1\/72nd using the Hasegawa kit as a base. Photos in the background were taken by me during my time in the cockpit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another dip into the stash from the early 80s brought out a model of a TA-4F Skyhawk. In the summer of 1972 while in the preliminary stages of F-4 ground school, all pilots and NFOs in my class went through a course given by VF-126 covering instrument procedures. The pilots got several hops, while the NFOs got one flight in a TA-4F. Contacting some photo collecting friends, I was able to score a few pictures of VF-126 aircraft, and even the exact aircraft I had flown in. As the Hasagawa kit’s decals were for Blue Angel #7, I made up all the decals from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hasegawa 1\/72nd scale TA-4F in VF-126 markings from the early 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I was in VF-21 from 1973-75, the aircraft had two different paint schemes. They were similar, but in mid-1975 the radome paint was extended to go underneath the aircraft. Using a VF-21 “special edition” 1\/72nd kit with VF-21’s CAG bird, I backdated the decals on the rudder, nose gear door, and on the aircraft sides to reflect that aircraft that I had flown in during the summer of 1975 before I left the squadron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
VF-21 Freelancers F-4J Commander Carrier Air Wing Two’s aircraft as it appeared in 1975.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In March 2022 I chanced across a photo of the F-4J from my first Phantom flight in September 1972. Using the photo, I created a decal sheet and put them on an Academy 1\/72nd F-4J kit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Academy 1\/72nd F-4J Phantom II of VF-121 Pacemakers from 1972. My first Phantom flight was in this a\/c.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After building the VF-121 Phantom from my first flight, I decided to make “bookend” F-4 as a VF-301 F-4S from my last Phantom flight before transitioning into Tomcats in September 1984. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Hasegawa F-4S from VF-301 that “hosted” my last Phantom flight in September 1984. The photo behind the model of ND 112 is a photo of the actual aircraft I took over San Diego returning to NAS Miramar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being an old retired guy with a little time on my hands, I decided to resurrect my dormant model-building skills and construct models of the Navy aircraft in which I have flown as a Naval Flight Officer. From the time I was six years old in the mid-’50s until the late 1970s I built both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-361","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3vYaJ-5P","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":388,"href":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/361\/revisions\/388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/oldro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}