The Phantom
A Phantom jet assigned to the 84th Fighter Squadron, deployed off the coast of Vietnam somewhere in 1965.
Image used for underside reference.
Perhaps America’s most famous 3rd generation fighter, the F-4 Phantom II is a triumph of human engineering over gravity; the idea that with enough horsepower, you truly can make anything fly. Modified from an existing model and then re-textured based on period photographs, this was made for a Youtube project.
The model itself started as a Japanese F-4EJ Kai, and the nose was modified to bring it more in line with a time period F-4B. The selected paint scheme was that of the 84th Fighter Squadron “Jolly Rogers”; which flew combat sorties over Indochina aboard the USS Independence. There are some inaccuracies, notably I’ve been told the leading edge slats may not be right, but for a quick 10 second shot it did the job fine. Compare to some other game models and textures the weathering was also heavily dialed down. Although the F-4 may not have been the cleanest aircraft and it was exposed to the elements aboard an aircraft carrier, most references I could find showed the aircraft still in relatively good shape; and the weathering was done to reflect this, with the dirtiest part being the aircraft’s underside with minor oil leaks and grease.
To supplement the model the plane’s drop tanks and napalm canisters were also modeled and textured from scratch. Both the aircraft and other items were textured in Adobe Substance Painter.
Mk77 Napalm Canisters
