Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA1913 McDonnell-Douglas F- 4C Phantom II Spanish Air Force, 1970s “C.12- 40”

Professionally painted. Great attention to detail. All markings are Tampoed (pad applied). Option to display the model on a stand that is provided. Model can be shown with the landing gear in the down or up positions. Loads of optional armament provided. Canopy can be displayed open or closed. Pilot figures included. Extremely heavy metal with a minimum of plastic. Highly collectable.

were F-4Bs that had been refit for ground operations. The F-4C arrived in Southeast Asia in early 1965 and by 1966 equipped 7 squadrons in Vietnam and 3 in Thailand. The early F-4Cs lacked guns and relied totally on missiles but it wasn’t long before the addition of SUU-16A gun pods with M-61AI-20-mm guns were put to use to compensate for the lack of internal guns. The addition of these gun pods gave the pilot gun fire but degraded the performance of the aircraft. The first F-4Cs suffered from many defects such as wing tanks that would spring leaks and require resealing after every flight. Many had cracked ribs on outer wing panels. It wasn’t too long before the F-4D made an appearance.

In 1971 and 1972 the Spanish Air Force (Ejercito del Aire - EdA) acquired 36 ex-USAF F- 4C Phantom IIs for front-line air defense fighter units to replace their aging F-104 and F- 86F. The EdA F-4s were designated C.12 with the “C” being short for Caza (fighter) and the 12 indicating the F-4 was the 12th aircraft type they had used since their Civil War in the late 1930s. Ex-USAF 58th TTW (Tactical Training Wing) Phantom 64-0896 was sent to Spain in 1978 and assigned to Ala 12 (12th Wing) Escuadrones (Squadron) 122 based at Torrejon and given serial number C.12-40. It was one of 4 F-4Cs sent as attrition replacements. The last F-4C was withdrawn from EdA front-line service in April of 1989 when they were replaced by F-18 Hornets.

Specification of the F-4C Manufacturer: McDonnell-Douglas Role - Fighter Performance Engines - (2) General Electric J79-GE-15 turbojets, 10,900 lb.s.t dry, 17,000 lb.s.t. with afterburner Maximum Speed - 1,433 mph @ 48,000 ft, 826 mph at sea level Initial Climb Rate - 40,550 fpm Service Ceiling - 56,100 ft Combat Ceiling - 55,600 ft Combat Range - 538 miles Maximum Range - 1,926 miles with maximum external fuel Weights Empty - 28,496 lbs Gross - 51,441 lbs Combat Weight - 38,352 lbs Maximum Take-Off Weight - 58,000 lbs Dimensions Wingspan 38 ft 5 ins Wing Area - 530 sq ft Length - 58 ft 3 3/4 ins Height - 16 ft 3 ins Fuel Maximum Internal - 1,986 US gallons (1,343 gallons in fuselage, 630 gallons in wings) Maximum External - 600 US gallons in centerline tank underneath the fuselage and 740 US gallons in (2) under-wing tanks / total fuel to 3,313 US gallons Armament (4) AIM-7D or -7E Sparrow semi active radar homing missiles in under-fuselage recesses Inner pylons could each accommodate (2) AIM-9B/D Sidewinder infrared homing missiles Ground Attack Mode - able to carry up to 16,000 pounds of ordnance on centerline pylon underneath the fuselage Plus (4) under-wing hard-points