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A jaw-dropping Black Bunny F-4 Phantom II

F-4 Phantom II Black Bunny - A Revell's 1/32 scale kit masterpiece by Master Shinzou Murakami. It is unbelievable the quality of the painting and the care with the details. A plane designed for the US Navy, with such distinctive lines that reminds me of the Vought F4U Corsair (also from US Navy), looks so awesome with the Black Bunny livery.

Measuring 59.7cm long and 35.6cm wingspan, the choice for a larger scale certainly contributed greatly to the result, but remember that this is a level 5 kit, ie: only for professionals!

The cockpit details, radars, internal panels and even the APU, all with Shinzou's weathering signature, makes this one of my favorites on the scale. Unbelievable is the correct word! Check it out and go crazy with his amazing work!

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- Model history: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

The F-4 Phantom II is a high-performance bi-place fighter-bomber aircraft developed in the second half of the 1950s by McDonnell Aircraft, which is today's Boeing.

The F-4 entered service in the US Navy in the late 1960s, initially departing from aircraft carriers, playing the role of long-range interceptor providing air defense for the fleet. It was soon adopted by the US Air Force, the Marines, and other allied countries.

The aircraft had extensive participation during the Vietnam War, providing air superiority, performing ground attack and aerial reconnaissance missions.

Its production ended at the end of 1979, with the number of 5,195 aircraft manufactured and, after extensive upgrades, some nations still use it (2018) such as Iran, Japan, South Korea, Greece and Turkey. Even in the US, the F-4 remained active during the 1980s, gradually being replaced by more modern aircraft for some of its functions, such as the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-14 Tomcat in the Navy, and F- 18 Hornet also in the Navy and the Marines. She participated in the 1991 Gulf War and in 1996 went out of service permanently.

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- Black Bunny

Since the 1950s the design of the rabbit on the tail of aircraft has represented the tradition and spirit of American Naval Aviation. The first record of the bunny use on military aircraft design is from 1953 with the US Navy “The Playboys” VMCJ-2 Squadron. This squadron still maintains the tradition of using the rabbit on the vertical stabilizers of its aircraft, a tradition also incorporated into the US Air Force SR-71 Blackbird.

The most notable use of the rabbit image was the Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4), which is responsible for advanced aircraft operational testing, which put it in the tail of legendary fighters like the F-4 Phantom II, F-14 Tomcat, F / A-18 Hornet and the F-18 E / F Super Hornet. The rabbit's first appearance on a black F-4 Phantom II took place in 1969 during night tests and this episode earned the aircraft the nickname "Black Bunny" or "Vandy One".

In the same year Playboy magazine bought a Douglas DC-9 and named it "Big Bunny" and tried to warn the squad to the illegal use of the rabbit design. But the company said they would not take any legal action if the squadron used an official Playboy stencil to ensure authenticity and accuracy in reproducing the design. And so the official use of the Playboy bunny was part of the history of American military aviation.

Photos:

Shinzou Murakami Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/shinzou.murakami.9

HIstorical Facts: Wikipedia

Tags: F-4 Phantom II, Shinzou Murakami, Revell, 1/32, Black Bunny, Playboy