About BlackMike Models

Why 'BlackMike Models'? I hear you ask, well let me explain. The real Black Mike is a McDonnell Douglas F-4K Phantom, XV582, and came to be in the final few years of Phantom operations with 111 Sqn when they were given permission to paint one of their aircraft all black in honour of their legendary forebears the Black Arrows, famous for  massed aerobatic formations flying Hawker Hunters in the 1950's.  XV582 'M' was painted in a stunning gloss black colour scheme and very quickly became a firm favourite on the Airshow circuit and survived at RAF Leuchars long after the Phantoms had been retired and scrapped.

My personal connection with Black Mike started many years earlier when I worked on Phantoms at RAF Leuchars, probably even having worked on XV582 at some point.

Many years later I adopted Black Mike as my online Avatar on a well known modelling forum partly for the Phantom connection and partly because my Family name is Black, unfortunately my Parents didn't have the foresight to name me Mike though.

Oddly I've never got round to making a model of my Avatar but one day I will sort that issue out.

BlackMike Models was set up by myself in June 2016 after having been made redundant from the Oil and Gas Offshore industry in 2015. Being a keen aviation modeller it had always been a long held dream of mine to set up a model shop and with the rise of the Internet an Online shop is the logical first step.

I will be concentrating primarily on the aviation theme but will add some other genres for those not so interested in aircraft or for those who fancy a change once in a while. I will be adding to the brands carried in time, I also intend to add accessories, paints and tools.

Thanks for visiting BlackMike Models.

Duncan Black

June 2016