Phantom kitbash- Happy Hooligans ND ANG F-4D-Finished! 5-21

Very nice modeling there.  It kind of makes up for the sacrilege of kit bashing a any "Showtime" kit.

bvallot

Daaaaaaaannnng Nate!  This is moving fast, huh?!  =D

...well, not fast enough, but Thanks!

f8sader

Very nice modeling there.  It kind of makes up for the sacrilege of kit bashing a any "Showtime" kit.

LOL!, Thanks Lon Ski. Glad you approve of my humble Air Farce F-4 conversion. Kit decals for Showtime are crap. 30 years old anyway...

I've finished the decals and and post shade weathering. Time to seal it all in with a semi gloss coat:

I plan on mounting a centerline SUU 23 gun pod on this bird. The one from the Hasegawa Weapons set is the long version only, and I need the short one with the blunt end. I opted for the Wolfpack resin set here:

Its nice quality and even comes with an accurate center pylon. Here's a comparison to the Hasegawa one:

I've finished painting the stabs:

..and other small bits like the nose gear wheels, and the seeker covers for the winders, which I'll attach some RBF tags to at the end:

My one hold up is waiting for proper black stencil numbers for the main gear door, like this:

...I also have to modify the innacurate kit door and landing light

Finally rapped up the Phantom. I added some RBF tags from Aerobonus, which are very easy to work with and very realistic. All the ordinance was attach and a satin varnish from Windsor and Newton Acrylic was sprayed over everything. I hope you enjoy, and critique all you want:

...

Really nice job, Nathan!  Are those rbf tags metal or fabric?  I know Eduard does some nice fabric ones.  Perfect paint job on those demarcations.  That is just the right softness to my eye.  Did you use poster tack or paper?  I love the bare metal portions as well.  Superb!

Thanks Andrew. The Aerobonus tags are a type of self adhesive fabric. You peel them off the backing paper and fold them in half, that way they have printing on both sides. I'd run away from Eduard's pe ones. They are too stiff and are wayyy too out of scale. I'd say get the 1/72 scale ones for 1/48 if you must buy those. Maybe the Fabric style is better?

The paint job is all freehand, no masking at all. Just the black nose, gear bays, metal areas, and canopies were masked.

Darn near missed the whole show.  Glad I caught end though.  Outstanding.

PFing Awesome Nathan!  I love it! =]

Marc and Bvallot, Thanks a bunch. Its been a long WIP, and I'm glad this one is on the shelf!

That's a beauty, well done!

Mike

That is fantastic! Absolutely love it!  :D

Thanks Fellas!

Hey, Nathan - That's a mighty nice build and finish, perfect 'pit and all around fine job.

A question, if you don't mind. I see that you and some others build and paint before all of the structure is assembled, as canopy, tail feathers and armament are added after painting. After you paint, do you scrape away painted mating surfaces for gluing, or do you use cyano for attaching? I've tried cyano, but find I can indeed make quite a mess at times. Major p*** off.

I'm an old N.D. guy, from Cogswell in far So. East corner. Long retired in Oregon now. Thanks in advance, and for all of the posts.

Patrick

Hey Patrick, thanks for looking! Cogswell huh? Got some friends in Kyuga, that's about all I know about Sargeant county down there.

As far as attaching other bits. I try to assemble as much as I can before paint, but sometimes, in the case of phantoms, its impossible to glue on the stabs until afterwards. I drilled holes in them and stuck 1mm brass rod in them and slid them into a hole in the fuselage. I used CA glue for that. For pylons, I will just scrape off the paint on the top of the pylon where it meets the wing, and use CA also. I have attached some pylons to the wing underside before paint, just depends on what will be hanging underneath them. 2 part epoxy is another great choice instead of CA, as you can wipe off the excess with a cotton bud dipped in rubbing alcohol. Make sure you use a small applicator for your CA, such as a toothpick, sewing pin, or those fancy applicators you can buy to chuck in a pin vise. Much less messy. My canopies were attached with Micro crystal clear, aka white glue. But the windscreen was glued on before paint, with small amounts of Tamiya extra thin, then masked off.

Thanks, Nathan - Yup, I do use the micro applicators and pins for cyano, but still I can get a dab where I don't want it, HATE THAT! I do get the reason for attaching after paint, but I've always been a "build 'em strong" guy, gluing solidly seemed important. In reality, they won't often be leaving the cabinet except for dusting, not so crucial to over build.

I saw that you're a crop duster pilot, I've always considered that a ballsy trade, real seat of the pants flying, you must be a real stick and rudder man  I retired from the commercial side, 40 years and two months, military and then airline. You'd likely find that boring, compared with what you do. What duster do you fly? Cayuga is about 15 or so miles from Cogswell.

Thanks for the info, be careful out there at 10 feet AGL.

Patrick

Nathan, that is outstanding. Truly a beautiful Phantom.

Tom

Phantastic, Nathan!