Greg, I just wanted to drop in and say nice work so far! I don't have a whole lot in the stash right now with bang seats, but I will try to file your tip (borrowed as it may be) for when I do. There's only a couple jets I like, F-86, F-14, F-4, and the B-1. So, I'm definitely going to enjoy watching your progress!

Real G

the F-4 has 20 tons of personality that simply has no peer.

As I study the aircraft, I am starting to understand, G.

Est.1961

That made for good reading Greg, look forward to seeing what other interesting techniques you pull out of the bag during this WIP. 

Thanks for your kind words, 1961. I think that will make two of us who will be interested to see what happens, as I said, I'm pretty much clueless.

Hoss WA

Looking great so far. 

 

Thanks for hanging in there with me, Hoss.

plasticjunkie

Hey Greg you have one heck of a Phantastic Phabulous looking Phantom there.

I must say you have the hands of a surgeon with that masking on the pull rings. I have tried that before and luckully I have no hair on my head to pull while attempting it so no hair loss here. Your pull rings look great!

What I usually do is either cheat by getting the Eduard set that has a bunch of them or use thin wire painted yellow and masked as you did and painted black. I then can carefully bend the wire to shape and easily retouch any paint that may have chipped off in the handling process.

 

Thanks Ernie. I have my eye on that Eduard PE set for future 1/48 builds. Thanks for the techique tips!

Gamera

Greg: Those ejection seat handles look just right. Good luck with the instrument panel! 

 

Thanks, Cliff! Hopefull some instrument panel progress pics follow....

hogfanfs

Greg,

I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress in this F-4! This is one of my "to get" kits, and I'm very interested in seeing how well it goes together. And great job on the ejection handles, need to add this one to my techniques!

 

Hey Bruce, it's great to have you here. Thanks for your kind words on the handles.

RadMax8

Greg, I just wanted to drop in and say nice work so far! I don't have a whole lot in the stash right now with bang seats, but I will try to file your tip (borrowed as it may be) for when I do. There's only a couple jets I like, F-86, F-14, F-4, and the B-1. So, I'm definitely going to enjoy watching your progress!

 

Hey RadMax. I see you have been here for a long time. It's quite an honor to have you following along. Thanks for being here and for your kind words.

Everyone,

If I don't get distracted, a minor update follows. Please stay tuned..........

So sorry about the late reply above, thanks for your patience.

I think I have the cockpit PE pretty much done, time for some detail painting and assembly.

Here's the current state of the office. Little pieces parts. The toothpick with the poster tac on the end is my PE picker-upper and put in place tool thingie.

A closer look at some of the PE. It took a lot to get motivated, but once I got going it was fun to be snipping away at a PE fret again. I love my Tamiya PE scissors, what a time saver from how I used to remove PE parts from the frets.

The Eduard panel color is too blue as usual. Out of the countless bottles of paint I have, never did find anything that matched too well. Once everything is put in place and the fuselage halves go together, never seems to make much difference. We shall see if that holds true here.

This is the back-seaters toys, I like the panel so I took a closer shot. I can't believe how close I can get with this phone camera, it's making me lazy (ier)

Painted PE sure looks funny close up, at least in this scale. I've always wondered if any of the other brands are better resolution?

How did I miss this?  Looking good Greg.  I understand these kits a really nice.  I've never built one.  How are you liking it?

keavdog

How did I miss this?  Looking good Greg.  I understand these kits a really nice.  I've never built one.  How are you liking it?

 

John's here!

My first ZM, John. Too early to comment on fit, but am certainly impressed with the mold quality, detail, lack of flash, all very good. Instructions seem very good, nice-looking cartograph decals and a fine paint/decal graphic sheet.

I hope to be able to report good fits in time.

So here is my rookie question for all you modern jet folk.

I bought the ZM add-on metal struts figuring this kit might be a little heavy and the add-on struts might provide more solid support.

Before I assemble the nose gear bay, I am inspecting where the nose gear will fit and doing some prep work which prompted me to also inspect the nose strut itself.

The metal struts look no better than the kit ones, in fact the detail is worse and there is a lot of flash to clean up. I guess I expected the add-on struts to be more detailed, sort of like resin goodies. Not so much.

So finally, my question is; why do folks add aftermarket metal struts to aircraft models?

Exactly for the reason you bought them, Einstein.

I'd say you just have a bunch of clean-up to do.

 Bill

^^^^ asshat 

I've used metal gear where the stock gear were spindley.   I too have not been impressed with the detail.  They dont add much outside of strength. 

keavdog

^^^^ asshat 

Bill

Your work looks real nice, Greg.  I'll second the recommendation on the Aizu tape.  I've been using it for a number of months and really like it.  I bought widths from .4mm to 2.5 and use it all the time. 

GMorrison

Exactly for the reason you bought them, Einstein.

I'd say you just have a bunch of clean-up to do.

 Bill

On re-read, the way I phrased the question was sort of dorky. Better if I'd have said aside from any added strength, are there any benefits......

And on the cleanup, I seem to remember some metal kit car I had as a kid. I recall going at the casting mess with an exacto knife because I didn't know what else to do, and giving up in short order. Playing with the metal strut last night invoked such vivid memories of that.

Thanks for your input, smart#$$

keavdog

I've used metal gear where the stock gear were spindley. I too have not been impressed with the detail. They dont add much outside of strength.

So that's two votes that the metal actually will increase the strength, and one in agreement that the detail isn't all that great.

Thank you, John.

jeaton01

Your work looks real nice, Greg.  I'll second the recommendation on the Aizu tape.  I've been using it for a number of months and really like it.  I bought widths from .4mm to 2.5 and use it all the time. 

 

Thank you, John.

Can you recommend a US source for the Aizu tape? I was looking after Snapdragon posted the links back on page one, but I got side-tracked. I'm fine ordering from overseas, but this would be a really small order. Plus the UK store was out of stock at the time I was looking.

Excellent work on your cockpit Greg. The PE work looks all the part. Nicely done.

I also use a piece of poster tack on a toothpick to hold and place parts. Works well. I'm going to get me some of those Tamiya PE scissors. Per your suggestion, it seems they would be right handy.

Good to see an update from you.

Aizu Tape

https://modelpaintsol.com/model-paint/aizu-project-micron-masking-tape

Hmmm, white metal/pewter generally holds detail really well. 

But as the guys said it's probably better for more support than detailing. The only time I've used them was on a 1/72nd Minicraft B-29 which I was really afraid would collapse from the weight of the model and the ballast in the nose to keep if from tipping over.  

Nice Job.  I think I saw this technique here or somewhere else and thanks for going through the process again.  You mentioned you are a slow builder. I don’t build them very fast either.  This kit would probably take me 3-4 months.  Just curious how long a more experienced modeler like yourself would take on this project.  

Cheers and good luck. 

JOE RIX

Excellent work on your cockpit Greg. The PE work looks all the part. Nicely done.

I also use a piece of poster tack on a toothpick to hold and place parts. Works well. I'm going to get me some of those Tamiya PE scissors. Per your suggestion, it seems they would be right handy.

Good to see an update from you.

 

Thanks Joe!

Before you order, I goofed. My PE scissors are the Zuron ones, not the Tamiya. I looked at the Tamiya, they might even be better but I don't know.

Gamera

Hmmm, white metal/pewter generally holds detail really well.

It just occurred to me that it might look completely different after being cleaned up, primed and painted. We shall see. The good news is I did a test fit of the nose gear and it seems to be perfect.

Gamera

But as the guys said it's probably better for more support than detailing. The only time I've used them was on a 1/72nd Minicraft B-29 which I was really afraid would collapse from the weight of the model and the ballast in the nose to keep if from tipping over.

Thanks for your input, Cliff.

jeaton01

Aizu Tape

https://modelpaintsol.com/model-paint/aizu-project-micron-masking-tape

 

Thank you, John.

I just ordered their handy combo pack which should be perfect for me.

And thank you again Snapdragon, as well.

wpwar11

Nice Job.  I think I saw this technique here or somewhere else and thanks for going through the process again.  You mentioned you are a slow builder. I don’t build them very fast either.  This kit would probably take me 3-4 months.  Just curious how long a more experienced modeler like yourself would take on this project.  

Cheers and good luck. 

 

Thanks for your kind words, wpwar.

If you can hang in there, you'll find out what slow means.

Greg, I might have been here a long time but that just means I've collected a lot of dust haha!

Believe it or not I joined this forum when I was in High School. Yep, I was definitely one of the cool kids

I have a hard time getting on board with some of the pre-printed PE stuff... the colors oftentimes look off to me and the resolution seems a bit dodgey. I used a 1/24 Eduard racing seatbelt for a car I built, and I bought ribbon to use for belts the next time I was at the craft store.

Your update looks good, glad to see progress!

Stay well, my friend. 

RadMax8

Believe it or not I joined this forum when I was in High School. Yep, I was definitely one of the cool kids

Good for you for joining here whilst in high school, I think that's pretty darned cool.

The graphic quality of the PE is a bit of a conundrum. From normal viewing distance by a person with decent eyes, they look pretty convincing I suppose.

Thanks again for adding to the discussion.

Sorry I missed this Greg.  Stellar work.  The F-4 is one of the few jets I would build.  I have the Academy Olds version in the stash for the right time.

Gosh Joe, I would have swore I responded. Sorry! Thanks for checking in, I sure appreciate it.

I think the cockpit is about ready (finally, I know) and I thought I'd post a few proof of progress pics.

And a dry fit before closing her up. I guess the seats drop in later, which is great because they are not done anyway.

As a reminder, this is my first Zoukei-Mura kit. I know I'm not very far into it, but I hope the fit of the cockpit is an indicator of things to come, because everything fit very well.

By the way, Jeaton and Snapdragon,

I keep forgetting to pass along that I recieved my Aizo masking tape along with a nice personal note from John at Model Paint Solutions, where I ended up ordering from.

Good stuff, thanks again!

Great looking office Greg. Are the seats resin?

Thanks Ernie!

No, they are the kit seats.

I recently found an Eduard generic F4 cloth seatbelt set (out of production) and have it on order. Hoping that will dress the kit seats up adequately.

Actually, I now realize this kit deserves resin seats.

Greg

 

Actually, I now realize this kit deserves resin seats.

 

I love the details of the resin seats IMO much better than pe.

Sure looks good Greg.  Nice work.