If you build Vietnam era aircraft, you can never have enough ECM pods Greg!

Well the model building muse seems to have escaped me for much of the past three days not to mention a full schedule of family business). After getting my fuselage glued together and then sanded once dry I could not find the motivation to do the scribing. Perhaps during the upcoming week on my next days off.

So here is what she looks like so far.

I haven't made much progress this week.  I was hoping to have some primer on my F-4 by now.  I am waiting on a template and rivet tool from my LHS.  When I was in Hill Country Hobby the other day, I used some of my store credit to pick up a 1/48 Hase RF-4B that someone had put on consignment.  It is very nicely done.  It comes with some extra pieces that will come in handy with my current build too.  It has the sidewinders, sparrows and navy style pylons.  It also has the navy style front gear door.  I have already scratched the main gear doors, so this saves me some trouble.  The extra cockpit pieces would have really come in handy had I not already finished there.  It also has a nice AF style ecm pod.  Spares box I guess.

Cheers,

Greg

No, My Dad did and was in artillery (M108s) out in Ft. Carson.

68GT, you did not happen to serve with 5th ID, did you?

As far as my pHantom goes, I got the fuselage halves glued together on my RF-4 today and the seams sanded smooth this evening. What a beast. My fuselage was moderately warped and the fit of th camera station window was bad. after I get the panel lines on top of the fuselage rescribed I will get more pics posted. Then I need to scribe and sand the wings and stabiliators and the major build will be complete.

Yes it is and I bought it back then also.  Just never got around to building it since my time went into rebuilding full size cars.

GT please tell me that is the 1/72 kit, as I think that was the only Weasel Phantom Testors made!! I built that same kit back in '84-85 time frame!! I built it in California and when my dad retired we all moved to Arkansas where mum and dad are from, I packed that plane in a small box with styro popcorn. When we unloaded the Ryder truck and I specially grabbed that box, mum was curious. I opened it imediatelly, and to my surprise ONLY the rear canopy had come loose. I think mum said something along the lines of , 'That's all that happened to it??!!!' The box was probably 7-8in cube. If I'm not mistaken that plane is still setting in my room covered in a THICK layer of dust, but intact since the move after 20+yrs!!! Will have to ask my brother next time I ring. WOW what a blast from the past!!!!

Kind of stalled because some things have come up but this is where I am.  I have to fix the seems.

Hello Phantom Phans,

O, sorry to hear about your appendix.  I wish you a speedy recovery!

As for my F-4B,  I've been slowly plugging away on it.  Everytime I think I have the fuselage seam right, I find a million more flaws.  The scribing of the fuselage has gone well though.  I am hoping to have some primer on it by the end of the week.

Cheer,

Greg

woop woop, i've found some 1/48 B-61's in resin!!!! only thing is i'd like to have them loaded on the inner wing pylons but didn't someone say in a previous post that they wound need some kind of adapter?

Thanks Rex!  You can bet I'm gonna put you on my list of "references."

Cheers!

-O

yes, O, you got it right

sorry, I was in the middle of a bomb fin discussion somewhere else,,,,there's a bunch of names that have been used for that fin group,,,Conical Fin is the name of the fin group used on Low Drag General Purpose, LDGP, "dumb bombs" and some call them standard bombs,,,,but, you got the idea

look at the bright side, at least I didn't type the BSU number, lol

you're always welcome to anything needed on Navair jets that I might know

Rex

Rex,

Thanks so much!  Some great info in your post.  Much appreciated.

OK, I have another question.  I've made it obvious that I'm no Phantom expert, and truth is I probably know less about ordnance.  By conical fin Mk 82s do you mean the type of fins other than the retarding (Snakeye) type?

Thanks again,

-O

sure O, I'll throw some tips out here about this,,,,,,the Lau-33 is one of my favorite loads from early Vietnam

the Lau-10's are side by side, with the bottom of the Ter empty,,,,,or we'd see a "rise" in them if they were slant two

the outer rails are empty, with the Lau-33's on inner rails,,,,,,very common among the Jarheads in early Vietnam

oh,,,,,,,,and "early Vietnam" is a key here, too,,,,,,,,,,,,,those six conical finned Mk 82's would be single stripe, smooth bombs,,,,,,,,,,that Lau-33 loadout was out of favor by the  carrier fires time frame,,,,,,,so,,,,,,,it's before the ablative coating was invented (my logic,,,,,,,first the three ship fires, then the ablative coating in response,,,,,non ablatives had one yellow stripe,,,,,,,,,also, a lot of the Marine bombs that came in resupply were the Air Force type anyway,,,,,,so, you'll see M-117s on land based Marine aircraft)

another clue as to timeframe is that is a J,,,,,,but, not with the later Red Devil emblem,,,,,,must be a pic from 1966 or so, maybe early 1967

hope this helps

Rex

OK Phanatics,

Work continues on my builds.  I've decided on a load-out for one, but I need some help with ordnance and pylon combos.

I'm gonna build a Phantom with this load:  >>click<< .  My "sources" have told me that  it looks like 2 LAU-10s on TERs on the inboard pylons with LAU-33s (2 tube Zuni pod) on the inboard missile rails. The centerline's pretty obvious, but I could use some clarification on the rockets.

Are the LAU-10s mounted on a "slant" or "side-by-side" (lower center rack empty)?  The LAU-33s, how are they mounted to the pylon?  Are they mounted to a LAU-7 rail?  Does anyone have any pix of how LAU-33s are mounted on Phantoms in this way?  Finally, is the outboard rail on the inboard pylon empty?  (My guess is yes.)

Thanks in advance guys.  Since I'm sitting at home recovering from an appendectomy, I have the chance to make some progress.  This info would help.

Cheers!

-O

Great looking stuff all around guys!

Progress report here- still doing stencils.

I have been doing stencils for the last two weeks.

Hasegawa was good enough to print most of them together so you don't have to put down each tiny individual one, but still dang this is taking a long time.

I am seeing stencils in my nightmares..... 

I wish I could say that I've finished scribing!  I'm gradually getting there.  Definetely not for the faint at heart.  I was really disappointed about the fit of the fuselage halves.  It is taking some work around the nose.  I just hope the shape is still correct when I'm done.  The True Details ejection seats are a little taller than the stock Monogram ones, so thankfully I was planning on having the canopy open anyways.

I am really happy how the cans came out.  The picture does not do them justice.  It took 96 little pieces of different size strip for each one.  They aren't Aires, but they cost a whole lot less.

Cheers,

Greg

I have completed the fuselage scribing. Not as hard to do on this kit as on my two previous attempts. I am somewhat encouraged, even though this is a time consuming process. The plastic on the Testors kit is much nice to work with for this than my previous attempts with Monogram kits. Now I just need to do a little more paint in the nose camera bay and I will have the fuselage glued together. Yay!

Caribwill and Stikpusher, looking good!  You guys have motivated me to make some progress today.  I was going to focus on my Ju-290 for the Battle of the Atlantic, but now I think my F-4 is getting my attention instead.

Tarnship, thanks for the good info.

Cheers,

Greg

Will,,,,,,I've always added the small parts after the clear and flat coats,,,,,,it makes masking easier,,,,,and gets away from the "pylon vortex" effect around them,,,,,,,,,it also keeps me from knocking off the parts while trying to get the "inside top of the outerwing tank pylon to wing joint" covered equallywith the clear,,,,,,,,helps my blood pressure,,,,,and helps me stop with the jarhead language (I'm still working on that last part, lol,,,,,,modeling doesn't always make that easy)

that gold fox is going to pop right out at you when the tail is done, eh?

Rex

Here are a few shots of my RF-4 as started so far. The cockpit which I had begun before this GB was announced.

I replaced the kit seats with a set from True Details. They did not come with the face curtain pull ring handles so I scratched a pair from wire.

And a few shots of the fuselage half that I have scribed so far.

the late RF-4B have a couple of "sea stories" floating around about them

they weren't built with the thick wings and larger tires as "an improvement", as some books say

they were simply ordered, then built, in Fiscal Year 1969 (Blocks 41 and 43), after the RF-4B production had completed in FY 1966 (in Block 27),,,,,,,the reason for the thick wing was simply that thin wing production was finished in '66

the other sea story is that the last three were made up from parts of aircraft,,,,a Marine on the scene with VMFP-3 said that during an interview,,,,,,,but,,,,,,they were new builds in Block 43,,,,,,,the "proof" of that is the BuNo,,,,,,they were originals, and any rebuild would have had some earlier BuNo on them after any conversion,,,,,,,just like N's kept the same BuNo as when they were B's,,,,,,,,and S's (slatted or non slatted) kept their J BuNo's,,,,,,,,the most likely reason for the rounded nose was that the factory didn't have any angular noses left after the first two aircraft of that Block,,,,,,the "roundeds" were less capable than the angulars

the Phantom has a lot of stories accumulated around it's time in service,,,,,,most of which are true,,,,,,,the few that are in error I don't believe are on purpose,,,,,just a well intentioned filling in of the blanks

Rex

I thought I would post an update shot.  I am almost finished with the base coats and then next is the clear, decals, weathering and then final flat.    Do you recommend adding the fuel tanks and gear before or after the future and flat coats?  Any feedback and advice is welcome.

Josh,

You could always build it as a late RF-4Bs in VMFP-3.  There were a few at the end of the run that resembled the RF-4C and had a F-4N type Fuselage with F-4J wings according to Detail & Scale Vol. 12.  Can you tell if the nose has the flat or the round style underside?

"I was originally going to do both in SEA camo scheme (USAF & RAAF), but, have discovered one has the option of a German splinter scheme.  It caught my interest, but i then thought "looks too hard".  Plus, it looks to be largely 4 different shades of grey."

If it is the Norm 72 then it is only two colors on top and the Norm 72/81 is the same but with an extra color on the tail.  Here are some other schemes along with some cool experimental camo schemes.

http://www.jpsmodell.de/dc/main_e.htm

Wow, I wish the Testors/Italeri 1/72 F-4G had that much cockpit detail.  It came with two decals and the rest had of the consoles had to be printed on the computer.  It did have the pull rings on the seats though.

I have the fuselage together also but will have to do a quite a bit of filling and sanding due to the poor fit.  Still haven't decided if I want to go through the trouble of scribing the panel lines yet.

Gabe she's looking great so far!!! looking forward to seeing some color on her!!!

Greg the orifice and cans look sweet!!!! Ur off to a good start!!!!

Mike glad to hear there is another build next year, I should be able to make something happen for that one.

That looks beautiful Greg!

Well today I dug out my RF-4 and resumed work on it. I finished painting the inner surfaces of the intakes white. Then I was struck by a bit of a masochistic urge. Don't ask why. I began to rescribe the raised panel lines that the kit comes with. I have one half of the fuselage almost done and will take care of the other half tomorrow. Pics to come soon.

Let me try posting pics again.  I haven't done that in a while, so I forgot and goofed.

Hope it works this time!

Cheers,

Greg

That is a good looking bird!

I have almost finished with the cockpit and cans on my B conversion.  I had to remove the consoles and make it still fit inside the fuselage.  To some work for this skill less guy, but it looks nice and fits.  Next up will be glueing the fuselage together and doing some more rescribing.

<a href="http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm80/gregbbear/Phantom%20GB%202010/?action=view&current=ebay005.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm80/gregbbear/Phantom%20GB%202010/ebay005.jpg" border="0" alt="cockpit and after burner cans"></a>

MFJ -- In that case I'll provisionally pencil in the Official F-4 Phantom II Group Build 2011 for January 1st next year, and we can get some more beautiful Rhinos into the display case! I hope folks are having a great time on this inaugural go-round and that many will come back to build another Spook or two next year.

Gabe -- that big Hasegawa bird is lookin' good! It sure catches the lines of this fantastic plane.

Hoping to put knife to styrene sometime soon myself,

Cheers, Mike/TB379