The Official F-4 Phantom II Group Build 2011

Well Aires emailed me and they are sending another PE trree for the seats.  I have the fuselage buttoned back up (With the landing gear bay installed this time), and I will have soem sanding tomorrow when it all sets overnight.

Bockscar

 

Thunderbolt379:

 

Once or twice, Rich, once or twice... Though not quite so dire! What a frustration! Okay, my recommendation would be:

• See what Aires say and decide if the PE is worth waiting for, IF they can help.
• Separate off the plastic loops and test fit them, you might find they're good enough to be worth going with anyway, and avoiding the cost of the PE, should it be available.
• Work on the Monograms in the meantime, it's all practice and progress!

Cheers Mike/TB379

 

 

 

 

Rich, 

All the best house hunting, you are more than forgiven for the pre-assembly error. Mike is right, and you can always scratch with stretched sprue, always my favourite. I once locked my wife out of the house -by accident- here's the trick, I got her to calm down before I let her in!

I actually laughed right out loud for real at your solution to the accidental lock out

If I did that to SSgt Anne,,,,,,,there would be noooo time long enough to leave her out there until she calmed down. I would have to just let her in quickly, and hope not to get locked out anytime soon,,,,,or end up sitting on the lawn out of range, watching airplanes come flying out one by one, by, one,,,,,,,,by, etc

speaking of flying models,,,,any of you ever see an Eastern Express F-4 in the flesh?,,,,,,I've just got to get a pic of  this thing posted for you,,,,,,,,,"rescribe panel lines"??,,,,,,,lol, you'll laugh every time you read that after seeing EE's idea of "panel lines" on this aircraft

if you've ever seen a Lindberg ship model's idea of "hull plate detail",,,,,,,,that's what EE added to their cheap copy of Hasegawa's old F-4K/M kit,,,,,,,,,modeling builds character, so I'm going to build this character

Rex

Sparrowhyperion: It was funny how when I looked at that photo of the Scorpion, the memories jumped into my head of that P-40 (Why did I type P-41 the first time????) I had it when I was a wee lad but had completely forgotten it until then! It was glued together with gobs of tube glue, hand painted with silver but it was my accomplishment and  was proud of it! Hey, if your girls Phantom turns out better than yours, that's a good thing! When a child surpasses a parent, it honors the parent, does it not?

Quote from Bockscar: "That's going well Jim! So far the panel lines are standing out quite well. What's that base coat you've applied?"

Bockscar: It's really simple, actually: I sprayed on my standard MM enamel paint, lightly wet sanded with some 2000 grit sand paper to make it smooth, sprayed on Testors Glosscoat and again sanded lightly to smooth it out, and followed with a polish job using an old T-shirt, Q-tips and some good old Colgate toothpaste! To do the panel lines I made a wash with artists acrylic paints (Liquitex) Black and Burnt Umber in water, a tiny dab of dish soap and washed over the surface. I let it almost dry, then rub off across the lines to remove the paint and it leaves the panel line filled with the color. If the acrylic dries too much, it can be cleaned up with Windex! It was just something I experimented with and found I liked the results. I couldn't quite get the hang of pre-shading, and using the lacquer finish Glosscoat makes cleaning up the goofs with Windex (with ammonia D!) possible. Besides, I also  seem to have trouble using the Future for my gloss.

TarnShip

I actually laughed right out loud for real at your solution to the accidental lock out

If I did that to SSgt Anne,,,,,,,there would be noooo time long enough to leave her out there until she calmed down. I would have to just let her in quickly, and hope not to get locked out anytime soon,,,,,or end up sitting on the lawn out of range, watching airplanes come flying out one by one, by, one,,,,,,,,by, etc

speaking of flying models,,,,any of you ever see an Eastern Express F-4 in the flesh?,,,,,,I've just got to get a pic of  this thing posted for you,,,,,,,,,"rescribe panel lines"??,,,,,,,lol, you'll laugh every time you read that after seeing EE's idea of "panel lines" on this aircraft

if you've ever seen a Lindberg ship model's idea of "hull plate detail",,,,,,,,that's what EE added to their cheap copy of Hasegawa's old F-4K/M kit,,,,,,,,,modeling builds character, so I'm going to build this character

Rex

Hey Tarn:

Wanna look at that, kinda freaked by the USD right now.

Oh well, just because a recession never really ended is no reason another shouldn't start!

hang on to your hat pal, I am paying $1.38 CDN a litre for gas.

Not looking good from where I'm siting!

Thanks Bockscar. The tubs, seats and pilots are all yet to be married to each other at this point in time. Will probably finish detailing and painting/weathering before I get out the CA. Pilots still need work on helmets; hoses; visors; hands; posture. I also need to remove molded-on harnesses and either see what I can do with the PE harnesses I got with the seats and/or scratch new ones.

I tried posting in the general Aircraft forum but I need a bit of help, on my Phantom (Phabulous Phantom Version) I am headed to the hobby store tomorrow, to grab paint (Testors for this build over Tamiya)

The instructions, for the main fuselage painting, are pretty vague though: Light Grey & Dark Grey...not much info there. Does anything I have match, what it should be or close?

In my stash I have:

Light Ghost Grey =?

Dark Ghost Grey =?

Dark Gull Grey =?

Gunship Grey =?

Hi Jim,

Your "Geasel" is looking real nice!!  Great job man!  I can't wait to see it when you peel the masking off! 

Ken

Hi SomeNewGuy,

I can tell from the colors that the pieces are from different sources on your cockpit.  Nice job on putting them all together!

Ken

Sparrowhyperion

That sounds good, but my vise is way too big for something like that.  I suppose I will eventually have to get a smaller one for detail parts but right now I can't.  Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

Rich

 

Son Of Medicine Man:

 

 

 

Hi Rich,

Sorry to hear about the front landing gear bay.  Believe me, I have done far dumber things than that!

On the note about the loops, what I am seriously thinking about doing is using copper wire to make the loops.  I am thinking if I start with the wire while it is straight and chuck it in a vise, I could use a turn table and make the "stripes" by turning the turn table while moving the paint brush to the top.  Of course you would need to have the wire painted in one of the colors first (yellow or black) and then use the other color to paint the stripe.  Kinda like using a lathe.  That way you would end up with a 3-D loop with a half way decent stripe.

Ken

 

Hi Rich,

After I wrote you the last time I started thinking more about it.  What I think would be a better idea is to still use the copper wire, but use masking tape for the stripe.  First, take the copper wire and straighten it out.  Then paint it yellow.  Next, after the paint is dry, cut a real fine strip of masking tape, then put it on in a spiral.  Finally, paint the black, then remove the tape and let it dry.  Last step, bend the copper wire into a loop and CA it to the ejection seats.

Ken

Bockscar

Son Of Medicine Man:

 

Bockscar:

 

 

Son Of Medicine Man:

Hi Everyone,

Sprue Brothers contacted me and they are sending me another cockpit along with a pre-paid return label for the defective cockpit.  Awesome service!  Can't say enough good things about them!

Ken

 

 

Hey Ken, that's good to hear. I tried to order the Aires Phantom burners, ARS2074, and they were out of stock, but I clicked the send notice button. A week or so later, they emailed with availability and the 'Purchase Now' button, which I dutifully clicked, and the set automatically went into my 'Shopping Cart'.

After waiting what, three weeks, I find they've sent the ARS2094, F8 Crusader exhaust set instead. Hmmmmmm.....I wonder if it is Godot, playing with my mind....funny thing is that 2094 is the very next listed set, but has a different price. I was charged the right price.....no I wasn't drinking wobbly pop.....

I don't think I want to send the F8 set back, uh, greed has set in.......F8 is my second favourite aircraft....

 

 

Hi Dominic!

Almost sounds like opening a box of Cracker Jack!  You know there is a prize inside, but just don't know what!    At least it was something you liked.

The cockpit replacement showed up today but instead of sending the entire kit, they took out the cockpit tub and the part containing the control sticks and sent that.  I am just guessing, but whom ever did that did not realize just how delicate the cockpit was (with all of the intricate details i.e. the joystick in the rear cockpit).  The joystick is broken and missing, but the spot where the gash was on the previous cockpit is fine.  I really don't want to come off as a butt head about it.  I have already sent another email to Sprue Brothers showing them what was sent.  I will wait and see what they say.  One thing I noticed is that they do not show another one in stock.  I may have to go ahead and try to fix the first cockpit if I want to get something actually moving on this build.

Ken

 

Holly Cow! It must be Spring! -I put my head in drawer last night, the resta' me can't find it! Even worse than losing your glasses!

You are right Ken, I suppose the easiest and non-buttthead thing to do is live with the unwanted purchase and save up for the one I wanted, I don't think it is a conspiracy, but then, i've always wondered whether or not i am paranoid enough!

You see, they still have the one I want in stock, but if I end up getting two F8 sets, then I'll know for sure the KGBIA is once again trying to ruin my hobby, I hate it when they do that!

Yeah, Godot is messing with you pal, and maybe with Rich.....

Hi Dominic,

Man, you totally crack me up!  We will have to get together some time and have a few beers!   

Well, Sprue Brothers contacted me again today and said that they are currently out of stock of the Aires F-4E cockpits, but would send another one next week when they get some more in.  Pretty cool.

While I am waiting, I am going to pull the engine out of my Saturn SC this weekend.  The clutch went out and the only way to replace it is by pulling the engine.  And while I have it out, I might as well rebuild it.  Right now I am driving my 1 ton truck which only gets just under 10 miles to the gallon.  With gas costing $4.00 a gallon, I have to get the Saturn fixed soon.  It gets 35 miles to the gallon.

Ken

I was thinking about something similar.  I think that after painting, I will use the very tip of my needle nosed pliers to curl the wire.  I used to do something like that when I used to make chainmail for Ren Fair folks. lol.  Now I just have to find some wire of the appropriate size and type.

Rich

Son Of Medicine Man

 

 

 

 

Hi Rich,

After I wrote you the last time I started thinking more about it.  What I think would be a better idea is to still use the copper wire, but use masking tape for the stripe.  First, take the copper wire and straighten it out.  Then paint it yellow.  Next, after the paint is dry, cut a real fine strip of masking tape, then put it on in a spiral.  Finally, paint the black, then remove the tape and let it dry.  Last step, bend the copper wire into a loop and CA it to the ejection seats.

Ken

Thanks Son of Med' Man. Had to spend a fair bit of time removing the molded-in bottom seat halves to accommodate the resin. Revellogram only offered one seated pilot (it's the small things that make this brand really irritating) so I used that one and used another from Haseqawa for the WSO. Need to modify one and/or the other to make them look somewhat harmonious.

Here is a rough mock up of the tubs and pilots in the fuselage. I reckon I will grab another Haseqawa head for the front pilot. Looks too big. I reckon I will need to do a lot of styrene and putty filling of both the sills and Canopy's to get things smooth and solid. All clear parts don't align well so some raising and shortening will be required on both length and height axis'. I'll probably remove the hinge tabs of both canopy's and replace the with putty, scribe the gaps and paint. Not sure if the top of the seats and the pilots heads are in the accurate height position. Squadrons walk around has only a few vague side shots of seated pilots. It seems ok.

Son Of Medicine Man

 

Bockscar:

 

 

Son Of Medicine Man:

 

Bockscar:

 

 

Son Of Medicine Man:

Hi Everyone,

Sprue Brothers contacted me and they are sending me another cockpit along with a pre-paid return label for the defective cockpit.  Awesome service!  Can't say enough good things about them!

Ken

 

 

Hey Ken, that's good to hear. I tried to order the Aires Phantom burners, ARS2074, and they were out of stock, but I clicked the send notice button. A week or so later, they emailed with availability and the 'Purchase Now' button, which I dutifully clicked, and the set automatically went into my 'Shopping Cart'.

After waiting what, three weeks, I find they've sent the ARS2094, F8 Crusader exhaust set instead. Hmmmmmm.....I wonder if it is Godot, playing with my mind....funny thing is that 2094 is the very next listed set, but has a different price. I was charged the right price.....no I wasn't drinking wobbly pop.....

I don't think I want to send the F8 set back, uh, greed has set in.......F8 is my second favourite aircraft....

 

 

Hi Dominic!

Almost sounds like opening a box of Cracker Jack!  You know there is a prize inside, but just don't know what!    At least it was something you liked.

The cockpit replacement showed up today but instead of sending the entire kit, they took out the cockpit tub and the part containing the control sticks and sent that.  I am just guessing, but whom ever did that did not realize just how delicate the cockpit was (with all of the intricate details i.e. the joystick in the rear cockpit).  The joystick is broken and missing, but the spot where the gash was on the previous cockpit is fine.  I really don't want to come off as a butt head about it.  I have already sent another email to Sprue Brothers showing them what was sent.  I will wait and see what they say.  One thing I noticed is that they do not show another one in stock.  I may have to go ahead and try to fix the first cockpit if I want to get something actually moving on this build.

Ken

 

 

Holly Cow! It must be Spring! -I put my head in drawer last night, the resta' me can't find it! Even worse than losing your glasses!

You are right Ken, I suppose the easiest and non-buttthead thing to do is live with the unwanted purchase and save up for the one I wanted, I don't think it is a conspiracy, but then, i've always wondered whether or not i am paranoid enough!

You see, they still have the one I want in stock, but if I end up getting two F8 sets, then I'll know for sure the KGBIA is once again trying to ruin my hobby, I hate it when they do that!

Yeah, Godot is messing with you pal, and maybe with Rich.....

 

 

Hi Dominic,

Man, you totally crack me up!  We will have to get together some time and have a few beers!   

Well, Sprue Brothers contacted me again today and said that they are currently out of stock of the Aires F-4E cockpits, but would send another one next week when they get some more in.  Pretty cool.

While I am waiting, I am going to pull the engine out of my Saturn SC this weekend.  The clutch went out and the only way to replace it is by pulling the engine.  And while I have it out, I might as well rebuild it.  Right now I am driving my 1 ton truck which only gets just under 10 miles to the gallon.  With gas costing $4.00 a gallon, I have to get the Saturn fixed soon.  It gets 35 miles to the gallon.

Ken

Hey Ken; 

I've been trying to preserve my health, so i cut way back on 'pop', but I'm afraid it isn't working out so great. As my second 'retirement' looms, I wonder what the heck it is I'm trying to stay healthy for, -paying gas prices?

I actually felt pretty good about having a bit of an edge buying stuff cross boarder, a win-win because I always find US retailers understand business, but now we are hitting close to $1.37 a litre, so i can't get too excited about any leverage on the CDN/USD. 

With all of the economic data hitting last week, my latest gig is getting a bit exciting, but not the right kind of exciting. Hey I had a little Saturn once, i never got used to the auto seat belt function, it was great until i had hot coffee one day, everything turned out okay for me though, it landed on my passenger in the back seat!

Yeah, some experts going on about an new downturn, heck we were just getting out of the mess the last one caused, not the least of which was me finding a sunset career, and I'm not talking Roy Rogers and Dale Evans either

Good luck with the Saturn engine rebuild. It was a pretty good car, not a hot rod, but given its size and displacement I always was happy in a pass. Mind you, it wasn't my Chevy 427. Sprue Bros. seem very reasonable, the say I ordered the wrong part, but I pointed out they charged me the right price for the stuff i really wanted, how does that work anyways? If they refund me the difference between the F-4 and F8 stuff, i won't bother with the postage, I'll pick up the F-4 kit in two weeks when some of the smoke clears offa' my monthly hobby budget!

Has anyone got any pics of seated Phantom pilots and their oxygen hoses? I'm about to modify my pilots and I'm not sure where the hoses end. I know they run down their left flanks and maybe connect to the frame of the seats somewhere.

Cheers!

Hey gang,

I'm still lurking... 

I just wanted to check in and say I'm enjoying reading the posts and seeing the progress pix.  School, work and an internship have kept me away from my workbench.  I haven't had a chance to get much done on my Phantom, but I do try to make some progress when I can.  I'm still scribing and riveting, but haven't done much more.

Keep up the good work gang!

Cheers,

-O

And another lurker checking in here ........... Also enjoying watching the updates

Although I did manage to get a bit of paint on plastic this morning. Fuselage and wings should be assembled tonight. Have been waiting for paint to come through the mail - and ended up with a couple of Weapons Sets (Bombs, rocket launchers, Air to Ground missiles etc) and a TA-7 and a F-18 

Hope to post some progress shortly

For any Kiwis on the build here's a link to our local Site plus model shop. We are trying to import bigger group orders to keep the costs down and keep things competitive. Gary's the boss (he's a Pom but he's alright) and just drop him a line - if you live in NZ, and he'll get what ever you want. Everyones welcome to visit and join the site - see how we do it down under

Bockscar

 

TarnShip:

 

I actually laughed right out loud for real at your solution to the accidental lock out

If I did that to SSgt Anne,,,,,,,there would be noooo time long enough to leave her out there until she calmed down. I would have to just let her in quickly, and hope not to get locked out anytime soon,,,,,or end up sitting on the lawn out of range, watching airplanes come flying out one by one, by, one,,,,,,,,by, etc

speaking of flying models,,,,any of you ever see an Eastern Express F-4 in the flesh?,,,,,,I've just got to get a pic of  this thing posted for you,,,,,,,,,"rescribe panel lines"??,,,,,,,lol, you'll laugh every time you read that after seeing EE's idea of "panel lines" on this aircraft

if you've ever seen a Lindberg ship model's idea of "hull plate detail",,,,,,,,that's what EE added to their cheap copy of Hasegawa's old F-4K/M kit,,,,,,,,,modeling builds character, so I'm going to build this character

Rex

 

 

Hey Tarn:

Wanna look at that, kinda freaked by the USD right now.

Oh well, just because a recession never really ended is no reason another shouldn't start!

hang on to your hat pal, I am paying $1.38 CDN a litre for gas.

Not looking good from where I'm siting!

Lol....I missed the SSgt part, uh.....yeah......, sit in the house waiting for an RPG to knock on the door! Or a Bradley AFV, ...that's funny ....'but it wasn' me 'hon, honest!

F-4S mostly assembled, intakes on, no fit problems from the Hasegawa kit.

First coat of paint on - Gone Grey top and bottom as some of the later Phantoms appeared this way.

I mixed my own Grey as I had nothing suitable. I took a nearly full bottle of Tamiya Buff and added Tamiya Medium Blue a few drops at a time and thinned it heavily to get quick dry times. Couple of mistakes there - the paint gos on a treat and is a beautiful light grey but it dry a gross green color and second mistake - too much thinner I plan to spice up the paint job but with too much thinner the undercoat runs into the topcoat. Nevermind -I'll sort it out one way or another.

Sorry, no photos, poor quality but will try later in the day when I have some natural light.

Rough as guts

F-4S mostly assembled, intakes on, no fit problems from the Hasegawa kit.

First coat of paint on - Gone Grey top and bottom as some of the later Phantoms appeared this way.

I mixed my own Grey as I had nothing suitable. I took a nearly full bottle of Tamiya Buff and added Tamiya Medium Blue a few drops at a time and thinned it heavily to get quick dry times. Couple of mistakes there - the paint gos on a treat and is a beautiful light grey but it dry a gross green color and second mistake - too much thinner I plan to spice up the paint job but with too much thinner the undercoat runs into the topcoat. Nevermind -I'll sort it out one way or another.

Sorry, no photos, poor quality but will try later in the day when I have some natural light.

No photos? No photos? Lol.....yeah, I think you are on to something there Rough, I'll bet there were some days I spent more times on the photos and posting them than I did on my build!

Yeah some paints really change as they dry, Rex probably is an expert on that one, He has documented every Light Gull Grey known to man, well...., known to the Navy.

I'm hoping my paint ends up looking okay, after all of the slicing and dicing. By the way, good point on natural light, paint only reflects colours it doesn't absorb from the light source, and not all indoor lighting gives you the sun's full spectrum, so that's a really good idea! Sometimes you gotta take 'em outside, and make sure there are no birds overhead. They just want to change your paint scheme regardless.

Man, this has come a long way since I've checked last.  The stress of job hunting made me just put away everything model-related till I get my head in a better place.  Still no job, but my head is in a better place, plus the first of the two local model contests is about one month away, & I'd like to try to finish this project.

Its well known that Hasegawa overdid the trunnion covers on the upper wing, so I took my power sander (a true god-send & time saver) & some new sanding sticks to reshape the covers to a more scale apperance:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/ishthe47guy/Model%20Pics/VF-202%20F-4S/IMG_2985.jpg

Will work on the other wing in the morning.

Chris Ish

Not sure why I couldn't get the pic to show up in he previous post, but here it is:

There is a lot of great work going on here.  I haven't had much time to visit or build with medical appointments, yard work and trying to get my well back in operation.  Right now I have to batton down the hatches as we will be getting some severe weather hitting us later this evening.  Our area has been under a severe weather warning with high winds expected most of the day.

Hi Everyone,

I received good news today.  Sprue Brothers has shipped another replacement cockpit today!  With any luck it will be here Friday and I will finally get back to building my F-4E.  I will use what I have learned so far and look forward to getting it done.

Ken

That's great.  I got lucky today too.  Aires sent me not one but 2 new PE trees for my Mk7 Martin Baker ejection seats so I can replace the bad loops that fell apart and redo a couple of the belts on them.  I am really liking Aires right now :)

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

I received good news today.  Sprue Brothers has shipped another replacement cockpit today!  With any luck it will be here Friday and I will finally get back to building my F-4E.  I will use what I have learned so far and look forward to getting it done.

Ken

Some ups and downs here: My 'Geasel' is acquiring a fierceness!

But not without a struggle: the sharkmouth was a bit of a pain as the Italeri decal was a bit thick and took time and lots of nursing it down with many applications of Micro-sol. Finally got it all settled down, but I also had to trim it as it didn't quite fit between the radome and the small inlet behind it. The other data decals are freshly applied and may still look a bit milky, but that will go away.

I also had a bit of a mishap with it: A miscue on my part sent it tumbling to the floor, where it landed tail first, snapping off the fuel dump! I searched for the broken piece but all I got was a crunch and a burp from the carpet monster! The part is nowhere to be found! I still have that old Italeri kit I robbed gear doors and decals from and the part looks usable, but will no doubt be a PITA to re-attach. I'm going to wait to do that as I still have lots of decals to do, metal finishes around the exhaust areas and so on, so lots of handling still to go with plenty of time for me to break it or something else off!

Jimbot -- looking good! it's been a battle but you've nearly won it! I know what you mean about the fuel dump, Fujimi and Hasegawa mold them in with the fuselage halves and I've snapped them off just about every kit in progress. I have most of them lying around...

M/TB379

jimbot58

Some ups and downs here: My 'Geasel' is acquiring a fierceness!

But not without a struggle: the sharkmouth was a bit of a pain as the Italeri decal was a bit thick and took time and lots of nursing it down with many applications of Micro-sol. Finally got it all settled down, but I also had to trim it as it didn't quite fit between the radome and the small inlet behind it. The other data decals are freshly applied and may still look a bit milky, but that will go away.

I also had a bit of a mishap with it: A miscue on my part sent it tumbling to the floor, where it landed tail first, snapping off the fuel dump! I searched for the broken piece but all I got was a crunch and a burp from the carpet monster! The part is nowhere to be found! I still have that old Italeri kit I robbed gear doors and decals from and the part looks usable, but will no doubt be a PITA to re-attach. I'm going to wait to do that as I still have lots of decals to do, metal finishes around the exhaust areas and so on, so lots of handling still to go with plenty of time for me to break it or something else off!

Hi Jim,

That is a great job on the shark mouth.  Looks real nice!  I hope you are able to eventually find that fuel dump.

Ken

Nice job on the Geasel, Jimbot.  I usually don't have problems breaking of the fuel vent mast, I usually break off pitot tubes.  I have always liked the look of shark mouths on the F-4.  Our jets at Spangdahlm AB Germany had them as well as our jets from Eglin AFB when we deployed to Linebacker.

Those pitot tubes, man...  No matter how careful I am...   Another thing I hate about Hasegawa 48th F-4s are the stab mounting dimples.  Those little-a** dimples are way to small, with very little area for the glue to hold.  It seems those things will break if too much dust settle on the model while its sitting on the shelf.

Anyway, I finished both trunnion covers on the wings, & got the halves glued together.  Just need to fill & sand.  Also finished & painted the certerline tank.  I finally got the technique down where you use liquid glue on the seams, & use the squeeze out as filler.  Absolutely no visible seams after painting.

The scheme that I'm doing has colors that I've never used, either on an F-4, or at all, so I just put the parts on to get an idea what it going to look like.

I'm not going to use the 370 outbd tanks, so I filled in the holes with Evegreen .080" (2 mm for our metric friends) rod, which fit perfectly.  Dab liquid glue to soften the plastic to fill in the gaps, sand & done.