The Official F-4 Phantom II Group Build 2011

Son Of Medicine Man

 

Sparrowhyperion:

 

Well..  Looks like I will have a lot more time for other projects.  Last night, my Daughter's idiotice furry ball of mayhem ran through the room, probably scared by the fan in the living room again, and flew into my storage area like a V2.  The result is the loss of over 90 hours of work, and a lot of modeling funds.  My FGR.2 is scrap.....  So you might as well remove that one from the list.  I doubt I can talk the Wife into letting me replace that one.  The entire left side intake vane and the inside of the AM intake scoop cracked, flew off and have disappeared into carpet monster land somewhere.  Now the Daughter owes me a kit...

Rich

 

 

Wow Rich, that is terrible!  You must have the patience of a saint not to have taken it out on the cat.  That cat surely has more than 9 lives.

Ken

I say take the cat out, or is it take out the cat....lol....that iguana can get mighty hungry if you don't feed it for a bit....Rich that is rather nasty....

TarnShip

FGR 2 were non slotted, FG 1 were slotted,,,,,,,,at production and delivery

I am hesitant to say the "always" word, because I haven't seen every single pic of every FGR 2, lol,,,,,,there are so many exceptions in Phantom history

Rex;

That'd be the purple FGR2, with yellow and green polka dots, yeah, it had slotted stabs.....lol.....

jimbot58

Hey Bockscar: I really don't do anything special masking. I use "Parafilm M" to mask and then using a new Exacto blade, and holding the piece very close, I squint through one eye and very, very, very carefully trim around the frames. Inside I just used a bit of Tamiya tape and trimmed it to fit.

I just removed the center piece as I didn't like the fit. I have to be super careful as it is cracked...Now I can touch up the paint there.

The parafilm is a bit tricky to remove as it sort of hardens over time and I use a whole lot of patience, and a pointy tooth-pick to scrape it away. It's still easier for me than cutting bits of tape to cover the canopy, esp. curved ones.

Hey Berny, the paint guide shows the center pane of the windscreen to be tinted blue. Would this be correct?

 

Thanks Jim, that gives me another canopy masking strategy. I'll by a new pack of Xactos for the cutting.

Unfortunately, Green Iguanas are total vegetarians.  Feeding them meat can make them pretty sick, even if you somehow manage to make them eat it.

Otherwise the cat wouldn't still be here now...

Rich

Bockscar

 

 

 

I say take the cat out, or is it take out the cat....lol....that iguana can get mighty hungry if you don't feed it for a bit....Rich that is rather nasty....

Sparrowhyperion

Unfortunately, Green Iguanas are total vegetarians.  Feeding them meat can make them pretty sick, even if you somehow manage to make them eat it.

Otherwise the cat wouldn't still be here now...

 

Rich

 

 

Bockscar:

 

 

 

 

I say take the cat out, or is it take out the cat....lol....that iguana can get mighty hungry if you don't feed it for a bit....Rich that is rather nasty....

 

 

....I don't know why our cats were always terrified of my hobby desk Rich, I have to count myself as lucky. Maybe it was the smell of toluene that was always wafting around it. The carpet monster is a different story....I'll probably find the whole missing squadron of Grumman Avengers one day....those guys'll be so happy to be finally going home....lol...

Bockscar

jimbot58:

Hey Bockscar: I really don't do anything special masking. I use "Parafilm M" to mask and then using a new Exacto blade, and holding the piece very close, I squint through one eye and very, very, very carefully trim around the frames. Inside I just used a bit of Tamiya tape and trimmed it to fit.

I just removed the center piece as I didn't like the fit. I have to be super careful as it is cracked...Now I can touch up the paint there.

The parafilm is a bit tricky to remove as it sort of hardens over time and I use a whole lot of patience, and a pointy tooth-pick to scrape it away. It's still easier for me than cutting bits of tape to cover the canopy, esp. curved ones.

Hey Berny, the paint guide shows the center pane of the windscreen to be tinted blue. Would this be correct?

 

 

Thanks Jim, that gives me another canopy masking strategy. I'll by a new pack of Xactos for the cutting.

Hi Jim,

Where do you get this "Parafilm M"?  If it is something I can use while painting this cockpit that would be great!  I tried using masking tape and after about 20 minutes I gave up.

Ken

I'm not kidding when I say we have the dumbest cat on earth.  She is afraid of everything, even the cat food bag.  She runs at the drop of a hat.  It's really incredible...

Bockscar

 

 

 

....I don't know why our cats were always terrified of my hobby desk Rich, I have to count myself as lucky. Maybe it was the smell of toluene that was always wafting around it. The carpet monster is a different story....I'll probably find the whole missing squadron of Grumman Avengers one day....those guys'll be so happy to be finally going home....lol...

I would have turned that cat into nose weights for a tail sitter, Rich.  I have one cat and she is an outdoor cat.  The wife is allergic to any type of cat.

Hey, I couldn't resist....lol....:

berny13

I would have turned that cat into nose weights for a tail sitter, Rich.  I have one cat and she is an outdoor cat.  The wife is allergic to any type of cat.

Yeah Berny, i was thinking to trade that iguana in for a 6' kimodo dragon or monitor lizard....

I was tempted.  The thing is she didn't do it because she was trying to be mean or annoy me.  She's just unbelievably stupid and paranoid.  That's Abby.  Then we have Raven, who is the house cat ***...  And Spicey who is kind of like the Molly weasely of cats, big and lovable and stays out of trouble.  And finally Snitch, my 20lb. furry paperweight.  he is addicted to potato chips, will steal any of my pills that happen to fall on the floor if he gets to them before I pick them up, so I'm really careful not to drop any.  He got ahold of a Flexoril once and was stoned all day.  Oh yeh, and he likes booze and Meows like a girl.  He's the only male cat in the house so he's really happy despite being fixed..  It doesn't stop him from trying.

berny13

I would have turned that cat into nose weights for a tail sitter, Rich.  I have one cat and she is an outdoor cat.  The wife is allergic to any type of cat.

LMFAO!!!!

Bockscar

Hey, I couldn't resist....lol....:

Not a good idea.  A full grwn monitor can be dangerous, especially during mating season, and a komodo Dragon's mouth is so full of bacteria that one bite and you are probably done for...

Bockscar

 

berny13:

 

I would have turned that cat into nose weights for a tail sitter, Rich.  I have one cat and she is an outdoor cat.  The wife is allergic to any type of cat.

 

 

Yeah Berny, i was thinking to trade that iguana in for a 6' kimodo dragon or monitor lizard....

Hey, Box here is a kit you should build.

For you Weasel builders..

there used to be a Perfectly Adapted Weasel Driver cartoon, too,,,,,,,,,,but, I can't remember where I saw it

Son Of Medicine Man

 

Bockscar:

 

 

jimbot58:

Hey Bockscar: I really don't do anything special masking. I use "Parafilm M" to mask and then using a new Exacto blade, and holding the piece very close, I squint through one eye and very, very, very carefully trim around the frames. Inside I just used a bit of Tamiya tape and trimmed it to fit.

I just removed the center piece as I didn't like the fit. I have to be super careful as it is cracked...Now I can touch up the paint there.

The parafilm is a bit tricky to remove as it sort of hardens over time and I use a whole lot of patience, and a pointy tooth-pick to scrape it away. It's still easier for me than cutting bits of tape to cover the canopy, esp. curved ones.

Hey Berny, the paint guide shows the center pane of the windscreen to be tinted blue. Would this be correct?

 

 

 

Thanks Jim, that gives me another canopy masking strategy. I'll by a new pack of Xactos for the cutting.

 

 

Hi Jim,

Where do you get this "Parafilm M"?  If it is something I can use while painting this cockpit that would be great!  I tried using masking tape and after about 20 minutes I gave up.

Ken

Parafilm "M" is available through Micro-Mark for about $10 plus shipping. A roll will last you years and years!

http://www.micromark.com/Parafilm-M,7551.html

Here is a bit of info on how to use it:

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/usingparafilmda_1.htm

Any chance I could get in on this?  Got several Phantoms in the stash, mostly recce birds.

Lewbud -- certainly! Just let me know what Phantom types, kit manufacters, scales, and any plans re OOB or AM, and I'll enter you up on page 1.

Cheers, Mike/Tb379

Sparrowhyperion

Not a good idea.  A full grwn monitor can be dangerous, especially during mating season, and a komodo Dragon's mouth is so full of bacteria that one bite and you are probably done for...

 

 

Bockscar:

 

 

berny13:

 

I would have turned that cat into nose weights for a tail sitter, Rich.  I have one cat and she is an outdoor cat.  The wife is allergic to any type of cat.

 

 

Yeah Berny, i was thinking to trade that iguana in for a 6' kimodo dragon or monitor lizard....

 

 

Only kidding Rich, just thinking of those makes my finger itch for a Browning auto-loader.

berny13

Hey, Box here is a kit you should build.

Mike,

If the decals are still good, I'll do the 1970's vintage Revell Blue Angels diamond kit in 1/72.

Intake update;

I cut a paper pattern about the size of a business card, a bit narrower, and made a tube out of it. Ideally, the cross-sectional area of the duct should be approximately equal from scoop to fan regardless of its apparent shape, but I cheated a bit and made the tube slightly conical with the scoop end a bigger diameter.

Next I patterned out an inside flat section to run from scoop almost all the way back to the fan to 'train' the tube as it flattens mostly on the inside going forward from fan to scoop. It flattens out a bit on the outside as the duct meets the fuselage. Clear as mud, right? - I'll post pictures and the paper patterns for the dozens of you bent on foregoing AM resin for the pure pleasure of putty.

Any how, it really helped having the Tamiya intakes and the resin set as guides, however, because the Revell kit is engineered in a significantly different shape, the folks at Revell created a fantasy duct - big enough inside for circus elephants, clowns, and a high-wire act - the paper patterns turned out a different duct design - no worries, the snacking thing is never going to breath a single cubic foot of air.

The paper part is easy, the vac-pac resource somewhat limited, so if I klooge it too badly, I'm gonna buy me that whiskey, guys, then only the fellas in the paddy wagon will care - or most likely not! 

Bocks -- I know that cartoon well, you probably scanned it from the same book!

Lewbud -- welcome aboard, page 1 is updated. Good luck building four Phantoms for the project! I found a commentary about that kit in an old magazine yesterday, I'll post it here later.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thunderbolt379

Bocks -- I know that cartoon well, you probably scanned it from the same book!

Lewbud -- welcome aboard, page 1 is updated. Good luck building four Phantoms for the project! I found a commentary about that kit in an old magazine yesterday, I'll post it here later.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Hey Mike, it's a great cartoon, actually, Berny sent it along, I hadn't seen it before myself.

I can see the furrows in McNamara's hair as I write this.....lol.....he wasn't so funny back then though, gosh Mike I gotta bite my tongue, um, fingers.....lol.....

Bockscar

Intake update;

I cut a paper pattern about the size of a business card, a bit narrower, and made a tube out of it. Ideally, the cross-sectional area of the duct should be approximately equal from scoop to fan regardless of its apparent shape, but I cheated a bit and made the tube slightly conical with the scoop end a bigger diameter.

Next I patterned out an inside flat section to run from scoop almost all the way back to the fan to 'train' the tube as it flattens mostly on the inside going forward from fan to scoop. It flattens out a bit on the outside as the duct meets the fuselage. Clear as mud, right? - I'll post pictures and the paper patterns for the dozens of you bent on foregoing AM resin for the pure pleasure of putty.

Any how, it really helped having the Tamiya intakes and the resin set as guides, however, because the Revell kit is engineered in a significantly different shape, the folks at Revell created a fantasy duct - big enough inside for circus elephants, clowns, and a high-wire act - the paper patterns turned out a different duct design - no worries, the snacking thing is never going to breath a single cubic foot of air.

The paper part is easy, the vac-pac resource somewhat limited, so if I klooge it too badly, I'm gonna buy me that whiskey, guys, then only the fellas in the paddy wagon will care - or most likely not! 

Hi Dominic,

Once again, you have me laughing hysterically!  Does this stuff just flow from your brain or do you have to ponder on it?

Last night I didn't get home from work until after 9:30 PM so there was not anything done.  Today was another rough day so I needed a night of just vegging out in front of the television.  At least I have a three day weekend coming so I can spend some quality time on that cockpit.  It will get done by Monday night.  Then I can finally get started on the rest of the aircraft!

Hey Berny, that Tamiya 1/32 F-4C/D showed up.  I didn't realize how big it was going to be.  I would like to build it to represent your favorite F-4D while you were stationed at Kadena AB in Okinawa.  Do you have one in mind?

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

 

Bockscar:

 

Intake update;

I cut a paper pattern about the size of a business card, a bit narrower, and made a tube out of it. Ideally, the cross-sectional area of the duct should be approximately equal from scoop to fan regardless of its apparent shape, but I cheated a bit and made the tube slightly conical with the scoop end a bigger diameter.

Next I patterned out an inside flat section to run from scoop almost all the way back to the fan to 'train' the tube as it flattens mostly on the inside going forward from fan to scoop. It flattens out a bit on the outside as the duct meets the fuselage. Clear as mud, right? - I'll post pictures and the paper patterns for the dozens of you bent on foregoing AM resin for the pure pleasure of putty.

Any how, it really helped having the Tamiya intakes and the resin set as guides, however, because the Revell kit is engineered in a significantly different shape, the folks at Revell created a fantasy duct - big enough inside for circus elephants, clowns, and a high-wire act - the paper patterns turned out a different duct design - no worries, the snacking thing is never going to breath a single cubic foot of air.

The paper part is easy, the vac-pac resource somewhat limited, so if I klooge it too badly, I'm gonna buy me that whiskey, guys, then only the fellas in the paddy wagon will care - or most likely not! 

 

 

Hi Dominic,

Once again, you have me laughing hysterically!  Does this stuff just flow from your brain or do you have to ponder on it?

Last night I didn't get home from work until after 9:30 PM so there was not anything done.  Today was another rough day so I needed a night of just vegging out in front of the television.  At least I have a three day weekend coming so I can spend some quality time on that cockpit.  It will get done by Monday night.  Then I can finally get started on the rest of the aircraft!

Hey Berny, that Tamiya 1/32 F-4C/D showed up.  I didn't realize how big it was going to be.  I would like to build it to represent your favorite F-4D while you were stationed at Kadena AB in Okinawa.  Do you have one in mind?

Ken

Thanks Ken, you made my day. Actually, I caught this little leprechaun and keep him in a jar, the little bastidge spues insults at me day and night, worse than a smart parrot because he doesn't just repeat stuff, he makes up all kinds of things, mostly insults comparing my face to stuff I can't say here, and comparing my backside to things I wish I had never even heard of....little bastidge.....I always remind him that "...you little eeeejiiiiiiT....what maje you tink you could go to sleep in my shoe and get away wit it....he hates it when I remind him how dumb he was....especially if I use an Irish accent.......and I remember parts of his riffs and yeah, they kind of flow after a while....lol....he told me the other day that there was enough space between my ears for an entire three-ring circus....It kind of stuck.....

As for you, well, it's been quite the spring for maladies. So many folks hurting right now, for so many reasons. Honestly, I got my big dose last year this time, yesterday I was almost in the mood to tell my boss I was heading down to Joplin to help folks clean up the mess. Yikes...hearing about that kid....I don't know, very sobering times, to say the very least, kinda glad we can still chuckle about the ridiculous things....

I remember a story, maybe a movie, and this cruiser was sunk in WWII, and all of these burned and wounded guys are floating in the big drink, and some guy pipes up "......my wife is going to be damned pissed off when she hears about this!......" -the guys actually laughed......

Yeah, veggggggg.......I'm going to for sure this weekend

Got the F-105 'Weasel' yesterday and finally looked it over. Kind of interesting how the two planes (My F-4G) have roughly the same length, wingspan and all, but the 'Thud' looks huge next to my 'Geasel'! The kit looks very well molded to me, and is much better than the Hasegawa "D" and Monogram "G" I have in my stash. Both those kits have raised panel lines and no boxing around the wheel wells.

I just have to resist temptation to do anything with this kit for now.....

Off to do a bit with my 'Geasel' for now!

Lewbud -- here's that text I found. It was in the November 1972 issue of Air Enthusiast, a British aviation mag i collected when I was younger. (Not that young, though, I found some very early issues on eBay and have been having a ball reading the state of the art aviation news from forty years ago. There was always a hobby column too, which is now like looking back to the Dark Ages...)

The Blue Angels F-4J Diamond Four was a reissue of their earlier Phantom moulds, and these were the comments of the time:

"The Blue Angel kit comprises four Phantoms moulded in authentic (but translucent) blue plastic, with a special display stand and decal sheet. Revell's Phantom always was a good kit and remains so, and it has now been brought up to F-4J standards by provision of a new nose cone. The decal sheet, too, is extremely good, and provides full markings for each aircraft, including accurate serial numbers. Making up into a very attractive and somewhat unusual display model, the Blue Angels kit at (pounds)1.51 in the UK can be strongly recommended to those with a penchant for more than one model of an individual aircraft type."

That was the scoop from the day, long before recessed panel lines, fully detailed cockpits, superglue, FS paint matches and airbrushing as standard. I remember looking at the Thunderbirds F-4E quadruple edition and being tempted when I was a kid, so I'm particularly interested to see how it turns out.

I've been working on some Phantoms myself lately. I messed around a bit today with Hasegawa's 1:48 F-4J, doing a little on the cockpit and cleaning up some larger parts. I might get down to paring away the formation lights and stiffeners on the tails soon. I'm interested in building her as Showtime 100, configured for her day of glory (May 10th 1972), and consulted the excellent book One Day in a Long War for details. It looks like she was carrying two Sparrows, four Sidewinders and four bombs, and had expended the bombs when she was in action against the MiG-17s. I think she probably had the centreline tank as well. The kit decals are excellent but there's one significant difference. On that historic mission Randy Cunningham's RIO was Willie Driscoll, and a different name, Lt Les Smith, appears on the decal sheet... Does anyone know if there's an AM sheet with markings for Driscoll? Or was Driscoll just sitting in as Cunningham's RIO at the time, so the other name is correct for what was actually on the aircraft? Rex, any thoughts?

Carving away the lighting strips is one thing, but does anyone have a clue how to reshape those covers on the upper wing surfaces to something less overscale, without making a wreck of the wings around them?

I've been working on a Fujimi 1:72 Royal Navy F-4K as well, kit H-8, their retooled version, and it's superb -- parts fit and engineering are better than the standard Fujimis, the four-part seats are the best I've seen in styrene, especially for the scale, and the overall appeal is excellent. I realised I had all the necessary paints and supplies in hand, she's in the simple scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey over White, with a nice lustre, so I figured I might as well rip in!

I'll paint the cockpits of these two together, it'll give me a chance to try out MM Acryls. I mixed a little FS 36321 with Tamiya thinners today and they look quite compatible.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Mike

Showtime 100 was not the aircraft assigned to either Cunningham or Driscoll at the time of the flight,,,,,,,the pilot's name was CDR Gus Eggert, with ENG IM Fearless on the backseater's canopy rail,  in all caps in both places,,,,I'm squinting at the names on a 13" long two page pic in the front of Osprey #30 1972-73 Mig killers book,,,,,,,,,,,,,pilot's flew whatever aircraft they were assigned for any given mission, and Randy wasn't the CAG, I'm just saying that to explain why the names didn't match up (sort of the back story)

let's see,,,,,,2 Sparrows loaded aft, fore empty, 4 Rattlers,,one centerline tank,,,,,,2 TER on the outerwing, with 2 Rockeyes on each,,,,,,in the Slant 2 configuration,,,,,,,,O O X and X O O,,,,,,,easy way to visulaize is "empty on the inside",,,,,,,,I'd dig a little more on the Rockeye loading, just to be sure, if I were you,,,,,,but, for "logic" I'd look at the weight limit for a TER, and the weight of a Rockeye (768 pounds?,,,,,just sprang to mind, you might want to check on that )

I'm not much help with the Trunnion covers in 1/48, they are separate pieces in my Hasegawa 1/72 kits,,,,,,,,,,but, it sure would be tempting to "get one perfect", and pull a latex mold afterward,,,,,,,and be able to make as many as I needed the rest of my 1/48 Phantom career,,,,,,,,as large as those sometimes get molded, making one from sheet stock and filing it all perfectly, etc, would be effort saved in the next few years