The Official F-4 Phantom II Group Build 2011

redraider56

Recent activity from Revell over the past several years suggest we could see a re-release of the J, since they just did a re-release of the C a couple years ago.  However, I doubt the molds will be retooled.  Fit problems must be kit to kit because all the major components of my J are fitting very nice when I dry fit it

Red,

I recently built the -J and the fit wasn't too bad.  It was poor, but not terrible.  Honestly, I've been a little disappointed by what I've seen in the box.  The parts have a lot of flash, and none of the few parts I've stuck together have fit very well.  And here I thought I might be getting an easy build compared to my Hase -C...

We'll see how it turns out.

Cheers!

-O

Every time I hear CCR and "Run Through the Jungle" I think of Vietnam. (No I wasn't there, I was too young!)

"Whoa, thought it was a nightmare
Lo, it was so true
They told me, don't go walkin' slow
'The Devil's on the loose

Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Woa, don't look back to see

Thought I heard a rumblin'
Callin' to my name
Two hundred million guns are loaded
Satan cries, "Take aim"

Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Woa, don't look back to see

Over on the mountain
Thunder magic spoke
"Let the people know my wisdom
Fill the land with smoke"

Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Better run through the jungle
Woa, don't look back to see"

Song just gives me chills!

In the meantime, I have to report that I seem to have made little progress on the second half of my Group Build. Between the yard, taking care of things at Mum's and the distraction of my F-105G kit, little has been done on the F! I only started to try a few parts together on the Thud and it sort of went from there. I was unhappy with the decals for the cockpit, so sent for a PE set. Then I messed up one of the parts on the PE fret, and decided to buy another! Then, I went to strip the cockpit tub in Testors EZ Lift-off and destroyed it by forgetting it! It literally melted! Now I'm trying to scratch a new tub, which is slow going. I've never built anything on this scale from scratch. The only good thing is that I'm using the extra PE parts to help guide me on placement of the components. Right now, my efforts are trying to duplicate the throttle with the half melted one as my guide. Front and rear cockpits! In 1/72nd scale! AAARRRRGGGG!!!!!!!

I hope that once I get that done, I can then split my efforts between the Phantom and the Thud and be an active part of this group again!

PS: Thanks 'O' for sharing the photos! They certainly carried a wide assortment of ordnance, didi they not?

Hey gang,

Just wonderin'...anyone out there having issues with Hasegawa plastic and MM enamels?

The reason I'm asking is, during the last Phantom GB, I built two Has 1/48 -Bs and a Revellogram -J.  During painting, two Hase kits had paint lift off during the removal of masking while the Revellogram didn't.  I chalked it up to having some sort of contamination affecting that spot. 

Anyway, I tried painting my Hase -C pit last night, but the paint never totally dried.  It dried in some spots, but most of the paint was just a gooey mess.  I know it wasn't my paint because I sprayed the Revellogram pit and fuse interior with the same batch, and the paint's fine.  Has anyone had problems with Hase plastic and MM enamels? 

Cheers!

-O

Assuming you properly washed all of the parts to get the release agents off, it might just be a bad batch of plastic.

oortiz10

Hey gang,

Just wonderin'...anyone out there having issues with Hasegawa plastic and MM enamels?

The reason I'm asking is, during the last Phantom GB, I built two Has 1/48 -Bs and a Revellogram -J.  During painting, two Hase kits had paint lift off during the removal of masking while the Revellogram didn't.  I chalked it up to having some sort of contamination affecting that spot. 

Anyway, I tried painting my Hase -C pit last night, but the paint never totally dried.  It dried in some spots, but most of the paint was just a gooey mess.  I know it wasn't my paint because I sprayed the Revellogram pit and fuse interior with the same batch, and the paint's fine.  Has anyone had problems with Hase plastic and MM enamels? 

Cheers!

-O

 

Sparrow,

I've thought that it might be "bad plastic," but I've built only 3 Hase kits in my day.  I'd find it weird that all three Hase kits, the only three I've built, all have plastic issues.

-O

Good point.  I use Model Masters for about 95% of my painting, never had that issue with a Hasegawa kit (yet).  What about environmental factors?  Heat, hunidity?  You might want to also try cleaning the plastic with a mild detergent and then rinsing it thoroughly, then repeating with a bit of running alcohol, then water and soap again.  Afterwards, quickly wipe the plastic dry with a paper towel and then let sit for a few hours.  There may be a release agent that isn't going away and is interacting with the paint.

Rich

oortiz10

Sparrow,

I've thought that it might be "bad plastic," but I've built only 3 Hase kits in my day.  I'd find it weird that all three Hase kits, the only three I've built, all have plastic issues.

-O

 

 

My guess is humidity.

I have NEVER washed a kit in my life and I have never had paint issues.

I just recently started wiping everything down with alcohol before painting because it does wonders for killing the sanding dust. I assume it also gets the elusive mold release off too.

Maybe try a good primer? I liked Tamiya when I could get it. Then I used spray Mr. Surfacer 1200. Now that I can't get that I am using Krylon Gray.

I guess since I am a late joiner I can post these in here. I just recently (within the last 2 weeks) finished a pair of long nosed Phantoms. I probably spent less than a month on the pair. I really love how easily Hasegawa kits go together.

First, the G.

Weapons are from Hasegawa. I mixed and matched green and white mavericks because I recall seeing that a lot during the Desert Storm. As I always do with Hasegawa Phantoms, the seats are from True Details.

The E.

I wanted to build a Phantom in Euro1 and I wanted an early laser guided bomb setup. I am not sure if the paint scheme and the Pave Knife ever saw service together, but I had like 4 Pave Knife pods in the spares box so I decided I needed to give one a home. I also wanted to show a version with the TISEO gear.

Have a little dilemma.  I'm walking the line between buying an AM pitt/not buying an AM pit.  Yesterday I found out Steel Beach makes a F-4J update for the Monogram kit that includes pieces for a correct rear cockpit.  I would do this since it is much cheaper than the Legend resin pit.  However, I really do not like the seats in the kits and would like to get a pair of resin ones in there, but the bottoms of the seats are molded to the cokcpit tub, making removal very difficult.  The Legend pit is $20-25 while the update set is 9 and Verlinden Mk.7 seats would be about 7.   I'm kinda leaning towards the Legend pit....

I've used the legend, velinden and Aires Mk7 seats, and honestly, I think the Aires is the best deal.  It seems to me to have cleaner detail, and you can get a version without molded in straps.  They do come with a nice simple set of PE straps and buckles.  The ejection loops are also PE, but look great when painted.

redraider56

Have a little dilemma.  I'm walking the line between buying an AM pitt/not buying an AM pit.  Yesterday I found out Steel Beach makes a F-4J update for the Monogram kit that includes pieces for a correct rear cockpit.  I would do this since it is much cheaper than the Legend resin pit.  However, I really do not like the seats in the kits and would like to get a pair of resin ones in there, but the bottoms of the seats are molded to the cokcpit tub, making removal very difficult.  The Legend pit is $20-25 while the update set is 9 and Verlinden Mk.7 seats would be about 7.   I'm kinda leaning towards the Legend pit....

paintsniffer

I guess since I am a late joiner I can post these in here. I just recently (within the last 2 weeks) finished a pair of long nosed Phantoms. I probably spent less than a month on the pair. I really love how easily Hasegawa kits go together.

 

First, the G.

Weapons are from Hasegawa. I mixed and matched green and white mavericks because I recall seeing that a lot during the Desert Storm. As I always do with Hasegawa Phantoms, the seats are from True Details.

 

 

 

 

The E.

I wanted to build a Phantom in Euro1 and I wanted an early laser guided bomb setup. I am not sure if the paint scheme and the Pave Knife ever saw service together, but I had like 4 Pave Knife pods in the spares box so I decided I needed to give one a home. I also wanted to show a version with the TISEO gear.

 

 

good looking bird......keep the cats away from that ledge.....

BTW; In Italy they say "Scusi, Uzi?"....lol......

Oh that's only a 1 story drop. I don't have cats though so if anything happened it would be my fault.

I don't display anything there, but there was pretty decent light there at the moment.

Thanks 'Sniff, great work! Yeah the dual colours on the Mavericks looks good....Have ATG, Will Travel!

Hi Everyone,

About a month ago I mentioned a DVD that was released this week.  I got my copy and I must highly recommend it.  It contains actual footage of gun cameras and aft cameras capturing ordnance exploding.  Also some footage I have not seen before of some aircraft like the T-28 and A-26A (B-26K).  Of course there is a lot of phootage of Phantoms!  And the price is very good, only $6.98.  Here is a link:

http://www.amazon.com/Air-War-Vietnam-1964-1972-Various/dp/B004X60QME/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1311038751&sr=8-7 

Ken

Here you go Dom and Ken.  And you thought I was joking.

That is so cool Berny!!!  I would really like to see a video of that dropping and impacting!

Ken

LOL!

That is perfect, they even have it bolted to the bracket through the original flange!

Is that a dummy fuse, Berny, or did they put some real TNT in that bowel?

Those shots are 'keepers' for sure....

Thanks for the confirmation Berny!

the special bomb and decals are in the Hasegawa 1/72 Skyraider kit, too,,,,,,,so, if you want one, they are out there,,,,,the bomb sprue is also included in one of the VNAF or USAF boxings, the Fist of the Fleet decal for the "bomb" is only in the Navy boxing though

Hey Berny, now that is a Real Stink Bomb!!!!

        Sniffer you got some nice looking birds there!

         Now for the Rest of the story; last week or so I posted the beginnings of this plane, and since I do not have High Speed I had to wait a bit to bring the process and finished photos to ya, so here we go. As stated before I am building this model for the Reels Category at a local show in Roanoke Va on Aug. 13. It is from "The Great Santini" with Robert Duvall. The true squad at Beaufort Sc is VMFA-251, but the only photo i could find to relate to the movie was the one pictured here. All of  the squadron markings and specific no.s are homemade using experts choice paper and microscale fluids and film. This post will be a little photo heavy as I stated before I have dial up so I had to load when I could.

Enjoy!

a close up of the practice pods on the Rails

forgot the step up

THANK FOR LOOKING!!!!

James

James, that is a nice looking Marine Phantom.  Great job on the painting and weathering.  Something to be proud of. 

Robert Duvall has always been one of my favorate actors.  No matter what he stars in, he brings that character to life. 

Marvelous Rhino with an Irish twist! She's going onto the Honour Wall as we speak...

Love the panel line accenting, and the decal work is top notch -- she's a real winner!

Grab a badge!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thanks Berny and Mike, your comps mean more than you know. Duavall is one of my favs as well LOVED him in Apocalypse Now (all time favorite movie), lot of Napalm dropped from F-4s. Funny how it all come back around. Still got that C comin'!!!!

James

While waiting for inspiration to strike as to what to do about the metallics for my lineup of Phantoms, I thought I'd work on the preliminaries for Hasegawa's RF-4B, which I'll be doing in the VMFP-3 bicentennial scheme. I've been working up the cockpit, which was sprayed with MM Acryl Dark Gull Gray. The panels were brushed over with MS Satin and took the eleven instrument decals very well.

There's even a radar display decal, which was treated with a drop of MS Krystal Clear to suggest a lens. I put the forward fuselage together with gel CA and began dressing the joints, and mounted the tub to the nose gear well roof. I have five Phantoms in various stages now, a couple of nights ago I made a start on spraying the missiles. For this one, the wing and rear fuselage assembles are together, the AB cans are sprayed and the drop tanks are assembled.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe it.  I was just given the complete set of "World Air Power Journal" issues 1-43 including the indices.  In addition, I was also given the first 11 issues of "International Air Power Review".  I have only had a chance to scan a few pages so far, but there is a lot of color photographs along with detailed information.  Very, very cool.  The person that gave them to me is a member of the local chapter of IPMS.

Ken

Ken -- you lucky sonofa... Enjoy those volumes, I salivate at the thought!

Today's progress:

I pressed on with the cockpit of the Hasegawa RF-4B, here she is mostly together:

The seats are just resting in place for the shot, they need some tape harnesses installing and their ejection pull rings painted and installed. The Hasegawa cockpit seems to have the same affliction as the earlier-tool Fujimi inasmuch as that the GIB has no eyeline over the cockpit sill, he is effectively 'down in the hole.' Ah well, there's less play in the parts in this one, the most I could do would be to shim the fit under the seat, and I'd need to be sure of the seat clearing the canopy to do that. Luckily the seats can go in from the top last thing before the canopy goes on, so I have that option.

I took another crack at the NMF areas, I sanded away the worst of the acrylic splotches and was about to go with enamels when I spotted the Talon acrylic I bought last year. Non-toxic, no thinning... I gave it another go. The result was almost as bad as last time, but now I have five sets of stabilators to sand back to bare plastic (the distributors decided not to bring Mr. Levelling Thinner into this country... GRRR). I turned up an ancient bottle of MM Chrome Silver, found a bit of sludge left in the bottom and was going to bin it, but thought what the hey, give it a go... Tamiya X-20 brought it back to life no questions asked, and it flowed onto the tail areas of five models (there's a Has -C that's not in this pic and which might become my sixth for this GB) with a smoothness that makes me lament the toxicity of these paints. See my blog for a full write-up...

Next -- I can start masking for the second metallic shade around the tails of at least some of these birds, and hopefully clean up the stabiliators for another pass with enamels. I'll get the cockpit into place on the RF, clean up the joints and attach the clear part of the recon nose. Then onto the intakes, and build up the body... I'll still put priority on the Fujimi -K, that one is closest the finish line and I would like to see her done in the quite near future.

Cheers, Mike

Hi MIke,

Looks like you are full speed ahead with your assembly line.  Looking very nice so far! 

Ken

Ken:

You're a lucky guy! I have a pile of of weapons journals from the 80's, I'll see if I can dig them out.

Mike:

Single handedly re-opened the F-4 assembly line! Hey that cockpit looks far too neat & tidy.

Wow TB379, that is some sharp work alright !! I should have waited a bit before I started my S, some good ideas I've seen on this Forum like painting the NMF before attaching the stabilizers etc. Would make masking easier. Once the S is done I might look into a larger scale

Some phabulous work on the honour wall too guys, not to mention the WIP's.

Not much to report on from here. No progress since my last post although I have a new office / hobby room which will make life easier ( the lock on the door will be great to keep the ankle biters out )

Ken: Wow! Good score on those journals! I hold a massive collection of 4 of those! Volumes 14, 15, 17, and 19. Wish I could have afforded more of those, but couldn't at the time!

Mike: Looking good! I can't seem to find the time to sit down at the desk these last few days! When I do, I seem to get very little done! You are a monster!