The Official F-4 Phantom II Group Build 2012: Rhinomania III

Beckyhead -- they look absolutely fantastic and I hope one day to do seats that look like those when I have the chance to do the big Tamiya bird. I have some Verlinden seats in this scale so I can appreciate the work that went into these.

One word of advice, though -- please do not change the title in the subject line (enthusiasm notwithstanding!). Otherwise in all subsequent replies to your message the name of this GB would have changed to "Ejection Seats Are Done!" I've changed it back with this post.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Finally, I am finished with the ejection seats. The second one went a little quicker when I got some PE techniques down. I used Eduards Brassin Seat for the Tamiya 1/32 Phantom. The only qualms I have are with the seat cushions...I wish they were cast separately and it would have made painting so much easier.

I didn’t want identical seats, so I made each one a little different form the other to give them some character. When I was building the seat, I used the excellent,  “The Modern Phantom Guide: The F-4 Phantom Exposed”. The photos in that book were a life saver, and ensured accurate placement of additional cabling, painting, and attachment of all the PE parts.

Next up: the cockpit. Now, I actually get to touch the plastic model for the first time! I could use some suggestions as to adding more detail, especially in the areas behind the ejection seats, and between the ejection seats.

That's a fine looking bird Jim, looking forward to seeing it with canopy, stabs, and cans.

As long as that little glue spot on the bottom wing looks like weathering, it's all good.......it was a dirty bird....

 Well, the "F" finally stands on its own now, with the attachment of the gear! Also added were all the gear doors and some of the bits that stick out, like blade antenna and such.

I did have one minor accident as a drop of cement from my Touch-and-Flow got away from me and landed on the lower wing surface. It did damage the finish and started on the underlying paint before I was able to remove it. I was able to do some fine sanding and re-sprayed the area with my finish coat. It's still a little visible to me, but it is on the bottom of the wing and unlikely anyone will ever see it.

Still to go is adding the tanks and pylons, (and of course the canopies!) and whatever weapons I decide. It will have sidewinders of course, but what else I can't decide. Early F's were not capable of using  AIM-7 Sparrows, but a later upgrade allowed them to carry the AIM-120 AMRAAM's. I read that these were not available anyway, after the upgrade, until much later on. As I mentioned before, I may go ahead and hang a MER under the centerline with 6 MK-82's bombs to do something different.

As to the next build, I still haven't decided on what to add next, though I do find Hasegawa's F-4S sitting on my side desk and the instructions in my hand more and more. It may be time to do something other than an Air Force bird. But should it be one of the Navy versions or perhaps the Marine version.....? Decisions, decisions, decisions. It would be interesting to hang one of those gun pods I have several of under this one. Maybe some bombs in an attack role

Ok, I've decided to add the Brassin ejection seats and the Eduard exterior set! No more!

Cheers

PS. Don't hold your breath waiting for this build, Mike. It's probably going to be at the end of the year!

Lucky you -- have wanted to do this bird since it came out! looking forward to the build pics! Will add it to the build roster,

Mike/TB379

I went into LHS today, they have 2 of the Tamiya F4-C/D kits on stock. I'm picking mine up in 2 weeks.

I had a look inside. Massive fuselage, the things as long as my forearm. And it comes in one piece. The office slots in underneath. Details are very good. I think I'll do this kit OOB with some scratch. Not much around for this anyways, was thinking about a bit of Eduard but may be nice to leave this one alone.

Cheers

The RF-4 looked lonely sitting on the shelf and I thought it would like to see the world.

RAG -- adjusting your listing right away. The cameradie in this squadron is top notch, I salute you guys!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Great news here guys. Jim (Buffirn)  offered me his Hasegawa F-4S as a replacement for my original which crashed and burnt at the end of Rhino 2. We arranged a trade and when the package arrived today I found Jim had also slipped in a Italeri RF-4C/E.

Thanks Jim, your a top bloke!

Mike could you adjust my entry on page 1 to include both of these 1/72 birds please.

Jim -- looking great! Congratulations on being the first completion for Rhinos III! Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday but I was having some connectivity problems at this end, plus couldn't log into FSM overnight. I'll get your build onto p1 right away.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Craft glue stick for tacking canopies on? And it worked out well for you?

Can you take a pic of the product in question? I'd love to find something new (and improved) to try temporarily attaching canopies while painting.

Mike,

Let's call this one complete.  Time to start on the next Phantom.

All my Phantom kits are in storage and inaccessible at the moment.  I will have to see if I can pick up something for this build.

Looking fantastic, Jim! Your paint looks so smooth!  Yes, will definitely be completing mine too -- I have a black panel wash on its way, after my Meteor camo experience I know the Dark Dirt is not dark enough to develop a clear effect over colours as deep as these.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Finally re-opened the front offices. I tried to get some decent photos with my camera-phone and these were the best I could do after editing the results.

Wish I could get a bit better fill around the wind screen. The edges are still visible to me.

I don't remember who it was that suggested using the craft glue stick to temporarily tack the canopies in place, but it worked like a charm and the glue was easy to remove after popping the canopies loose. Thanks a bunch!

Jim

it's time for my first post since there's a lack of free time!!!!My project was to build a Greek F-4E P.I. 2000.So i used the 1/32 revell kit since it is my opinion the best choice... Although there are some inaccuracies in some points(closed aux doors,taller vertical fin and unslotted stabs for the E versions) the kit is very good with nice detail and it has 4 aim-120 which are used now by the greek phantoms and the correct shape of the radome due to the installation of the APG-65 radar.I also used the flightpath exterior set for the F-4E which includes a great amound of detail(formation lights,hook,chaff-flares dispensers,nozzles,stabilators,rbf tags,detailed gear bays and lanfing gears) the legend cockpit and the opened aux doors with the engine bay and the corrected fin

Looking good, Jim! Your masking is a whole lot sharper than mine was, and your paint looks nice and smooth. Which shades did you end up using? I remember you mentioning it but I can't locate the post. I'm thinking my own Luft RF should be back on my agenda before long, and your is an inspiration!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

A bit of progress: finished painting the metallic areas around the exhaust. You can't see it here, but the bottom is sprayed with a darker color, plus I added a bit of thin flat black to simulate the sooty exhaust stains.

Also added is the decal warning here of the arrestor (spelling???) hook and I cemented in my turned brass replacement for the broken pitot tube on the tail. A bit of paint will be needed here.

I'm very tempted by this. I usually don't have any double ups on models, I have only one of each aircraft I have built so far. Having completed a F-4N for the last build I am very tempted by Tamiya's offering in 1/32 of the F4-C/D

Put me down and hopefully I can get it done in time.

Cheers

Shes a beauty  Jim  

And that Luftwaffe bird is looking pretty sharp too Jimbot58 - Not far to the finish line now!!

Nice start RedCorvette - I love watching the different paint schemes as they come along 

TB, I have another Monogram F-4 that I plan to build as a Happy Houligan.  I had the pleasure of playing with those guys while I was a B-52 Navigator.  They chased us all the way into Canada one day.  Lost at 400' over Manitoba with my Radar Navigaitor puking his lungs out!  Ah, those were the days!

One more time into the model box!

Well done, Jim -- a nice, clean job you can be proud of! Is it going on a stand? Will you be taking more pics, or should I use one of these for the gallery? Because... You are our first completion of Rhinos III!

Cheers, M/TB379

Well, after way too long and 3 Rhino GBs, my F-4C is done!  I learned a whole lot on this build.  I had been out of the hobby for probably 15 years, so all my skills were rusty.  Those skills are better now, but there is still room for improvement.  I hope Bernie would approve of my work.

Welcome aboard, TS! I hope your first GB is a memorable and fun experience, and you'll find a fund of experience and Phantom info here. I'll add your builds to page 1 -- feel free to dive into those kits whenever you like!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Hello, My name is tsculton. I would like to join this group build with a 1-48 Hase F-4C/D in Missouri ANG markings and a n 1-72 Hase F-4E in Missouri ANG markings also. I may also throw in an Testors 1-48 F-4G just for fun if time allows. This is my first GB here so if there is anything else I need to do please let me know.

Thank You

tsculton

Jim -- Oh, you're in Denver? I have a friend in Longmont and she's had 24" +, so I know where you're coming from on the blizzard! No worries, take your time, there's plenty of it -- and I think the F looks fantastic!

Cheers M/TB379

As always, my work is going slow as ever. I did finally start the exhaust area of the "F", and managed to mask and shoot one of the colors. This was after remasking the soon-to-be metallic areas when I removed the original masking too soon.

It is still difficult to find time and with today being Saturday, it should be a nice day to relax and work on models. However, the snow here in Denver is finally letting up and there is the matter of 18+ inches of snow in front of my house and a similar amount piled up around my elderly mothers house as well. If I live through the day, perhaps I shall find 5 minutes or so to relax and work on my kits.

Jim

Ouch! That's old fashioned Airfix, I guess! I remember struggling as a kid with their Orion spaceplane the same way, long fuselage parts with no bottom spacer. Well done on the re-engineering! Hasegawa and Fujimi have spacers molded in too, with varying degrees of success -- Fujimi re-engineered their approach in their later kits to get a better result.

Cheers, looking forward to seeing this bird done!

M/TB379

Thunderbolt379

Hi Mark,

I remember building that kit when i was a kid, I still have it in a box somewhere. It's great to see older models given TLC and modern techniques, and this one should look great when those markings go on!

One point -- the Phantom was of course an area-ruled design, so it was meant to have at least some 'wasp-waist' effect to the fuselage. It's fairly apparent on most of the marques, though the bigger engines in the British birds pretty much put paid to the effect, which in itself would have contributed to them being the slowest Phantoms around. Do you feel that Airfix took this characteristic too far in their tooling? Or were the parts just really warped? :-)

Cheers, Mike/TB379

 The Airfix fuselage is molded with an open bottom and the thin sides warp in, leaving a huge gap with the top of the wing.  The worst spot is about mid-span where there was about a 1/4" gap on each side.   I made sprue spacers to spread the bottom of the fuselage back out to minimize the gap with the wing.   Not hard, just takes some trail & error fitting.  Had the same thing with every Airfix Phantom I've built, going back to the 70's.  The fuselage of Monogram kit (which I think is the best 1/72 F-4 on the market) actually has a molded bottom to alleviate this problem.

Mark