MiG Killers Group Build, 7/07 to 6/08

OK, so I finally finished up the F-4 yesterday. I pulled the canopy masks off and kinda like I was worrying about , some paint got inside a gap. The windscreen had paint inside of it so I pryied it off and ran some sandpaper on it to lift it. Not great but not too bad either. I will wash it in some future to see if it clears up better. Fingers crossed. I had a family emergency today so I will try to fix the canopy and post photos tomorrow.

Steve

Well fellow Mig Killer GB'rs here are some completed pics. Just to recap this build for ya. It is the AMT Ertl kit and it is one of the worst kits I have ever encountered. Nothing fit well and the detail was non existant. I did do some rescribing on this one, that was a first for me. I used the Super Scale mig killers decal sheet and they were terriffic. I noticed they are very fragile and lift very easily if handled too much. This after a few coats of gloss on top?, go figure. I could not get the canopies to fit properly as a result some paint got on the windshield. I poped it off and sanded the paint off and re-futured. In the photos it is not glued back on yet.

As for the subject. This is the aircraft of CDR Sam Flynn who shot down a Mig -21 in June 1972 from VF-31 flying off the USS Saratoga.

Hope you enjoy the photos guy's and all comments and critizism is always welcome. I enjoyed this GB just wished I had a Hasegawa kit for it. Thanks Rand for hosting this GB and I may build another if I can find a subject I like

Steve

Steve,

You did a FANTASTIC job and it's been a pleasure hosting this GB.

WELL DONE!

Thanks a lot Rand. It was a tough kit to build but not too bad that it could be beaten into submission. I have a Eduard interior set but the kit was so bad that I could not put it in withouth major surgery. The interior was very basic and nothing like an J model.

Steve

Great work Steve, It looks great.  You're a brave man to build an AMT kit.  They'd be overpriced even if they're free.  But you were able to turn yours into a beautiful model.  Congrats. 

That squadron has some interesting markings.  The "Navy" on the side looks much larger than the usual Phantom markings.  I also like the bombcat on the side.   

Semper Fi,

Chris

Thanks for the comments Chris glad you liked it. You are correct about the kit. It is a total piece of junk. Had to rescribe most of it and nothing fit well on it. The canopies seemd like they were from another kit they were so off. Still trying to fix the front window. The plastic was also very strange, acted weird when sanded, it just felt funny. I have built Hasegawa kits with the Superscale decals before and they look fine but the NAVY on this one does look large, photos of the plane do show it large but I think the problem is the kit scale out. The tail decals also had to be trimmed back a little. The reason I had this kit in my stash was because it was given to me by a VF-31 pilot who was there during the Mig Kill. I built his aircraft last year and he gave me four F-4 kits as a gift for building his plane. This was the only 1/48 scale he gave me so this GB gave me the excuse to build another. I will be giving this one to him also as he was very close to CDR Flynn. As a side note, Cdr Flynn just resently passed away.

Steve

Oh, I thought that maybe the squadron marked the aircraft that way.  The fact is, that Navy and Marine Corps squadrons don't always follow their "Paint and Insignia manuals" to the letter.

It's a great idea to give the model back to your friend.  I'm sure he'll enjoy it, and think of CDR Flynn when he sees it. 

Semper Fi,

Chris   

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I kind of burned out on my F-4E, so I took a break from it and tried to a quick build, the Italeri 1/35 MTM Barchino, which turned into a major build due to trying to a bunch of filing and sanding, followed by some scratch building, followed by lots of cussing.  I'm on the home stretch with the 'quick build', so I should get my F-4E going again soon.

 Henry

Well, if anyone is still following this, I finally got started here. This is my 1/72 scale Hasegawa F-4C Phantom, the one with six MiG kills.

Here's the cockpit assembled and some paint on it:

Then I installed the intakes and splitter plates:

Here is the wing all assembled too:

That's all I got done so far. I'll post more when I get more progress. 

Nice work progress Duke. I am still watching this Gb so keep on building my friend. There is one thing I could never understand is how do you paint the completed cockpit?. I have to paint all the individual parts first and then assemble them.

Steve

Thanks Steve. I usually use a small pointed brush to paint the details. Something about getting it all assembled and seeing it come to life under my brush I guess. Besides, this way I don't have to scrape paint from the attachment points to glue anything in.

I'll get some more work done later this week. Thanks again for posting! 

Thanks for the update Duke. I know what ya mean about scraping the paint off the attachment points. I just dont thing I could handle getting around all the details. God luck with it.

Steve

Okay, more progress on this model today. This one is coming along well.

I finally got the cockpit installed, the fuselage put together and the wings installed:



Here is a shot of the cockpits inside the fuselage. I have a bit of flash to remove and some touchup to do to the ejector rings above the seats:

Thanks for looking comments are welcome. 

Looks great duke. It's beginning to really take shape now. Keep on trucking.

Steve

heres is an up date for my mig killer its fresh out of the paintbooth as of lastnight. all i have to do is future it and then decal it and its done. i may do a wash and arm it but i havnet made my mind up on that as of now

That looks good GA!  Can't wait to see it done.  I'm getting closer to starting on my F-4E again.

Henry

Lookin' Good Duke,

Lookin' Good GA.  Go ahead and give it a wash (Temporary-out-of-the-way style in case you don't like it).  It'll help you make up your mind.  Sprite makes for good modeling fuel.  I like Sprite Zero myself.    

Henry, we're looking forward to seeing the F-4E

Semper Fi,

Chris

Well, when I finally tookl all the tape off the F-4, I found that I had this problem to deal with:



I thought maybe it was just misaligned, but then I looked as the other side:



Well, I can kiss all those panel lines goodbye, cuz when I sand that down, I'm NOT re-scribing! I'll be dealing with that when I get more time. I'm actually quite surprised that a Hasegawa model fits this poorly!

Now, a week later, here is where this one is. I finally got the bad gaps filled and sanded on my F-4 Phantom:

Now I just want to install the tail planes and then start painting it before I put on the landing gear and underwing stores. 

I'll post more when I get further along.

And now I'm further along....

Here is my Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-4 Phantom sporting a new basecoat of dark green for the three-tone camo pattern it's going to be wearing. This shows how well the seams were filled. It also shows how well the paint dripped a little after my spray bombing:



I'll be working on the rest of the camo pattern later and then afterwards  I'll install the landing gear and underwinig store. Yeah, it feels good to see progress on this one! 

Thanks for looking and comments are welcome. 

Hey Guys,

Sorry I havnt been around much but I have been checking in on posts. I have been VERY busy with my 1/32 Revell Tomcat and it is 65% done. I am seriously thinking about entering it in the IMPS Model Show here in April depending on how it turns out. My first model contest.

Now Duke, You have done an outstanding job on your Phantom. I know this is a bit late but here is a tip I want to pass along to you for next time you run into the gap problem you had with your F-4. I encountered this same problem on my F-14 and fixed this using white vinyl plastic, from a window blind, (YES, a window blind). I had some old damaged window blinds and cut some strips and off and cut them into smaller strips and used them to fill in the gaps. I then glued a few small strips cut to scale and applied them over the worst gap areas. I then applied putty where needed and sanded it flush to model surface then re-scribed where needed. I posted a progress update on the Aircraft forums showing what I did. This worked very GOOD and saved me alot of grief (and putty). Look up my last progress WIP post to see the pictures and you will see what I did. Once sanded and painted it will look like there was never any gap problem. Give it a try next time.

Now on a different note, I am planning to start the Mig Killers II GB in June. I'll keep you guys posted on the date in June we will start it. I will post an announcement here and wait to see who wants to participate. No GB badges this time and non-US Mig killers will be included.

See ya on the flip side.

Duke, nice progress on the F-4 looking good so far. Got one question for you though. When doing multiple colours on the camoflage I usually do the lighter colours first and progress to the darker. Any reason you did the green first and not the tan.

Steve

Well, to be honest, I did the Dark Green first because I still had a nearly full rattle can of that color, and I was painting a few Russian Armor models with it and decided to shoot the Phantom as well. The rest will be either hand painted or airbrushed; depending upon whether I can get a couple more spray bottles. Hopefully it'll turn out okay.

Thanks for the comment.  

Air Master Modeler wrote:

Sorry I havnt been around much but I have been checking in on posts. I have been VERY busy with my 1/32 Revell Tomcat and it is 65% done. I am seriously thinking about entering it in the IMPS Model Show here in April depending on how it turns out. My first model contest.

I may go to that one.  It's quite a drive for me, but I can hang out with family/friends in Medina.  Then again, the Cincy Reds are playing the Cleveland Indians that weekend.  I may want to stay in Cincy.  I'll let you know

Go Tribe, Semper Fi,

Chris

Okay, I've been really busy lately, but I have managed to get some quality build time in and managed to splash some paint on my 1/48 Eduard Mirage III:

I hope to get this completed by the deadline.