Pappy Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) Well folks, the Academy 1/48 F-4B is out and I bet more than a few of us were visited by the fat man in the red suit! I will not review the kit, it has already been done by more knowledgeable people than me and in far greater depth than I could ever achieve, so I will concentrate of what I am doing differently and the improvements as I go along. I don't follow the assembly sequence as per the detsructions. There is nothing wrong with the instruction sequence per se, I just prefer to build the kit in a different order. The kit has a lot more fine detail than it's comparable rival, the venerable Hasegawa offering, and unlike the Hasegawa kit, the panel is fully recessed. I will build mine as a VF-111 MiG killer flown by Weigand/Freckleton on 6 Mar 1972. The kit includes the option of a deployed In-Flight Refuelling (IFR) probe, as well as very delicate and realistic undercarriage components.This is a pity as my kit will be depicted in-flight with the IFR probe deployed. Hopefully this will mean I can save some time as I can omit the landing gear and gear bay painting and assembly. Most Phantom variants featured a pair of auxiliary engine inlet doors (UK Spey powered F-4's were different) underneath the fuselage. These cycled with hydraulic power and were closed when in flight. As my kit would be wheels up, these doors had their locating arms sliced off and they were glued into place. The main gear door consist of three sections. These were glued together and then also fitted into the gear openings. In theory, kit u/c doors should fit their corresponding opening, however, in practice this is not always the reality. I am pleased to report that the gear doors fit pretty well, not perfect, but not far from it. I will use some Mr Surfacer to eliminate any remaining gaps once the parts have set. The nose gear bay also received the same treatment. Note that there is supposed to be a gap between the forward and main nose gear door. I assembled and installed the main gear bay walls in order to provide some rigidity to the wings during handling as I was afraid they would flex, however I have omitted building up the nose gear bay box structure. The cockpit tub is supposed to mount directly onto this (the tub underside is actually the nose gear bay roof), I will glue the tub directly to the upper fuselage cockpit opening instead. Academy supply the kit in several different shades of plastic (ahh, memories of Matchbox...), I am not a fan of this, some people insist that it will help with painting (applying white for example) or that it will appeal to the non painters (eh?), personally I think it is a gimmick. I also hate working with white or black plastic. The upper fuselage is one molding (not unlike the Tamiya 1/32 kits), however you still need to attach the tail boom section. There is a great potential here to create a multitude of ill fitting seams, however, again, Academy's engineering is first rate. I have attached the upper tail boom half to the upper fuselage, I also glued in the engine divider to the upper fuselage. The instructions would have you glue this in after the assembled engine exhausts are glued to the lower wing and this then also attaches to the lower wing. I didn't fancy trying to mask all that so I will just install the engines after the wing is offered up to the upper fuselage half. The burner cans will be installed after all the painting and weathering is completed Here is shot showing the lower tail section dry fitted to the other components Academy seemingly has plans to release other Phantom variants based on the plethora of different fin caps, nose antennas and various lumps and antennas included throughout the sprues. There is an opening on the upper fuselage which requires a blanking cover. On USAF variants, they used a receptacle type of IFR system as opposed to the 'probe and drogue' style favoured by the Navy types. the corresponding part fit reasonably well, however it did need a light application of filler to blend the part in. Likewise the IFR probe housing, The nose antenna fit very well, I just used a small bead of Mr Surfacer 500 to fair the part in to the radome. There has been some criticism of the radome/nose attachment position. Apparently, , Academy goofed and made the seam perpendicular relative to the lateral line (horizontal), whereas in reality the attachment should be canted forward approx 1 degree. This will involve attaching the radome, filling in the seam and re-scribing a perfect circle angled forward by about one degree. I will leave mine as is, I don't expect to lose any sleep over it but if anyone is keen...... The rear cockpits of USN/Marine F-4's did not have pilots, so there were no dual controls fitted. The curious item located on the floor of the rear cockpit should not be there, as it is a base for a rear joystick. I installed it as it will be hard to see wilt a figure installed and it meant I only had to fill one hole (for the joystick) rather than two for the component locating holes, On the subject of figures (ahem, 'scuze me while I get out my soapbox) Manufacturers -Please Note! Thank you for including realistic figures but can we have figures that: a. Actually touch the flight controls b. Fit within the cockpit t of the aircraft hey are supposed to fly c. Exhibit some sort of pose other than watching TV or giving the thumbs up! (Rant off) I had to shave a portion of the lower legs from the rear crewman (the left one in the pic below, although the figures are identical on the sprues as provided) so the rear instrument panel would fit. I also cut off the right wrist and re-attached it turned through 90 degrees as if he was about to press something (as opposed to giving a thumbs up), I will need to make an index finger though! The pilot figure's left wrist was also separated and re-attached at 90 degrees (horizontal) to appear as if he was manipulating the throttles (which are not included BTW!) I have cut off the joystick from its pedestal and it will be fitted to the pilots right hand as it does not reach without modification, Well, that is all for now, cheers, Pappy Edited December 30, 2012 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammy da fish Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Good start there, will be watching with intrerest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Looking good, looks interesting and I can only echo your sentiment regarding crew figures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Lookin' good, I'll follow your build thread with interest. I'll add more to your rant re crew with, collective and cyclic controls missing from/in helo kits. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 (edited) Good start there, will be watching with intrerest. Thanks Simon Looking good, looks interesting and I can only echo your sentiment regarding crew figures! Lookin' good, I'll follow your build thread with interest. I'll add more to your rant re crew with, collective and cyclic controls missing from/in helo kits. Colin G'day Para and Colin, it appears as though I am preaching to the choir with respect to crew figures! There has been some criticism of the kit supplied seats on some forums. As provided, the kit seats represent MB MK.7 seats. The seats are well rendered however the main beam is a little to simplified, lacking the prominent features of the drogue gun and barostatic time release mechanisms, and there areno seat belt details provided at all. Any kit seat will always be inferior to an aftermarket resin seat, otherwise what is the point of buying an aftermarket seat? The F-4B was initially fitted with a Martin baker Mk.5 seat. The main visual difference was the parachute pack. The front of the main chute housing was exposed and the 'soft' chute housing was visible. The rear half of the housing had a hard metal back shell. The Mk.7 replaced this with a fully enclosed fiberglass chute housing, as depicted in the kit. The Mk.7 seat was retrofitted throughout the F-4B fleet and by the end of 1969, the F-4B fleet was fitted with a Mk.7 seat. My jet depicts a '72 bird so I don't need to swap out the seat, plus with aircrew installed, the seat belt issue also goes away. I may add a few bits and pieces to the main beam that are missing as mentioned previously. The rear instrument panel has some great detail moulded onto it (ditto the front panel), however there is one conspicuous error. The radar control handle is depicted as mounting directly onto the panel. This is incorrect as the handle should be mounted onto a control box which itself is mounted horizontally relative to the panel. Luckily, this is an easy fix, I simply cut a small square of plastic sheet and glued it against the panel. The box is angled slightly to account for the angle of the instrument panel. The radar control handle will be added after painting of the instrument panel is completed. Also, for those that wish to depict their kits with the IFR probe deployed, don't forget to remove the scribed sections from theright hand corner of the cockpit front and rear bulkheads before you install them into the tub (like I did!) as it will be much easier than trying to do so in situ..... Whilst on the matter of the cockpit bulkheads, the rear bulkhead should be vertical, the seat main beam assembly mounts against an angled support. Academy have depicted the rear bulkhead as angled backwards (like the front bulkhead), which is incorrect. I decided to leave it as correcting it would be a major bit of work. If I was to build the kit with open canopies then I would be opting for an aftermarket cockpit set as the sidewall detail is also absent apart from the rear right wall, which is very nicely done, cheers, Pappy Edited December 30, 2012 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atdb27 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Nice start. Do like a good Toom. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplasticsurgeon Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Most Phantom variants featured a pair of auxiliary engine inlet doors (UK Spey powered F-4's were different) underneath the fuselage. These cycled with hydraulic power and were closed when in flight. Not so Pappy - not so. Those doors are present on Spey powered Phantoms - as well as others in the upper fuselage. I crawled under the F-4 at Yeovilton FAAM to see if they could ever remain closed on the ground. The sophistication of a piano hinge and wire spring said no. Airflow under the fuselage pushes them closed in flight. An excellent thread of great interest to those awaiting other variants - thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Not so Pappy - not so. Those doors are present on Spey powered Phantoms - as well as others in the upper fuselage. I crawled under the F-4 at Yeovilton FAAM to see if they could ever remain closed on the ground. The sophistication of a piano hinge and wire spring said no. Airflow under the fuselage pushes them closed in flight. An excellent thread of great interest to those awaiting other variants - thanks. Ahh, I knew that the Spey Phantoms had upper aux doors, I didn't realise that they retained the lower aux doors as well, many thanks, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Nice to see you back in the saddle Pappy. I love reading your build threads, always very informative. Following with interest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 (edited) Nice to see you back in the saddle Pappy. I love reading your build threads, always very informative. Following with interest G'day Ray! I'm glad you enjoy reading the build threads, Now for today's update. I have played around with the crew figures. The RIO now has an index finger! I sliced off his thumb and re-attached the slightly pared down item as his index finger The pilot's right wrist was hollowed out slightly so that the joystick will fit into his hand I also started on some painting, beginning with the instrument panels Notice that the radar control handle has been attached to its control box. A quick dry fit to make sure all the parts will still fit I also painted compressor faces (they are only dry-fitted into the intake trunks for safe keeping) Finally, the exhaust turbine faces and the burner cans themselves cheers, Pappy Edited December 31, 2012 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelvk Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Very interesting stuff! Two toned plastic, eh? That's a blast from the past (or a gundam kit..).. Lovely neat work on the instrument panels.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Velociweiler Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I'm wondering if the multi-colour approach is actually more for the benefit of Academy themselves, rather than the modeller. As is becoming commonplace elsewhere, I'm wondering if Academy intend to release a pre-built incarnation of this mould to appeal to collectors who don't want to build; and that the colour\parts breakdown of this kit is to facilitate a production line for pre-built\prepainted replicas to be efficiently knocked out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfpack Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Hey everyone, Pappy's back. Good thread man What about the Mirages? W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) I'm wondering if the multi-colour approach is actually more for the benefit of Academy themselves, rather than the modeller. As is becoming commonplace elsewhere, I'm wondering if Academy intend to release a pre-built incarnation of this mould to appeal to collectors who don't want to build; and that the colour\parts breakdown of this kit is to facilitate a production line for pre-built\prepainted replicas to be efficiently knocked out? I suppose that is a possibility but I would have thought a collector would want a fully painted replica. If Academy were to sell pre-painted versions, I would have thought moulding the plastic in a neutral colour would be more efficient option as you only need one plastic colour and you are going to paint the thing anyway. Personally I think it is a moot point, my plastic is multicoloured so I will just get on with it now. It will be interesting to see how they mould the remaining Phantom family variants though... Hey everyone, Pappy's back. Good thread man What about the Mirages? G'day Wolfie, thanks. I will get onto them one day but not soon. I want to try and get this one done as a Chrissy build. Which brings us right onto today's update. I have been dealing with the intakes today and they suck (boom-tish!) The intake parts themselves have a few ejector pin marks that need to be dealt with as they will be visible if left unattended. I filled these with putty and sanded them smooth. Note also the three locating holes at the top. These are for the DECM antennas used by other variants (F-4N/J/S), and the antennas themselves are included in the box. In fact you can build an F-4N straight from the box as all the required bits are included if you know what bits you are looking for. Next up were the splitter plates. Good and bad news here. The good news is that unlike their Hasegawa counterparts, these have a backing plate. The Hasegawa equivalents are hollow and look terrible unless they are sheeted over. Top marks to Academy here. The bad news is that the splitter plates do not feature the splitter plate stand-offs or the prominent boundary layer spill ducts (neither do the Hasegawa items either) so I decided to make an attempt at improving them. I began by drilling holes into the corners of the splitter plates. I then used a sharp No.11 blade to open up the hole and neaten up the edges. Having completed one splitter plate I then did the same for the other. It was actually pretty easy and the whole process took no more than 15 minutes and I feel they are already a great improvement over the stock items. There is some internal structure inside these but I have not found many good pics of the upper spill duct area. If anybody can help here I would appreciate a pic or two... The AB liners have been added to the main wing assembly. I am not sure if I will be using the turbine faces as I am thinking of mounting the kit using acrylic rods mounted inside through the exhausts themselves. I would have preferred a simply pole arrangement through the fuselage underside but since the kit will be configured with a centreline tank, this may not be possible. I have also decided to animate the model slightly by having the jet performing a gentle right bank. Academy provides separate ailerons (and rudder) so that these can be depicted in the Phantom's characteristic 'drooping' position as was common when the jet had hydraulic power removed. Although this does simplify my task, the Phantom's flight control system was a little unconventional. Ailerons work differentially i.e when one moves up, the other moves down (duh!), well the F-4 differed here in that the ailerons only moved between neutral (or just slightly above neutral) and downwards. When one aileron was deflected down (on the up-going wing), the opposite aileron remained neutral and a spoiler on the opposite side(on the down-going wing) was deployed to decrease lift on that side. Here is the spot on the starboard side for the aileron. The spoiler unit is directly forward of it. I (very carefully!) used a scriber and razor saw to remove the spoiler doors. I just need to build a basic representation of the spoiler bay as the doors will only be cracked open a little. Once again, I anybody has any good pics of this area I would appreciate a pic of two, cheers, Pappy Edited January 1, 2013 by Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 (edited) Well I thought that I would take a break from the grind of sanding and prep work and reward myself with a little figure painting. Academy provides two options for the aircrew heads with a choice between heads with their visors up or down. strangely, the visor down option does not include an oxy mask or oxy hoses (what the?) so naturally I chose the visor down option. I cut off the moulded on oxy hoses as I will make up new hoses and install these along with the seat belt straps once the crew are attached to their seats. First up, the driver, to which I have already attached the joystick Next up the back seater In addition to the aircrew figures, Academy also supply a neat little figure of an aviator looking up at the sky. Curiously, there is no oxy mask or hose inside the helmet so I quickly knocked up an oxy hose by twisting some fine copper wire around some thicker wire. I have began to add some basic detail to the seats starting with the barostatic time release mechanism Followed by the drogue gun details on the opposite side The drogue chute details and straps still need to be added yet I could add a alot more but as these will be installed into a closed cockpit there is no use getting too carried away. I have also made a very brief start on the cockpit sidewalls which are completely lacking in any detail, cheers, Pappy Edited January 2, 2013 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 (edited) Refer to following post for the next update Pappy Edited January 3, 2013 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Well, back to the grind of building today. I am thinking that the kit will be mounted using acrylic rods through the engine exhausts, so I have started to re-enforce this area as it will be bearing the majority of the kit's weight. I have added some heavy plastic stock around the exhaust tubes to help distibute the weight, hopefully they will be up to the task. I was wondering about what sort of details to add to the cockpit sidewalls I have a 1/48 Hasegawa F.G.Mk1 Fhantom boxing in the stash and I thought that I had bought a Cutting Edge resin cockpit set for the kit. I was correct but I forgot that the set also includes extra parts for an F-4J. By cutting up the 'spare' resin sidewalls to fit the Academy kit, I only needed to scratch up one sidewall component - result! As the sidewalls will not be readily visible due to the installed aircrew, I can live with any detail discrepancies. The final touch was to add some details to the front bulkhead. the item on the left looks like a a flight manual but I have no idea what the greebly on the right is. They were scratched up using scraps of plastic, resin and lead foil, cheers, Pappy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfpack Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Keep it up Pappy. Im bookmarking this for when I start mine. W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Keep it up Pappy. Im bookmarking this for when I start mine. W Why wait? Glad that you are finding my ramblings useful. It was getting a little lonely in here, cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I'm still here watching Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfpack Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Why wait, I've got three F-94s to do next. W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundown Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 (edited) Hi Pappy, You're making great progress so far, certainly up to your usual high standards! I was lucky enough to get this kit for christmas and made a start on it straight away. It's a great looking kit though I'm really not a fan of the multi-coloured parts, especially the white! The biggest problem for me (aside from the lack of sidewall detail) has been the intakes and that's the reason it's back in the box for now. It's great to have full length ducts but I'm not keen on the way they join to the outside of the intake, I'm looking forward to seeing how you tackle them. Keep up the inspirational work! Cheers, Sean Edited January 3, 2013 by Sundown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 (edited) Well, it appears that I am being watched after all! Thanks for the encouragement fellas. The results of todays adventures in styrene land. I was finally able to lay some colour down onto the cockpit and the tub itself I also gave the tub underside a blast of white and a quick wash with some oils Even though the gear will be up, the nosewheel doors have a small gap, I am not sure how much (if any) of the nose gear bay will be visible, so better safe than sorry. I will also need to add part of the nose wheel to the tub underside as well befo re adding the lower forward fusleage part. I have finished tarting up the kit seats and they have now been painted A quick dry fit of the occupants I also wanted to make sure there would be no surprises whan it came time to install the seats Finally the tub was offered up to the fuselage to check clearances The next challenge...... cheers, Pappy Edited January 4, 2013 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hythe Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 (edited) Re: the "orphan" control stick mount for the rear 'pit, I have a vague recollection that, at least on the "B", this is correct - a stick COULD be fitted, potentially for pilot conversion training, but never usually was. I'll have to check my sources, though... By the way, this is a great-looking build so far! Edited January 4, 2013 by hythe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintsPhil Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 You've got my attention too, I love the pilot figures. I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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