Greg B Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Its been a while, 3 moves in 6 months to 3 different countries and ultimately halfway around the world together with retirement, a new career, small daughter and a degree means that time has been tight. Anyway, after finally getting some modelling space and my workdesk, sundries and tools etc unpacked the first kit to hand is the lovely Academy F-4B Phantom in 1:48. I spent quite a bit of time on the Aires cockpit dry fitting, fettling and thinning to get it to fit. It is originally designed for the Hasegawa kits and as such is as much of a drama to get it to fit in this one as well. Their instructions are useless and are beyond vague when it comes to what to remove. You can get it to fit with some creative thinking, especially when it comes to squeezing the nose gear bay in (more on that later). So, cockpit finished, painted and matted down, next step is getting it into the fuselage. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Good to see you back in the saddle so to speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robvulcan Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Nice work and nice subject. Can't have enough phantoms 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luftwaffe Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Amazing how detailed the cockpit is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg B Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 Thanks for the nice comments Gents. The cockpit has now been epoxied into the fuselage. There are small caps in the sills which will be filled later. Because of the rear bulkhead of the resing cockpit, the existing plastic bulkhead has to be removed. I found it easier to razor saw downwards from the rear of the existing slots, therefore removing the plastic in one piece and then reinstate the missing slots with plastic card (the white plastic pieces) Additionally, the floors of the resin cockpit are now paper thin and there is now way that you can get the roof of the nosegear bay in place as it is too thick and there is NO clearance. Therefore the missing bracing was re-instated with plastic strip, after I had to remove a further couple of mm. The red arrow and lines indicates where further plastic has to be removed to clear the step in the resin of the cockpit floor. Currently its being carefully glued together as one side of the cockpit tub has slightly distorted the plastic of the fuselage out, the plan is to glue one side and leave it to cure, then the other side. Much as I like the detail in the Aires sets, there has got to be a better solution to this than what they are currently offering. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Nice looking cockpit Greg, the detail on it is quite an improvement on the kit. It can be annoying when you to do so much fettling to get it to fit, but you seem to have won that battle. I'll be following your build with interest as I have this self same kit lined up to start soon. Cheers John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar2 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Great looking cockpit you've got there. Good to see you back modelling Greg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestFan Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Looking great! Watching and learning I am! FF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I've always heard bad things about getting Aires to fit, but if that's what it looks like (course, you've got to paint it to look like that, which may be a challenge for me) I might have to re-think that for my Hasegawa F-4B! That may be the best looking cockpit I've ever seen on a model. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 (edited) Greg, This has to be one of the NEATEST looking work that I have seen. The cockpit loons IMPRESIVE. SPLENDID work.. I like the wiring... Will be back to see more.. Only thing is I keep seeing purple in your photos and realized it's the BM web URL. I don't sippose you could put that in a corner when you photograph CUZ it hides your details ..just thinking out loud ..no offense . Edit.... Did you do any more on this PHABULOUS phantom.... Can't wait to see more of your lovely work.... Edited February 21, 2015 by HOUSTON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg B Posted February 21, 2015 Author Share Posted February 21, 2015 Thanks for the nice comments Houston. Its a bit further along, fuselage together, wings on and heading towards priming. However it has fought me most of the way, putting the pit in has introduced an error so there has been a bit of filling and re-profiling on fuselage sides etc. After a couple of months working on another old build, I have just had a tidy up of the workbench to do some more work to get it to that priming stage. I have the Wolfpack cockpit set and the Eduard brass from their special addition boxings. They will be used next time, never again with the Aires Phantom set, it looks cracking but it is a frustrating slog! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turnerdad Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 Looking splendid! Worth the extra effort those Aires bits and bobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg B Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 Well, its still fighting back. After lots of trial fitting it went together, however an error was introduced in getting the cockpit in so it involved some filling, re-profiling and scribing on the port side under the cockpit to remove a small step and flat spot. There is now a slight <1mm step around the mid section of the canopy where the Aires pit has pushed out the plastic. Therefore its a canopy open option whether I like it or not. There has been a bit of a progress and photo gap, but never mind! The main colour scheme has been applied with pre and post shading and highlights, sprayed walkway markings and I'm currently hand masking the tail as I do not want to have colour bleed through on the decals. Its getting there, but slowly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Its been a while, 3 moves in 6 months to 3 different countries and ultimately halfway around the world together with retirement, a new career, small daughter and a degree means that time has been tight. Wow. I got tired just reading that. This is worthy of a short story at some point. Cheers, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg B Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 Small update after masking removed. Some minor paint damage caused when removing the masking tape as it looks like I did not let it cure for long enough after adding some acrylic retarder. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calum Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 Sharp looking paint Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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