1 72 Hasegawa F4-J Phantom II - Finished! (Page 22)

[PlaStix]

Good to see it going together giemme and I'm sure those joins will be fine when you've worked on them! The seat looks excellent - very nice finish to it. And yes I think the guards look good too!

[Cookenbacher]

Yes excellent metal finish on the guards' helmet and armor - they must be all polished up to commemorate the momentous occasion of the fuselage assembly. Looking great Giemme!

[giemme]

Yes excellent metal finish on the guards' helmet and armor - they must be all polished up to commemorate the momentous occasion of the fuselage assembly. Looking great Giemme!

LOL, yeah, it was about time!

Tomorrow I'll post this long WE progress, but it was basically lots of putty, sanding, trimming, rescribing ... so not really ready for priming yet (but I still have this evening to go, you never know ...)

Ciao

[PlaStix]

I was wondering where your weekend update had got to!

[iainpeden]

I have only just caught up with this topic - a high quality build underway with ideas I shall use.

Apologies if you realise this already- or somebody else points it out. The a/c you plan to replicate (photo pages back) looks to be gull gray overall not the gull gray/white scheme.

[giemme]

@Stix: a bit more of patience this time LOL:-)

@Iain: thanks for stopping by. I'm aware of the color scheme, but feel free to point out anything you like to, I started this Wip mainly to learn from others. Stay tuned;-)

Ciao

[giemme]

Hi everybody;

as anticipated, it was a long WE. Firstly, because yesterday was Bank Holiday, secondly because sanding, trimming, rescribing seemed endless ...

Anyway, prepare for a good bunch of pics; first off, fixing the front wheel bay gap and alignment issues:

Some PEs added, as well

Despite my planned sequence, I decided I'd better glue the wings in first, then the intakes, as the alignment at the bottom would have been more complex to tweak.

Here's the amount of trimming I had to do (black marker lines in the pic)

Then I glued the wings, only the rear part of them, to allow for some adjustment when posing the intakes. A little issue on the back fuselage join showed up, both sides:

There's also a little gap between wing and fuselage, again both sides

Time for the intakes: here's another dry-fit, from the bottom, showing other areas to be taken care of (sorry, poor pic):

But the top part shows even more work:

Here's my setup before starting with file - sandpaper - sandstick - putty:

Between sanding sessions, I also glued in the central frame of the canopy

Sanding/puttying progress

Last couple of bits glued under the wings:

I also installed a couple of antennas; top one

bottom one

And she's now READY FOR PRIMING:

Then I thought: why not dryfitting stabilators and exhaust nozzles?

Close-up:

Priming next. Ciao

Edited December 9, 2014 by giemme

[Winenut]

Been a while since I dropped in and so much progress.

She's looking just great ....spot on.

Even in 1/72 the actual kit is a good size and the massive underwing arsenal adds incredible interest and detail to an already awesome aircraft.

Wow.....loving it.

Might just inspire me to get away from WWII props and make a 60's 70's jet!!!

Chocks away!! ......(do they still say that with jets???)

Cheers

Bruce

[Gene K]

T... what would be the right sequence to put together the fuselage ... I was doing some dry-fitting last night, and I came up with the idea of gluing the front fuselage - without the tub - to the back, then insert the tub from the bottom, then the air intakes, then the wings; what do you guys think...?

SEQUENCE

No “right” way. I’ve done it the way you described above, but I usually join each fuselage half (front to back), and then do a small mod to make the intakes seamless, as shown in the links here . After that, I assemble the completed halves, add the wings, and lastly, add the front bottom piece that holds the cockpit (if not using aftermarket).

INHERENT GAPS

What you noted in your post 175 about the poor join between the intake pieces and the fuselage is the “fault” of the kit - you'll always end up with a larger step to sand down and fill on the top right side than the left. What I do is align the panel lines on the sides, accepting the resulting need to sand/fill on top. I hate the phrase, "It is what it is.", but in this case ... it is (as shown in your picture below).

The same applies to the fit of the lower front fuselage section that you show here:

To remedy that, you need to decide where you want the inevitable gap. In that regard, I prefer to align that bottom piece so that the gap is in the front as shown in your post – easy to fill with a sliver of .005 in plastic.

Your picture also shows another of the kit's challenges: that of aligning the bottom piece to the fuselage sides. If done carefully, the seam is invisible: only do one side at a time (!!) using a few tiny dots of CA to align the parts, and then flood the join with a little regular cement. After one side is set, carefully push /prod the other side into position and set. I’ve used tabs in the past, but the foregoing sequence negates that need.

I think I have an old draft of “Building The Hasegawa 1/72 Phantom” that I started many moons ago … I’ll try get a copy to you. It’s pretty raw, but lays out some of the things I’ve learned over the years about the kit’s assembly “challenges”.

Your model’s looking good!! Hopefully we’ll see more small Hasegawa Phantom builds from you in the future.

Gene K

Edited December 10, 2014 by Gene K

[giemme]

Chocks away!! ......(do they still say that with jets???)

LOL, I thought that was something typical Australian, didn't know it was related to propellers. Anyway, from here http://britishexperiences.blogspot.it/2012/08/chocks-away.html it looks like it can also be used for jets

The kit is pretty big, much more then any other 1 48 propeller fighters I've done till now.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Ciao

[Procopius]

I think I have an old draft of “Building The Hasegawa 1/72 Phantom” that I started many moons ago … I’ll try get a copy to you. It’s pretty raw, but lays out some of the things I’ve learned over the years about the kit’s assembly “challenges”.

I'd love to see that myself.

[Winenut]

LOL, I thought that was something typical Australian, didn't know it was related to propellers. Anyway, from here http://britishexperiences.blogspot.it/2012/08/chocks-away.html it looks like it can also be used for jets

The kit is pretty big, much more then any other 1 48 propeller fighters I've done till now.

Thanks for the encouragement.

Ciao

Ha Ha!!....well not so much related to propellers but emerged BEFORE jets we're invented.

Simple thing ...the pilot would yell "CHOCKS AWAY" and the ground crew would remove the restraints (chocks) in front of the wheels to allow the aircraft to move forward and take off. Today you might put a "chock" (or a brick or some other thing) under the wheel of your car to stop it from rolling either forward or backward when changing the tyre.

Definitely more British than Australian (confirmed by your link) ......but I'm a sucker for WWII Aircraft and anything associated so......Chocks Away!

and yes......looks like even in the modern age it's appropriate for jets!

Cheers

Bruce

[Cookenbacher]

Excellent post Giemme - it will be helpful for anyone who might be building a Hasegawa Phantom in the future. What putty do you happen to use?

Thank you Gene, for sharing your knowledge and experience with this subject and kit.

Just realized that all this means that my stash may be in for another addition.

[PlaStix]

Hi giemme. Looks like you had a productive long weekend - also looks like yours involved a degree of sanding too! Plus a few gaps to fill. I look forward to seeing it with the primer on.

[giemme]

Hi Gene, thanks for posting.

Gluing the front and back fuselage halves sounds like a great idea. However, calling "small" the modification you need to do to make the intakes seamless (I've just gone through all your links) it's a bit of an understatement ... or perhaps you are a bit over-evaluating my abilities

SEQUENCE

No “right” way. I’ve done it the way you described above, but I usually join each fuselage half (front to back), and then do a small mod to make the intakes seamless, as shown in the links here . After that, I assemble the completed halves, add the wings, and lastly, add the front bottom piece that holds the cockpit (if not using aftermarket).

INHERENT GAPS

What you noted in your post 175 about the poor join between the intake pieces and the fuselage is the “fault” of the kit - you'll always end up with a larger step to sand down and fill on the top left side than the right. What I do is align the panel lines on the sides, accepting the resulting need to sand/fill on top. I hate the phrase, "It is what it is.", but in this case ... it is (as shown in your picture below).

Actually, but I'm not sure I got your description straight, I ended up having more sanding to do on the right side, although in a different way as opposed to the left side: right side intake had panel lines aligned with the fuselage, hence top corner very high. Left side had panel lines misalignment with the fuselage, and more of the side sitting too wide (probably a lot of this situation was self-inducted): in this case I had to rescribe the missed lines and rivets. The picture you 're referring to shows the right side already done (almost)

The same applies to the fit of the lower front fuselage section that you show here:

To remedy that, you need to decide where you want the inevitable gap. In that regard, I prefer to align that bottom piece so that the gap is in the front as shown in your post – easy to fill with a sliver of .005 in plastic.

That was actually easy, and I did it exactly the way you described, as you can see in post #182

Your picture also shows another of the kit's challenges: that of aligning the bottom piece to the fuselage sides. If done carefully, the seam is invisible: only do one side at a time (!!) using a few tiny dots of CA to align the parts, and then flood the join with a little regular cement. After one side is set, carefully push /prod the other side into position and set. I’ve used tabs in the past, but the foregoing sequence negates that need.

I tackled this in a different way, which of course turned out to be inappropriate and needed putty and sanding afterwards: while dry-fitting the wheel bay to the front fuselage, I noticed this gap and tried to glue the top part of the wheel bay (the one bearing the tub) using a spacer, so that the two side were spread out enough to reasonably align with the fuselage. Doing this, I completely prevented any chance to further spread them. I should have probably only glued the back part of it and let the sides free to move, to use you r method. Well, good to know for next time.

By the way: should the join between the two sides and the fuselage be absolutely seamless or is there a panel line running along it?

I think I have an old draft of “Building The Hasegawa 1/72 Phantom” that I started many moons ago … I’ll try get a copy to you. It’s pretty raw, but lays out some of the things I’ve learned over the years about the kit’s assembly “challenges”.

Your model’s looking good!! Hopefully we’ll see more small Hasegawa Phantom builds from you in the future.

Gene K

That draft would be very helpful; I'd appreciate to see it, if it's not too much of an hassle for you to post/show it . As for more Hase Phantom builds: I've got an idea running on my mind, but I'll PM you for that ...

Thanks for your usual, invaluable help

Ciao

Edited December 9, 2014 by giemme

[giemme]

Excellent post Giemme - it will be helpful for anyone who might be building a Hasegawa Phantom in the future. What putty do you happen to use?

Thanks Cooken. The white putty you see in my pics is this:

It dries fast and can be removed with water (while it's still "fresh", meaning during the first hours after application) - I normally run a wet cotton bud to remove the excess.. You can easily put it on using a brush; I found it very good to fill in small gaps and seams.

For more "structural" uses, I use a standard grey putty, I'll check out the brand this evening and let you know

Ciao

Edited December 15, 2014 by giemme

[giemme]

Hi giemme. Looks like you had a productive long weekend - also looks like yours involved a degree of sanding too! Plus a few gaps to fill. I look forward to seeing it with the primer on.

Me too, although that would show more sanding and tidying up to do, I'm sure; but I'm at a point now where I need the primer to better identify areas that need further attention.

Ciao

Ha Ha!!....well not so much related to propellers but emerged BEFORE jets we're invented.

Simple thing ...the pilot would yell "CHOCKS AWAY" and the ground crew would remove the restraints (chocks) in front of the wheels to allow the aircraft to move forward and take off. Today you might put a "chock" (or a brick or some other thing) under the wheel of your car to stop it from rolling either forward or backward when changing the tyre.

Definitely more British than Australian (confirmed by your link) ......but I'm a sucker for WWII Aircraft and anything associated so......Chocks Away!

and yes......looks like even in the modern age it's appropriate for jets!

Cheers

Bruce

Chocks away, then!! LOL

Ciao

[Gene K]

I'd love to see that ["building The 1/72 Hasegawa Phantom"] myself.

I'll dig it out after the holidays .... Giorgio's build has inspired me to temporarily set aside my radio control projects to once again cut up a few 1/72 Hasegawa Phantoms - one of my favorite kits.

Gene K

[MikeR]

Ah, the joys of sticking the intakes together on the 1/72 Hasegawa Phantom! All part of the fun.

Coming along nicely, though.

Mike.

Edited December 9, 2014 by MikeR

[giemme]

Ah, the joys of sticking the intakes together on the 1/72 Hasegawa Phantom! All part of the fun.

Indeed!

Thanks Mike for stopping by.

Ciao

I'll dig it out after the holidays .... Giorgio's build has inspired me to temporarily set aside my radio control projects to once again cut up a few 1/72 Hasegawa Phantoms - one of my favorite kits.

Gene K

I'm glad I did

Ciao

[giemme]

For more "structural" uses, I use a standard grey putty, I'll check out the brand this evening and let you know

Cooken, I'm quoting myself to say that the grey putty I use is from Italeri, but it's just like any other standard plastic putty out there. See here

Ciao

[Gene K]

Quote

giemme, on 09 Dec 2014 - 10:40 AM, said: calling "small" the modification you need to do to make the intakes seamless (I've just gone through all your links) it's a bit of an understatement ...

It really isn't that hard once you start chopping plastic. The invaluable tool here is a Dremel with the cutting/grout bit to remove large chunks of plastic. Below are my MVTs (Most Valuable Tools).

Quote

... I ended up having more sanding to do on the right side [when joining the intakes to the fuselage]

Yes, you're absolutely correct - I mixed up my right and left (corrected my post). As I said, the most important step is to align the panel lines on the the intake and fuselage side, and then sand/fill the resulting mismatch on the top.

Quote

... should the join between the two sides and the fuselage be absolutely seamless or is there a panel line running along it?

It's a panel line, so careful gluing will retain it (don't fill it in).

Gene K

Edited February 19, 2017 by Gene K

[giemme]

It really isn't that hard once you start chopping plastic. The invaluable tool here is a Dremel with the cutting/grout bit to remove large chunks of plastic. Below are my MVTs (Most Valuable Tools).

Yes, you're absolutely correct - I mixed up my right and left (corrected my post). To As I said, the most important step is to align the panel lines on the the intake and fuselage side, and then sand/fill the resulting mismatch on the top.

It's a panel line, so careful gluing will retain it (don't fill it in).

Gene K

Nice set of tools you have there! I do have the Dremel and the knife, I miss the electrical toothbrush though (well, I actually have one but I use it for teeth cleaning ... )

Thanks for the other infos.

Ciao

[giemme]

Hi everybody, time for primer!!!

Some details prior to the actual priming: preparing wheel wells and aux intakes bits

I glued a small plastic plate to beef up aux intakes, as per Gene suggestion (sorry for the pic):

Then, after having inevitably broken the pitot, I replaced it with a steel rod

Now she's all primed:

Priming was done in two sessions, as I had to do some corrections and tidying up after the first. In the meantime, I also did some more work on stabilators:

and on the seats: detail painting and some weathering

Started adding PE bits:

That's where I got so far (and where I stopped, for my own sanity, last night at 11 pm: those PE really add a lot to the final appearance, but boy are they tiny? )

Ciao

Edited December 15, 2014 by giemme

[Cookenbacher]

It all seems to be happening very quickly now, all of your prep and detail work is coming together perfectly Giemme.

Yes, PE in 1/72 seems a mixed blessing - looks great/causes frustration. Unlike my attempts with PE, it looks like you've gotten it to stick in the proper places.