Flashman Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 So finally I've got round to posting this, I got the Academy 48 Phantom in Hannants when it was a rather exciting new kit and have held onto it since then. When this came out it was a challenger to the Hasegawa monopoly on this aircraft in the scale and apart from the dodgy multi-coloured plastic it looks like a rather good kit (in particular the munitions included) so I've elected to turn down the aftermarket offerings already springing up and build it OOB. It will only be my second 1/48 build, so I'm looking forward to it! -Flash 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 I have the Eduard all singing rebox of their F-4C and it looks a great kit. Really looing forward to seeing yours come together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 6, 2015 Author Share Posted December 6, 2015 Right, just to let anyone watching this know, I should be able to start this in a week or so, have been very busy with real life stuff but am going to finish of my corsair, put enterprise on hold and get started! I'm in for a period of holiday from the 15th so will properly start campaigning then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 Just remember we finish the 27th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 Right, finished the corsair today so will be finally starting this tomorrow. Just a few box pictures- certainly looks like an impressive kit, also includes a decent volume of munitions which is nice.Only issue is the MCP pre-coloured kit- no doubt this is has been covered extensively by others so I don't want to get hung up on it but all I can say is that it was a very bad idea on the part of academy! Anyway, I don't want to rant, so here we go- I will march to war tomorrow morning! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Good luck, hope your able to complete the build in time. VF-111 is one of my favorite schemes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 So yesterday I had family yuletide distractions but was able to kick off bright and early today- I started with the cockpit. Cockpit tub is nothing special: Dashboard is done in that damned black plastic but looks pretty detailed: Assembled the cockpit details: Dashboard sprayed with Humbrol 64: Managed to bring out the details with a mixture of painting with Tamiya XF-1, drybrushing with XF-1 and XF-24 Sea Grey, thinned Humbrol grey wash, and used Tamiya X-19 smoke and Humbrol Gloss Clear on the dials (along with a bit of flat red). Sprayed the cockpit tub with Humbrol 64 and gave it a bit of dimension with wash, powder and drybrush weathering: Built the seats: they're actually quite detailed although it's hard to see it in the shiny black MCP plastic, with ejector handles. Not sure that I missed out on much not using aftermarket to be honest, although some seatbelts would come in handy. Gave the landing gear bay parts a blast of citadel Skull White paint: And weathered them down with powder, drybryshing and a bit of wash: Built and painted the wing landing gear- Humbrol 164 undercoat, Tamiya XF-56 Metallic Grey and then weathered primarily with Humbrol powder: Fitted them into the assembled gear bays: And into the underwing mounts: I then sprayed the insides of the intakes with Skull White over Humbrol 64 and also did the fans which I have not photographed (forgot): 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share Posted December 21, 2015 Just posting now what I did yesterday after I did the last update, have pressed on significantly but when I finished in the mancave last night I just thought 'buggrit, I'll upload tomorrow!' so here we are. Worked on the engine fans- painted in Humbrol Dark Sea Grey then XF-56 and humbrol washes and powders. And put the intakes together: Gave the same metal treatment to the other engine parts, exhaust cones aren't detailed and could probably do with aftermarket. Pretty happy with the way the metal turned out though (this picture is about midway through the weathering process. No pun intended ). The fuselage assembly was top-and-bottom as opposed to left-and-right which is good for eliminating seams. Firstly I had to join the forward cockpit fuselage section to the underside of the fuselage with what looked like a far too thin join area- I was sweating considerably but Tamiya glue prevailed and it held! While that was going on I built the actual air intakes (what I had thought were the intakes were the internal bit that you don't see): Then it came to the moment of truth: the great closing-up. Luckily it turned out better than I had dared to hope. I then put in a considerable amount of compacted blu-tack as weight (hope it's enough!) and put the nosecone on- could have benefited form something to help it stay on. I then started on the seats- nothing special in terms of detail but the head rest area is a bit better and that's the part you see. Painted the sides of the seat black and used Tamiya Field Grey on the cushions, thought that would be good enough. I then did as bit of drybrushing. I may make rudimentary seatbelts from tape. Onwards and upwards now! -Flash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Built the tailfin: Starting to look like a Phantom now: Did the wheels while it was drying: and then started to climb the mountain of underwing stores: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 All Phantoms had gloss white landing gear and gear bays. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Masked up and sprayed the underside with Humbrol White: Then remasked and sprayed the topside with Humbrol 64 Grey: Have also started painting the munitions off-camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 All Phantoms had gloss white landing gear and gear bays. Jens Cheers Jens, have done them in flat white so a simple gloss coat will soon sort that out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Nearly done, will be posting shortly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon382 Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Just cathcing up with your post, looking good thus far. The multi coloured plastic takes me back to my Matchbox days when I'd just started making kits. Just as an assist, you mention nose weight. Since the fishing industry no longer make lead products I tried a gun shop. They do various sizes of shot for shotgun cartridges (I guess if you've just shot something you're not overly concerned with poisoning it!?!) It comes in large containers and lasts for ages. Being small it will fit nicely into most randomes. And no you don't require any form of licence to but it. Keep up the good work and I look forward to your next update 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Most Phantom models don't require nose weights: my Revell/Hasegawa FGR.2s certainly didn't. The main gear is so far back that you should be OK, particularly if you've got stores other than Sidewinders on the inboard pylons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashman Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Right, just in the nick of time I've managed to get this build finished on the deadline day so here it is! (along with a couple more WIP shots) Painted the other bits on the fuselage and wings, put the landing gear on and started to climb the huge but rewarding mountain of decals: Pretty happy with the way the cockpit turned out in the end, shows that it can look passable without spending loads of time detailing/ buying aftermarket: Wish I'd not forgotten to do scratch seatbelts though. Finished product- Phantom F4B of VF-111 Sundowners for the 2015 Britmodeller Vietnam Group Build: And with my only other 1/48 build, the old Airfix EA6B Prowler: Am overall very happy with how it turned out, one or two errors here and there but I think I did OK! Cheers to everyone that had been watching the build. Have pretty much chosen my next one and hope to start tomorrow so watch Work in Progress to maybe see something large and shiny... -Flash 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 (edited) Nice finish. It looks great in that scheme. Don't forget to get the pictures in the gallery. Edited December 27, 2015 by snapper_city 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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