1/48 HAF F-4E (AUP) Peace Icarus

[Pappy]

G'day people,

I managed to pick up this last week at our annual second hand kit sale. The decals were partially used and not in great shape, but this kit would be the perfect subject for a HAF Phantom. The HAF recently modernised 39 of their F-4E's. The Avionics Upgrade Programme (AUP) improved the fire control system and radar as well as other avionics. The aircraft are now repainted in the attractive 'ghost' scheme and typical for HAF subjects, there is ample scope for weathering effects.



As I bought the kit pretty cheap, I can spend the $$$ I saved on some other goodies like resin seats and intakes.

The start pic



The first job was the unpleasant task of removing all the extra airframe lumps and bumps that are not required. My biggest gripe with the Hasegawa Phantom 'family' is the requirement to remove these bumps. I wish Hasegawa had simply added these bits as separate panels or add on details with flashed over holes as it is the most time consuming part of any Phantom build.

Rant over, back to regular programming

Fist up, I dealt with the main u/c trunnion covers

These were cut away with a pair of side cutters until only a small portion remained, then they were further scraped away before finishing off with wet'n'dry paper.

I will need to re-scribe lost panel lines, but I need to apply some small smears of putty first.

Next up,

The lower fuselage and under wing antennas will also need to be dealt with,

cheers,

Pappy

Edited May 22, 2016 by Pappy

[Dr Evil]

Do you have slotted stabilators? They aren't included in the F boxing IIRC.

[Pappy]

Do you have slotted stabilators? They aren't included in the F boxing IIRC.

I swapped out a pair from an F-4E kit

cheers,

Pappy

[Pappy]

G'day people,

A little more prep work.

The rear fairing aft of the cockpit includes two small antennas, these were cut off and the part smoothed off,



At the front end, more antennas were removed and a panel is inserted on the right side.





I think these are associated with the F-4G version.

Meanwhile, I decided to fit some full length resin intakes, but the fuselage halves will need some preparation first,as the kit supplies a truncated intake only



Even though I bought the kit cheap, I always find it a bit scary when you first decide to hack into a kit. This is what I ended up with,





cheers,

Pappy

[Pappy]

G'day people,

Well, after taking a saw and files to the intake area, it was time to see if The resin replacements would play nice with the rest of the kit,





Fit seems not too shabby!

One other modification that I added to the fuselage was to cut out the small panel on top of the nose.



This panel is part of the gun gas venting system and is always open when the jet is on the deck

Meanwhile, the wing is together and the seams have been cleaned up



A few bits of PE for the main wheel bays



Finally, I started work on the inner pylons.



Curiously, these feature (restrained) raised detail, whilst the remainder of the kit panel lines are engraved. I think this is a throwback to the early, short nose Hasegawa Phantoms which also feature raised panel details. It is a pity that Hasegawa did not re-tool these when they issued the later long nose Phantoms.These missile rails looks a little anemic as they are too thin. I am trying to decide what they are supposed to be. They are about the correct length for the Aero 3B, but they are too wide and too rounded. They look more like LAU-7's, but they are a tad too wide and again too thin. They also have a couple of ejector pin marks which need filling.

cheers,

Pappy

Edited June 9, 2016 by Pappy

[Pappy]

G'day people,

I have shifted my focus to the back end. The kit exhausts feature nice turbine face details but otherwise the inside of the exhausts are a little plain. I have added a little PE goodness to improve this area.

I will add the PE spray rings after the interiors have been painted up.

The kit exhausts are also a little short and lack the corrugated linings of the real items, however I can live with this. There are better resin replacement items available, however I am happy with my results as they are a compromise between absolute detail and cost. The details on the replacement resin exhausts can also be hard to see without a torch once installed as they are buried deep within the fuselage. In any case, this build is not intended a s a 'kitchen sink' build,

cheers,

Pappy

Edited May 27, 2016 by Pappy

[Pappy]

G'day people,

Having finished cleaning up the wing and fuselage parts, the cockpit tub started to get some love at last



The AUP's most notable external differences are found in the cockpits. The front and rear instrument panels are very different as they both feature MFD's, one for the front panel and two for the rear. The remaining analogue guages are also re-arranged.

I cheated a bit and used a resin panel designed to represent the F-4EJ "Kai" as this only needed a slight modification.



The rear panel will require much more work. I began by removing the upper portion as this section will be completely re-built. The upper section was retained and it's thickness reduced by sanding. I carefully sliced it apart and added the required instruments to the lower instrument panel section. I had bought an F-4J/S PE set at a model swap meet for a few bucks last year. Although much of the cockpit detail is not applicable, by creatively cutting apart the panels , it will be a good source of instruments and placards, some of which were used here.







Thanks for looking,

cheers,

Pappy

Edited June 9, 2016 by Pappy

[Vultures1]

This is great stuff and really useful on the changes required for a HAF F4E(AUP)

Following with interest ...!

[exdraken]

nice start!

these upgraded phantoms surely are one of the most capable ones!

[DaveJL]

Nice work so far. Planning to do one of these myself so i'll be watching closely!

[Pappy]

This is great stuff and really useful on the changes required for a HAF F4E(AUP)

Following with interest ...!

G'day, I am no expert by any means, but apart from the cockpits, the external differences are not too difficult.

nice start!

these upgraded phantoms surely are one of the most capable ones!

Nice work so far. Planning to do one of these myself so i'll be watching closely!

Thanks for your interest fellas

G'day people,

The two instruments panels got a lick of paint and the details were picked out with a fine brush

Test fitted to see how they will look in place

Not too shabby,

cheers,

Pappy

[Pappy]

G'day people,

I was wondering what to do about the cockpit sidewalls. The cockpit tub has some really nice details and can look very good with a few minor tweaks and a sharp paint job, but the sidewalls are a little bare by comparison to the real thing which has a lot going on in this area. I remembered that several years ago one of the vendors at our annual model show was selling off a whole bunch of resin cockpit seconds. these were incomplete sets, flawed castings etc, and he was asking 20c each. I grabbed a handful of this stuff and have slowly been using it here and there. I was going through this stuff when I realised that I had three sidewall elements of a 1/48 F-4J detail set - score!

Now I realise that the F-4J is a significantly different animal to the F-4E, but apart from the aft right side, these resin parts will do the job. I am sure all the Phantom Phanciers out there will be rolling their eyes and tutt -tutting about now, and fair enough too, when they build their kit they can get it perfect. For me these resin bits are not just good, they are good enough!

Here is what they look like at the moment,





Hopefully painting tomorrow if the weather improves

cheers,

Pappy

Edited June 9, 2016 by Pappy

[phildagreek]

Looks good, nice work on your instruments.

[Pappy]

Looks good, nice work on your instruments.

Thanks Phil, I appreciate the comment. I will finish the upper instrument panel for the WSO when the cockpit tub is installed as I will be able to get the positioning correct when the fuselage halves are assembled.

G'day people,

I managed to do a little work on the undercarriage today, mainly just adding some hydraulic lines using lead wire and some other details,

cheers,

Pappy

[Pappy]

G'day people,

A little more work on the undercarriage today,





I also made a start on the stores,





cheers,

Pappy

[periklis_sale]

Nice work my friend

Keep in m8ns that the AUP don't carry this centre fuel tank. They carry the one similar to f-15

Also the tail stabilisers are different between the F and E type phantom. You need the slotted ones

[Pappy]

Nice work my friend

Keep in m8ns that the AUP don't carry this centre fuel tank. They carry the one similar to f-15

Also the tail stabilisers are different between the F and E type phantom. You need the slotted ones

G'day Periklis,

You are correct on both counts, and Scott (over on ARC) has already pointed out that the c/l tank is the incorrect type. Unfortunately, I do not have a later "High G" (F-15 style) tank, so I will pobably just leave the c/l jug off.

I have already swapped out the stabs for some slotted ones (this was mentioned in an earlier post) so that issue is sorted. I am still waiting for some HAF decals, and depending on the serial number, I may have to scratch up some DIAS antennas for intakes, parabrake housing and gun fairing,

cheers,

Pappy

[Andrew Perren]

Hey Pappy if you want an F-15 centreline tank I've got you covered I believe. Let me know via pm.

[Pappy]

Hey Pappy if you want an F-15 centreline tank I've got you covered I believe. Let me know via pm.

G'day mate,

PM sent,

cheers,

Pappy

[Pappy]

G'day people,

I spent today doing some fun stuff at last.

The cockpit tub and fuselage sides got some paint,

The macro lens is very unforgiving - looks like i need to do some touch ups!

Sidewalls next,

I have also been busy with ordnance,

cheers,

Pappy

[arfa1983]

Amazing work mate!

[Pappy]

Amazing work mate!

Thanks very much arfa, I appreciate the comment.

G'day people,

I have spent the past few days working on the things under wings.

A pair of AIM-9L/M's,

Something to launch these with

A source of distraction

A pair of GBU-12's

Now back to the hard yakka.

This lot will need some more RBF streamers to be added, but I will do this once all the painting is complete and these have been fitted to the jet.

The front instrument coaming area has a lot of differences to the standard F-4E. My aftermarket front panel includes a new instrument coaming, but installation will mean removing the kit representation form the fuselage halves

Of course I got a little excited and removed too much from the left side

I must remember measure twice, cut once...................

cheers,

Pappy

Edited June 9, 2016 by Pappy

[Janremco]

Great work on the ordenance Papa.

Jan Remco

[Dads203]

Pappy that's going to be stunner fella, nice work.

Dan

[Pappy]

Great work on the ordenance Papa.

Jan Remco

G'day Jan, thanks very much. I like to get these correct.

Pappy that's going to be stunner fella, nice work.

Dan

G'day Dan, thanks very much.

G'day people,

I have spent the past couple of days prepping and painting up the seats. I bought a set of resin seats. The kit seats are okay if you plan of adding the aircrew with the canopies down, but an open cockpit tends to be a focal point on any aircraft kit so this is one area where the extra detail can be appreciated.

Whilst the resin seats are a marked improvement over the kit seats with regards to the details provided, I noticed that there were some noticeable omissions, as the seat pan firing handle was absent, as were the two prominent straps that emerge from beneath the parapack housing and straddle the headbox on either side. The seat pan firing handle was sourced from a PE set I mentioned earlier, whilst the belts were made from lead foil.

Some additional piping was added to the main beam

I also added a some RBF streamers to the seat to represent the installed safety pins. It is a little hard to see, but the bowyangs were also added to provide a candid appearance.

Dry fit to check how the would 'sit' in the tub

Noice!

cheers,

Pappy

Edited June 10, 2016 by Pappy