Jump to content

1/48 Hasegawa F-4EJ Kai


Recommended Posts

Hasegawa's F-4s have been around for a while now, but I think they are still beautiful kits. 
I'm building mine with an Aires cockpit and exhaust set. I also have a Wolfpack nose correction set for the EJ variant. 
I'm still undecided on the color scheme. Tempted to finish it as a colorful 'Okinawa Phantom', but it might end up as a simple low viz bird.

 

302sqnLastFlight2008-4.jpg

 

I really enjoyed working on the Aires pit. This is my first resin cokcpit set. Painted with Tamiya acrylics followed by an dark oil wash.
31222700861_781e94ec20_b.jpg


31222691031_63d40dd0d9_b.jpg


30968635770_d9d1e7664d_b.jpg


30530010333_dfdbb1a91a_b.jpg


31222652101_3d23b55fe0_b.jpg


31337396215_b3dd07714c_b.jpg


30515114714_cc27927503_b.jpg


30968579130_e29ff698b4_b.jpg

 

Unfortunately most of this will be hidden once in place.
31301488606_51c9606251_b.jpg


30968560260_e76caa9b96_b.jpg

 

Exhausts
30515094134_58be9d93b1_b.jpg


31193492442_c31c0ef3d7_b.jpg


31337287265_02fb18b65c_b.jpg

 

More to come (hopefully). Thanks for looking.

Edited by N5016R
  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lovely work so far and I will be watching with interest. Beware of the model alliance decals for the green Okinawa phantom as the green lettering on the fuselage is the wrong shade. It looks really odd against the correct colour of green paint.

 

try DXM decals for some great JASDF schemes

 

have fun

andy

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you guys! 
I'm aware of the problems with the Model Alliance sheet. The color of the wave on the splitter plate is also the wrong color and the shark mouth is inaccurate too. These are the main reasons that put me off building the Okinawa Phantom. 
DXM decals look great and I really like the Air Combat Meet special schemes. I'm still undecided, but I'll probably go for one of these:

677989.jpg

Nothing fancy, but still a good looking bird.

 

I did some more work on the cockpit. The  etched Aires IPs are really great although painting them properly is not that easy. They came out ok and they look a lot better to the naked eye. 

31768653082_de2898df5b_b.jpg


31107001953_080bc23932_b.jpg


31879088476_7bb7bb6d4f_b.jpg


31543094870_6514b33f97_b.jpg


31879073426_91d5fed2b8_b.jpg


31076245744_68ee18e9ba_b.jpg

 

I gave the control stick skirts a leather color. I'm not sure if this is accurate, but I think it looks cool.
31879070676_231bc4e359_b.jpg

 

31106967373_64e0bc111c_b.jpg


31879084846_8f4b84dbd7_b.jpg

 

I drilled through the spine fairing and added a white strobe light I made from stretched clear sprue.
31799718861_985265ae5c_b.jpg

 

The resin nose came from Wolfpack. There was a large step between the resin part and the kit gun muzzle so I added a styrene spacer. After some sanding the parts lined up perfectly. Somehow I managed to lose the resin gas purge door. I blocked off the opening with a piece of plastic card as the door seems to be closed on most of my reference photos. The radome came with a damaged static discharger. I used a piece of stretched sprue to fix it. As you can see the resin part is a bit short shot. I'll probably need some Milliput to fair in the metal pitot tube that came with it.
31879063436_44ee294320_b.jpg


31768602812_118b613fbe_b.jpg

 

Thanks for looking.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking good. The later DXM decals are printed by cartograf and are excellent. Platz also do some phantom sheets too.

 

The best book for details of JASDF Phantoms is by model art, part of their Profile series.w

it is well worth getting if you like Japanese Phantoms

 

andy

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Some more progress on the Phantom:

 

I replaced the solid plastic tail nav light with a piece of clear red plastic. I previously knocked off the pitot tube so I went ahead and sanded off it's base, drilled a hole in the leading edge and inserted a new tube made from hypodermic needle.
31873914213_3dd7df17fe_b.jpg

 

The spine piece is now faired in. I'll still need to add a small antenna to this part.
32563916761_ae8ed2b687_b.jpg

 

I glued the Wolfpack nose in place as well. The fit of this was very good with only minimal sanding required. 
32307122430_f8dcdb1136_b.jpg

 

I was thinking about buying a seamless intake set for the model, but since they cost as much as the kit itself I abandoned the idea. I don't like the look of FOD covers, so I had to improve the intakes a bit. Whit the use of some plastic card I filled in the holes in the lower section of the intake channel. 
32533314232_4ebb3aef50_b.jpg

 

This is how the Kai looks at the moment. Wings and intakes are dry fitted only.
32307104220_3e66435fd6_b.jpg


31843196144_7027e660d5_b.jpg

 

That's all folks.
Thanks for looking.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2016. 12. 29. at 1:04 AM, whiskey said:

I've never understood why the nose from Wolfpak, what was the issue with the kit nose for the EJ?

 

Actually, I'm pretty sure that the Wolfpack nose is just a copy of the Hase part with added static dischargers. The kit nose has the same width from radome to fuselage while the nose of the real thing has a slight taper. I thought the Wolfpack nose corrected this (barely noticable) issue, but it didn't. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not yet Si, but it more than likely will be a low vis bird, like the one in my second post.

 

Little progress on the Phantom:

I dressed up the Aires seats with the PE harnesses included in the kit. Attaching the PE parts was quite tricky and they kept popping of the resin. I tried to add some variation by twisting, bending and trimming the brass belts. The PE ejection handles were way too flat so I separated them from the top piece and bent new ones from copper wire.
32808741715_98cc307c94_b.jpg

 

32808743675_338477ac5d_b.jpg

 

Thanks for looking.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

watching with great interest, the Phantom is one of my favourite classic jets !  Cockpit and seats look ab- fab! Your first resin cockpit set ?! You must be kidding, that looks like you're a resin- master!!! Can't wait for more pics, and JASDF Schemes are a refreshing choice!! Thanks for sharing , Olli

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2017. 02. 10. at 2:22 PM, Red Dot said:

Fantastically looking seatbelts. How did you manage that? Any tips please?

 

Andy

 

Thank you Andy. I bend the belts back and forth with my tweezers, this softens up the brass and makes it easier to form. You can also anneal them with the heat of a lighter, be careful not to heat it too much or the brass will become too soft and hard to work with. I kept twisting and bending the belts till they fit the seats the way I wanted. Lot of dry fitting is needed if you want to get it right. I tacked the belts in place with a tiny drop of gel type CA, than used extra thin CA to "flood" the parts. I soaked up the excess glue with a piece of paper and scraped up any remaints with a sharp blade once the glue completely cured. 

 

I looked around for decals and found two sets I like. Form the DXM set I could build this bird:

07-8435-japan-air-self-defence-force-jas

 

I could also build this TAC meet Kai, but the price they are asking for the out of print Platz sheet is ridiculous. I really like the sharkmouth tho.

F4SHK002.jpg

 

I hope I can get more done on the model next week, till then enjoy this amazing Japanese Phantom video:

 

Edited by N5016R
.
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi Peter,

 

What a great video. I was about to say that it must be recent and then noticed the 9/1/17 date. I know some of the locations from where it was shot and it really makes me want to go back again.

 

Thanks for the tips about the seatbelts and working with brass.

 

The Platz website probably has your decals ;)

 

http://www.hobby-shop.jp/index.php?subcats=Y&status=A&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&pkeywords=Y&search_performed=Y&cid=358&q=platz&x=0&y=0&dispatch=products.search&sl=EN&sl=EN&sl=EN&sl=EN&sl=EN&page=1&sl=EN

 

 

andy

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice work on the seaatbelts, they look very realistic.

As for which scheme to go for I would choose the 302 SQn a/c as I like the large bird design on the tail, though the shark mouth looks good too. As for the shark mouth, is it not the same design and dimensions as ones used by the USAF and Turkey (amongst other)? You could use one of their shark mouths with the rest of the decals from the kit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi MM and Peter,

 

The other shark mouths are surprisingly different. It depends on how accurate you want to be really, but the Platz sheets are available on lnie

 

Andy

Edited by Red Dot
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

Very nice work on the seaatbelts, they look very realistic.

As for which scheme to go for I would choose the 302 SQn a/c as I like the large bird design on the tail, though the shark mouth looks good too. As for the shark mouth, is it not the same design and dimensions as ones used by the USAF and Turkey (amongst other)? You could use one of their shark mouths with the rest of the decals from the kit.

 

Thank you MM. Unfortunately, as Andy said, the shark mouth is quite different. This aircraft also wears the large bird on it's tail.

This is the only (not so great) picture I've found of this ACM bird:

00193a.jpg

 

43 minutes ago, Red Dot said:

hi MM and Peter,

 

The other shark mouths are surprisingly different. It depends on how accurate you want to be really, but the Platz sheets are available on lnie

 

Andy

 

Andy, thank you for the link, but they don't carry the sheet I'm looking for. Platz JD48-13 is the one I need and it's out of production. It's listed on their site, but you can't add it to your cart.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...