mirageiv

No problem! I'm not sure tbh what exact shade of red was used for that particular scheme, scanned through some Airdoc books and no mention of it. However when the F-4F's participated in manoeuvring exercises some had their rudder/tails painted RAL3000 Flame red, maybe something along those lines. David.

Hi guys. I understand that the main colour for live BL-755's was pristine deep bronze green and that a live round would have the yellow ring near the front however I am unsure on the other markings. Would a live, ready to go, BL-755 look like this; http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/BL755.jpg Or, would it also have the white lines on the side like this one (swap the blue band for yellow), http://www.f-16.net/g3/var/resizes/f-16-photos/album37/album05/afz.jpg?m=1371931722 Thanks for any info/help I'm will load it onto a Luftwaffe Phantom so not sure if they differ to RAF markings. David.

I have done it in the past for small bits that needed painting, seemed to work fine. Although I have never done say a 50:50 mix for a airframe main colour, but I assume it would be just fine if you mix them enough. David.

Duncan, I'm not sure how far you want to go correcting things on the revell kit but I have just noticed a few little issues from another online build. The kit originated as an RF-4E, then latter tooled as the F-4F effectively producing an RF-4E fuselage with an F-4F nose. So I have filled the panel lines that are not present on the F-4F consisting of, the flash ejector housings and the leading edge slats have some panels straight through the middle which are not there on the real jet. Also the kits provides the triangle stiffener plates on the tails that need to be sanded off for an F-4F. I don't mean to be 'that guy pointing out inaccuracies' but just thought I'd say just incase . Cheers, David.

Cheers Craig! Not sure which boxings of the kit have distorted canopies, maybe the original boxings are better. I won't try any aftermarket vacuum canopies as I've never been able to get a decent result (too heavy handed ) so I'll make the hasegawa one work, it fits pretty well and the airwaves canopy is specifically designed for it. Cheers, David.

Thank you very much Andre! I think the Airfix BL-755's are found in the Airfix Tornado, Jaguar, old tool Hawk and Harrier (I only have the tornado). Andre, if you need any weapons/bits for 1/72 jets I have plenty to trade , best regards David.

Thanks chaps . Well the main airframe is now complete, intakes on and masked, all things filled/sanded. Will shoot some primer on soon with a rescribe here and there before I go back to the cockpit. I had to use some plastic shims for the fit, In the above picture I tried to scratch some lights behind the clear section, unfortunately a little black paint managed to get under one of them but I cannot do anything about it now, ah well it is on the underside . Cheers, David.

Hi chaps. Duncan mine are pretty crap too, the pic I took makes them look ok but I'm seeing what over alternatives can fit. After a good deal of thought I have decided to do a different colour scheme for my F-4F, the special scheme I'll do on an old tool Hasegawa phantom as the lack of panel lines seem to fit a perfectly new painted F-4F, maybe I'll enter it in the GB depending on how my builds progress. So I had these Airdoc decals in the stash for years and decided to give them a run out instead , Hopefully it should look a little like this when I'm done, http://www.airliners.net/photo/Germany---Air/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4F/0295938/L/&sid=af02d33e747bff567ee184b47824fe47 Over the past week or so I have filled/sanded everything now, just waiting for my airbrush repair so I can shoot some primer on it to check/rescribe where needed. I added a small tail filler so I could drop the tails a little, Some bits and bobs added to the wheel bays, still needs a little wiring. Revell's are pretty decent imho, for sure good enough for me. I started to think what I could do with the canopy. I have a few spare Hasegawa/Fujimi canopies knocking around so I thought I would have a look at maybe a replacement for the kit one. First is Revell, too flat with barely any room for the hud/coaming, still fits ok though! This is Fujimi, doesn't fit very well at all, is too wide and just looks inflated. Finally Hasegawa. This fits pretty darn well and to me gives the most accurate appearance of the F-4F canopy. However the canopy exaggerates the too slim Revell nose so I'm worried it actually might make the overall appearance a little worse than the standard kit canopy. Also there is a pretty large gap around the base and the instrument coaming. One more thing, the airwaves canopy set is designed for the hasegawa kit I'm I'm pretty sure it will be a PITA to fit to the Revell canopy. JaboG 36 was primarily a ground attack unit with secondary air defence so I'll load this F-4F with 3 TERs and 9 BL-755's, 2 wing tanks. The hasegawa BL-755 (bottom left) doesn't seem to have as good a shape as airfix, so I'll use the airfix BL-755s to detail. Only thing is I have fallen a little short in my spares and still need 2 airfix BL-755's and a Hasegawa TER if anyone has these going spare? (I can trade many 1/72 weapons or pay). Sorry for all the pictures , thanks for looking, David.

Yes I think they only got it re-fitted after the Peace Rhine update. Good little article on the F-4F, http://www.milavia.net/specials/german-phantoms-early-years/ I was thinking the same thing regarding the spine panels, they look a little 'melted' in my kit so may go your way there. Cheers, David.

Nice progress mate! I filled that intake panel line with superglue and rescribed as it looks a little silly compared to pictures of the real jet IMHO. As far as I know they used the USAF receptacle, http://media.nara.gov/stillpix/330-cfd/2004/DF-SC-04-02591.jpeg cheers, David.

That looks awesome! Really nice result with the gloss black, can I ask how you managed such a nice finish with the rattle can? David

Thanks Giorgio, just what I needed.

Hi chaps. Just a quick question regarding the integration of BL-755 on the Luftwaffe phantom fleet. Now I know they were added as a secondary ground attack ability to the RF-4E fleet in the early 80's but I cannot find any decent source on their use with the F-4F. In particular I am interested in the 70's F-4F's delivered to Hopsten, JaboG 36, which was traditionally a ground attack unit with secondary air defence. Would I be right in thinking BL-755, mk.82 and Aim-9b were wired from the off-set or was the ground attack capabilities added at a later date? So just Aim-9b until the 'Peace Rhine' update? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, best regards David.

Nice progress mate! Much prefer that grey plastic than the soft blue on my kit. I just fitted the actuators now, you were totally right about revell getting them the wrong way around, cheers! David.

looking good

No I have not got there yet, thanks for the tip! btw, how are the canopies in your kit? Just wondering if they are as bad as mine. David.

That orange one looks nice, but I'm biased for German jets

Very nice!

Nice attention to detail, it will all add up in the end! David.

phwoar you work fast, looking good mate! David.

Yes I let it cure for more than two days before I sanded it, not sure what happened tbh. The reason I bought it was to take care of the wing/fuselage joint with the thinner clear up as you suggest. Makes me wonder, if you can clear it up once dry with the Mr.color thinner, surely painting on top with Mr.Color thinned paint is asking for trouble. Think I'll do some tests to check what happened just in case. Best regards, David

looking forward to it!

Nice work, the tiny decals look very convincing! Look forward to more, such a tempting scheme to do David.

Thanks Andrew, not sure if that one will be inflight or not yet . Cyano prevailed as a filler and I rescribed the rear fuselage to match the Airdoc drawings a little better, It is starting to look like a phantom now (Intakes just dry fitted), Thanks for looking, David.

Thanks Andre! My box only came with 1 hard wing for some reason but I tried it anyways. Unfortunately the wing sweep for the revell vs hasegawa kits are a little different and also the wing fold mechanisms do not line up by a matter of 3-4mm on the undersides. David.