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Priming and post shading--finally! Initially I sprayed the cockpit area black for the interior of the frame--I was not as brave as @giemme in painting the interiors themselves--maybe I will get there some day . Following the black cockpit area, I sprayed the entire aircraft Tamiya grey primer, then I airbrushed Tamiya Red for the Turbine warning and spray painted flat white around the nose air conditioning intakes--on my aircraft these were red trimmed in white. Once the white had tried, I brush painted insignia red and let this dry. I decided to follow @giemme's build with the red turbine warning lines below the national insignia (I confirmed photographically for my machine) and guessed that this extended partially underneath the airplane in the same manner as in the build I leveraged fro reference. It seemed to make sense that early F-4Ds would be painted very similar to the F-4C @giemme built. I made the stipe by using a decal as a guide for the stripe's thickness and cut based on photos from @giemme's build. I also masked the air-conditioning intakes to provide the white trim. I then sprayed a 2d coat of Tamiya primer & a 3rd to get rid of the red. Once this was done I pre-shaded with Tamiya black. Photos follow--next will be the camp--keep your fingers crossed for the metalic area! As always, thank you to everyone's ideas on how to improve myself intros hobby... Best, Erwin

On to masking!!! I think I jumped the gun--I think I will save metalizing for post camo-in my next F-4 build. I found that wet newspaper did not stick, so I went with Silly Putty. I am not too worried if there are issues down the road--I can always replace the tin foil--its cheap & the Aclad 2 was fun to apply Canopy frames were masked with Tamiya tape without issue. Intakes & wheel wells masked with silly putty.

Photo etch round 2! The good news is that with the help of @giemme awesome build (supported by @Gene K ) the remaining photo etch went on without a hitch... it is almost like the Airwaves was made for the Hasegawa--ok that is overselling the fit Minor bends and cuts were made to the canopy frames... given some of the finagling to fit the PE, I decided to use simple Elmer's glue to fix. The biggest mod I made to chop the mirrors on the rear canopy and make it single mirror frame vice the 2 mirror frame--photos of my machine indicate this is the way it was in Vietnam. Of an interesting note, if you go to the USAF Museum website's cockpits and look at the Gen Old's aircraft, you will see the rear canopy does have 2 mirrors--wonder if the 2 mirrors was a standard post-Vietnam mod. Anyway, on to the photos:

@Johnv--great work on the crew!

Sorry for the long spell in not posting pictures--but I have moved on to priming!!! Pics will follow--I promise--I got to at least share my masking to those who understand Quick question for anyone who might have gouge--if you see the red turbine stripe beneath the national insignia on a SEA camo aircraft, does that mean that stripe would extend to the bottom of the airframe? The airplane I am building clearly does not have the stripe above the national insignia, but the stripe is certainly below it. When I look at photos of Vietnam era F-4s, I frequently see the underside missing the rede stripe, so I am a bit confused. Thanks for any thoughts folks might have. Hope everyone's projects are coming along well! Best, Erwin

Great job on the nose—looking forward to this light grey build—best Erwin

I for one, am looking forward to seeing this build

Awesome work John, great job on the cockpit... you really made the cockpit sing with the definition between the grey and the instrument panels... do you have any profile shots--looks like you did a great job converting the D to a C on the nose... Cheers, Erwin

@giemme thanks for the thumbs up & perspective on the Airwaves set--I just purchased the Big Ed set for the Airfix FG.1. (figured I had to do a Brit subject soon if I am to keep my Britmodeller card ) Will be interesting to compare the PE. Really looking fwd to that build, although, it seems that there are mixed opinions on Airfix's latest offering here. Since I have a whole bunch of Phantom Phans watching this, does anyone have any good builds that they recommend looking at? One other question, were the cockpits of the UK Fg.1's painted in US colors? I found this blog really helpful with a lot of technical details on UK Phantoms Sorry for the detour in my own blog, but I figure I would ask. You guys are all awesome. All the best to all, Erwin

This build will rock, particularly if @Gene K is involved --really looking fwd to the cockpit portion since Japanese WW2 cockpits generate a lot of great conversation--watching with interest--best, Erwin

Cockpit finishing round 1--BL--The Airwaves PE set designed for the Hasegawa is a near perfect for for the Monogram kit! I only had to make very minor trim cuts which I believe will blend very ell with final finishing. The only real difference between how I attached these PE parts compared to @giemme's build was the PE piece post in between the pilot and the back seater. I cut down the posts on the PE plate on the back seater side of this assembly vice grinding down the top of the PE. In my estimation, the clear parts are the weakest portion of Monogram's otherwise outstanding kit--that I still believe hits far above its price point--I do wish Revell would re-release this kit in the same manner they re-leased the old F-4J model kit--does anyone have in . Anyway, the weak points of the clear pieces I had were 1) extremely brittle plastic 2) required sanding, front wind screen gap. On the pilot's left hand side, the bottom tip of the canopy cracked and I had to rebuild it up w/ putty--I will put the results of this fix in the cockpit "phinishing" thread part 2. I think I will purchase the vac form canopies from Hannants for my next build (designed to fit the Hasegawa, but I believe will require min effort to make work on Monogram's version) Overall, I really enjoyed working with the PE and making it work--I don't know how I lived without it for so long... besides taking our builds to another level, it is fun to work with. Part 2 will be painting, reattaching the face screen handles, etc. As always, thank you all for comments & ideas on how to improve this build. Anyway, on to part 1's photos:

I always like to crew my aircraft--I imagine many will find my work basic, but thought it would be cool to post and see if there were ideas. I made resin copies of the 2 crew members from Monogram's 1/72 F-105F (I have always found Monogram's figures the ones to beat)-- @RidgeRunner knows my affinity for the Monogram F-105s too well . Frankly, the hardest part was figuring out the colors. I used the photos provided by @Gene K on @giemme's build, @f111guru & USAF Mig Killers 1964-1968. In the Mig Killers books there is a photo of Maj George McKinney boarding this aircraft (66-7601) and his helmet appears to be painted green (p 289). I am not sure if helmets were painted per squadrons's, crew, flights, etc, but I decided paint the helmets of my crew green as my reference indicates Maj McKinney crewed this aircraft with then Maj J. Moore. Paints used were as follows--Face: Tamiya Flat Flesh (XF-15), Flight Suit: Tamiya Flat Field Grey (XF-65), G-suit: Tamiya Flat Khaki Drab (XF-51) Masks, Tamiya Flat Olive Green (XF-58), Mask Straps: Model Master Interior Green, Visor/Boots: Tamiya Black (X-1). Photos below:

Hello friends--sorry for the long delay--sometimes I feel this build is moving at a snail's pace--but I think half the fun of the hobby is learning from you all so please keep the great ideas coming Last week I completed the AWESOME Aires jet exhausts--if you build an F-4C/D--get these! As usual, I leveraged @giemme's awesome build along w/ the photos provided by @f111guru & my Detail & Scale books for reference. I would say the biggest difference between my build & @giemme's build was the burner can assemblies fit like a glove without requiring modifications to the resin or the plastic. I apologize for not capturing a photo of the initial dry fit, but will post one later. Photos of this step below:

@Gene K--thank you for the clarification above discussing the routine--that makes a lot of sense--the bond between aircrews & their crew chiefs never fails to impress me--best, Erwin

Cant add more to what has already been said--this build is AWESOME!

Thanks @giemme! Sorry I missed it in your build--I think I will go for white on the helmets on this as well--camo helmets appear to be the exception instead of the rule... again--I really appreciate the praise and info... one day I might be able to create benchmark WIP--will keep on striving until then Best, Erwin

I’m sure the results are going to be awesome! Sorry for missing the NMF vector. Best Erwin

Martin--well played--I love how this is coming together... will keep watching... how are you planning on applying the NMF--Alclad 2, foil? Sorry if I missed it in the notes--great to see the production line re-started Best, Erwin

Thanks Giorgio--high praise coming from you--I greatly appreciate the info on the red bags... next step will be building up the cockpit--& prepping the aircrew--do you remember what Life Like colors you used on the flight suits on the crew? I apologize but I can't seem to find it in your blog--for you & anyone interested, I am thinking Tamiya Field Grey for the suit/Tamiya OD for G-Suit/Tamiya Dark Green for the helmets--thoughts? I find the Vietnam era Flight Suits generate interesting conversations ... thank you all for having the opportunity engage with such a talented group! Best, Erwin

I also nearly completed the seats. I decided to chop up the tops of the Quick Boost seats... my biggest color consternation was for the face cover/drouge chute green--FWIW I settled on Tamiya Field Gray based on this pic @Gene K provided @giemme--quick question on the below because I lost track in the blog--the red pin bag was stored elsewhere than the top of the seat when in flight--I believe giemme chose to pose the bags on top of the seat since his aircraft is posed in the boarding process--did I get that right? (pg 9/post 212). I also used this as a final guide for the seat I also used sprue to put the Arresting Hook/Landing Gear levers in the front instrument panel--you can't see them under the coaming, but they are there Thank you all for sharing your talents and I hope folks are getting something out of this build. Best, Erwin

Hello all--I hope everyone is setting into 2019 with their projects. My Phantom is moving forward slowly, but accurately with the help of @giemme's build and everyone's great inputs. Today I got to focus on the sight--I believe this was Monogram's most egregious mistake on their F-4 C/D/J family... relatively easy to fix, but still a very noticeable omission. Anyway, starting from scratch always starts with research before cutting into plastic. As usual, I started with @giemme awesome build-- (pg 22/post 527). I also found this site, http://www.f4phantomparts.com/RADAR.html , while I believe IP-675 APQ-100 shown was tied to the F-4J's Radar (AWG-10) vice the F-4D's AN/APQ-109A, I believed these systems would be similar enough to use as a painting guide for the base's reflecting lens. Based on this review, I decided my lens would be transparent blue because any photos I found indicate this area was dark. In order to place the sighting glass, I used the Hasesagwa comming indentation as a guide. Once I had the back & front of the indentation measured, I caved it out with a hobby knife. The next part was how to build the site since I could not totally follow giemme on this--I have the Eduard RF-4C set which I am saving for a later project. I took the flat portion of a food container and cut to form the center "rectangle" on the Eduard site. I then used my photo etch bending tool to create the "bend" between the bottom and the glass. Following this, I painted the bottom of the base to create the base color of the lens. After a day of drying, I used my cracked closed canopy to shape/center and final fit the sight using Tamiys green cement. Based of Eduard's sight "circle", I cut a 1/16" circle to recreate the "clear" portion of the reflector imaging on to the site glass and painted this portion Tamiya Flat Back. Once complete, I used stretched sprue to complete the sides. Cheers to all, Erwin---Photos below:

This weekend came & went--lots of great time with the family but not a lot on the Phantom. I basically just touched up the Quick Boost seat tops (I took the plunge and used the seat backs for this kit--will post pics soon, but I think it was worth it). I did buy F-4 stencils . Had question for the following/forum--the linked photo below I believe is of 601--I think the nose gear's door interior is red--would this be appropriate for a 435th TFS/8th TFW aircraft in 67/68? https://www.pinterest.com/pin/451063718914987892/visual-search/?x=16&y=12&w=530&h=388 @f111guru &/or forum, what does IRAN stand for--I imagine it is depot overhaul of some sort, but have not been able to figure out the acronym across my F-105/F-4 builds. Very interested in what folks have to say Thank you all for your thoughts--best to all, Erwin

@billn53--awesome--spent some time catching up--bottom line you are nailing this build!

@f111guru--thank you for honoring this build with your photos--simply put, they are outstanding & greatly add to body of knowledge! What are your thoughts regarding the stencils on a SEA came F-4D--I understand MDD delivered the D's in SEA camo--are you in line with the thought that frequent re-paints in theater make stencils on a Wolf Pack F-4D highly unlikely in the 67/68 time frame? Again thank you for your inputs--best, Erwin

@Gene K--thank you for the compliment, your awesome reference photos and most importantly your service! Pls let me know if you have the power to encorage Revell to re-release the old Monogram kit Best Erwin