Johnson

Great choice! Best wishes for the build Paul.

I did think as I was rolling the rear intake tubes - this would be hard work using .015! Thanks Gene, I think they'll do, considering where they are and how much will be seen. But the painting was a bit rushed and I would have liked to spend more time on them. I can see from the photo you posted on the ARC Forum that they are actually more complicated than my hasty representation, but I'm becoming increasingly aware that October is running out and the end of the GB is looming. I always get bogged down in the detail, much of which no one sees, and I end up with a slow build and a rush to the finish. Off to do some 1:1 painting (local heritage road signs that the highways dept have given up on - 'everyone uses Sat Navs these days'). Then some more F-4C construction later. The fuselage/wing fit leaves a bit to be desired, but more of that later. Cheers,

Thanks Chris. Multiple attempts with the iPhone camera (amazing technology!), one out of five shots worked.

I'll echo what others have said, absolutely great work and love the cockpits, wiring especially!

A bit of a mega update on the jet intakes. This is where the kit is modified to allow seamless intakes to be added. Gene @Gene K kindly sent me a template for the Hasegawa 1/72 kit. If you haven't already seen his seamless intakes they solve the rather obvious problem with Hasegawa (and other) kits that the intake stops at the front of the fuselage only a short and visibly unrealistic distance in from the jet intake lips and spoils the appearance from the front. The first step is to open up the front of the fueslage; This obviously needed cleaning up, hence the 10A scalpel, so that when the forward fuselage is mated to the rear, there is no lip. I should have taken a pic of the cleaned up hole, but forgot! The seamless intakes are cut from plasticard sheet, Gene recommends .015" but I only had .010" and it worked OK. The rear of the 'intakes' are then rolled to form the pipe to the front of the engine; Next is to scratch some engine fronts for the back of the intake pipes; And join them to the back of the intake pipes; Then they (there are two of these, obviously) have to be inserted into the fuselage. This is where my build departs slightly from Gene's recommended approach as I joined the fuselage halves beforehand, which makes insertion of the intakes a lot harder. This will all make a lot more sense if you refer to Gene's excellent guide can be found here (I hope you don't mind @Gene K that I link your build in here): http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/251810-seamless-intakes-for-phantom/&tab=comments#comment-2505083 I had to insert the intakes from the rear so I cut an additional hole in the underside of the fuselage to allow me to push the intake into the right place; Small cuts in the front lip of the intake enable it to be glued in place, some filler was required later to get a smooth intake; It was a bit of work, but does give a much better impression from the front. AND, if you look down the intakes, you can just about make out the engine intakes! The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I forgot to drill the holes for the intake probes (temp sensors?) and will add them later). A huge thanks to Gene! And on with the build. Back soon.

Hear! hear!

Interesting to see these. Many (many!) years ago Letraset did rub down decals, and I thought that they were pretty good but suffered the same glitches as you are finding, needing very careful application, especially with larger ones. Irrespective, they look excellent in the photos you've posted and your model looks awesome!

Hmmm... Hi Enzo, @Enzo Matrix I just noticed that the the STGB finishes on 12 Nov, but The Gallery locks on 21 Nov. So, does this mean we have a bit more time?

And I’m eagerly awaiting to see what magic you will do with them! But I am also intrigued as to what Tamiya will have provided. What seats did the F-4B have? I’ve just had to modify (with a lot of help from guys here on BM) Mk.7 seats to Mk.5s for my F-4C. They were retrospectively fitted to the planes so naturally the kit manufacturers include them. But in combat the early seats were used. Sorry Ray, getting into the weeds again!

The design and plastic engineering in this kit is quite phenomenal Ray. And great work in the cockpit. Lovely work.

Ordered a D from Japan... not done this before, just hope it arrives OK . My current build is the Hobby 2000 (Hasegawa) F-4C. I'm now reminding myself of how finicky it is, joining the front/rear fuselages, intakes etc. Looks very good, I really like the cockpit details with the back of the instrument panel which I always felt was an omission with other kits, and the ejection seat rails. And you have the engine intakes included with the kit . Can you try dry fitting the intakes to see if the splitter plates can be fitted later?

I can think of just the thing! . (I wasn't sure whether to commiserate or laugh, both probably!) Take care!

Excellent work. The kit looks very nice. trying to find the new FM F4-D, but rare as hens teeth! Following with interest.

Not just the daytime. But more time for models. Hope all's well with the nose!

Good work Mr.T! And very nice to see a Spey Phantom in the GB, and a 1/72 kit! Best wishes,

I was going to use the Edward etched detail set for the i/p and panels, but it was for the F-4J and wasn't really correct for the F4-C. So I've opted for the Hobby 2000 cockpit decals which aren't as realistic as the Edward but are more accurate. A dab of clear blue on the artificial horizon and clear red on the radar scopes livens up the i/p a bit. But I may dull the rest of the panels down very slightly with a dark wash as they seem a bit garish. The Mk.7 seats that came with the kit were pretty good, I modified them to resemble Mk.5s and added the Eduard harnesses etc (which were a nightmare to add with CA glue as usual). Thanks for looking, any comments or suggestions most welcome - before the cockpit tub gets permanently fixed in the fuselage! Cheers,

Glad that you're plugging on with this one Dennis, looking forward to seeing the pics of the finished item. Regards,

OK, before I find a second-hand Hasegawa Jaguar for a Gulf War set, what do you reckon the chances of Airfix releasing a new tool kit? They've been doing some good jet releases recently and a Jag would surely be a popular addition? Just a thought.

Hi Mike @72modeler, Great links, thanks! As I'm discovering in my Phantom ejection seat learning curve, the Mk.5 MB seat seems to have been made for a variety of planes and had differences. These have been covered to a degree in the Need some help with which kit for Robin Olds F-4C thread. But modellers wanting a Mk.5 seat need to check what's correct for their plane carefully. PS - That's an amazing escape from the Douglas F4D Skyray in your first link! Cheers,

Hi @Selwyn That's a great photo, just what I needed, thanks. A Mk.7 I think, but the top was similar (or the same) as a Mk.5 (experts correct me if I'm wrong). If I understand the seats correctly, the Mk.5 had black metal sides (or shrouds as I described them - maybe that was wrong) surrounding the parachute pack like so: (John's photo) Whereas the Mk.7 did away with the metal surround and the chute was contained in a fibreglass shell;

Good photo John, looks like a Mk.5. Whole load of straps I'll have to add. Just about see the canvas chute cover that Greg was referring to. Thanks,

Indeed, scary stuff. Get out quick!

Yes, I agree. Many thanks!

Thanks Greg, yes it worked. It's a Mk.7 seat but I believe it was similar in most respects to the Mk.5 but the Mk.7 had the parachute in a fibreglass shell instead of the metal surrounds of the Mk.5. I'll paint the top with a patch of grey/olive as you suggest. As an aside, did the drogue and main chute come out (or up) out of the hole in the top? Just wondered! Cheers,

Thanks @thorfinn. I see what you mean. Any idea of the likely colour? Cheers,