+++ FINISHED! +++ Fujimi Phantom F-4K/FG.1 (Royal Navy) 1/72

[mcdonnell]

Hi,Jaime - Mc.Donnell's St.Louis Factory would be proud of you with that one.She's looking phabulous!! Paul.

[jrlx]

Philp, thanks for your appreciation, I'm glad you liked the fake fan intakes. I'm not completely happy, as said. I don't think I'll do the same in the Shark Mouth Phantom.

Mcdonell, thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate them, considering the quality of your own RN Phantom.

Cheers

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

This is an update with last weekend's work.

 

As said above, I had to glue pieces of 0.5 mm plastic sheet to fill gaps between the intake parts and the lower wing part. In this picture this is clearly shown, right after glueing the intake parts:

IMAG2412

 

The excess plastic was removed with an x-acto blade and then filed, sanded and polished:

IMAG2413

 

Next, I applied putty to the seams between the intakes and the fuselage and wings. There will be vertical panel lines there but this is just to smooth things out:

IMAG2415       IMAG2416

 

Putty was also applied in the underside seams:

IMAG2417

 

Finally, I applied putty in the main wheel wells:

IMAG2418

 

After drying, the excess putty was sanded and polished:

IMAG2421

 

IMAG2422

 

Detail of the intake seams:

 

IMAG2423        IMAG2424

IMAG2425

 

Detail of the wheel wells (these were a bit difficult to sand):

IMAG2427

 

All the small parts needed for the landing gears and airframe were prepared for priming and painting:

IMAG2426

 

Next, I glued the HUD:

IMAG2428

 

and then, the fixed canopy parts:

IMAG2429

 

The cockpit, main and aux intakes were masked:

IMAG2430

 

IMAG2431

 

The aircraft was now ready for priming. I used Alclad grey primer and microfiller, since I'll use Alclad metallic paints for the metallic parts. After a first coat of primer and some sanding of superficial defects, here is the model as it stands now:

IMAG2434

 

IMAG2435

 

I'll apply a second and, hopefully, last coat of primer tonight and then proceed to pre-shading, painting of metallic parts and airframe painting.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

[Dermo245]

Fine work there and that intake idea is genius!

Dermot

[jrlx]

Dermot, thanks for the kind words. Regarding the intake idea, all credit should go to delta7, who inspired me to use his technique.

Edited July 20, 2015 by jrlx

[philp]

We have a guy here who used to create his ducts using heat shrink tubing. He would make a balsa shape for the duct then wrap the tubing around and heat it with a hair dryer (I think). When done he would remove the balsa (easier on a straight through duct) and have a seamless intake to fin in the model. Saw it done on his 72nd F-14 and looked great. I have never looked around for the tubing so not sure how easy it is to find but think it is an electronics item.

[jrlx]

Hi philp, that's a good idea. I know what heat shrink tubing is because I studied electronics but I haven't seen it since. I was thinking about using some thin plastic sheet or tubing to shape the intake ducts but I believe getting the proper shape is always the difficult part.

There are useful links for that approach in ARC Forum for 1/48 and for 1/72.

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hello,

 

This week I've been going through the painting stages of the RN Phantom.

 

After taking care of seams and sanding and polishing superficial defects on the first coat of primer, I applied the second and last coat of Alclad Grey Primer:

IMAG2436

 

IMAG2437

 

In the previous picture you can see that I already applied the first Alclad metallic colour to the underside of the tail area. The next picture shows this area in detail. I used Alclad Duraluminium here:

IMAG2438

 

I used the same colour to paint the landing gear parts.

IMAG2439

 

This colour will be kept for the oleos, the remaining areas of the landing gears will be off-white.

 

Alclad Duraluminium was also applied to the metallic areas of the tail stabilisers:

IMAG2440

 

Alclad paints dry almost instantly and I read that the regular shine colours can be masked within 15-20 minutes. However, I gave it several hours to dry completely and then masked the areas that should keep the Duraluminium colour:

IMAG2441

 

IMAG2442

 

IMAG2443

 

Then, I painted the exposed tail area with Alclad Steel and, after about 30 minutes drying, lightly sprayed inside the panels with Alclad Pale Burnt Iron. Here's the result:

IMAG2445

 

I finished the tail with a light spray of Alclad Magnesium. The following pictures show the tonal variance achieved according to the angle of the lighting:

IMAG2446

 

IMAG2447

 

Painting of the metallic areas was concluded by applying Alclad Steel to the tail stabilisers and Alclad Jet Exhaust to the exhausts:

IMAG2448

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hello again,

 

Having finished painting the metallic areas, I proceeded to painting the camouflage. In order to avoid applying masking tape to the underside off-white, which is a gloss paint, I decided to paint first the top colour (Extra Dark Sea Grey), which is semi-gloss, cures faster and is more resistant to masking. This would allow me to proceed faster.

 

The first step was masking the already painted metallic areas:

IMAG2450

 

IMAG2451

 

IMAG2452

 

IMAG2453

 

Then, I pre-shaded all the panel lines using Gunze's matte black. I decided to use Gunze's instead of Tamiya's matte black because I expected the Gunze paint to spray better. However, it was very difficult to apply, just like Tamyia, as it was constantly clogging the airbrush. I'm not sure if this was due to an unbalanced mix of thinner and paint or if it was due to the colour being matte (almost all Gunze paints are gloss or semi-gloss and spray beautifully). I'll have to check this later more carefully. Anyway, here's the result:

IMAG2454

 

IMAG2455

 

After drying, I masked the nose, which was already painted black:

IMAG2456

 

and also masked some areas of the underside, to avoid the Extra Dark Sea Grey to get to areas that will be painted off-white:

IMAG2457

 

Since I opted not to cut the intake ramp parts (I was afraid of damaging them), painting and masking of the fuselage behind and around the ramps is a bit tricky:

IMAG2458

 

With the masking complete, I painted the top camouflage colour:

IMAG2459

 

IMAG2460

 

This colour was also applied to the top surfaces of the tail stabilisers:

IMAG2461

 

and to the moving parts of the canopy:

IMAG2463

 

Then I mixed a drop of off-white with the remaining EDSG in the airbrush and diluted the mix to an 80% thinner / 20% paint ratio. This mix was applied at 10 psi and low spray volume to the inside areas of the fuselage panels. Varying the amount of paint applied to different panels, produced different grey tones. This is my post-shading technique.

 

Here's the overall result:

IMAG2464

 

IMAG2465

 

IMAG2466

 

and a detail of the starboard wing and fuselage side:

IMAG2467

 

The effect is not too pronounced. I'm always afraid of overdoing the weathering stages...

 

The next day I noticed that I had masked the underside incorrectly, because there should be a stripe of EDSG along the leading edges of the wings and outer edges of the main intakes. So, I re-masked the underside:

IMAG2468

 

Here's a detail of the missing EDSG areas, resulting from the masking error:

IMAG2469

 

The missing colour was applied and here's the result:

IMAG2470

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

[Fatboydim]

Hello Jaime, your doing such a well detailed build and making an excellent job of it. Your Royal Navy Phantom is going to look superb when it's finished. Joe.

[jrlx]

Thanks for your appreciation, Joe.

I'm now concentrating on this one, to try to finish it in time for the GB. The other ones will be finished in the next week or two.

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hello again,

 

An update on the latest work, done last night.

 

Before moving to painting the white underside, I decided to repaint the nose. Though it was already painted with the final black colour, the finish wasn't acceptable. So, I removed the masking from the nose and masked the adjacent fuselage area before repainting.

 

First, I delimited the radome with thin strips of masking tape:

IMAG2471

 

Then, I finished masking using a combination of tape and kitchen cling film:

IMAG2472

 

After painting and removing the masking, this was the result:

IMAG2477

 

I also removed the masking from the aircraft's underside:

IMAG2474

 

Detail of the complex area around the main intakes:

IMAG2475

 

Detail of the grey stripe on the leading edge of the wings:

IMAG2476

 

Now, I'll have to mask the grey areas in order to paint the off-white underside.

 

While the nose painting was drying, I removed the under-wing tanks, pylons and missiles from the sprues. The tanks were assembled and I started cleaning the parts from moulding marks. I had to use CA glue to fill in several ejection marks on the missiles and pylons. These were left to dry and tonight I expect to spend some fun moments sanding and polishing these areas...

 

Here are the the parts:

IMAG2473

 

That's all for now. This thread is now up to date with the on-going work.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

[Mozzy19]

This is looking really nice Jaime.

Sean

[jrlx]

Thanks Sean, I'm glad you liked it

[Tim Moff]

Looks great!

[Troffa]

Just caught up with this thread- a superb build log, great subject, great photography and some spectacular techniques- I haven't seen that intake photo trick before, so props to Delta7 and yourself for spreading the word further.

looking forward to seeing this one completed.

cheers,

troffa

[jrlx]

Looks great!

Thanks, Tim. I'm glad you like it

Just caught up with this thread- a superb build log, great subject, great photography and some spectacular techniques- I haven't seen that intake photo trick before, so props to Delta7 and yourself for spreading the word further.

looking forward to seeing this one completed.

cheers,

troffa

Hi Troffa, thanks a lot for your kind words and interest With some intense work, I might finish this Phantom in time for the GB. Let's see how the week-end turns out. Anyway, it is now just a matter of days to finish it. My two other British Phantoms won't make it in time for the GB but will be finished in one or two weeks.

Cheers

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hello,

 

Here's the latest update on the RN Phantom.

 

I still had to paint the underside off-white, but first I had to mask the adjacent Extra Dark Sea Grey areas. On the underside I masked using Tamiya tape:

IMAG2478

 

The top also needed protection from overspray. I applied tape nearer the underside areas:

IMAG2479

 

and then kitchen cling film to finish the masking:

IMAG2480

 

The landing gear parts also had their metallic areas masked:

IMAG2481

 

I could then paint the underside and all the small parts. After a bit of drying time, I removed the masking and here's the result:

IMAG2483

 

The pre-shading works well with white.

 

Detail of the nose and main intakes:

IMAG2484

 

Detail of the port wing, showing a good demarcation between the colours:

IMAG2485

 

Details of the metallic area of the tail:

IMAG2486

 

IMAG2487

 

Underside of the tail stabilisers:

IMAG2488

 

Top side of the tail stabilisers:

IMAG2489

 

Landing gear parts (masking still on):

IMAG2490

 

Doors of the nose wheel well:

IMAG2491

 

Doors of the main gear wells:

IMAG2492

 

Now I need to let the white paint dry for a few more hours and then I'll apply a coat of Aqua Gloss to the aircraft, in preparation for decaling.

 

In the meantime I'll finish cleaning the missiles, drop tanks and pylons, and then I can prime and paint them.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

[mcdonnell]

Hello,Jaime - I've polished my helmet visor and flying boots ready to take this beauty on her maiden flight!She's looking superb and is a result of being built with a clinical attention to detail.Thank you once again for your kind compliment on my Navy Jet but you're giving everyone a masterclass with this!Looking forward to seeing her roll-out!All the best,Paul.

[jrlx]

Hi, Paul

Thanks a lot for you extremely kind words With some luck, the Navy bird will have her maiden fly tomorrow, within the GB deadline.

Thanks again

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

I finished cleaning the moulding marks on the missiles and pylons, and also cleaned the seams on the drop tanks that were already assembled. Then, I assembled the pylons:

IMAG2493

 

The next step was glueing all parts to toothpicks, to facilitate painting. Here are the drop tanks:

IMAG2495

 

The missiles:

IMAG2494

 

And the pylons, showing how I glued the toothpicks and let the glue dry:

IMAG2496

 

With all parts on toothpicks, I applied Alclad Grey Primer:

IMAG2497           IMAG2498

 

While the primer dried (1h is enough), I applied Aqua Gloss to the aircraft and all other parts already painted, in preparation for decaling:

IMAG2499

 

IMAG2500

 

When the primer was dry, I painted the drop tanks, missiles and pylons with off-white. I had to apply a second coat, a few hours later, to achieve good opacity:

IMAG2501           IMAG2502

 

I still have to paint some additional colours on these parts, but the white must dry for several more hours before I can mask it.

 

So, I moved on to decaling. Here's the set-up:

IMAG2503

 

I managed to apply all the decals on the port side:

IMAG2504

 

Here's a detail of the tail fin, with Micro Sol doing its job (not for the faint of heart... ):

IMAG2505

 

That's all for now. I only have one day before the GB ends. Let's see how it goes. I still have dozens of decals to apply and the weathering and finishing to do.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

[Fatboydim]

Hi Jaime, looking really good. I'm looking forward to seeing all the decals on. The Aqua Gloss you used, is that by Mr Hobby? Joe

[Alan P]

It's a close run thing, but this is looking really good. A lot of work in a very short time!

[jrlx]

On 7/26/2015 at 08:00, Fatboydim said:

Hi Jaime, looking really good. I'm looking forward to seeing all the decals on. The Aqua Gloss you used, is that by Mr Hobby? Joe

Thanks, Joe. Aqua Gloss is a water-based gloss varnish from Alclad. It is recommended for their high-shine colours (chrome, airframe aluminium, stainless steel, ...) but works over any other paint type as a regular gloss varnish. It can also be used as a primer for Alclad and for dipping clear parts (spectacular results here).

On 7/26/2015 at 18:16, Brokenedge said:

It's a close run thing, but this is looking really good. A lot of work in a very short time!

Thanks Brokenedge. I'm afraid I won't finish this build (or my other two entries) in time. I had some problems with the tail fin decals and the model is not good right now. I'll show the details in a separate post.

Cheers

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hello again,

 

I'm afraid disaster struck and I won't be able to finish this model in time for the GB.

 

As said in my previous post, I run into trouble with the tail fin decals. After Micro Sol dried, the wrinkles remained. No additional amount of solvent or making small holes along the wrinkles to help the solvent spread removed them. Here's how the port side looks:

IMAG2506

 

I applied the starboard side decal, kept the fin horizontal while applying Micro Sol and kept brushing the wrinkles but, in the end, this one also got bad:

IMAG2508

 

While I was thinking about how to solve this, I kept applying decals. Here's the starboard side:

IMAG2507

 

I must say that the Fujimi decals that come with the kit seem to react badly with Micro Sol, since the larger ones have a tendency to keep wrinkles, which I must smooth out with a cotton bud when the solvent dries.

 

Anyway, it was evident that the model wouldn't make it to the GB Gallery in time. Then I noticed that there were many more decals to apply to the sides than I thought. The instructions only identify all the stencils in the lateral diagrams for the first camouflage alternative. The other camouflage alternatives only identify their specific decals and stencils in the lateral diagrams. This is shown in the following picture. As can be seen, there's still a huge number of stencils to apply to the sides:

IMAG2509

 

Conclusion: even if I didn't have any problems with the tail fin decals, I wouldn't be able to finish this model in time for the GB.

 

Since my other two entries are far from finished, I won't have any of my three entries ready in time. This is no problem, though. My objective was to improve my building efficiency and test the parallel build of several versions of the same kit. I can say that my efficiency has indeed improved and I got a lot of experience with this attempt.

 

Regarding this one, I'm now considering the following possibilities to solve the problem with the tail fin decals:

 

• ask some fellow modeller for some spare decals
• buy a set of decals for a RN Phantom
• print the decals myself on decal paper, using an image from the net (some Photoshop work will be needed)
• since the white lozenge with the omega is ok on the starboard side and could possibly be salvaged on the port side, I could mask the tail and paint the red areas. It seems that Gunze H327 (Red FS11136) is very similar to the decal's red, or should I use Gunze H23 (Shine Red)?

 

Any advice is very welcome.

 

Thanks for looking and for all the support and interest along the way. I will now continue building the three Phantoms to completion, as regular WIPs.

 

Jaime