1/72 McDD F-4 C Phantom II, Hasegawa/Monogram kitbash - COMPLETED!

[Old Viper Tester]

Nice touch. Adds a bit more color to the seat pan area.

Wish you all the best in the new year.

Sven

Old Viper Tester

[giemme]

Cheers Sven, thanks! Same to you, all the best!

Ciao

[jrlx]

Superb work on the cockpit, I'm truly impressed

This thread is also a fantastic reference for any F-4 build

Cheers

Jaime

[PlaStix]

Fantastically detailed work Giemme. The cockpit is looking amazing. Top notch work!

Happy New Year.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Biggles87]

+1

Bonne Annee

John

[Gene K]

USAF Phantom Air Refueling Door - for AMS folks

One often overlooked detail of the Phantom is the shape of the refueling door - most drawings, etc show a symmetrical door. However, it is not, as shown below:

I got the 1:1 pictures above from my friend Ben Brown and Scott Wilson's thread as posted by Giorgio. The door is traced in Adobe Illustrator and exported as an svg file into the Silhouette program for the Portrait cutter. Sized it for 1/72 scale and cut as shown above. That cutter is designed for vinyl and paper, so the .010 plastic is about the limit as far as cutting depth (it's not a laser ... unfortunately!!!). For scale modeling, the Portrait is excellent not only for cutting plastic templates, but also for making vinyl masks ... among other things.

The AAR door shape "difference" from symmetrical is not that obvious in 1/72, of course ... this was mainly an exercise with a great new toy (the cutter).

Gene K

Edited July 3, 2017 by Gene K

[giemme]

Thanks Gene, great post, and now I need to tell how much of a dumb I am: in my two attempts at making a scribing template for the AAR door, I always ended up with an asymmetrical profile, blaming myself for not being accurate enough. Then I thoroughly checked the Monogram kit and realised that it actually has an asymmetric shape, so I blamed Monogram. Lesson learnt now (and another good point for Monogram), I should have had to look better at Scott's pictures :banghead:

Thanks again for another great modelling info

Ciao

PS: "subliminal" message about the cutter received. Over.

Edited January 2, 2016 by giemme

[giemme]

Superb work on the cockpit, I'm truly impressed

This thread is also a fantastic reference for any F-4 build

Cheers

Jaime

Cheers Jaime, thanks And great references here, I agree 100% - see for instance Gene's last post

Fantastically detailed work Giemme. The cockpit is looking amazing. Top notch work!

Happy New Year.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix and Happy New Year to you too

+1

Bonne Annee

John

Thanks John! Une Bonne Annee a toi aussi.

Ciao

[giemme]

Hi everybody, time for an update.

Last couple of things added to the tub, also to hide a bit that huge gap remaining between the pilot's IP sides and the coaming: I've glued a styrene strip behind the IP, painted and weathered accordingly to the rest and used as a backing support for the arresting hook control handle (right) and the landing gear control handle (left):

I've also glued in the control sticks:

One more shot: I toned down the red knobs of the two control handles, as they seemed way too bright (I simply went over them with a dark wash)

One of the last things to do before joining the fuselage halves: replacing the fin pitot and probe. I used a prescription needle for the latter, shaping it using my Dremel with a sanding disc, while for the top pitot tube I used a brass rod and the same technique I used for the AOA probe.

Glued in place with CA, then a bit of dryfit

I also did some more work on the boarding ladder: steps made from rigid copper wire, glued in with CA

Anybody cares for an F-4 boarding ladder that can only be used starboard side? I don't think so

So I had to strip all the steps off, swap the two side parts and re-glue:

Adding few more details, again from rigid copper wire and glued with CA

I've also prepared little Gene and the jet engine faces for priming, will probably post something about them tomorrow

Comments welcome, as usual

Ciao

[Gene K]

I toned down the red knobs of the two control handles ....

You might consider doing the same for the scope faces.

One of the last things to do before joining the fuselage halves: replacing the fin pitot and probe.

You're braver than me! I save those kinds of little thingees 'till the end of a build. lest I : 1) stab myself; 2) and/or snap them off!.

As for closing the fuselage, recommend a piece of Tamiya tape (or two) as indicated on top of the vert stab to avoid a step after the top piece is glued on. Also, don't glue the fuselage bottom together - to allow some play when gluing the wings to the fuselage.

I also did some more work on the boarding ladder: steps made from rigid copper wire, glued in with CA

Wow, they look great!! All the more impressive considering the very small size of those pieces. That yellow ladder will really add to your beautiful work of art.

Anybody cares for an F-4 boarding ladder that can only be used starboard side?

Gene K

Edited January 4, 2016 by Gene K

[phantom61]

great job Giemme...

why did not you use tin soldering...

He would give excellent rigidity ....

bravo...

[Spookytooth]

Nice work Giemme, the ladder is a great job, in that scale.

I agree with Gene on the scopes, they would only be that bright in a darkened environment.

Simon.

[Blogs On]

Hi Giemme, lovely work as always

[giemme]

You might consider doing the same for the scope faces. [tone down the red]

I had the same thought, although that red is not that bright "in flesh", it's more because of my photo (black background and direct light). The question is: how dark was it in real life?

You're braver than me! I save those kinds of little thingees [pitot and probe] 'till the end of a build. lest I : 1) stab myself; 2) and/or snap them off!.

I considered the possibility of putting them on later, but there's a lot of filling and sanding job to do on the fin and I prefer to start priming/painting with that area completely sorted. Might stab myself either, though

As for closing the fuselage, recommend a piece of Tamiya tape (or two) as indicated on top of the vert stab to avoid a step after the top piece is glued on. Also, don't glue the fuselage bottom together - to allow some play when gluing the wings to the fuselage.

You actually had already put some tape on the other half, before sending me the box, so it should be already fine; as well as writing on the fuselage bottom to not glue them together. I will anyway do another dry fit session - involving wings too - before I put any glue on the fuselage. BTW: you marked with a red circle a little spot near the base of the fin:

Is it some fault I need to correct?

great job Giemme...

why did not you use tin soldering...

He would give excellent rigidity ....

Thanks Silvano I did try actually with tin soldering, but a) I used a too thick of a tin wire, b ) my soldering tip is not fine enough and c) I'm just not good at it . I did put too much material on, and when polishing to remove some, I had the pieces detaching and flinging away like bullets ...

Nice work Giemme, the ladder is a great job, in that scale.

I agree with Gene on the scopes, they would only be that bright in a darkened environment.

Simon.

Cheers Simon, thanks As said above, I'll tone them down, I just need to be sure of how much

Hi Giemme, lovely work as always

Cheers Blogs, thanks

Ciao

[Gene K]

... red circle a little spot near the base of the fin ....

That's a small molding dimple on each fuselage side on all the Hasegawa 1/72 Phantom kits - similar to the depression on the piece that goes on the fuselage behind the rear cockpit (Door 19 area).

As for the color of the red plastic filter on the radar scopes - "not very bright" since there's no power on the airplane you're modeling. Most of the "color" is reflected glare as can be seen here. Additionally, the rear scope had a black rubber hood over it, making it a little darker "in there".

That picture highlights another "interesting" subject that will undoubtedly come up in this thread - the green center windscreen "tint". There is NO TINT! What is visible, however, is a slight green coloring that results from light refraction from between the laminated double layer center windscreen glass ... it's certainly not as green as many modelers depict. As an aside, It was possible to unintentionally crack the outermost glass layer if the rain removal were left on after landing - from hot engine bleed air overheating the outer glass without the benefit of cooling raindrops.

Gene K

[GAF]

Giorgio,

That is very nice work on the probes and the ladder. However, if you glue any more sharp objects on this thing you will have to register it as a weapon!

Gary

[PlaStix]

Hi Giemme. I have to say your work in the cockpit looks fantastic - really busy and interesting. And the ladder looks great too. Very impressive modelling.

Kind regards,

Stix

[giemme]

As for the color of the red plastic filter on the radar scopes - "not very bright" since there's no power on the airplane you're modeling. Most of the "color" is reflected glare as can be seen here. Additionally, the rear scope had a black rubber hood over it, making it a little darker "in there".

Then I definitely need to tone them down - thanks for pointing out that pic, at first I hadn't noticed that the radar scope was so clearly visible

That picture highlights another "interesting" subject that will undoubtedly come up in this thread - the green center windscreen "tint". There is NO TINT! What is visible, however, is a slight green coloring that results from light refraction from between the laminated double layer center windscreen glass ... it's certainly not as green as many modelers depict.

This subject came up also in my F-4J thread (at that time, I had already painted the windscreen, though); after reading Scott's post, I was considering not to paint it at all, as he says that green glare was only visible at specific angles and light conditions, most often not noticeable at all. What do you think?

Giorgio,

That is very nice work on the probes and the ladder. However, if you glue any more sharp objects on this thing you will have to register it as a weapon!

Gary

But that's what it's intended to be, ain't it?

Hi Giemme. I have to say your work in the cockpit looks fantastic - really busy and interesting. And the ladder looks great too. Very impressive modelling.

Kind regards,

Stix

Cheers Stix, thanks as ever for your support

Ciao

Edited January 5, 2016 by giemme

[Gene K]

... I was considering not to paint [the center windscreen] at all,,,, What do you think?

Since the color is definitely visible, I think you should "tint" it - here's the effect you could go for:

A very light spray of thinned transparent blue/green on the inside may do it. Since I've never tried that, I'd be interested in your results (on a scrap canopy, of course).

Gene K

[FZ6]

Just been catching up with this thread. As I am a fan of the phantom and have a small collection of them in 1:72 now. I've been on the lookout for a Hasegawa F-4C for ages and was lucky enough to pick one up at a model show for what I would say is a reasonable £25 a few months ago. I thought it was a bit expensive when I purchased it but justified it by saying some of the new Hasegawa Phantoms retail for £35 these days so in that context it's a bargain!

I'll certainly be following this thread with interest as it's a great reference for the phantom and I'm picking up some good tips for when I do mine. I particularly like the technique for doing the Air Intakes and the added cockpit detail and I'm looking forward to seeing further progress.

Thanks for sharing,

Mark

[giemme]

A very light spray of thinned transparent blue/green on the inside may do it. Since I've never tried that, I'd be interested in your results (on a scrap canopy, of course).

Spraying on the inside: interesting. A test is definitely in sight - on a few scrap canopies, I believe.

Just been catching up with this thread. As I am a fan of the phantom and have a small collection of them in 1:72 now. I've been on the lookout for a Hasegawa F-4C for ages and was lucky enough to pick one up at a model show for what I would say is a reasonable £25 a few months ago. I thought it was a bit expensive when I purchased it but justified it by saying some of the new Hasegawa Phantoms retail for £35 these days so in that context it's a bargain!

I'll certainly be following this thread with interest as it's a great reference for the phantom and I'm picking up some good tips for when I do mine. I particularly like the technique for doing the Air Intakes and the added cockpit detail and I'm looking forward to seeing further progress.

Thanks for sharing,

Mark

Thanks for joining, Mark

Later for another update

Ciao

[Biggles87]

Definitely tint the inside of the canopy, I've done it that way in the past. When I eventually build my 1/32 Phantom I will do the same with transparent red on the inside of the scopes, which are supplied as separate clear discs.

Cheers

John

[Duncan B]

I used to use a blue highlighter but now mask the centre windscreen panel off and spray the outside with clear blue Tamiya acrylic, a thin coat is all that is needed. I was actually thinking about this job this morning before I even read this thread (I was cleaning a Fujimi Phantom canopy last night).

Great work going on here.

Duncan B

[giemme]

Definitely tint the inside of the canopy, I've done it that way in the past. When I eventually build my 1/32 Phantom I will do the same with transparent red on the inside of the scopes, which are supplied as separate clear discs.

Cheers

John

Thanks John! 1/32 Phantom? Big beast! And endless room for detailing ... Looking forward to when you get around building it!

I used to use a blue highlighter but now mask the centre windscreen panel off and spray the outside with clear blue Tamiya acrylic, a thin coat is all that is needed. I was actually thinking about this job this morning before I even read this thread (I was cleaning a Fujimi Phantom canopy last night).

Great work going on here.

Duncan B

Cheers Duncan, thanks And thanks for your input on painting the windscreen, too.

Here's an update: as anticipated, I toned down the red plastic covers for the radar screens. This is how they look on a black background and direct light:

but this how they look with a light blue background:

which is more similar to what they are "in flesh".

I also mentioned I had prepared little Gene and the engine faces for priming:

I primed them with my usual mix of Vallejo Grey Primer and Future:

I then airbrushed them with Model Master Burnt Metal metallizer, buffed after 20 minutes or so, drybrushed with some Lifecolor Natural Metal and added a dark acrylic wash

I then secured them in place using some drops of CA along the borders. The red marks had been previously done by Gene, to indicate the correct face alignment with the intake

And here's what they look like (not easy to take a pic of that, actually )

This reminds me a question I already wanted to ask Gene, even if I'm still at an early stage: should I paint the first part of the intakes with camo color? I saw some USAF F4s pictures in which it looks like the very first inches of them is painted, some others in which the intake lip is metallic (don't know if Coroguard or just a paint lift off)

I'll also get back for a moment on the boarding ladder subject: it turned out (like Silvano correctly anticipated) that gluing it with CA would not hold up to any handling, so I had to take everything apart and give tin welding another try. Went much better, but when I used my Dremel with a sawing disc to cut the side rails to the correct size, all the welding points cracked open

So I cut them and restarted the welding, but for some reason had a lot of trouble (I've come to the conclusion that I'm using a rubbish tin wire). This all process took most of my modelling time during the last couple of days; now I'll leave the boarding ladder alone for a day or two, until I come up with a better plan to build it. This should allow me to concentrate more on joining the fuselage halves and get this build going a bit further.

That's it for now, any comments welcome

Ciao

[Spookytooth]

Nice work again Giemme, the pit looks quite neat

The intakes look sweet in their home.

As for the boarding steps, try again, or use the kit one`s, although they do look a bit heavy.

Simon.