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

[rob85]

Giemme and Gene, your input and skill for all of the above is brilliant! Really making this a great thread to follow.

Rob

[giemme]

OK .. I understand now about the "fork" (reminded me of your cooking hobby). I never thought about your clever idea of gluing just the back of the wheel well cover to allow some adjustment of the "tines of the fork" ... will definitely have to give that a try. However, I was more concerned with perfectly lining up the top and bottom (fuselage sides) in that area so as to any eliminate sanding. The top fuselage piece usually bows in/out a little, so in the past, I'd add little tabs like this:

but I found that with a little pushing/prodding/gluing one side at a time, I could eliminated those tabs. At any rate, it's more effort with words than actually doing it (meaning we are probably making too much of this little item ... but useful if you're making more than a few of the Hasegawa Phantoms ... like me!!)

Gene K

Word by word, phrase by phrase, I'm gonna succeed in pulling out of you all of that draft "Building the Hasegawa 1/72 Phantom" guide that you hide somewhere..

All jokes apart, great post! Now I understand much better; not that I have decided how I'll actually do that, but I have some more info to help my decision

OT: cooking hobby - my last experiment was turkey mini-roasts (turkey breast in slices), stuffed with smoked raw ham and creamy cheese; cooked sous-vide at 65°C for 40 minutes, then quickly roasted in a pan with a sauce made from champagne and onions - delicious!!! END OT

Wow, Giemme this is a great example of careful and detailed building, fascinating to follow.

Giemme and Gene, your input and skill for all of the above is brilliant! Really making this a great thread to follow.

Rob

Cookie and Rob, thanks, I'm glad the two of you appreciate my work - much of the credit really goes to Gene , I'm really learning a lot of stuff here.

Ciao

Edited January 13, 2016 by giemme

[Air-to-Air]

Another question for Gene: the part indicated by the red circle, on the leading edge of both wings, was also on the F-4C?

Ciao

As noted by Gene this wasn't on the F-4C. It looks as though it is the mounting point for the TISEO (Target Identification Sensor Electro Optical) fairing that was used on the F-4E later in the 1970s. It may be there because Hasegawa used many common components to complete its range of F-4s.

[giemme]

Thanks Rob! I guess you're right about Hasegawa using the wings as a common component; that mounting point is surely there on F-4J's, for instance, as can be seen in various photos, just like this .

Later for a quick update

Ciao

[giemme]

Here's last update for the week, then you'll have to wait for next Monday for a new one :D

Last couple of things before buttoning up the fuselage halves: I've added a gauge behind the pressure system inspection window:

It's basically a decal cutout, taped to the back of the window from inside the fuselage:

I then dryfitted the fin cap:

and decided that I will go with two tape strips as spacer, just like Gene had already set:

Gluing the fuselage in sections, starting from the nose going backwards - I used Tamiya Green Cap and let each section cure for at least 5 minutes, before moving on:

Where possible, I also did put some glue from inside; only the fin remains to be glued, after that I will add some small blobs of CA from inside, just to straighten the structure a little bit.

Comments welcome

Ciao

[Gene K]

... that mounting point is surely there on F-4J's, for instance, as can be seen in various photos, just like this .

I'm pretty sure that's NOT a mounting point for TISEO since that was a feature on the USAF F-4E and F-4G (left wing) ... pretty sure NOT on any Navy or Marine Phantoms. Wish I had the time to research that further to be more sure.

Gene K

Edited January 14, 2016 by Gene K

[giemme]

I'm pretty sure that's NOT a mounting point for TISEO since that was a feature on the USAF F-4E and F-4G (left wing) ... pretty sure NOT on any Navy or Marine Phantoms. Wish I had the time to research that further to be more sure.

Gene K

OOpps ... I was lazily incorrect; what I meant is that that thing molded on the Hasegawa wing can be found on many F-4J pics, both wings, and looks like it's black. What that actually is, I wouldn't know

Ciao

[Cookenbacher]

Oh wow, the inspection window looks great and is another one of the details that add up into making your models look so realistic.

I also like the idea of using tape as a 'shim'. That will definitely go into the old memory bank.

[Jens]

I'm pretty sure that's NOT a mounting point for TISEO since that was a feature on the USAF F-4E and F-4G (left wing) ... pretty sure NOT on any Navy or Marine Phantoms. Wish I had the time to research that further to be more sure.

Gene K

F-4E was the only version fitted with a TISEO.

Jens

[GAF]

Nice work, Giemme! Cockpit in, fuselage together, atomic batteries to power... okay, maybe not that last one!

OT: cooking hobby - my last experiment was turkey mini-roasts (turkey breast in slices), stuffed with smoked raw ham and creamy cheese; cooked sous-vide at 65°C for 40 minutes, then quickly roasted in a pan with a sauce made from champagne and onions - delicious!!! END OT

That sounds really good! So after the build is complete, we're all gathering at Giorgio's for a Completion Party!

Gary

[Spookytooth]

Looking good Giemme.

I like the idea of the tape on the tail fin.

A lot easier to sand down than build up I suppose.

Simon.

[Gene K]

F-4E was the only version fitted with a TISEO.

Yes! What was I thinking???

Gene K

[NontasB]

Very nice progress Giorgio and many useful tips from you and Gene about the kit, especially about avoiding gaps between plastic and facts about the real airplane. I will adopt some of them for my build!!

The most trickier part of your build I believe is ending, since you glued the two halves!! Painting is closer than it looks!! Lovely thread!! Can't wait for the next udate!!

Regards,

Nontas

[Fritag]

Very nice progress Giorgio and many useful tips from you and Gene about the kit, especially about avoiding gaps between plastic and facts about the real airplane. I will adopt some of them for my build!!

The most trickier part of your build I believe is ending, since you glued the two halves!! Painting is closer than it looks!! Lovely thread!! Can't wait for the next udate!!

Agree with that. Great work and fine and useful discussion/explanations. We all benefit from sophisticated dialogue like this

I for one am almost paranoid about the fuselage join - I found on my resin JP3 that I had that recurring horrible fine line appearing through the primer/initial top coats that tells you that the fuselage just aint zipped up as securely as you hoped.

Maybe not such a problem with injection moulded kits with the wonders of Tamiya green cap. But even so I'm not really happy unless I can get to the join from the inside to reinforce it with something extra - be it some plastic strips and Tamiya green cap or a bead of cyano. Like I say it smacks of paranoia. But........

[giemme]

Oh wow, the inspection window looks great and is another one of the details that add up into making your models look so realistic.

I also like the idea of using tape as a 'shim'. That will definitely go into the old memory bank.

Thanks Cookie! Tape is very useful when you need a very thin shim.

Nice work, Giemme! Cockpit in, fuselage together, atomic batteries to power... okay, maybe not that last one!

That sounds really good! So after the build is complete, we're all gathering at Giorgio's for a Completion Party!

Gary

Thanks Gary Easy connections with Ryanair to come chez moi - if you live in Europe ...

Looking good Giemme.

I like the idea of the tape on the tail fin.

A lot easier to sand down than build up I suppose.

Simon.

Cheers Simon, thanks! I'm hoping to do neither one; when I get to glue the fin, I should be able to press and set the middle section against the tape shim enough to have it flush with the fin cap

Ciao

[giemme]

Very nice progress Giorgio and many useful tips from you and Gene about the kit, especially about avoiding gaps between plastic and facts about the real airplane. I will adopt some of them for my build!!

The most trickier part of your build I believe is ending, since you glued the two halves!! Painting is closer than it looks!! Lovely thread!! Can't wait for the next udate!!

Thanks Nontas! You're quite optimistic, though, as regards the painting stage: there's still a lot of surgery to do on the wings, before I can even think of glueing them to the fuselage

Agree with that. Great work and fine and useful discussion/explanations. We all benefit from sophisticated dialogue like this

I for one am almost paranoid about the fuselage join - I found on my resin JP3 that I had that recurring horrible fine line appearing through the primer/initial top coats that tells you that the fuselage just aint zipped up as securely as you hoped.

Maybe not such a problem with injection moulded kits with the wonders of Tamiya green cap. But even so I'm not really happy unless I can get to the join from the inside to reinforce it with something extra - be it some plastic strips and Tamiya green cap or a bead of cyano. Like I say it smacks of paranoia. But........

Thanks Steve! I hate to see that fuselage join line showing through, too; and I often do the same kind of reinforcing procedures as you do, just in case ... does that mean we're both paranoid??

Ciao

[Gene K]

...[the rear fuselage pneumatic gauge is] basically a decal cutout, taped to the back of the window from inside the fuselage:

Keep in mind that Tamiya tape loses stick over time. Will you be levelling out the window with the fuselage (with white glue, etc)?

Gene K

[giemme]

Keep in mind that Tamiya tape loses stick over time. Will you be levelling out the window with the fuselage (with white glue, etc)?

.. not sure what you mean; the window is level with the fuselage, both outside and inside (because of the way I made it, see my post #102).

It has also been coated with Tamiya Gloss Clear both sides.

Thanks for the heads up on Tamiya tape loosing stick; do you think that if I go over it and along the borders with PVA glue that would help? The two fuselage halves are already glued, but I can still reach for the window from inside, someway.

[Gene K]

.. ... see my post #102).

(I'm losing it).

Gene K

[giemme]

(I'm losing it).

[giemme]

A very frozen "Hi everybody" !! (It's -6°C here this morning, and I'm not on a ski slope )

Here's WE progress report, split in two posts because it's more than 30 pics - I warned you ...

Fuselage is completely glued now, but before that I'm showing more surgery done on the wings. First up the aux air intakes: Gene can explain better how they work; anyway, those are normally open when the AC is "parked". So I first copied the shape and transferred it on the usual beer can cutout:

here they are:

I glued on a bit of plasticard on the inside face, to give them some structure

and then started the surgery: drilling few holes

and refining with a curved blade

Some more TLC needed, but basically it's done:

Staying on the wings subject, I've opened up the holes for the weapons load. I intend to use the gunpod and the drop tanks from the MONOGRAM kit, while the inboard pilons would be the HASEGAWA ones (Gene has included the in the package some USAF style pilons coming from another kit). Since the MONOGRAM parts have mounting pegs that don't match with the HASEGAWA holes, I had to do a bit of adaptation. For the gunpod, I marked a couple of reference points with the aux doors:

put in place on HASE wings and marked with white paint and a fine brush

and finally added two steel pegs (coming from a paper clip), secured in place with CA

A similar process was used for the drop tanks; next pic shows also the scraping gizmo used for curved surfaces

I used thin copper wires as mounting pegs, in this case, because i wanted to have more room for adjustments

Air brakes: I've yet to find a good photo of the external side of these for an F-4C; there are some differences between the MONOGRAM and HASEGAWA details molded on them, and given that I'm going to re-scribe the MONO ones to remove raised panel lines, I was wondering what should I keep/add/remove exactly. Anyway:

The process is similar to the one used for the aux air doors, only that here I used my Dremel with the plastic chopping bit to remove most of the material:

Next post is about the fuselage

[giemme]

Fuselage then; as I said, it's now completely glued. Here's a detail of the fin top:

Fin cap glued in with Tamiya Green cap, needs a bit of filling on the aft tip:

Here it is, after filling with CA, sanding with ETS and rescribing the panel line:

I've also filled in the area around the pitot and probe, again with CA

Looks pretty straight to me:

I wanted to remove the fuselage spine seam, before gluing in the "hump" (door 19 area); prior to that, with the help of some tape, I marked the positions of the fuel hatches along the fuselage sides, to recover the correct locations before I re-scribe them:

Here it is after sanding off and a bit of filling (again with CA) and more sanding:

Hump is glued in place (CA on the mounting pegs, Tamiya Green Cap along the borders); I also glued the cables/pipes/wires to the rear bulkhead, using tiny drops of CA

I'm going to put some PPP along the hump borders and try to merge in with the fuselage (hence the tape strips to protect the recessed lines and revets).

That's it for the day, comments welcome as usual

Ciao

[keefr22]

She's taking shape very nicely Giorgio!

keith

[Blogs On]

Very nice "Plastic Surgery" Dr Giemme !!

[Biggles87]

Fantastic giemme, there's some real modelling going on here, cutting out the auxiliary intakes and airbrakes, that's why I build in larger scales, that sort of thing is usually already done for you.

I sympathise with you on the -6, we've only got down to -3 so far but it's not unusual to reach -6 to -10 in February, and we had a very mild Autumn and early winter so I hope we don't have to pay for it next month.

Keep warm

John