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

[giemme]

Love this sort of stuff.

Mmmhhh, how do I know that? Oh yes, you've just scratchbuilt a map case in 1/72 for your Hawk out of styrene and foil ...

:D

Thanks for the appreciation

Ciao

[keefr22]

Comment: Brilliant...!!

[Biggles87]

All this in 1/72 scale, I think there's some kind of sorcery going on here.

Edited December 17, 2015 by Biggles87

[Gene K]

Comment: Brilliant...!!

Definitely!

My favorite "part" so far is the work on the back of the GIB's instrument panel.

Gene K

[giemme]

Thanks guys for the appreciation

Gene, following the Scott Wilson link I posted before, I found out that this:

is a beacon antenna.

Among the ones you provided, I have no pictures of that area for Sandy Bay-Bee, but on the other hand this antenna is clearly visible on other F-4Cs in Cam Rahn, so I think I'l have to scratch build that too.

Ciao

[Cookenbacher]

Amazing stuff Giemme. Can't wait to see the cockpit painted.

[Gene K]

... is a beacon antenna.

Thanks. Good description here in second paragraph, and Scott gives a good run down on how to model it here in the paragraph just above his picture on the spine. That whole thread is great reading!!

Gene K

.

[giemme]

Can't wait to see the cockpit painted.

That's two of us then, Cookie

Thanks. Good description here in second paragraph, and Scott gives a good run down on how to model it here in the paragraph just above his picture on the spine. That whole thread is great reading!!

.

Definitely great reading! Scott also gives a very detailed description on how to paint wheel hubs, among other things, pointing out differences between Navy and USAF (I did check if I had that right on my F-4J )

He's not mentioning that explicitly, but I presume that the beacon antenna on the F-4C would have been centerline, just like on the F-4 D ... ?

Ciao

Edited December 18, 2015 by giemme

[PlaStix]

Hi Giemme. That cockpit is looking awesome! I may have to think about getting hold of some of those toys you use to do your close up magic!

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Kind regards,

Stix

[giemme]

Hi Stix, thanks! If you don't own a magnifier with built-in lamp, go get one immediately! :D

Although, looking at the level of detailing you put in your cockpits, I struggle to believe you don't own one ...

Ciao

[Blogs On]

Lovely work Giemme,

I have one of those magnifying lights and fully concur to its effectiveness. However, one must also have the skill and steady hands to use it to its full potential which I humbley suggest you have in spades?

My attempts usually result in the onset of the "concentration shakes" with the variable results it entails!

Question - why does PE stick where you don't want it and won't stick where you do!??

Regards

Darren

[Biggles87]

Lovely work Giemme,

I have one of those magnifying lights and fully concur to its effectiveness. However, one must also have the skill and steady hands to use it to its full potential which I humbley suggest you have in spades?

I agree completely, I have two, a clamp on version for my man cave and a slightly smaller desk top one for the kitchen, where I do my modelling in the winter.

John

[rob85]

My your heads look very well cared for, also there is no glue or paint or anything on them....are you really making a model? Could have something to do with the standard of your work....

I have thought about out of those light up magnifiers, I think that my mum may have one... She buys a lot of things on impulse just because she likes the look of them

More extraordinary details, nice work

Rob

[giemme]

Question - why does PE stick where you don't want it and won't stick where you do!??

Regards

Darren

Thanks Darren PE ... it's a kind of magic (in a bad way). On a serious note, I use different methods to persuade them in the right position: if they're large enough, I use PVA to set them in place, then CA and/or regular plastic cement to have a definitive bond. If they're very tiny, I only use CA and pick them up with a toothpick with a little blob of blue tack on one end; I also use another toothpick to help setting the piece in position and detaching it from the blue tack.

Lovely work Giemme,

I have one of those magnifying lights and fully concur to its effectiveness. However, one must also have the skill and steady hands to use it to its full potential which I humbley suggest you have in spades?

I agree completely, I have two, a clamp on version for my man cave and a slightly smaller desk top one for the kitchen, where I do my modelling in the winter.

I've got a desktop one too, mainly for when I paint figures But I'm also considering buying an Optivisor, because sometimes the lamp gets in the way with the back end of the brush

My your hands look very well cared for, also there is no glue or paint or anything on them....are you really making a model?

Rob, I took that picture before starting a modelling session ... I usually end up as you say, with paint and glue (mostly CA) all over ...

Tomorrow I'll post a major progress report on interiors detailing, it's almost completed now.

Ciao

[rob85]

Looking forward to that update mate!

Rob

[giemme]

Hi everybody; ready for Xmas?

Here's WE progress report - actually is going to be two posts, one for the actual report and the other one is to show an issue/question to Phantom experts.

Let's get started with the build report: port side sidewall completed

Time to complete the tub; partially removed the shoulder straps from Jerry's seat

and put some on Jerry himself, using wine bottle foil:

Straps need to be adjusted a bit.

Next I removed the seat belts from both Jerry's and Gene's seats, using some home made Dremel tools, a scraping gizmo and regular sandpaper

Gene's seat received some PE belts from an old Eduard set I partially used on my F-4J build

More detailing for the seats; to reproduce the side straps on top of them, I used tiny strips of wine bottle foil, and rolled them over with the knurled part of a blade handle

Glued in place using CA

Gene's seat: he's not going to be sitting in the cockpit, so I had to completely remove the shoulder harness

added the PE ones

and scratch built some details for the seat structure

Jerry's got his right arm in place, now:

Detailing in the cockpit is basically completed, so I decided to tackle the AOA probe; I used a brass rod, mounted it into an electric drill and used a Dremel sanding disk to shape it accordinlgy (double rotation )

Here it is, compared to the kit original

which has been removed; I drilled a hole in the corresponding position

and set the new AOA probe in place; the inside part has been secured with CA

while outside I used a drop of Tamiya Green Cap

That's it for this report, now next post will be about the "hump" ...

Comments welcome

Ciao

[giemme]

The hump; while looking for the beacon antenna, this picture (posted for modelling discussion purposes, will remove if asked for) from Scott Wilson's post linked in an earlier post caught my attention

showing door 19 open. Scott says that on HASEGAWA kits and others, being the whole "hump" a separated piece, one should not leave a seam line but blend it into the fuselage spine. Now looking at the MONOGRAM and HASEGAWA kit side by side, I'm under the impression that something is wrong with the latter:

The MONO hump looks much more like Scott's pic above (even though that is of an F-4E), and so do the panel lines around it. Has Hasegawa got this wrong, or am I looking at it the wrong way?

Edited December 21, 2015 by giemme

[keefr22]

More lovely intricate detail work there Giorgio - that AoA probe is superb!

Fwiw, I'd agree that the Mono 'hump' looks more like the real thing.

Keith

[baldwin8]

I think Hasegawa's version of the hump aft of the aft canopy was to make a better definition of the canopy attachment cutouts. moldmaking decisions sometime don't always lead to accurate details.

[Gene K]

[PlaStix]

More amazing detail work Giemme. Every time I drop by there's something new to be fascinated by! The cockpit detail looks superb so far. Looking forward to seeing the paint go on.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Gene K]

... am I looking at it [door 19 hump] the wrong way?

May be a decision by Hasegawa to make it easier on the modeler -- not to have to scribe the top of the "hump"? Makes it easy to apply a little blending filler and then just add the beacon (in the middle as opposed to Scott's offset F-4E).

Gene K

Edited December 21, 2015 by Gene K

[GAF]

Giemme,

Nice work on the pit, though I see a lot of "ouch" moments in the future with that AoA probe!

Yeah, looks like Hasegawa wanted to make it easier on the modeler. Neither representation of the "hump" is entirely

satisfactory, but you'll need some filler on the Hasegawa version, while a file shoud be taken to the Monogram version

to give it more definition.

Good catch!

Gary

[Fritag]

Nice work on the pit, though I see a lot of "ouch" moments in the future with that AoA probe!

I agree. Top-drawer work on the seats and cockpit generally.

The replacement alpha probe will look excellent. But like Gary says I reckon it'll draw blood before then end of the build!

I guess you'll also now have to make a 1/72 alpha probe guard ........... just like the real thing?

[giemme]

:rofl: