VF-84, F-4J

[Wafu]

Hi all.

 

First off, thanks for allowing me to join the Group build so late in the day, its the perfect opportunity to build this kit with minimal additions.

 

My build will continue my current builds and be of a F-4J of the Jolly Rogers, VF-84, yes I know its been done before but I love the scheme so thats enough for me. After building the Academy 1/48 F-4B I've really come to appreciate the merits of this big old bird, so it wasn't a surprise to my wallet that when a cheap ebay offer came knocking I snapped it up.

 

The kit has been featured on the internet before so I won't plow the same furrow, however I didn't want to spend a fortune on all the bells and whistles so I've 'only' purchased a set f cans, a set of Quickboost seats and dug out of my stash a set of Cutting edge intakes (these remove the Tamiya mistake on the outside of the port and starboard intakes) However whilst trimming back the flash on the intakes I discovered that the guys at Cutting edge had an off day when packing mine, they packed two righthand intakes and no lefthand ones, Its a good job I model in my shed on my own, the air was as blue as blue could get.

 

Anyway, not being deterred by this set back I started with the build, reviewing the kit and the instructions it all seems plain sailing, just big bits with lots of seams, more to follow shortly. Until then here is the obligatory shots of whats going in the mixing pot.

 

 

This is minus the quick boost seats..

 

 

Spot the ironic message from Cutting Edge.

 

 

I've never used or even seen these cans before in the flesh so to speak, I have to say I can see what the fuss is all about. They stand head and shoulders above even the nice kit offerings, I don't think it'll be the last time I use these guys for my exhausts again.

 

Anyway Easter is here and the rain is falling, the modelling shed calls so I'm expecting to make progress.

 

Cheers and gone.

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

A Jolly Rogers Phantom 

[Wafu]

Hi, Bit of an update, loads done as you will see. 

 

This kit has been a real dream, typically Tamiya, easy to assemble with minimal fuss or filler, its even got screws to hold the main assemblies together.

 

 

The main airframe stewed together in big chunks, Painted and assembled the consoles etc off the airframe, then in-between other parts going together I began detailing them. Once done they were easy chunks of plastic to place in the basic bath tub. I used Danny Daco's book to give me an idea of the cockpit colours and arrangements, excellent book for this sort of task. The other book I've been using is the SAM book on the US Phantoms, a good general overview but not in the same league as Danny's book.

 

The inner parts of the exhausts go into the airframe, once in and whilst paint was drying I plowed on with these after market bits..

 

 

Never any good at painting bang seats but following the pictures I managed to get them close to the real thing. The Quickboost seats are great, only hidden by my poor painting. Between coats of paint I flashed up the air brush and applied differing colours of metal finish from the Alclad range, If you've been under a rock or wandered away with the in crowd you may have forgotten how good Alclad paints are?

 

 

I've been seeking advice for the correct load out on my VF-84, F4J and these are in the running. All those seems to sand

Still I want it to depict the correct load and look interesting. The Jolly Rogers operated in the Atlantic Ocean with F4J's during the Vietnam era so the standard load of maxing the pylons with Mk82 bombs wouldn't be correct so a little google search is in order.

 

 

 

 

Differing stages of this evening. The airframe is assembled and seam work has begun. Working in small areas I've kept the filler to the minimum, Tamiya has helped with this by using screws to assemble the airframe, this allows small amounts of Tamiya cement to be used in controlled areas, a real bonus in my eyes.

 

More, hopefully tomorrow?? Rain is forecast so fingers crossed.

 

 

[trickyrich]

welcome aboard with a awesome looking big scale Phantom! 

 

Plus you've got some awesome extras to go with her as well.

 

Gosh talk about off to a flying start as well, the cockpit and seats look amazing, what a nice job, well done.

 

Well I don't think I need to wish you good luck as you look to have this build completely under control, keep up the great work!

[Wafu]

Only a couple of hours in the morning and evening doing seams, nothing more apart from putting the big bird in grey primer to look for blemishes. 

 

After a Easter egg hunt on the beach tomorrow with the kids, I'm hoping to get back in the shed for pre-shading and maybe even a little war paint applied.

 

Happy Easter everyone.

[Wafu]

Last nights late night progress, well in between an egg hunt with the kids and the heavy rain, I've managed to finish the seams and have moved on to the application of base colour.

 

I've also been looking at applying a textured finish to me Mk82's, after applying a thinned coat of filler, I waited for it to get tacky, then stippled it with an old brush. I wasn't sure about the affect but thought I'd apply a coat of Olive green to get a better appreciation. Here's one of the bombs

 

 

Still not sure?? I did come across a better way of doing it on the ARC forum, I've posted this in the Modelling Tips section, under the 'Paint' banner.

 

Moving to the main airframe, I had a last few skims through the instructions and placed things that wouldn't get snapped off in the painting process on the model. Then it was a check through the reference books and started to look at panel lines and lost rivet details. Once this was done I popped a quick pre-shade on to add depth. This may be old fashioned but I like the effect so I stick with it. 

 

 

Couldn't resist setting the tail section into its characteristic Black, now I know its a Jolly Rogers.

 

 

The overall effect is starting to be seen, oh and the size as well:0

 

 

 

I'm hoping to get some top colour on today, start with the white underside and maybe even a white nose cone.

 

 

[trickyrich]

really nice work!! those bombs look great, I never thought of using a brush to do the paint job! i've done something similar with filler to give it a similar effect. But your way seems so much easier, I'll have to give it a try.

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing some colour on her!

[MarkSH]

For texture I used liquid cement painted on and then stippled with an old round oil brush. I was trying to get the foam texture on the shuttle external tank and it worked quite successfully. 

Cheers, M.

[trickyrich]

I'll have to try that method, I normally just thin down some Tamiya's white filler thinned with liquid glue, it works well on plastic and resin.

[Wafu]

Hi again.

 

Well I've had a full day in the shed today, add this to last nights time and this is how far I am.

 

 

 

 

With he bulk of the airframe painted and the pre-shading showing through, I'm happy with the results so far. Adding the undercarriage, intake covers from Quickboost and the arrester hook my focus was on the rear end, not before I dropped the seats in to check for effect, i'm happy.

 

Alclad do some neat paints for metalwork so experimental times lay ahead.

 

 

I think a little highlights are needed, maybe even a little pencil work??

 

And finally, whilst all this was drying and between masking I thought I'd get on with the stores and bits.

 

 

 

Back to work tomorrow so this will take a back seat till the weekend/next week, might just squeeze a coat of Aqua Gloss on.

 

[trickyrich]

she's looking fantastic, I love the paint job! For some reason I forgot she was 1/32nd, gosh she's big!!

[franky boy]

Top work so far.

 

Im very jealous of the amount of bench time that you've had to push your build on!

 

Look forward to more updates

 

James

[FIGHTS ON]

that is really coming along well - I think last time I tackled a 1/32 jet the build was measured in years!!!! 

 

Are you using the kit supplied VF-84 decals? I ask, 'cos EVERY Tamiya F-4 I have built (mostly bought over EBAY to be fair!) has had big issues with the decals "breaking up" in the water. Not sure if the batch of kits I seem to have acquired over the years were all in a shipping container that perhaps got wet/frozen/damp. (sorry for the negative, no doubt you'll try out a small decal ast & prove me completely wrong  )

[Wafu]

I do have a Backup set, hoping not to need them but I totally understand what you mean. If work plays ball then I hope to start the decals this weekend, on duty so fingers crossed for no call outs, who am I kidding, lol.

[Wafu]

On 4 April 2018 at 12:25 PM, FIGHTS ON said:

that is really coming along well - I think last time I tackled a 1/32 jet the build was measured in years!!!! 

 

Are you using the kit supplied VF-84 decals? I ask, 'cos EVERY Tamiya F-4 I have built (mostly bought over EBAY to be fair!) has had big issues with the decals "breaking up" in the water. Not sure if the batch of kits I seem to have acquired over the years were all in a shipping container that perhaps got wet/frozen/damp. (sorry for the negative, no doubt you'll try out a small decal ast & prove me completely wrong  )

I HATE TAMIYA DECALS😡😡😡😡😡😡

 

Fightson was totally correct, just about every decal I've tried to use from the original kit sheets, has broken into small bits, I struggled all of yesterday just to get 2/3rds though decaling. As I said I do have back ups but my is it frustrating to have o go back over the markings just cos the kit decals decide to splinter.

 

Progess pics will be poster this afternoon. 

[Wafu]

As promised the pictures. I'm calling it a day on the stencils. Now I wait for the drying process and maybe tonight get a few coats of Alcads Aqua Gloss to seal and flatten the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

Still hate Tamiya decals. I have another F-4 and the GT conversion to the B, so I'll have to get some more after market decals.

 

Cheers 'n' gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FIGHTS ON]

that looks simple stunning. I have a set of the Yellowhammer VF-84 decals that I was going to give away on the "wanted" forum. But I am now inspired to file away and one day try this scheme following your build. How did you find the ALCLAD? seems to have delivered a very realistic finish, so I might be brave & try some on another big build I'm nearing completion on.....

 

I've been playing with making some more of my own decals this week. art work is done (all black emblems & numbers) but will follow the Youtube advice and spray (mist!) on some matt varnish 1st to the blank sheet before attempting to print. THEN I use the Decal Fix (misted on). I think I'll give some of my Tamiya F-4 sheets a "once over" with the stuff as well. Home made decals for the drop tanks on a 1/32 F/A-18E that was started way before this GB, but hopefully I'll post up on the Ready-for-Inspection soon.

[Wafu]

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Fightson, don't throw away those decals, you should put them to good use and get on with a Tamiya F-4. On the whole I've loved building it, so easy and quick to throw together. 

 

Mixed results with Alclads Aqua varnish, I think it's me though, I like to get a good coat on and always think 'just one more pass with the airbrush' lol.

 

I see you live in Lee on Solent, great old stomping ground. I was at Deadloss for basic and years later Leading hands courses, then ended up covering Lee SAR. Used to like going to the Swordfish for a few beers. I bought my first large scale plane whilst there in 1980, Tamiya Tomcat in 1/32, a great distraction from classes but a pig to move when I was drafted to RNAS Portland.

 

Im on the hunt for a FA-18D by Academy to add to my US Navy collection. Good luck with the 18E build.

 

I'll post some post Alclad pics tonight after I return to the shed.

[Wafu]

This will be the last from me until the final post. All ready for a spot of washing and final assembly, yeah.

 

 

 

and below.....

 

 

She's a beast.

 

 

 

[Hockeyboy76]

Wow, you have certainly flown they this kit. She looks fab. 

[trickyrich]

gosh you really have been busy with this model!!

 

Boy she does look good and a lovely finish with the paint, it has a really nice look to it, well done. The only problem with this scale is the number of decals...billions of them!!! 

 

But she looks awesome, well done.

[Wafu]

Hi all,

 

After nearly a full week has gone by and I'm still fighting this build or I should say its fighting me. In a nutshell its the decals, Tamiya has a stunning kit that I'm really looking forward to duplicating in my build list, HOWEVER, I will throw the decals in the bin. Yes Tamiya decals that just splintered and cracked when I tried to apply them, now the ones that went down with Micro sol and set have decided, after two coats of Alclad Aqua Gloss and a light weathering with Humbrol Dark grey wash, have started to crack, not all of them but four of the main title decals. 

 

I have the Tamiya Tomcat in 1/32 to build, hopefully sooner than later, I'm now concerned that the same will happen with those decal. Has anyone out there had this happen to their Tomcat?

 

Anyway, tomorrow is D-Day, I have a few replacement decals and so after cutting back the old, I've sealed the area's required ready for the new tomorrow morning. This could be make or break for this kit, its either on the shelf with my ever growing collection OR it flies out of the shed as an expensive lawn dart.

 

Here's my other diversion, I've had this Kinetic Prowler on the simmer for about a year now, to far gone to claim a place in the Group build I'm afraid but a sneaky peak of how my Prowler has evolved..

 

 

 

I'l pop a few in the Aircraft Ready for Inspection section.

 

Here is my Phantom so far..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decal hell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Strange Ive never had that happen before with either Tamiya or Hasegawa decals. With the exception of when the decals were stored improperely. Could it be that or a reaction between the Microsol and alclad Aqua ? Ive used Micro set/sol for 25 years with only one disaster. That was my fault, I moved the decal after the Sol was used and destroyed the decal. Still havent fixed it either now that i think about it. 

 

Dennis 

[Wafu]

Hey Dennis,

I had a tip-off that the Tamiya decals for this kit were trouble, a thread on ARC had said that 'the decals splinter' when put into warm water to move them from the carrier paper. Sure enough from the off my set of decals splintered on decals from both sheets in the kit. I suppose they could have been stored incorrectly, I do remove my decals and instruction sheets from all my kits, to store them in plastic sleeves in my house. I don't normally have a problem with decals, years of making models has brought me to a process of different materials. After the demise of Johnsons Klear, I've gone through a lot of base and top coats of finishing products, the cheaper ones and the expensive. I think I'm happy with the products I use, indeed the Prowler has been done using exactly the same process and products. I can only concur with the modeller on ARC, but I'm always open to thoughts and views.

[trickyrich]

wow, it's as if they've lost all their adhesion as well as becoming brittle. 

 

How long were the decals on before the clear coat? Plus what is the base the clear coat is made from? I don't know that product at all. I've been very cautious of what I use for clear coats ever since I had one basically "shrink" and crack the coats of main colour underneath. I had used that clear all the time before that, without issues. Now I stick to Tamiya's acrylic stuff from the bottle or sometimes Mr Hobby's Topcoat from a rattle can. But I agree with you it does look like the decals re the issue here.

 

I have no problems at all if the Prowler photo-bombs a few of the pictures!!!   That's a really nice model, well done. I would have liked to have seen one in the build.