Rich F Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 Hi chaps, I've had this one in planning stage for quite some time as I have always liked the HAF ghost scheme. When I got my hands on the Bible that is 'Phantom under the skin Vol 1' by Ioannis Lekkas and Ilias Gkonis I knew I had to give it go. Heres what I have to work with... IMG_4779 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_4780 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_4781 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_4783 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr Already done some work on the pit, for those that don't know much about the Greek Phantom's, they were upgraded in the late 90's/early 2000's with a new radar, new avionics and a cockpit with MFD's and are able to employ smart weapons and shoot AMRAAM's. I'm going to with a 339 Sqn 'Ajax' bird which luckily doesn't have all the DECM lumps and bumps that their sister squadron (338 'Aris') birds have. Less work for me! Since there isn't a cockpit that represents the AUP birds I have had to scratch most of it myself. I've used the kit cockpit as a starting point and added Verlinden seats, and Airscale PE (great help) copper tape and lots of styrene strip! IMG_4784 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_4785 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_4788 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_4790 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr All important MFD's and upfront keypad. IMG_4793 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_4792 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr That's all for now folks, just need to put it together and get some paint on it next. Cheers Rich 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 (edited) Hello @Rich F ... Looking forward to this. I really like the Greek Phantoms. A fellow member posted this a few months ago. The greek Phantom in the post has a frameless windscreen. I was curious if you knew of this Mod ? If so will yours be using the traditional or this type ? Dennis Edited June 5, 2019 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrikF Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 I will definitely watch your steps during this build. I have my own Hellenic Phantom with lot of resins waiting in my stash 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 (edited) On 10/4/2018 at 3:07 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Hello @Rich F ... Looking forward to this. I really like the Greek Phantoms. A fellow member posted this a few months ago. The greek Phantom in the post has a framless windscreen. I was curious if you knew of this Mod ? If so will yours be using the traditional or this type ? Dennis Hi Dennis, In 1992, the Hellenic Air Force received a few surplus USAF F-4Es. One of them had the characteristic windscreen you're referring to. All of them had the "Hill Gray II" paint scheme applied. Unfortunately, I can't remember right now the aircraft's SN. Cheers Shalako Edited October 7, 2018 by Shalako 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger331 Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 On 10/5/2018 at 11:10 PM, Shalako said: Hi Dennis, In 1992, the Hellenic Air Force received a few surplus USAF F-4Es. One of them had the characteristic windshield you're referring to. All of them had the "Hill Gray II" paint scheme applied. Unfortunately, I can't remember right now the aircraft's SN. Cheers Shalako There's a photo of a Hellenic Air Force F-4E AUP over on Airliners.net with this frameless windscreen. Its quoted as '68-424' (which you can just make out on the tail surfaces) during its service with 337 Sqn. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boman Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 This one, preserved at Chania? The ex-USAF F-4E 's weren't upgraded to AUP standard, although this one is painted up to represent one; DELETED - Read the rules regarding airliners.net photos 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Boman said: This one, preserved at Chania? The ex-USAF F-4E 's weren't upgraded to AUP standard, although this one is painted up to represent one; AH...yes!! The infamous "artistic license"!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger331 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 On 07/10/2018 at 19:10, Boman said: This one, preserved at Chania? The ex-USAF F-4E 's weren't upgraded to AUP standard, although this one is painted up to represent one; No....the photo I have seen shows the same aircraft taxying in after taking part in the Disbandment Ceremony for 337 Sqn. It is captioned as an F-4E AUP but I was suspicious since the serial does not tie up with the serials listed in the Eagle Aviation 'Phantom Under the Skin' Volume 1 for Hellenic Air Force F-4E Phantom II AUP aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boman Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) 68-0424 has been preserved since 2006ish which should coincide well with the 337sq giving up the F-4 in favour of F-16's Edited October 8, 2018 by Boman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 On 10/4/2018 at 11:07 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Hello @Rich F ... Looking forward to this. I really like the Greek Phantoms. A fellow member posted this a few months ago. The greek Phantom in the post has a framless windscreen. I was curious if you knew of this Mod ? If so will yours be using the traditional or this type ? Dennis Hi Dennis, I didn't know the HAF had these ex -USAF aircraft with the frameless windscreens, gladly '71743' isn't one of them. I came across a few shots on google that confirms it. Didn't fancy sanding my windscreen back! Anyhow, I have painted the pit and am In the process of gluing into the fuselage... IMG_5077 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_5078 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_5079 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr IMG_5080 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr As you can see I've knocked off the RIO's ejection seat handles, me and my fat fingers! The seats will be coming out anyway as they are bound to getting knocked about during the sanding phase when I join the 2 fuselage halves together. Cheers Rich 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whiskey Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Check out Jon Byron's F-4E he just posted over in the RFI section, he talks about what he did to make new ejection seat handles. Really like how the pit is coming together by the way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Beautiful detail on your office. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted October 18, 2018 Author Share Posted October 18, 2018 Hi Folks, On 10/10/2018 at 3:17 PM, whiskey said: Check out Jon Byron's F-4E he just posted over in the RFI section, he talks about what he did to make new ejection seat handles. Really like how the pit is coming together by the way. Thanks for the heads up whiskey, I may do something similar to Jon's solution as i think the Airscale handles are a bit underscale. Anyhow got a bit more progress done, pit is now firmly in the fuselage, i inserted some 'strengthening' rods made from sprue along the spine as i know this is a weak spot especially as i was going to do re-scribing and riveting along here. Next up after sanding and filling the fuselage halves with Mr Surfacer 500 i moved onto the riveting itself. Here i used MDC's riveting tool and Hasegawa tri-tool riveting templates, to keep it steady i like to stick some old style Dymo tape to the kit as a guide. Once this monotonous task was complete i moved onto a bit of detailing. IMG_5104 First up I noticed some of the Greek birds had a slightly raised panel near the tail i replicated this with some very thin evergreen sheet. I also cut out the anti-collision light on the tail and replaced it with some clear red rod cut and sanded to shape. IMG_5183 Then the fun bit, after adding the nose i did some more rescribing and riveting then i drilled out the gun vent and made a new raised one from plastic stock. Part of the AUP upgrade was a IFF system which meant adding 'bird slicer antennas' to the nose. These are still not finished yet as i need to reduce the height of the blades and shape them but so far I think they look pretty good. IMG_5181 And finally the instrument coaming/HUD, this is also a lot different from your average F-4E firstly the HUD is bigger and i needed to cut out the coaming so i could add the pilots MFD. The HUD is also where the upfront controller sits, you guessed it, in front of the pilot! The hardest part here was trying to not interfere with the windshield, i can tell you there's not a lot of room in there! IMG_5182 IMG_5178 See link below for the real thing; https://www.airliners.net/photo/Greece-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4E-AUP-Phantom-II/2098373 Lastly I've added the GPS antenna on the spine and i noticed a raised ring just behind the WSO's cockpit so this was added also. IMG_5184 Until the next time... Cheers 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstorin Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 WOW, amazing work. This is a pleasure to see. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolay Polyakov Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 (edited) Your work looks fantastic, Rich! 🙂 Edited October 20, 2018 by Nikolay Polyakov 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 Great work on the 'pit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted October 25, 2018 Author Share Posted October 25, 2018 Not much progress done this week folks, work has rudely gotten in the way! Still working on the fuselage, nearly there and i can move onto the wings. Managed to finish the HUD and instrument coaming, i added some reflective film to replicate the HUD glass... IMG_5257 IMG_5258 Canopy with rivet detail added, polished and dipped in Klear with the green tinted armoured glass front panel. IMG_5259 Rivet detail and stiffener plates added to the tail planes, also re-positioned the rudder and added the RWR aerials on the tail-cone as i managed to sand the kit ones off when i was blending the fuselage halves. IMG_5260 IMG_5262 I have replaced the probe on the tail plane with metal tubing as i had to remove the kit one to fit the anti-collision light. IMG_5263 Lastly i have reshaped the cooling intakes opening on the cooling intakes under the nose as i think it's a weak point on this kit, This was quite fiddly but worth the effort. IMG_5264 That's all for now and i wont be able to do any work on it next week as I'm off the Lake district next week for a spot of hiking and mountain biking with the family, hope the weather's kind! Cheers 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Looking very good...Phantoms are one of my favourite airplanes, and there are so many variants and equipment configurations. And marking schemes, too. A modeller could spend his entire life building nothing but Phantoms and still not get to them all. Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Oh yes! Like your attention to detail! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Drover Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 I'm late to the party on this one but jeez that looks fantastic so far. Love the Greek scheme. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted March 13, 2019 Author Share Posted March 13, 2019 Wow, can't believe it's been nearly six months since i last updated this thread, but as usual life has gotten in the way. I'm still working on this albeit at a glacial pace due to working away from home on a regular basis. Anyway onto my progress so far, I've managed to decide on the loadout, so I've gone with 3 drop tanks, a CATM round on 1 pylon and a baggage pod on the other. I've rescribed the wing drop tanks and the pylons and added chaff/flare buckets, nicked a baggage pod from my Hasegawa F-16B and added another access door to the other side and modified one of the kit's sidewinders into a CATM Added some detail to the wheel wells And the undercarriage legs I made some intake blanks from magi-sculpt and lead foil After i added a black base coat of Mr surfacer i added a thin coat of GSI Aqueous JSDF grey for the light grey I'm now in the process of adding the Blue Grey FS35237, again I chose GSI but I found this was too grey and not blue enough so i added a drop of bright blue and lighten it with white. I think this looks about right. I'm still painting the blue/grey at the moment but am also working on the exhausts, still a work in progress Hopefully it won't be so long before the next update. That's all for now. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted March 13, 2019 Share Posted March 13, 2019 Comming along nicely!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich F Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 Finally finished in the paint shop... Next up a coat of klear and decals, then a spot of weathering. Cheers 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Callahan Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 great paint job mate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 I really like that paint job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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