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1/48 Hasegawa F-4E AUP 339 Sqn 'Ajax'


Rich F

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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...

 

43601817605_46e7e5e21a_c.jpgIMG_4779 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

 

43601810635_3cc4f7881e_c.jpgIMG_4780 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

 

30641570998_07c7495b0f_c.jpgIMG_4781 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

 

44511301491_92c3d6814f_c.jpgIMG_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! 

 

44461821152_5caa9b3086_c.jpgIMG_4784 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

 

44511291971_6a4c68a5ef_c.jpgIMG_4785 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

 

44461812522_3df74617cc_c.jpgIMG_4788 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

 

44511285881_54f91c557f_c.jpgIMG_4790 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

 

All important MFD's and upfront keypad.

44511275421_7ed72cbc51_c.jpgIMG_4793 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

43601777155_8805f4ca8b_c.jpgIMG_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

 

 

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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 by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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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 by Shalako
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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.

 

 

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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

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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"!!!

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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.

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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...

 

45076386171_cdcc42b23f_c.jpgIMG_5077 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

43263893630_9f55687329_c.jpgIMG_5078 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

45076382541_60d146f05b_c.jpgIMG_5079 by Richard Farndon, on Flickr

43263890040_8089f19bae_c.jpgIMG_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

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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. 

 

44482964185_4503fd0174_c.jpgIMG_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.

 

45396781401_5cf562a9bf_z.jpgIMG_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.

 

44482941195_2d9833582b_z.jpgIMG_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!

 

30457093267_f27acc7e8b_z.jpgIMG_5182 

 

45346042412_fca45f3088_z.jpgIMG_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.

 

30457066857_345bd08030_z.jpgIMG_5184 

 

Until the next time...

 

Cheers

 

 

 

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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...

 

30614526007_6264b62165_c.jpgIMG_5257

 

31683073118_fcd24f1a63_c.jpgIMG_5258

 

Canopy with rivet detail added, polished and dipped in Klear with the green tinted armoured glass front panel.

 

45505399242_4e9ef0ca43_c.jpgIMG_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. 

 

31683071298_988a0ce9e7_c.jpgIMG_5260

 

45555681141_7bf02a7646_c.jpgIMG_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.

 

45505397012_2e43d4ed56_c.jpgIMG_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.

 

31683069408_bb22db94b6_c.jpgIMG_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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

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

 

IMG_0381

 

IMG_0384

 

Added some detail to the wheel wells

 

IMG_0375

 

IMG_0377

 

And the undercarriage legs

 

IMG_0380

 

I made some intake blanks from magi-sculpt and lead foil

 

IMG_0378

 

After i added a black base coat of Mr surfacer i added a thin coat of GSI Aqueous JSDF grey for the light grey

 

IMG_0651

 

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.

 

IMG_0652

 

I'm still painting the blue/grey at the moment but am also working on the exhausts, still a work in progress

 

IMG_0655

 

Hopefully it won't be so long before the next update.

 

That's all for now.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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