stevehnz Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 I've recently picked up this kit which I reckoned on building as this aircraft. Same plane, different scheme but near enough the same markings other than the anniversary stripes & lettering on the black one, but, the kit decal sheet doesn't seem to have any of the white/pale grey stencils that are so prominent on photos of the real deal. Looking on line at the Hasegawa boxing of the blue over blue one which I haven't been able to find, the decals for that are similar, only black stencils afaics. I can't see any pale markings on the sheet, I'm feeling a bit miffed in truth. Am I missing something. Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyK Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 This question comes up quite often and while I cannot 100% vouch for the 1:72 version as I'm only interested in 1:48, I'm pretty sure the same applies. The stencils are black, on most (if not all?) of the F-4EJ schemes. They were applied to the basic grey airframes. When the special schemes were applied (incl. the sea blue schemes) the stencils were masked over. So after painting there is now a grey rectangle of original grey camo paint with the black stencils on. Hasegawa produced them as one, black stencilling on a grey rectangle. It's difficult to see on the sheet at first glance, but at least on my 1:48 sheet it's definitely there. And when I look closely at the pictures on the 1999 website I think I can see the grey background rectangles as well...I could be wrong though... Cheers Jeffrey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 Maybe need to go back & have another look at my sheet, yes I had heard about the masked off stencils, so maybe what I'm thinking I'm seeing as white/ grey stencils are small rectangles of masked off stencils? Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 9 hours ago, stevehnz said: Maybe need to go back & have another look at my sheet Thanks @JeffreyK now that I've had a look under some daylight with two pairs of specs on to give some decent magnification, it appears to be as you say, black stencils on a grey back ground. does the 1/48th kit have all its stencils done as blocks on a larger piece of carrier film? I can see the sense in doing this but I can also see that I'll have to be uber careful, a mishap could lead to loosing a whole area, the ones on the belly for instance are quite a large decal, it promises to be fun. This is my last JASDF F-4EJ kit, I have a double Hasegawa RF-4E/F-4EJ 501 squadron boxing in two different camo schemes, a Fuji RF-4E in the brighter blue on blue scheme & now this to do in the F-2 Marine scheme. They'll keep me out of trouble for quite a long time come the day. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Dot Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 Hi Steve, Take a look at my avatar! If you pm me an e-mail address, I'll send you some pictures Jeffrey is quite right about the stencilling and grey rectangles on the majority of JASDF special schemes but bear in mind that Hasegawa only give you the basics. They miss out the myriad frame numbers etc. If you do an F-4EJ in 1/48, there is a Hobbydecal dry transfer sheet that supplies absolutely everything, with black numbers on grey backgrounds. I don't know if they do it in 1/72 but they are great to use if you have the patience Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstorin Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 On 10/12/2018 at 7:50 AM, Red Dot said: If you do an F-4EJ in 1/48, there is a Hobbydecal dry transfer sheet that supplies absolutely everything, with black numbers on grey backgrounds. Hobbydecal has been rather scarce lately. Most of their sheets have been out of stock for a long time. BUT, I just checked and the 1/72 set for the F-4EJ Kai in the scheme you want to do is in stock. Again, these are dry transfers are are more difficult to use than regular decals. The benefit is no carrier film. They do use regular decals for the some of the larger markings. The set even includes turned metal pitot and AOA sensors. Here is the link: http://www.hobbydecal.com/detail.cgi?number=al72008v1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEZ Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 (edited) Alternatively you could always paint the light grey areas on yourself. I did this with my latest F-4EJ and it wasn’t as difficult as I’d thought. I just used the decal placement guide to help me and guesstimated the area to be painted grey (upper surface) and white (lower surfaces). The Hasegawa decals are quite thick so each stencil was cut out and this in turn allowed a larger margin of error in the painting of the grey l/ white areas. https://i.imgur.com/u04WCYo.jpg Andrew Edited October 13, 2018 by TEZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 @mstorin & @TEZ, thanks for that input, after viewing the photos @Red Dot emailed to me, I was happy enough just to use the Hasegawa decals but seeing as the Hobbydecals are available again, oh hell, what to do? It needs some thought. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Dot Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 easy - BUY THEM! There is nothing to fear about using them as long as you are patient Andy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstorin Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 On 10/13/2018 at 10:51 AM, TEZ said: Alternatively you could always paint the light grey areas on yourself. That would drive me insane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEZ Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Took about an hour to do, and arguably less time consuming than applying dry decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 Looking at these aircraft on Airliners.net, it appears to me that 312 is the only one that I can see that has its stencils on the grey backgrounds as on the kit I have, the others all seem to have been repainted & re stencilled at some stage as I believe happened, so it depends on which finish I want I guess, I'll possibly by the Hobbydecals while I think about it. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEZ Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 (edited) Hi Steve, only just realised that you’re doing the same airframe albeit some twenty years on from my model - Depicted as it appeared at the 1985 Gunnery Meet. Then, of course, the standard finish for F-4EJs was grey and white. Yes, you’re right in saying that the stencils would have been reapplied. This practise is also carried out on JASDF F-15s. Andrew Edited October 14, 2018 by TEZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoops Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 3 hours ago, stevehnz said: Looking at these aircraft on Airliners.net, it appears to me that 312 is the only one that I can see that has its stencils on the grey backgrounds as on the kit I have, the others all seem to have been repainted & re stencilled at some stage as I believe happened, so it depends on which finish I want I guess, I'll possibly by the Hobbydecals while I think about it. Steve. If you want to do one of the maritime scheme F-4EJs, they all had the blocks of grey around the stencils. There are some RF-EJ Kais out there with a two blue scheme that I cannot speak too, but all the Maritime F-4s from Misawa had the masked off stencils. Also note, there are a lot of individual panel lines that are masked off and remain gray as well. Mostly where there are any hinges or movement. Check your references! Hoops 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 15, 2018 Author Share Posted October 15, 2018 Thanks Hoops, yes, I went back through the Airliners photos & it is as you say, I think I'll probably buy the Hobbydecals, if nothing else it will give some more options. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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