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German F-4: a 25 year old build needs your help!


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25 ish years ago, towards the end of my first modeling "career" I built a German F-4 (I believe from a Hasegawa kit). I did an ok job and now I'm back in the saddle, I've decided it's probably the only one from that time that's good enough to bother hanging on to. 

 

Since I completed it, it's moved house 4 times, including moving from Kent to Ireland, it's been in storage twice for about 4 years total and more recently it took a tumble when some builders with a Kango destroyed the shelf it sat on. 

 

So here it is...

IMG_20190430_220052

 

IMG_20190430_220114

 

I think the thing I like, is that I did an ok job of the paint work and the panel lines which in those days I was doing with India ink. 

 

The canopy was destroyed, but the Showtime 100 kit I have in the stash came with 2, the regular parts for the open canopies, and a one piece closed canopy. So I've taken the closed one and painted it xf-22 RLM grey which seems to be a good match to the colour on the nose. Now might be a good time to mention that I have no idea how much effort I put in to matching the colours and I would've had a mix of Humbrol enamels and Tamiya at my disposal. 

 

IMG_20190430_220211

 

So I have a number of things that I need help with.

 

Firstly some, but not all of the decals are in poor condition

 

IMG_20190430_220100

 

IMG_20190430_220120

 

IMG_20190430_220124

 

I have a fantastic set of HaHen decals

 

IMG_20190430_220731

 

But I'm not sure to what degree should I use them? Do I just replace the ones that are damaged, preserving the effort of my youth as much as possible but kinda wasting most of this HaHen set? Our do I strip them all off, use all the new ones in the knowledge it was the paint work and panel lines that I wanted to preserve?

 

The second question is about the load-out / payload. 

 

IMG_20190430_220233

 

The outside positions used to have something that I'm guessing were drop tanks.

 

 

 

IMG_20190430_220239

 

IMG_20190430_220243

 

But now there's just holes. I have these tanks, which I think are off a UK phantom (again a victim of the builders)

 

IMG_20190430_220418

But they're not great quality and I'm not 100% confident that I could colour match them to the model. So I'm wondering about having nothing in those outboard positions? In that case would it be an empty pylon ( I can get 2 from the Showtime kit) or would there be nothing at all?

 

Thanks for any help & advice

Edited by chrislowe
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Hello Chris !

Good idea to revive old kits !!

I'm doing that same thing with my P-40

But I stripped her of all paints and decals !

Then I vote for new decals on your because, you will have some dfferences in the hue of the decals...

Now, it's your kit, for the pylons either ways are good !

But if you choose for nothing, fill on the holes...:rofl2:

Sincerely.

CC

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14 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

 

Then I vote for new decals on your because, you will have some dfferences in the hue of the decals...

 

That's a good point CC. Decision made then. What's the best way to safely get the old decals off? Plain water? MicroSet?

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That's a lovely Phantom, what terrific colours! Definitely worth the tlc to get it back as new.

 

Maybe practice on a mule first in case it pulls up paint, but how about trying masking tape to pull up the old decals you want to replace? 

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1 hour ago, chrislowe said:

That's a good point CC. Decision made then. What's the best way to safely get the old decals off? Plain water? MicroSet?

Hello Chris,

Usually, I soaked it with microset then I tear it gently with a 11 blade and i rub the remains with a cloth.

Hope that it help !

CC

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a quick update. I managed to get the decals off with a few hours work and a 1/4 pot of microset, resulting in a very clean looking F-4, but unfortunately in the process, I re-broke some of the bits that had previously been broken / fixed. To get an even half decent result, I realised it's going to take more time than I'm prepared to spend on it, so I've made the decision to retire this kit to the bits box, and keep the HaHen decals for a later build. 

 

Thanks to everyone who gave advice and support.

 

Onwards to the next one... Chinook!

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1 hour ago, chrislowe said:

To get an even half decent result, I realised it's going to take more time than I'm prepared to spend on it, so I've made the decision to retire this kit to the bits box, and keep the HaHen decals for a later build.

Sure Chris, it’s not an easier task to re-done or restore anything. It’s slightly out of modelling, but I have a decent track, that was recorded back in 2007 or 2008 and plays in my head for about 10 years - I want to perform some tweaks and re-record some parts, but it’s «stored» again after some attempts...

 

But there’s a good news: a lot of great kits await you! 😌

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