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Good evening all,

 

As I introduce this build I type with a heavy heart as I mark the tenth anniversary of the death of my great friend and comrade in plastic,  Peter Wright who died suddenly whist skiing of a heart attack at the age of only 52.

 

I first met Pete in 1987 and we instantly hit it off, he was one of those people who only knew how to work hard and play hard. Over many years we spent a great deal of time together, traveling to shows, setting up the stand and often drinking far too much to over come the day's demands!! One of my lasting memories was of him asleep actually in the counter units after a very heavy Saturday night/ Sunday morning  at the Nationals in Donnington in 1994 , we had great fun with the gang.

 

Pete had a passion for everything he did and was meticulous and always industrious. For those of you that ever dealt with Aeroclub It was Pete who was the driving force behind taking, making and dispatching orders he cast virtually all of the white metal and his knowledge was encyclopaedic of the range , which ran to hundreds of items in white metal alone.  He was an accomplished railway modeller and engineer producing and building fantastic white metal locomotives but in the aviation world it was US navy jets that were his love.   

 

At model shows he would disappear off to buy the latest release, only to return clutching a crop of USN Jets, A4's,A7, F8's and F14's but it was Phantoms that always won the day. I think at Telford one year over three days he acquired 10, mostly ESCI , to build in the bright colours of the F4's heyday and build them he did.

 

So I am going to attempt to honour and remember my good friend with this build not in Pete's scale but I hope fitting to him.

 

Rest easy - still missed...….   

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I had planned this build some time ago, and intended to use what was then the benchmark in 1/48th F4's from Hasegawa and had began to assemble various after market to bring it up to scratch. I decided I fbuilding a tribute Phantom it better had be an example from the first operational unit VF74.

 

When I acquired the Academy F4B kit I was blown away by the detail and the amount of plastic in the box, so here goes with the basis,   

 

 

P1540852

 

Tempting as it is to build it in these colours , that will come with another build.

 

 

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The inner box lid does little to help convince that it shouldn't be built from the box, and here's the transfer sheet..

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Despite being some people pet hates the stencils on an Gull grey and white A/C make it a work of art, we will see......

 

But here are the markings she will be finished in,

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These took some finding and came from the US 'bay' site  dated 1994 they are long out of production.

 

Net up a bit of aftermarket

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The detail on these are amazing, I still wonder at pre printed I/P's and the work they save

 

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Better wheels , I think

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As this is a very early F4 it is fitted with the early seats MB Mk 5's , look a lot like lighting seats, hmmm......

 

 

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Some reference material, sundowners again, Pete lent me this book about a week before he left on his skiing trip am keeping it safe for him...……….

 

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And this is where the idea came from as the decal sheet is for modex 101 it will be built as pictured here, very clean and very new may be even shiny….

 

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Predictably starting in the cockpit, I have removed all the raised detail to accept the etch panels. This shows the three colours of the plastic in the kit something I haven't come across in years, its all going to get sprayed to match the etch in any case.

 

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Fair few holes to fill on the inside face of the intakes, white muliput to the rescue, I have added the probes from rod and strip

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I have rapidly built up the centre section, modifying the intake trunking so it fairs in to the outer sections, we'll see what it looks like under a coat of paint.

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The one piece fuselage will certainly save some clean up, just a small panel insert which would be the USAF re fuelling receptacle.  

 

Any finally for now the tail assembly, this kit has numerous different senor fits for both nose and tail so check your references

 

More soon and thanks for looking in. 

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My condolences on losing your friend. I lost my brother 10 years ago and he and i were almost inseparable when younger. Having the same sheet all be it in 1/72 for VF-74, I would like to follow this, as VF-74 is one of my Favorite squadrons. 
 

Dennis

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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P1540864

A Little more subassembly work as per the previous post this kit come with so many alternate parts to build an airframe at any time of its service there are multiple tail fin and nose mounted sensors to choose from.

 

 

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The back end is moulded in a dark metallic plastic, certainly too dark for a brand new machine but its fit looks like it could be painted then added saving on some masking ??

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And back to the front end with the right senor nose defiantly will not dry this shiny but will act as a base coat. From the pictures in the reference book the early nose cones looked to have a brownish hue due maybe to the fibreglass they were made from. I have seen some RAF example with brown unpainted radomes. 

 

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P1540883

Painted the modified tub was intended as a base coat but when I struck the dried masking tape to the edge of the etched panels it was a near perfect match, certainly good enough for government work !!

Edited by Paulaero
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6 minutes ago, Gene K said:

Great start -- looking forward to the rest!

 

Do you have a plan for the early McD tanks? If not, see here.

 

Gene K 

Thanks Gene, not being a Phantom Phanatic what's the difference in the early tanks ?

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18 minutes ago, Paulaero said:

what's the difference in the early tanks ?

Early McD tanks: same capacity wing tanks, but different shape, being  more "curved" from front to back; and pylon was different (doubled as a weapons pylon whereas later Sgt Fletcher tanks had the pylon integrated with the tank). The best visual clue is that the early tanks had the seam midway up the tank on both sides (3 and 9 o'clock positions), whereas the later had only one seam, on the left side at the 7 o'clock position (facing forward). 

 

Excellent discussions here and here on Tommy's pages  (he has great information on too many topics to list, many on the Phantom -- an invaluable reference site).

 

Gene K

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P1540879

Tail end section primed in silver

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Intakes and exhausts primed in white and silver respectively

 

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Next up before any major assembly will be the etch panels in the cockpit, which looks like it could be a bit of work but should be worthwhile ?? 

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Close up of the intake area, I have thinned the edges of the ducts to reduce the step against the inside if the intakes, I'm hoping that the angle will make it less noticeable when viewed from the normal angle ??

 

P1540886

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Greetings all, some updates on the progress, being a critical worker I'm not in total lockdown but hope to make some progress whilst I'm off as some house hold tasks have been done by the occupants - confined to barracks !!

 

Any how 

 

Intakes primed

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Wheels primed

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Start on the cockpit, this is the first time I have used the self adhesive placards and the detail is amazing

 

P1540951

 

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  • 2 years later...

So long, long long overdue update, having remembered how to update pictures....

 

 

As a serial starter I'm now going to attempt to be a serial finisher starting with this one and a shot from today, I will back date some pictures as I have still been taking them as I have been going along.....

 

20220725_094509

 

So there has been massive progress, main painting done

 

 

20220725_094524

 

Demarcation curtesy of blue tac....

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Wow, love the Sundowners. I build the Italeri 72nd kit in these markings. I'm liking your build. I think, I may have met Peter at the factory some time in the early 1980's.

I always visited the Aeroclub stand at Telford, needing rod and tube and the odd kit.

 

Colin

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  • 3 weeks later...

So been refreshing figure painting skills, the Academy Pilot is supposed to be saluting but I found that the scratching the back of the head,

" How am I gonna fly that"      pose would look good

P1560144 (1)

 

Still needs a wash and some highlights

 

Backdated picture of the cockpit, amazed with the stick on panels.....

P1560143 (1)

 

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  • 2 months later...

I have just noticed that my 500th Post went to fritag's marathon Hawk build.... I guess it's a worthy way to go !!

 

So, despite having repeated delays in progressing this project, I claim my defence due to so many distractions, wish the manufactures would stop ganging up on me and releasing new kits!!

 

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Final masking going on, as this is one of the very early Phantoms the leading edges are in aluminium so on with the Tamyia tape

20221017_170345

Humbrol Polished aluminium metal coat brushed on and masking removed.

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