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Revell 1/32 F-4F Phantom to F-4J(UK)


WV908

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Hi all, a hopefully simple question.

 

Is it possible to convert the Revell 1/32 F-4F Phantom into an F-4J(UK)? Also is anyone aware of any available decals for RAF Phantoms in 1/32?

 

Thanks,

   WV908 

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It’s possible, but not without a lot of work.  

 

The nose needs removing forward of the windscreen and a shorter radome installed, all provision for the built-in gun needs to be deleted and both nosewheel bay doors will need replacing.  There are differences between the windscreens of the E/F and B/C/D/J/K/ M/N/S variants.  

 

The seats will need to be replaced with navy specification items.  In the rear cockpit the starboard side console is replaced by a vertical panel to canopy sill height on the other side of which is the RAF/USN AAR probe installation, which requires deletion of the USAF refuelling receptacle on the spine behind the cockpits.  All of the RAF Js had RWR fairings on the shoulders of the engine air intakes.  

 

The inboard underwing pylons need to be changed for the USN-style type with straight leading edges.  Wing leading edges will also need modifying if your E is a later version which had slats instead of leading edge droops.  Main wheels will need to be changed for USN-style versions and, if your kit’s not already got one, you’ll need a slatted tailplane.  There are probably a couple of pyrotechnic bay doors on the rear fuselage above the jetpipes that’ll need deleting no the RWR antenna fairings on the fin will need changing.  That’s all the stuff I can think of that you’re likely to have to deal with but, depending on the vintage of your E kit and the variant that it depicts some of it may not be necessary.

 

As @iainpedenhas just posted Yellowhammer did sheets in the 3 main scales (1/72, 1/48 and 1/32) but they appear to suffer from accuracy and colour problems (I’ve got a set somewhere but it will be a two day job finding them) the yellow in particular being somewhat suspect.

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Hi Stever and Iain,

  Thanks, that's what I was hoping for :) My main worry was if the nose job could be completed as I wasn't sure if there were fuselage structural mods rear of the cockpit windscreen too.

 

I know any normal (ha!) person would just get the Tamiya F4J, but that's expensive and I have a spare, cheap Revell F-4F.

 

I see there is a Flightpath short nose, so I'd only have a small chunk to build up between that and the windscreen.

 

@stever219  Are you looking to shift those decals on? :)

 

Cheers,

  WV908 

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1 hour ago, WV908 said:

 

@stever219  Are you looking to shift those decals on? :)

 

Cheers,

  WV908 

I’m pdsure that I’ve only got the 1/48th set for a now-abandoned modification of a Hasegawa F-4J (I succumbed to the lure of the Academy kit) but I might be able to get into the loft for a rummage in the next couple of weeks (a bit complicated whilst being incarcerated with wife & child) and find out exactly what I’ve got.

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5 minutes ago, stever219 said:

I’m pdsure that I’ve only got the 1/48th set for a now-abandoned modification of a Hasegawa F-4J (I succumbed to the lure of the Academy kit) but I might be able to get into the loft for a rummage in the next couple of weeks (a bit complicated whilst being incarcerated with wife & child) and find out exactly what I’ve got.

If you're fairly positive it's just the 1/48 decals that you have then please don't worry about it as Xtradecal does a very nice sheet in that scale. I might be interested in that Hasegawa F4J though once the current situation is over :)

 

I'll keep contemplating that 1/32 conversion in the meantime. 

 

Thanks,

  WV908 

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Yes it is possible. Here's one I made earlier, several years earlier.

 

Revell F-4F converted to F-4J(UK)

1. Chop off the nose and fit the larger Radome

2. Change the cockpit to USN type

3. Fit the catapult hook recesses (less the hooks for F-4J(UK)

4. Change the engine fronts as I believe the bullets were smaller on USN F-4s.

5. Modify the main wheels to USN types instead of the USAF ones that were fitted to F-4Fs.

6. Remove the reinforcing plates from the tailplanes and add leading edge slats to them.

7. Add the  fairing to the top rear of the tailplane (RWR?)

8. Modify the outer wing panels to be unslotted - plastic card & filler.

9. Add the empty RWR units to the top edge of the intakes.

10. Modify the AIM-9 rails to the shorter length used on RAF F-4s unlike the lengthened ones on Luftwaffe F-4s.

11. Change the AIM-120s to AIM-7s and the AIM 9s to AIM-9L

12. Make new nosewheel doors from plastic card.

13. Make & fit aerials as required.

14. Use the US H-7 ejection seats included in the kit (rather than the Luftwaffe GH-7A seats also in the kit) and add the various straps and pipes missing using wine bottle foil and wire.

15. Make & fit new air intakes just behind nose.

16: Fill refuelling receptacle on spine and scribe new door outline starboard side under rear cockpit.

17. Add strap reinforcement on u/s wings and outer wings.

18. Hump shaped bulge on top of wings above u/c legs.

 

Here's pictures of my conversion during construction. I'll post pictures of the finished model once I've blown the dust off of it.

resized_13e3f2d4-d21e-40ab-be7e-7f02bb8f

 

resized_27c8bcf4-ed7a-4ebe-8898-d560f072

 

I believe Revell F-4F to F-4M is slightly more difficult.

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Hi Nigel - Nice work! Looking at your conversion certainly gives me the confidence to give it a go - all plastic card and just one bit of aftermarket. It's nice to see how the new nose goes on too.

 

I'm going to try and source decals before I do any cutting though. I look forward to pictures of the finished Toom.

 

Cheers,

  WV908 

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And here's the finished model

 

resized_522e25aa-e4e9-4e26-90d9-1862fd1e

 

resized_4a7cdbcc-eed2-43a3-a009-383724f2

 

Decals were sourced from my decal box - nose tiger was from Xtradecal 1/72 Hawk set, the tail tigerhead was from a 1/72 Modeldecal with roundels, etc from my spares decal box plus the iriginal kit decals.

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Hi again Nigel - she looks ace. Are you able to point me to the 1/72 sheets please? I'm surprised anything on them was big enough. You also mention new air intakes?

 

Thanks,

  WV908

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Hello WV908

 

Intakes are the doors under the fuselage - they need opening up and new doors making - apologies for any confusion.

 

Xtradecal X32028 for the Hawk decals and I cannot locate the correct 1/72 Modeldecal set for the tail though I do remember cutting around the tiger's head on a black background decal and putting it on a white disc to get the desired effect. I chose to model ZE351 as it was 'I' which could be made from black decal striping on top of yellow decal striping. I chise the simple letter I as it was easiest although any letter made up of straight lines should be relatively straightforward.

 

Regards

 

Nigel

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12 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

Don't forget the wider rear fuselage for the Spey engines & exhausts.

???

 

The thread title is:

F-4F Phantom to F-4J(UK)

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35 minutes ago, AV O said:
49 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

Don't forget the wider rear fuselage for the Spey engines & exhausts.

???

Funnily enough, I have been thinking that an F-4M from the 1/32 Revell F-4F might be a possibility, especially if lockdown goes on and on.

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18 hours ago, stever219 said:

There are differences between the windscreens of the E/F and B/C/D/J/K/ M/N/S variants.  

Interesting - what are these differences?

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

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This is a cool thread. Thanks for sharing with us. 

 

I was told a few years ago that there was a 1/32nd resin set which provided the underside of a genuine British F-4 (possibly made by Cutting Edge, but don't quote me on that). The fella then told me he'd seen the set sell for over a grand on E-Bay! Apparently, they had only ever produced somewhere in the region of 25 sets in total, but - to my mind at least - that price is just plain outrageous...

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

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A person could contemplate buying the Hong Kong Models British Phantom, if the blooming thing ever actually gets released. I would hazard a guess the price will be around £175.00 (that's just an educated guess on my part, though).

 

Chris. 

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5 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

I was told a few years ago that there was a 1/32nd resin set which provided the underside of a genuine British F-4

It was made by David Klaus of Meteor Productions and is shown here. Just after it was released Meteor Productions ceased trading and consequently the fetch silly money when sold.

 

3 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

A person could contemplate buying the Hong Kong Models British Phantom, if the blooming thing ever actually gets released.

It's been promised for several years, but I think its purely mythical, like Nessie.

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35 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

A person could contemplate buying the Hong Kong Models British Phantom, if the blooming thing ever actually gets released. I would hazard a guess the price will be around £175.00 (that's just an educated guess on my part, though).

 

Chris. 

You can double that - they stated a while back that the cost of the Phantom would only be slightly less than the Lancaster, so expect £350-£375 RRP.

 

Alan Wilson is doing one in resin though, due out this year or next and it's hoped that will be sub-£200 

 

Cheers,

  WV908 

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@AV O that's an amazing article which really brings out how complex a shape the F-4 is. As it's a modelling article however one thing really surprised me - the praise for the shape of the Airfix kit commenting on it pretty well to the millimetre but totally ignoring the inaccurate panel lines and lack of key and obvious vents.

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I made one from the Revell F4-J. Much cheaper than the Tamiya offering. Someone does the strengthening panels as a stick on vinyl set, and the Yellowhammer decals cover the whole squadron........however, they are crap. They break up, and they don't stick.

resized_bab952c5-b114-4cf2-b846-ead654e0

It's on display at Wattisham Museum.

If you want a 1/32 F4-K/M, Alan Wilson is coming along well with his masters for the resin kit. CV-19 permitting, it will be available later this year.

 

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For me the worst aspect of the Revell Phantoms (and it seems to be a common problem with Revell - the 1/32 Harrier suffers too) is the squashed canopy. It sits far too low.

Most models try to disguise the problem by posing the hoods open, but the windscreen still sits too low and wide, even when doing so.

It can be worked around by using the relevant Tamiya parts, but if ordering remember you need the sprue with the frames as well as the transparencies.

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Blimme, 350 quid for a British Phantom? Thank you very NO. There's no way I'm paying anything like that for one. The option of converting a cheap, currently-available Revell kit is looking very appealing, now....

 

Chris.  

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On 3/31/2020 at 8:30 PM, WV908 said:

I know any normal (ha!) person would just get the Tamiya F4J, but that's expensive and I have a spare, cheap Revell F-4F.

And if the buy/sell area wasn't suspended for the duration I have a spare , cheap Tamiya F-4J.

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