1/48 F-4J 155755 VF-92 "Silver Kings" **FINISHED**/ F-4J(UK) ZE362 74 Sqn **KUTA?**

[FortyEighter]

My entry will be as above; Phantom F-4J 155755 / NG207 of VF-92 Silver Kings whilst deployed aboard USS Constellation (as part of CVW-9) from January to October 1973.

 

The other fighter squadron in this wing was VF-96 ("Fighting Falcons") with the well known call sign "Showtime" - both squadrons were also aboard the "Conny" on its previous tour to Vietnam (1/10/1971 to 1/7/1972) though in between those two deployments VF-92 changed to the more colourful yellow tailfin.

 

To be built from the Hasegawa "Liberty Bell" boxing using Eduard cockpit etch, Eduard resin wheels and Microscale decals (which incorrectly show a yellow rather than white rudder):

 

This particular airframe had another lease of life from 1984 to 1991 as ZE362 "V" of 74 Squadron - I still have an Academy F-4J to be built at some point in the future which will be finished as that version.

 

Mike

[helios16v]

Oh, I actually quite like that scheme.

[modelling minion]

Always good to have another Phantom in the GB, especially if it has a scheme as nice as this one.

Great choice Mike and welcome to the GB.

[trickyrich]

welcome along too Mike, and with a Phantom in a great scheme.

 

The Phantoms I think were at the best and most colourful around now, so should should great when completed.

 

Good luck with the build, will be another great build to follow.

[SoftScience]

Yes!!!

 

I love yellow tailed/marked phantoms. Nice choice.

[alex]

Nice one, in my opinion one of the nicest schemes.

 

Alex

 

[FortyEighter]

It's been a bit wet here today, so plenty of time to get most of the cockpit done; at the moment both main panels are just resting in situ....

 

You really can't see that seam on the throttle with the naked eye! (Cropping in Flickr gives a quite enlarged image)

 

 

[SoftScience]

They look good. Eduard even almost got the grey color right. 

[FortyEighter]

2 hours ago, SoftScience said:

They look good. Eduard even almost got the grey color right. 

It's more a case of me trying to match the Eduard grey 🤣

[modelling minion]

That is a really nice start on the cockpit, the Eduard parts make a big difference and good job matching their colour with your paint.

[Hewy]

9 minutes ago, FortyEighter said:

It's more a case of me trying to match the Eduard grey

Fine start , Looks good to me ,why fight it? 👍

[Valkyrie]

What a gorgeous cockpit, great work....

[trickyrich]

great start, the cockpit looks really nice!

[SoftScience]

3 hours ago, FortyEighter said:

It's more a case of me trying to match the Eduard grey 🤣

You did quite nicely, then!

[FortyEighter]

As you can see from the change of title, I've decided to make use of @trickyrich's eligibility ruling and also build 155755's alter ego - ZE362 "V" of 74 Squadron.

 

The latter will be built from the Academy "Jolly Rogers" boxing, with Eduard cockpit etch and Zoukei-Mura decals.

 

To date the cockpit for ZE362 has got to this stage (and a few other parts have been test fitted (eg wing halves, undercarriage legs)

 

Building the two different manufacturer's offerings of the same airframe side by side should be interesting.  There's a bit more work to be done on the Academy version before the fuselage can be joined ie the intakes which should end up looking seamless and the exhausts.  It might be possible to fit these after closing the fuselage but it would then be impossible to glue the inner ends to the cradle - if the wind dies down the cans will get a quick coat of rattle can primer.

 

Mike

[modelling minion]

Very nice work on the cockpit Mike, it looks great.

As you say it will be interesting to see the two builds from the different manufacturers.

[exdraken]

Great start on the pit!

[FortyEighter]

On 8/29/2020 at 3:35 PM, modelling minion said:

Very nice work on the cockpit Mike, it looks great.

As you say it will be interesting to see the two builds from the different manufacturers.

 

9 hours ago, exdraken said:

Great start on the pit!

Thanks Both

 

The fuselage / wings of the Silver King is now assembled and in a first coat of white primer

 

While the 74 Sqn machine is at an earlier stage - cockpit surround etch fitted today and primed to check.  The jet tubes are in place in the assembled wing section but I'm still working on the intakes

 

[modelling minion]

That is good progress Mike, especially on the Silver Kings bird.

What are those extra lumps outboard of the bulged wheel wells? Are they present on the F-4J?

[FortyEighter]

11 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

That is good progress Mike, especially on the Silver Kings bird.

What are those extra lumps outboard of the bulged wheel wells? Are they present on the F-4J?

Well Minion, I need to check my references but I think they are "beefed up" plates over the top of the u/c legs 

[FortyEighter]

Just checked on page 29 of Danny Coreman's US Navy Phantoms book; they are indeed plates over the top of the u/c legs which were slightly longer and didn't fit under the original skin mouldline.

[FortyEighter]

A double update as both aircraft are now at more or less the same point.

 

First the Hasegawa

This one will be built with the closed canopy as I want to keep the sectional sprue for an RAF Fugger2. So far very little filler has been used - I must be getting better with each Revegawa Phantom I build!  Although the flaps can be posed on the RAF version, the wing is a one piece moulding in this offering.

 

And the Academy version:

A few fit issues with some small gaps, particularly on the port fuselage to nosecone joint where the underside was a tad shorter on that side but fitted perfectly on the starboard side.

 

And especially on the intake to fuselage:

Something must be slightly out of alignment as the intake fits over the small "step" in the white underside moulding but doesn't quite meet the main upper fuselage. but I'm sure that gap can be filled.  As the other side is a better fit (but not 100%), two gaps on the same side suggest it's probably "mea culpa" despite several dry runs before final fixing.

 

Mike

[modelling minion]

Nice work Mike, they are both coming along very nicely indeed.

The gaps on the intakes could be better but they could also be a lot worse.

[trickyrich]

just stick some stretched sprue in those gaps and all will be good. You're making nice progress on both of them.

[FortyEighter]

Gosh, it's been a while since I posted anything in this thread but that's the problem of four aircraft in three current Group Builds (and another starting at the weekend).

 

 

The Silver King had the yellow sprayed yesterday - will give that another 24h before masking for the grey.  I've also decided to save time by taking a leaf out of @Enzo Matrix's book and leaving the white parts as primer.

 

The Tigger in the background has been held up as I realised last week that I didn't have any canopy masks for this kit.  They've now arrived so it should have a coat of grey primer in the next few days and then a final check on the seams.

 

Mike