Lord Riot Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 On 05/10/2020 at 17:50, Mark V said: Finally confirmed the blades under the intakes. I was half right. There was one on the left intake only, not the right. It’s a VOR/Localizer blade antenna. My pleasure to share my limited knowledge. I enjoy the memories and the research. I am always, in some way honored, when you guys put so much skill and heart into building models of “my” jet. Just the one VOR antenna remaining under the right intake now! Cut off, filed and sprayed over. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 I've sprayed the tailplanes four times to try and get them looking more realistic, and given them two coats of dirt wash. I'm still not 100% happy with them but it's getting to the stage now where the more I do the more it'll mess them up. Simple is better. They're a bit better than the ones on my two RAF Phantoms anyway. Jet pipes added! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 Looking smart! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 There's a beast under there somewhere ... Radome sprayed with satin black. I filed the pitot probe thinner as it looked too thick. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Main oleos fitted. I still need to paint the speedbrake wells to match the cam colours. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Always a relief when they stand up unaided. No tailsitting with Phantoms either. I'm reasonably happy with the colours. I don't have an airbrush so no access to all the perfect shades, I just try and use the closest available spray cans. It'll do I think, unless something is glaringly off. I'm really enjoying this build, I'd like to do more USAF Phantoms! Would love to find an RF-4C to do in this scheme, and an F-4E perhaps in the older tan and green colours from Ramstein or Soesterberg. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 I'm very very impressed with what you've done so far. Keep it up! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Looks good! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Thanks for the comments gents! I've corrected the sppedbrake well colours now, to match the camo pattern. Hasegawa instructions say white but that's incorrect. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark V Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Looks great! Looking forward to seeing it with decals. In post #66 you asked about performance of the E and G. There was not really much difference. Same engines, about the same weight and drag. All of the jets had wing leading edge slats, only the D models in the states and the RF-4s still had the “hard wing”. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 10, 2020 Author Share Posted October 10, 2020 Colours blending nicely in typical October gloom. Masking the canopies ready for spraying. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 10, 2020 Author Share Posted October 10, 2020 I'd got the camo pattern wrong on the fuselage above the left wing; the grey should be further back. Resprayed more accurately now I hope. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 Looking better with the tailplanes added. Airbrakes fitted and undercarriage all seems to line up ok. I haven't glued the jetpipes in yet in case I find a better colour, or decide to use aftermarket ones. Offices finished. It took a bit of jiggling to line up the middle cockpit frame, though the canopies will almost always be displayed open. Doesn't look like the WSO had much of a view! And the dummy HARM round. Pale grey, not white. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotthldr Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Looking good. Your ‘HARM’ is actually a ‘Shrike’, also you wouldn’t see Blue and Yellow bands the same missile body. I’ll try and get the bits out to you tomorrow or Tuesday been tied up all last week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark V Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 What Scott said. I don’t have pictures readily available to load (since I have to first copy them to a third party account?) but a google search on “AGM-88” had a photo of a HARM, Shrike, and Maverick all lined up. Shows relative sizes well. The Shrike is about the same size as an AIM-7 Sparrow, so you can compare the missiles in the kit. As for the stripes, Blue designates a training round, generally inert. The yellow means live explosives/warhead. Brown is for a live rocket motor. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 Thanks gents, good to get the proper info! Not sure why Hasegawa got the instructions so wrong on the ordnance. It says to add all four of those stripes to the missile. I'm assuming most training missions had inert rounds with no motor, so just the blue band then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotthldr Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 I’ve seen Shrikes with a Green band at the same time as the Yellow and Brown, Hasegawa probably got confused. Training HARMs have I think 3 Blue bands on them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 There are some very large decals in the kit that take quite a bit of lining up and careful application. I just about managed although there were a couple of breaks; only one has resulted in a hole that I'll have to try and paint match. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark V Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 I just spent a couple of hours looking through my F-4 stuff to find my photos and notes on missile markings. For the AGM-45 Shrike, the live missile that I saw at Spangdahlem had the yellow and brown stripes as LR did his. Instead of the blue stripe, there was a green stripe. I don't know what the green stripe designated. For the training version, replace the yellow and aft brown with blue and leave off the others. I did find one photo of a training missile with the the 2 blue stripes and a brown stripe under the aft end of the forward fins. I'm certain the rocket motor was not live, so I'm not sure why it was marked that way. This was on a jet from George AFB in the late 80's. For the AGM-88 HARM, I have 2 different photos, different years, of training missiles showing 1 blue stripe forward, a couple of inches aft of where the nose taper ends, a segmented blue stripe under the aft end of the forward fins, and a thin red stripe at the forward end of the aft fins. The tip of the fins actually overlap the stripe. I also found my notes on missile dimensions. The AIM-7F was about 144 inches long and 8 inches in diameter. (Length varied with sub-type) The AGM-45 was 120 x 8. AGM-88 161 x 10. In 1/48th scale the missiles would be AIM-7 3 inches, AGM-45 2.5 inches, and AGM-88 3.35 inches. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 Great detailed info @Mark V thanks so much for taking the trouble to look for that. I hope I can do this build justice! When you were on F-4s, did you train much against NATO jets - who were the toughest opponents? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulaero Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 On 08/10/2020 at 22:56, Lord Riot said: Always a relief when they stand up unaided. No tailsitting with Phantoms either. I'm reasonably happy with the colours. I don't have an airbrush so no access to all the perfect shades, I just try and use the closest available spray cans. It'll do I think, unless something is glaringly off. I'm really enjoying this build, I'd like to do more USAF Phantoms! Would love to find an RF-4C to do in this scheme, and an F-4E perhaps in the older tan and green colours from Ramstein or Soesterberg. If you want to soften the demarcation lines between colours a trick I have used is to mix the two colours next to each other 50/50 and apply a very thin line along the edges. Gives a very good impression on overspray 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VT Red Sox Fan Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Well done! Really liked how you squared away the antennas--best, Erwin 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark V Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 8 hours ago, Lord Riot said: Great detailed info @Mark V thanks so much for taking the trouble to look for that. I hope I can do this build justice! When you were on F-4s, did you train much against NATO jets - who were the toughest opponents? You're welcome. Happy to help. We didn't fly with/against any NATO jets other than other USAFE birds. Mostly F-15s from Bitburg, F-16s from Hahn, and rarely F-5 Aggressors from Bentwaters. We would occasionally come across another NATO jet low level and our rules allowed for one turn either, offensive or defensive, then we had to break off and move along. Several months prior to my arrival in the squadron an F-4 from one of the other squadrons, at low level in northern Germany, rolled too far into a defensive break and flew into the ground. After that USAFE tightened our regulations. No low level dogfights. We did see an F-104, not sure whose, down really low once. We tried to chase him down but couldn't. He was climbing over tree lines so probably flying well under 100 ft. We ended up very low on fuel because of the chase. The Canadian F-18s were pretty active in the Black Forest area too. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainpeden Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 @Mark V and @Lord Riot I thought I'd add a little to your discussion over the colours and the grey (gray?) in particular in the F-4 European 1 (lizard) scheme. Sometime in the mid 1980s we had 3 F-4Es at the Alconbury Airshow; 2 from Seymour Johnson and 1 from Spang. All were freshly painted in the lizard scheme. However while the SP a/c was almost satin in appearance, the 2 SJ a/c looked like a charcoal drawing. I did some research years ago and got into a conversation with a paint sprayer who had worked at Kemble in Gloucestershire where many of the European based Phantoms were repainted. He suspected that the different finishes were down to the pressure of the air in the spraygun used to spray the paint. The lizard scheme has always been difficult to get right in model form as the 3 colours never seemed to share a common sheen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 Thank you @iainpeden that's good to know as mine is definitely satin because of the tamiya spray cans. I'm going to try and dull it a bit with more dirtwash as the decals look a bit bright in places. It's good the Euro I scheme often appears different though, it can help hide my inaccuracies! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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