Back in the saddle: Monogram/Accurate Miniatures & Fujimi 1/72 F-4C Phantoms "Robin Olds"

[billn53]

I cannot believe it has been nearly four months since my last build! During that hiatus, I retired, packed up my workshop and stash, sold my house in Alabama, and moved to Madison, Wisconsin! I had the good fortune of finding a place with a spare bedroom in the finished lower level, which I converted into a bigger, better workshop 🙂🙂🙂. I have also hooked-up with the local IPMS group (Mad City Modelers), which is very active and has a quite a few highly-skilled builders among its members.

 

Mad City Modelers is doing a group build on the theme "Vietnam", with models due to be shown at the January meeting. That gives me barely two-months to build something, so I must control my appetite! I have decided to do Col. Robin Olds's "Operation Bolo" F-4C (S/N 37680) in 1/72. For those not familiar with Operation Bolo, here is a summary from the USAF Museum's website"

 

Led by Col. Robin Olds, OPERATION BOLO used a brilliant deception tactic that destroyed half of the North Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter force, with no USAF losses.

In late 1966, the USAF was not permitted to bomb North Vietnamese airfields and could only destroy enemy fighters in the air. Complicating the problem, enemy MiGs focused on bomb-laden F-105s and only initiated combat when they had a clear advantage. Col. Robin Olds, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) commander, and the wing's tactics officer, Capt. John "J.B." Stone, devised a masterful plan to lure and trap North Vietnamese MiG-21s by mimicking an F-105 bombing formation.

On Jan. 2, 1967, 8th TFW F-4s entered North Vietnam from the west using the same route, altitude, and formation as an F-105 bomb strike. They also carried and operated electronic jamming pods used by F-105s. The North Vietnamese took the bait, and the MiGs came up to intercept what they thought was an F-105 strike. At the same time, 366th TFW F-4s came into North Vietnam from the east to block the MiGs' escape to China and to orbit their bases, preventing the MiGs from landing.

Despite some problems caused by the overcast weather, OPERATION BOLO was triumphantly successful. During the 12-minute engagement, seven North Vietnamese MiG-21s -- about half of their operational force -- were shot down with no USAF losses. Four days later, another ruse, this time mimicking an F-4 reconnaissance flight, shot down two more MiG-21s. These crippling losses greatly reduced MiG activity for several months.

 

Aviation artist Keith Ferris has memorialized Operation Bolo in the painting "Mig Sweep", shown below:

 

 

 

The first decision I had to make was to choose which Phantom kit from my stash to use. The options were:

 

Accurate Miniatures (ex. Monogram) F-4C/D

 

 

or

 

Fujimi's F-4 C/D/J

 

both kits have their pros and cons, which I will get to in a bit. But first, I would be remiss not to acknowledge Giemme's and Gene K's excellent Hasegawa/Monogram "kit bash" F-4C build, whose WIP ran over 1000 posts!

 

 

Let's get started!

 

Monogram's Phantom is exceptionally-well detailed -- surprisingly so given its age. The only significant drawback is its raised panel lines. The Fujimi kit has scribed panel lines, but is less well detailed in certain key areas.

 

The below photos compare the two kit's panel line treatments (Monogram first):

 

 

 

 

 

Monogram's cockpit is beautifully detailed, Fujimi's not so much:

 

 

 

If the bland cockpit was Fujimi's only shortcoming, I would be tempted to graft the Monogram office into the Fujimi fuselage, much like Giemme did in his kitbash. However, there are other areas where Fujimi's detailing falls short. 

 

The F-4 is an ungainly beast, and one of its "attractive" features is the industrial plating behind the exhausts:

 

 

 

Monogram does a much better job of capturing the above:

 

 

 

Monogram also includes more detail underneath the airframe, especially in the wheel wells, speed brakes, and engine cooling panels:

 

 

 

Given the above, I have decided to go with the Monogram kit. The question then is, what to do about the raised panel lines. My scribing skills are not up to the task of re-doing the entire aircraft -- much less given that I must be finished by January. Fortunately, opus999 has demonstrated an alternative approach that gives very realistic panel lines in his excellent re-do of Monogram's old P-51B kit:

 

 

The technique is simple but elegant: remove the unwanted panel lines and lightly pencil them back in after painting is done. This will be my going-in plan.

 

Starting with the fuselage, I used a fine-grit sanding sponge to remove the raised lines. I used tape to protect the exhaust plating area:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was at it, I removed the RHAW antenna over the rudder and the IR sensor pod beneath the radome:

 

 

 

There is a fair amount of controversy about whether the radome on Olds's F-4 for Operation Bolo was of the podded or slick variety. Most photos of F-4C's from that time period show podded radomes. However, it is a fact that slick radomes were also used, and a given aircraft's radome could vary from mission to mission. There is some evidence (not conclusive) that 37680 carried a slick radome on January 2, 1967. The below photos are asserted to show 37680 before launch and after returning from Operation Bolo -- it is clear the aircraft in the photos have a slick radome. Whether or not this is indeed 37680 on Jan 2 '67 is up for debate.

 

    

 

Whatever the truth is, Ferris's painting shows Olds's Phantom with a slick radome and without the fin-mounted RHAW antenna. So, that is what I have decided to go with.

 

Now, it's time for me to get back to sanding off those dang panel lines!

 

 

 

[silverkite211]

I'll be watching this thread, being a big fan of the F-4 Phantom II. I mostly just wanted to say that I'm happy to see that you have 'MiG Sweep' oriented that way that it should be, instead of how Keith Ferris would have you show it. When people would present a print of the copy to have Robin Olds sign it he would rotate it 90 degrees, the way you have it shown and sign it across the "bottom".

[giemme]

This sounds very interesting, I'll tag along if you don't mind  

 

Ciao 

[silverkite211]

Oh, I failed to mention, I have 'MiG Sweep' as the wallpaper on my cellphone. 👍

[billn53]

4 minutes ago, giemme said:

This sounds very interesting, I'll tag along if you don't mind  

 

Ciao 

Happy to have you on board, Giorgio! Your build is my inspiration, but I won't be able to do near as complete a work as yours given my time constraints.

 

I forgot to mention, I need to decide how to handle the blanked-off inlets of the Monogram kit. I do have the 'do it yourself' template that you used, and could go that route. I also have this:

 

 

 

which might be easier/quicker to do....

[giemme]

Given your time constraints,  I'd go with the AM intakes,  if they fit your kit.

 

Although you mentioned you retired,  so I guess you could cram much of the work I did in those two months you have... I'm a slow builder,  you know...  

 

Ciao 

[Billy54]

I will be following your build with interest, there is already a lot of information in this thread.

 

Congratulations on your retirement, your relocation and finding a home with an extra room for your hobby.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Nice!  Looking forward to seeing this progress.  Operation BOLO was significant, because it really proved the efficacy of the "sensor-to-shooter" approach to air superiority.  Unfortunately, there were too many "rice bowls" involved, as we would say (in the USAF), and it was not repeated, or at least not with the same degree of success.  It did, however, lead the VPAF to conduct a "safety stand-down" for a couple months, and therefore had some strategic effect.  

 

I like your approach to the panel lines, and I'll be interested in how you lightly pencil them in later.  The fuselage, especially, contains some complex curves that you'll need to negotiate.  Frankly, I'm not averse to sanding off all raised panel lines and leaving them off--provided that I can show the location of certain obvious hatches.  From a distance, these are relatively "clean" aircraft.  

[billn53]

3 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

I like your approach to the panel lines, and I'll be interested in how you lightly pencil them in later.  The fuselage, especially, contains some complex curves that you'll need to negotiate.  Frankly, I'm not averse to sanding off all raised panel lines and leaving them off--provided that I can show the location of certain obvious hatches.  From a distance, these are relatively "clean" aircraft.  

 

Thanks for your input. This is definitely going to be a learning experience! As you observed, penciling the fuselage could be problematic... that could well be the make-or-break me on this build. 

[billn53]

I've finished with all the panel line sanding I'm planning to do. For the wings, instead of obliterating the raised lines I merely knocked them back to leave a hint of the panels. I did do some scribing -- for the leading edge slats, flaps, and engine access panels under the fuselage.

 

 

 

A quick test with of all the major pieces revealed no major fit issues (so far):

 

 

 

This was as good a time as any to see if my seamless intakes (designed for the Hasegawa kit) might work on this build. Some surgery will be needed (more than if I were using the Hasegawa kit), but it looks to be feasible:

 

    

 

[giemme]

Nice progress

 

Ciao 

[opus999]

I hope this technique works as well for you as it has for me!  I made a charcoal rubbing of all the parts before I sanded the lines off... although it looks like its too late for that now!

 

I highly recommend the pentel orenz 0.2 mm pencil (https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Mechanical-Pencil-Barrel-PP502BP/dp/B01G7C1L16/) because anything bigger just doesn't look right.  Plus, they have the small white eraser under the cap that works great for erasing mistakes (which, you know, never happens!).  The only other word of advice I have is that any dull coat that goes over the pencil line makes it look darker (its just taking the shine of the lead away), so doing a couple tests on scrap to get a feel for how dark to make the line might help.

 

I'm keen to follow along -- I have 2 of these kits that I got from ebay w/o box, decals or instructions (and I managed to find suitable replacements for all three!).

[billn53]

7 hours ago, opus999 said:

I hope this technique works as well for you as it has for me!  I made a charcoal rubbing of all the parts before I sanded the lines off... although it looks like its too late for that now!

 

I highly recommend the pentel orenz 0.2 mm pencil (https://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Mechanical-Pencil-Barrel-PP502BP/dp/B01G7C1L16/) because anything bigger just doesn't look right.  Plus, they have the small white eraser under the cap that works great for erasing mistakes (which, you know, never happens!).  The only other word of advice I have is that any dull coat that goes over the pencil line makes it look darker (its just taking the shine of the lead away), so doing a couple tests on scrap to get a feel for how dark to make the line might help.

 

I'm keen to follow along -- I have 2 of these kits that I got from ebay w/o box, decals or instructions (and I managed to find suitable replacements for all three!).

 

Thanks for the tips. I, too, have a spare Monogram kit in the stash, which is why I didn't bother taking a rubbing of the panel lines ahead of time. After seeing your build, I invested in a 0.2mm pencil (coincidentally, the same Pentel Orenz as what you mentioned above) and am looking forward to trying it out.

 

I also have a couple of new paints to try out (AK Interactive Real Colors and Hataka Orange Line), and will be experimenting to see how they do with hairspray chipping. I'll add the pencil & dullcoat tests to my experiments.

[billn53]

The Monogram cockpit is very nice, but could use a little additional detailing in terms of wiring and cable runs (I am, unashamedly, cribbing from Giorgio here). First task was to build up a cable harness. I taped down some thin wires onto my workbench and proceeded to tie them together with even finer wires:

 

 

I used a touch of thin CA to set the knots, and carefully cut away the loose ends:

 

 

 

 Capillary action drew the thin CA down the harness, adding stiffness that was helpful when shaping the harness to the cockpit walls:

 

 

Here's how things look with a bit more plumbing added and the rear seat in place:

 

 

 

I also drilled holes for cables that will run from the rear instrument panel. These will be added later:

 

 

 

I recall that Giorgio managed to break the control stick for the guy in back, and I followed right in his footsteps . A bit of brass rod completed the repair.

 

 

Now for the big news! The Accurate Miniatures boxing of Monogram's F-4C includes decals for two of Robin Old's Phantoms: the 63-7680 bird, which he flew during Operation Bolo, and 64-0829 (better known as SCAT XXVII).

 

 

 

 

Why not do both for the group build? I'll use the Monogram/Accurate Miniatures kit for the Operation Bolo aircraft, and the Fujimi kit for SCAT XXVII. Priority will be given to the Monogram kit -- the Fujimi I'll do pretty much out-of-the box with just a tad of aftermarket.

 

This will also let me try out and compare a couple of new paint sets I've recently acquired:

 

 

One issue with Fujimi's Phantoms is that the rear cockpit floor and panels sit too deep in the fuselage, causing the rear seat to sit too low:

 

 

 

 

Compared to the Monogram cockpit, Fujimi's rear position needs to be raised approx. 1/8-inch. I used styrene sheet to achieve the needed correction:

 

 

 

The below photos compare the corrected Fujimi cockpit to the Monogram counterpart:

 

 

 

 

 

With aftermarket bang seats, and some Eduard PE, the Fujimi cockpit should look just fine (considering I intend to have the canopy closed on SCAT XXVII, vice open on the Monogram F-4)

 

 

That's all for this report. My next task will be to paint up and detail the two cockpits.

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

4 hours ago, billn53 said:

I recall that Giorgio managed to break the control stick for the guy in back, and I followed right in his footsteps .

You know you're not supposed to copy my mistakes, right?    

 

Excellent job billn53     And all at a sudden, this became a double build!  

 

Ciao

[Booty003]

I'm looking forward to seeing this develop.  I recently picked up a Monogram F-105G kit and even though it too has raised panel lines, the detail is quite fantastic.  I will be keeping the raised lines and building as is.

[opus999]

16 hours ago, billn53 said:

coincidentally, the same Pentel Orenz as what you mentioned above

Well, I guess great minds think alike!  

 

16 hours ago, billn53 said:

Hataka Orange Line

I have been more than pleased with all the Hataka Orange line paints.  The only exceptions were their interpretations of RLM 81 and 82, but even those I could fix with adding a little brown.  They perform well, and the dropper bottles are a real plus for me.

 

Looking good so far!

[billn53]

It's time for another update to my double build of Robin Olds's F-4C Phantoms. The past couple of days, I've focused on building and detailing the cockpits.

 

Beginning with the Fujimi kit, I added Eduard pre-painted PE to the cockpit side panels:

 

 

 

The combing over the pilot's instrument panel is too narrow, as is the kit IP that fits under it:

 

 

 

Fortunately, I had a spare combing piece and IP from a Hasegawa F-4B kit. The pic below shows how small the kit IP part is in comparison to my replacement parts and PE:

 

 

New IP and combing installed into the starboard fuselage half:

 

 

 

 

Fujimi's instrument panel for the rear office is also too small. I loaded it up with more Eduard PE:

 

 

 

Fujimi's fuselage has a cross piece separating the fore and aft cockpits, which is not accurate for the Phantom. Also, as provided, it would place the aft IP too close to the rear seat. I cut away part of the cross piece to improve the rear cockpit's geometry:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seats in the above pics have not yet been glued down. I still need to check their height to ensure they clear the canopy. I will do that after fuselage is closed. I've replaced the kit's bang seats with resin items from QuickBoost. Being Mk. 7 seats, they are not entirely accurate for this F-4 (which, I believe, had the earlier Mk. 5 seat), but it's the best I can do.

 

 

 

Turning now to the Monogram / Accurate Miniatures kit....

 

I applied a black wash to bring out details in the cockpit side walls:

 

 

 

Various cabling added to the rear of the after instrument panel:

 

 

 

It now looks suitably busy between the fore and aft cockpits 🙂

 

 

 

No PE in this cockpit! Everything here is hand painted. I used black-gray on the panels, dotted instrument dials with pure black, and dry-brushed light gray to bring out the molded-in details. The radar scopes were first painted black, then transparent red was painted over the black.

 

   

 

The stock ejection seats, while not as nice as the QuickBoost resin, are serviceable:

 

 

 

That's where things stand now. Next steps:

 

For the Monogram kit, it's time to get serious about adding the seamless intakes. Nurse, prepare the OR!

 

The Fujimi kit is just about at the point where I can close the fuselage. I do have a set of resin afterburner cans and nozzles for this kit, which I will dry-fit before gluing the fuselage halves together.

 

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

Lovely job on the interiors  

Amazing how the Monogram ones are already so well detailed, for an injection kit 👍

 

Ciao 

[billn53]

33 minutes ago, giemme said:

Lovely job on the interiors  

Amazing how the Monogram ones are already so well detailed, for an injection kit 👍

 

Ciao 

Agreed. I feel no shame at all in using the Monogram interior pretty much “as is”. And, Much less effort than what I needed for the newer Fujimi offering. 

[billn53]

The Monogram kit's intakes are very shallow and end in a flat plate, which is visible when the model is viewed head on. I desired to extend the intake down to the engine compressor face. There are no aftermarket intakes for this old kit, but XMM makes a set for the Hasegawa F-4 and I decided to try and fit these to the Monogram kit.

 

After some careful measuring, I determined that the front of the Monogram intake sides needed to be cut back 8.5-mm to accommodate the XMM resin replacements:

 

 

 

The plastic used in the Accurate Miniatures re-box is soft (softer than the original Monogram plastic) and easily cut with a scriber, which I find to be more controllable than a razor saw. This is my scriber-of-choice:

 

 

 

And, I've found a new scribing tape that I like a lot. Thick like Dymo tape, but narrower and thus easier to use:

 

 

 

After cutting away the front of the kit fuselage sides, I had to open up the side so that I could insert the intake trunks. 

 

b

 

I also had to grind down the fuselage inner surface to make room for the resin trunking:

 

 

After a bit of trial-and-error fettling, I was able to achieve a good fit with no step at the top and sides of the intake join:

 

 

 

However, the underside was a much different story. Apparently, the resin intakes are shorter in the vertical dimension than the kit parts they replace. This might reflect differences between Monogram and the Hasegawa kit the intakes were designed for, or perhaps the resin parts shrank (not unheard of). Whatever the cause, I was left with a large step at the bottom of the intakes:

 

 

 

 

 

I considered a number of possible courses of action -- I could try raising the kit's belly pan, tilt the intakes downward slightly, or a combination of the two. All of these options were problematic. In the end, I hit on a different solution....

 

I still had the piece that I had cut off of the kit's belly pan.  Why not try grafting this on to the resin intake?

 

 

 

First, I sanded down the mating surface of my donor piece. working at an angle to make the leading edge as thin as possible:

 

 

 

Next, using the back side of a chisel, I carefully scraped a notch for the donor piece on the underside of the resin intake:

 

 

 

This is the result, with the pieces dry-fitted together:

 

 

 

I used CA to glue the donor part to the resin intake, then filled the seams with Apoxie Sculpt. Once that hardens, I'll sand down the seams and apply a primer coat to check for flaws. Then, it's rinse-and-repeat for the other side:

 

 

Stay tuned!

 

[giemme]

I love the fix for those resin intakes, absolutely ingenious!  

 

Ciao 

[corsaircorp]

Hello Bill,

Not only back on the saddle but already going at full speed pace !!!

Great Phantom(s) build(s)

And by the way, glad to see another member in the multi builds club !!

I'll follow up if you don't mind it  !!

sincerely.

CC

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Nice problem-solving on this one.  It'll look great!

[billn53]

1 hour ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Nice problem-solving on this one.  It'll look great!

Thanks! I’m mighty pleased with finding a solution to that nasty gap. I just put a primer coat on, and it’s looking pretty good.