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Tamiya 1:32 F-4J Accessories


Pappy35

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Hello there folks, first post. I have the subject kit on the way and was wondering, for those of you that have built the kit, are there any must-have accessories?

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Hi Pappy35,

 

I’ve built three of these, two J’s and a B converted with GT resin conversion.

I would add a set of seats at least, maybe then Aires cockpit set and if you want a set of exhaust cans. The perfect cherry on the cake is the Master pitot probes.

I would also ditch the decals, use Cam decals for basic stencils and the squadron of your choice.

At the end of the day, it’s primarily down to budget for me but I wish you well in your build.

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Hello Pappy35,

 

new seats are a must just like Wafu said. And be careful to check whether you got an air force or navy version seat; the emergency oxygen bottle is located in the seat pan in the navy version and in the lower left hand corner of the back rest in the air force version. I purchased resin seats for my model and had to convert them into navy seats. Here is one of the modified resin seats. Note the scratch built oxygen hose and the bright green pull ring.

 

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The kit's instrument panels are too narrow. There will be problems if you choose to use separate instrument decals (like those from Airscale) as they will not fit. I had to purchase a new set of instrument decals in 1/48 scale to make everything fit. Here is pilot's cockpit with 1/48 scale instrument decals (by Airscale) and some scratch built details like the landing gear and arrestor hook levers.

 

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All in all, you can create a very nice and busy looking cockpit simply by adding some scratch built details:

 

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The afterburner cans are too small in the kit. This means that also the resin ones are too small. Here are the parts from both the old Revell kit and a resin part intended for use in the Tamiya kit placed on a copy of original factory drawing.

 

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My solution was to use both parts. Revell for the overall shape and the resin part fitted inside the Revell petals to give a more detailed result.

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This of course requires some serious work around the rear fuselage, but as it is "too much" out of shape, all remedial action will make the model look more life-like.

 

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Note how tight the fit between the afterburner petals and rear fuselage should be. Unmodified Tamiya kit completely lacks this look.

 

You can also purchase a set of nice resin wheels that will improve the looks slightly. The gear legs are rather primitive and require added details, like tie-down rings and a sortment of pipes and hoses. Without these the resin wheels aren't necessary.

 

AoA decals produce very beautiful sets for both Navy and Marines aircraft. I have the all and they are among the best decals I've seen. Stencils and especially "factory style" Door Numbers you have to acquire from a different source. AoA decals has released a complete set of Door numbers but they represent the later style.

 

Hope these help.

 

Cheers,

Antti

 

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Q-M-T have some resin exhausts sold as replacements for the Revell Phantom which may be worth considering. I have a set for mine and they look much better. Both the Eduard ones and the Aires ones appear to be undersized.

 

Reskit also have a Phantom nozzle set as a future release and going on experience of other products of theirs I've purchased, these may be worth considering as well.

 

I've also purchased a fligthpath corrected nose. Master Pitot tube, eduard seats and Q-M-T set portraying the detail inside some auxillary intake doors. The air intakes are not very good and take a lot of work to get them to look good so I either recommend some seamless intakes or FOD covers to save you some work

 

Hope this helps,

 

Mark

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On 3/6/2021 at 2:24 AM, FZ6 said:

 

I've also purchased a fligthpath corrected nose. Master Pitot tube, eduard seats and Q-M-T set portraying the detail inside some auxillary intake doors. The air intakes are not very good and take a lot of work to get them to look good so I either recommend some seamless intakes or FOD covers to save you some work

 

Hope this helps,

 

Mark

Hello guys,

 

I totally agree with Mark, as I took the hard way with the intakes. The main problem is that the interior parts are too short; they don't run all the way to the intake lip. Getting that gap sorted out takes a lot of patience, Milliput, sanding, more Milliput, more sanding...

 

I'm confused with the radome however as many modellers want to purchase the "corrected" resin nose. I checked the kit part against factory drawings and it is very accurate in shape (I guess each and every modeller take pride over their work to slightly flatten the top. The kit's radome is probably the most accurate part in the box.

 

Cheers,

Antti

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There is very little difference between the kit nose and the Flightpath nose that I can see it’s a little shorter and a bit more curved with a small hole in the end. oh and it doesn’t have the small bulge on the underside that tamiya have you fit which I don’t think is relevant to the RAF Phantom I wish to build.

 

To get the outer parts of the intake to blend into the inner parts, I stick strips of plasticard to the outer parts where it needed blending to the fuselage to Match the profile. I then used lots of milliput to blend in the intake to the openings taking care that the splitter plates would still fit. Getting this done took me a lot of work and has held the model up for a long time while I summoned up courage to finish the work.

 

Another tricky part to sort out on this kit is the canopy. The attachment point of the clear parts is not great and the resulting burr from where the kit part has either broken away or being removed from the sprue is difficult or in some cases impossible to fully clean up and can spoil a finished model. It looks like Aerocraft Models have come to our rescue and designed a replacement canopy with the glazing and canopy moulded as one piece in clear resin. I’m sure this is worth considering as well. In fact I’ve literally just ordered one for myself.

 

Cheers,

 

mark

 

 

 

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Thanks for the replies fellas. Here's where I stand so far:

 

Eduard

Placards, Masks, Formation lights, Cockpit Details (PE), Seat, Nozzles

 

Quickboost

Tail inlet

 

Armory

Weighted wheels

 

AOA Decals

Aircraft stencils

 

I'm just not so fussy about whether outline matches the true aircraft's to the nanometer though I am fussy about details. I'm just getting back after a 40+ year hiatus and so I'm still slogging up the learning curve. Nine kits so far not counting two Revell kits I tried that were horrible and are now just paint/technique mules.

 

Completed

Tamiya 1:48 P-47, Tamiya 1:48 Mosquito

 

In-Work

Airfix 1:24 Hellcat, Airfix 1:48 P-51, Special Hobby 1:32 Tempest (on hold, very frustrating kit)

 

In Line

Eduard 1:48 Hellcats x 2, Tamiya 1:32 F4U-1A, Tamiya 1:32 F-4J

 

On Order

Tamiya 1:32 Spitfire Mk. IXc

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On 3/7/2021 at 10:43 AM, Antti_K said:

Hello guys,

 

I totally agree with Mark, as I took the hard way with the intakes. The main problem is that the interior parts are too short; they don't run all the way to the intake lip. Getting that gap sorted out takes a lot of patience, Milliput, sanding, more Milliput, more sanding...

 

I'm confused with the radome however as many modellers want to purchase the "corrected" resin nose. I checked the kit part against factory drawings and it is very accurate in shape (I guess each and every modeller take pride over their work to slightly flatten the top. The kit's radome is probably the most accurate part in the box.

 

Cheers,

Antti

 

I will take a look at the fit of the intakes on mine when I get to it. I don't want to make myself suffer unnecessarily and these sound like they'll save me a bunch of time and look better.

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On 3/10/2021 at 9:44 PM, Pappy35 said:

Thanks for the replies fellas. Here's where I stand so far:

 

Eduard

Placards, Masks, Formation lights, Cockpit Details (PE), Seat, Nozzles

 

If you're buying an Eduard set I'd advise you to go for set  32530. It's much better value for money than 33230. It costs a little more but you get three frets of etch instead of one fret of colour etch.

 

Oh and the Master Models Pitot Tubes and AOA probe are nice but not too expensive.

 

 

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1 hour ago, FZ6 said:

If you're buying an Eduard set I'd advise you to go for set  32530. It's much better value for money than 33230. It costs a little more but you get three frets of etch instead of one fret of colour etch.

 

Roger that. Those are the ones I ordered. I don't think I'm going to apply them all but I'm a big believer in "better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/7/2021 at 10:43 AM, Antti_K said:

I totally agree with Mark, as I took the hard way with the intakes. The main problem is that the interior parts are too short; they don't run all the way to the intake lip. Getting that gap sorted out takes a lot of patience, Milliput, sanding, more Milliput, more sanding...

 

 

My other kit hit a wall waiting for paint so I broke out the Phantom just to check out the intake situation. Wow. You guys were being kind. They are horrible and not at all what I expected from such an expensive kit. Yikes.

 

I'm going to order a set of GT resin intakes. The images on Sprue Brothers though look like the joints along the outer fuselage are pretty rough. Any opinions? 

 

Edit: I ordered a set of GT resin intakes from Sprue Brothers just now.

Edited by Pappy35
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/24/2021 at 2:38 PM, FZ6 said:

There is always a set of FOD covers if you wish to save effort and expense.

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/QB32089

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

 

I thought about that but given that I'm a gas-turbine engineer (worked for RR Indianapolis, GE, and Pratt & Whitney) for 30+ years now it would be blasphemous for me to hide the intakes. 😝

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