Finemolds and Hasegawa 1/72 F-4E Phantom II - the Long Nose saga - Completed!

[The Spadgent]

That’s quite an update. Excellent stuff yet again. 🙌

[giemme]

On 14/03/2022 at 21:23, Spookytooth said:

Excellent work Giorgio, for ever looking at refining those little details.

 

Simon.

Cheers Simon, thank you

 

On 23/03/2022 at 20:22, bbudde said:

Yep Giorgio. That looks rather splendid.

Cheers

Thanks Ben!  Glad to hear from you!

 

On 24/03/2022 at 23:46, The Spadgent said:

That’s quite an update. Excellent stuff yet again. 🙌

Thank you Johnny, much appreciated

 

Alright, much overdue update, showing almost two weeks worth of progress, so lots of pics.

 

The scratch built tail fuel dump for the Hase kit got superglued in place

 

 

Needed a few tweaks, but all in all I'm pretty happy with it.

 

While working on the tail area, I decided to install the PE parts for the tail chute, so that the corresponding door can be posed open; I initially wasn't going to, but since the fit of said door is less than ideal (being narrower than the main body part) I figured I'd just go for it. So I first traced the hole to open

 

drilled/carved it out and glued the PE part in place

 

And the chute door part

 

I then installed the Master brass fin probe

 

Time to complete the wings, eventually; as with all Hasegawa kits of this generation, some tape on the mating surfaces was needed, to add thickness and have the ailerons/spoilers/flaps part sitting flush with one another

 

Gluing per sections: trailing edges first

 

Once set, it was time for the leading edges

 

The hexagonal panels on the leading edges needed to go, as they are only visible on the NAVY birds (not sure if all types). Here I filled them with sprue goo

 

BTW, I had to do the same with the FM kit. After some sanding and refining of the leading edges, I checked for seams with my trusty red whiteboard marker; some job still to do

 

 

Filled in with sprue goo and sanded back, but I forgot to take a pic of the completed job. Next time  

 

I then glued in the inboard slat actuators

I don't remember if I mentioned it, but the instructions for this specific kit do not mention them. Luckily there are blind holes on the lower wings for them, so you just need to drill them open, and the locating pegs are differently spaced, so pretty fool proof to install.

 

If you remember, I did cast resin copies for the FM kit, using Oyumaru paste for a quick mold; using the Hsse wings as reference, I glued them on the FM kit. these were the good ones

 

while a couple of the others had some mold flaws, so I had to partially reconstruct them with CA+flour

 

Some filling in with PPP was needed too.

 

Time to put the windshields in place, but prior to that some preliminary tasks were needed; first off, some Tamiya Clear Blue brush painted on the center section of both

 

BTW, I think you all know that the actual windshield isn't tinted, the blue reflex is caused by the double glass in that area. And the above windshields look very blue but only because of the white background; once in place, the effect is way more subtle, as you can see here

 

My dear friend @Gene K kindly provided the Silhouette files for the clear part masks, so I cut them out with my Curio from Oramask vinyl; here on the FM windshield, the fit is perfect!

 

I cut out the HUD reflector screen from acetate and glued in place with Gator's Grip

 

Then I set the windshield in place and glued with TeT

 

Hasegawa IP coaming was airbrushed with Tamiya Flat Black and dry-brushed with Lifecolor Dark Gull Grey. The projector screen was painted in this sequence: Molotow Chrome pen, Tamiya Clear Green, Tamiya Smoke

 

Gene's masks for the Hase windshield too

 

Again, perfect fit.   I also glued in the relevant PE part, using Gator's Grip

 

Dry fitting it, I found out that I had to cut off part of the bottom framing (both sides, obvs), because it was too long and would keep the windshield raised from the fuselage, leaving a big gap. I then glued in the HUD reflector screen supplied with Eduard PE set

 

I had to trim the top part because it fooled the windshield, and again would keep it raised form the fuselage. Once that was done; I could glue it in with TeT

 

  That's it for now, all comments welcome

 

Ciao

 

[Fritag]

27 minutes ago, giemme said:

all comments welcome

 

How about: Typically stylish and neat work Giorgio 

[billn53]

Just like Fritag said. You could almost stop right here, and call it done! It would still be impressive!

[The Spadgent]

1 hour ago, giemme said:

Once that was done; I could glue it in with TeT

It makes me shudder every time you say you’re using TET on clear parts. 😬 but somehow it always works…. So yay you. Gators grip for me every time. Two times misty and that’s it. 😤

Excellent update however, that hud reflector is amazingly detailed. 👏👏👏

Great work.

 

 Johnny

 

[keefr22]

Cracking update G, all coming along nicely! 👍

 

K

[hendie]

Excellent work Giorgio.  Detailing par excellence 

[giemme]

On 26/03/2022 at 23:19, Fritag said:

 

How about: Typically stylish and neat work Giorgio 

Way too kind, Steve   Thank you

 

On 26/03/2022 at 23:54, billn53 said:

Just like Fritag said. You could almost stop right here, and call it done! It would still be impressive!

Thanks Bill, much appreciated!  But I'm afraid there still is lots to do....    

 

On 27/03/2022 at 00:18, The Spadgent said:

It makes me shudder every time you say you’re using TET on clear parts. 😬 but somehow it always works…. So yay you. Gators grip for me every time. Two times misty and that’s it. 😤

Excellent update however, that hud reflector is amazingly detailed. 👏👏👏

Great work.

 

 Johnny

 

Cheers Johnny, thank you  TeT on clear styrene parts always worked well for me, except on my last build (the P-51), but I still haven't figured out what went wrong there.

 

15 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Cracking update G, all coming along nicely! 👍

 

K

Thanks Keith, glad you like it!

 

13 hours ago, hendie said:

Excellent work Giorgio.  Detailing par excellence 

Thank you Alan!   Detailing is may way of working 3D....    

 

Ciao

[The Spadgent]

On 28/03/2022 at 11:46, giemme said:

Cheers Johnny, thank you  TeT on clear styrene parts always worked well for me, except on my last build (the P-51), but I still haven't figured out what went wrong there.

I’ll tell you what went wrong. TET on clear parts. That’s what. 🥲😇🙃🤣

[giemme]

9 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

I’ll tell you what went wrong. TET on clear parts. That’s what. 🥲😇🙃🤣

       

 

 

 

Ciao

[VT Red Sox Fan]

G, just adding to the chorus of congratulations on your incredible work—I particularly like how the tail cone area is coming along—stunning!  Best, Erwin

[giemme]

8 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

G, just adding to the chorus of congratulations on your incredible work—I particularly like how the tail cone area is coming along—stunning!  Best, Erwin

Thanks Erwin, much appreciated!

Ciao

[Terry1954]

Missed a few updates Giorgio but I'm all caught up now.

 

Fantastic work on that rear end ............. no, no ............. the Phantom I mean! Love the brake chute housing internals and the solution for the vent tube. Also very nice job on the slat actuators, in fact it's all magnificent detail.

 

This thread is certainly to become a reference for me when I get round to tackling the F-4's I have in my stash.

 

Great stuff, keep it coming!

 

Terry

[corsaircorp]

Giorgiconic work on here !!

Congrats my friend !!

CC

[TheBaron]

Lush array of detailing in that last update G: very sharp looking now indeed!

[Spookytooth]

Nice work all round Giorgio.

Back end coming together + the wings too.

Front end looks good.

 

Time soon for some paint?

 

Simon.

[Terry1954]

1 hour ago, Spookytooth said:

Time soon for some paint?

 

 

Drat Simon, you beat me to it!

 

Terry

[giemme]

22 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Missed a few updates Giorgio but I'm all caught up now.

 

Fantastic work on that rear end ............. no, no ............. the Phantom I mean! Love the brake chute housing internals and the solution for the vent tube. Also very nice job on the slat actuators, in fact it's all magnificent detail.

 

This thread is certainly to become a reference for me when I get round to tackling the F-4's I have in my stash.

 

Great stuff, keep it coming!

 

Terry

Cheers Terry, thank you!  I'm glad if I can be of any help  

 

19 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Giorgiconic work on here !!

Congrats my friend !!

CC

 Thanks CC!

 

18 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Lush array of detailing in that last update G: very sharp looking now indeed!

Thanks Tony  Let's hope it stays sharp under paint....

 

18 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Nice work all round Giorgio.

Back end coming together + the wings too.

Front end looks good.

 

Time soon for some paint?

 

Simon.

Not so soon I'm afraid, Simon....     Thanks for the praise

 

16 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

 

Drat Simon, you beat me to it!

 

Terry

Looks like he did!

 

Ciao

[giemme]

Good evening all! Another picture-heavy update, to sum up all the work done on these two kits during the whole week. I did a bit of this and a bit of that, trying to complete all the task needed before tackling the outer wings and, eventually, the painting stage

 

Hase air scoops: they are provided totally blank, so I carved them out a bit for realism

 

And glued in place

 

 

then I added a bit of detail to the aux air doors interior

 

Not much will be seen, but anyway...   

 

Brush painted with Vallejo Silver and weathered with a black tempera wash

 

 

And with the wings dry fit in place

 

Before actually gluing the wings, I stuffed the fuselage interior with some packaging foam

 

This will provide structure to stick a shaft in, that will help handling during the painting stage.

 

The wing to fuselage join on these HASE kits has four points where some correction is needed, all at the wing roots. Port:

 

 

and starboard

 

 

After some shimming/filling/sanding/polishing we have this

 

 

 

 

The main wing to fuselage join still need a smear of PPP to fill in all the gaps, but I'll get there later. One notable task still to perform on the HASE wings was setting the ailerons to represent the typical droop of all Phantoms in parked stance. So out with the usual suspects tools and...

 

 

Both still in need of a clean up, but since I ran some TeT at the hinge line to set the droop permanently, I will do that later.

That's about it for the HASE kit, let's see what I did on the Finemolds version. First off, I added a very distinctive panel that constitutes the backwall of the front wheel well

 

This was done by punching the small vents open with a small flat screwdriver on a 0.1mm brass sheet cutout. Glued in place with Gator's grip.

 

At this point, I was almost tempted to follow the instructions and leave the tail section out, painting the main fuselage first. So I did some dry fit to ascertain if this was a viable way:

 

 

 

Top side quite gappy, and the bottom showed a step, so I decided against it and went on to glue the tail section to the main fuselage. Not before having completed the dry fit phase, though:

 

 

At this point, I found out one the most annoying thing of this kit, which is this part:

 

This is basically the end part of the fuselage, sort of fairing for the exhaust cones; why did FM choose to mould it as a separate (fiddly) piece is beyond me. Anyway, here's a dryfit with the exhaust too

 

Of course, when I tried the same on the other side, I lost the little b..... to the floor monster, so I had to scratch build a new one from plasticard.

 

Gluing the tail bits SBS

 

Very thin shims at the fuselage rear end

 

They sorta worked

 

 

Again, a smear of PPP needed in a couple of spots, but all in all it should look good. Of course, there still was this step to deal with

 

So I sanded it flush and ran some TeT along the join to clean up things a bit.

 

At this point I was able to glue in the kit exhaust fairing and my scratch built replacement (seen here)

 

Gluing setup for those two, to try and minimize the chance of loosing one (or two  ) again...

 

 

... and it worked

 

 

Of course my scratch built replacement needs refining, but I figured it would be better to do that once in place - too fiddly to handle as a separate piece.

 

That's all for this update, all comments welcome

 

Ciao

 

 

[TheBaron]

That is one hell of an update Giorgio.

7 minutes ago, giemme said:

this point, I found out one the most annoying thing of this kit, which is this part:

That has to be the modelling equivalent of online trolling doesn't it?

(Top work on the replacements)

[Johnson]

I had more problems at the back of the FM F-4D than anywhere else, a bit over-engineered I thought. But you've made a fine job of it Giorgio. Excellent progress.

[keefr22]

Excellent update G, all starting to look very Phantomish! 👍

 

59 minutes ago, giemme said:

I stuffed the fuselage interior with some packaging foam....

....This will provide structure to stick a shaft in, that will help handling during the painting stage.

 

That's another fine idea I'm stealing...!!

 

K

 

[The Spadgent]

That’s quite a big bit to lose to the carpet monster. That must be quite the shag pile you have. 🐻🤛😆

excellent replacement mind. It’s such an odd bit to have separate. I wonder why they did it that way?  Regardless a quality update. Bravo. 🙌

 

 Johnny

 

[Spookytooth]

Very nice update Giorgio.

Lovely scratch building too, in times of need (Bloody Carpet Monsters.)

 

Not long until paint ?

 

Simon.

[hendie]

wonderful update G.   Lots of detail going on (and running off). Top marks for your scratchbuilding skills too