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

[giemme]

2 hours ago, Nebbor said:

Are there any templates available? Would like to try this method in 1/48.

I can scan them in 1/72 for you, then you can scale them up accordingly. I believe the method works also for the 1/48 version of the Hasegawa kit, but @Gene K can be more precise here. As @billn53 mentioned, the trickiest part is to get hold of the turbine fans (or scratch build them); also, for the full explanation of the method, see the lin kto my F-4C build I posted earlier:

 

 

49 minutes ago, Sting67 said:

I will also follow this double build with attention.

The planned paint schemes are not really of my interest but the building process will for sure be very very interesting. I'm in!

Cheers Ramon, welcome on board!

 

40 minutes ago, Robertone139 said:

Nachos from Chachos?

Hope there are a couple of chairs left, else I'll have to follow standing up by the wall.

Just leave some for me, this modelling stuff makes me hungry   Welcome to you to, Robertone139

 

Alright chaps, time to see what's inside the Finemolds box; the following pics show the sprues in alphabetical order, starting from spure A

 

 

As you will see in all the pics, there's little to no flash on the parts; sprue A shows one of things that are almost worth getting this kit alone, the variramp hole pattern detail:

 

How they did it is beyond me, it looks just great! I applied a thin black tempera wash to the part to make the holes pop out. The instructions recommend to not use primer on the model (I assume thick, filling primer) and especially on this part - the detail is very fine

Another little gem on sprue A is the internal of the auxiliary air intakes; their doors are always open when the AC is on the ground, although not much can be seen inside. Still, I think this is a nice touch.

 

 

Wings: the ailerons come already separated, so posing them in the typical drooped stance of a parked AC should be relatively easy

 

The main part of the fuselage is molded as a single block

 

Showing again some very fine and delicate detail

 

Tanks

 

And here's another clever engineering feature, the fuselage spine presented as a separate piece

 

AAR door correctly scribed in

 

I'm seriously considering trying to duplicate this and see if I can fit it to the Hasegawa kit.

 

The pylons detail is amazing too

 

Exhaust cones

 

Front fuselage parts and one half of the tail fin and rudder

 

Outer wings

 

I won't be using them, because they are the hard wing style, and I don't think I can convert them to the slatted wings. Not much for the slats per se, rather because of the very different wingtip shape and size

 

The other "half" of the tail fin and the IPs

 

Finemolds supplies both blank IPs, to be used with decals, and with molded instruments and gauges. Look at these:

 

 

Stabilators

 

I previously cut from its sprue this part:

 

I think this is the best representation I've seen so far of the "hunch" behind the cockpit, and I'm definitely gonna try and copy it, to be used on the Hasegawa kit

 

Lastly, the clear bits, which appears to be very clear

 

There's one windshield and two possible configurations for the canopies, open or closed. An option that, talking about recent Phantom kits, isn't there on the Academy 1/72 offerings- they just supply a single piece  windshield+closed canopies part.

 

I'm ending this post here; another one to follow very soon with a dry fit of the main parts

 

All comments welcome

 

Ciao

 

[giemme]

OK, time to cut some parts off their sprues; starting with the nose wheel bay

 

I don't feel the need to add any details here ... 

 

The tub:

 

I am not dry fitting all the cockpit components at this stage, but from what I see this is another cleverly engineers area - I think it will make painting the consolles and tub quite easy.

 

The tub fits on top of the front wheel bay:

 

 

Neat! Once you fit the tub back wall...

 

... you get a very solid anchoring system of the tub to the sidewall

 

 

Once again, cleverly thought of.

 

the two front fuselage halves go together without hassle; another nice touch is the divider panel between front and back cockpit, molded as a separate piece

 

 

This should allow for some room to add cabling/wiring to the GIB (Guy In Back) IP and be able to fit everything without effort.

 

Next: vari-ramps/splitter plates made of two parts

 

Which makes for a secure fit; note that I also added the full trunking intakes, made of two halves each

 

Looking good, uh?

 

  The inner intake probes are a bit on the thick side and lack the tubes, I think I'm gonna have to fix that.

 

Next: compressor faces and exhausts trunking support in place; both a snug fit 

 

 

then the fuselage top

 

@Gene K had anticipated a couple of minor fit issues here, concerning the width of the top piece (being it a tad narrower than the fuselage) and its length, again being it a tad shorter than its slot.

 

The latter is confirmed

 

 

A thin plastic shim is required, no big deal. While for the rest, it all looks fine to me (especially considering that the glue will pull everything together)

 

Front and back fuselage joined

 

This was slightly tricky because the back end of the intake trunking fooled the compressor faces; there was a bit of flash thre, so the fit was much easier once I removed it, but I think I'll need to reduce the intake ends a bit on the outer side, because they need to fit inside the outer face of the compressor faces molding (I should have taken a picture of that  - well next time, this will not be the last dry fit, I promise  )

 

Another clever solution you can see from the above pic is the top front part of the fuselage - just another brilliant way to avoid annoying seams

Bottom of the front fuselage snug fit to the bottom wings part

 

 

 

Again, with some glue I believe the seam will just look as a panel line

 

Top wings fitted; here's another minor issue that @Gene K experienced

 

 

There's a bit of a gap where the top and bottom wing meet near the lading edge, but a thin plastic strip will take care of that too. This kind of assembly has the great advantage of avoiding seams at the leading edges.

 

The fit with the intakes looks good

 

The wing roots to fuselage fit it's just perfect!

 

Back side of the fuselage looking good too

 

 

Same for the front side

 

The nose cone is a very tight fight, I think I'm gonna have to shave some plastic off the inner radome part, just to ease the assembly. The fit is very good, though

 

 

Fin and rudder assembly - once more, engineered to avoid seams in exposed areas, such as the fin front fillet

 

 

There's a bit of a gap that needs to be filled too, especially on the front side. But hte fit to the fuselage is just amazing

 

Finemolds engineered this so that the fin/rudder assembly can be painted separately and added later, to facilitate the camouflage painting of the entire aircraft.

 

Alright, enough dry fit for the night; I did feel I needed to glue something together though, so I figured it might just be this:

 

 

The build has now officially started  

 

All comments welcome, as usual

 

Ciao

 

[keefr22]

That looks good!

 

K

[Fritag]

Hooked already 

[Fritag]

20 hours ago, Gene K said:

Gene K

P.S. This Flight Manual may be of interest.

 

I’ll say.  Thanks Gene.

[CedB]

What a superb kit that is Giorgio, ready for some special giemme treatment!  

[billn53]

A lot of clever engineering in this kit, to be sure. But, I have to wonder, since they molded the upper fuselage as a single part, why didn’t they include the spine, instead of making it a separate piece?

 

(Yes, I know I promised to sit quietly in back, but sometimes I can’t help myself)

[Gene K]

58 minutes ago, billn53 said:

...  why didn’t they include the spine, instead of making it a separate piece?

 

To allow for different variants -- that is, the USN Phantoms did not have a refueling door on the spine.  The kit incorporates other provisions for forthcoming variants, for example, the short nose variants coming in August and September.

 

Gene K

[Gene K]

Giorgio,

 

Superb photos. Have any tips on the lighting to show off the panel lines?

 

Thanks.

 

Gene K

[Gene K]

3 hours ago, giemme said:

Outer wings -- I won't be using them, because they are the hard wing style, and I don't think I can convert them to the slatted wings. Not much for the slats per se, rather because of the very different wingtip shape and size .... .

 

Sounds like you have some Revell outer wings coming from a friend, and in my experience, that's the easiest way to go ... until you work your magic.

 

 

Gene K

 

 

[Gene K]

7 hours ago, Nebbor said:

May I ask what these "Gene's intakes" are and for what kit these are meant? TIA

They are tailored for the 1/72 Hasegawa kits. PM sent

 

Gene K

[Billy54]

I am intrigued by this kit. I did a quick internet search to see its availability and I could only find it for sale in Japan. Does anyone know if it's available in the US?  When I picked up the Fine Molds Tomcat last year I could only find it in Japan. Are there any issues with Fine Molds exporting their kits?

[neil5208]

Been reading through the Fine Molds F4 kit thread over the weekend and just ordered the F4E Early Vietnam version from Japan (not due for release until 30 Jun) so I will be following the build with interest. I believe the first 32 F4E's supplied to the IAF did not have the slated wings, this has also raised on the Kit thread.

[Biggles87]

That looks like a really nice, well engineered kit, pity it’s in 1/72.  

I went back and read over your 2015 Phantom build last night. I hadn’t realised it had been so long, it was probably the first build I had commented on, and now you’re doing another one. Time flies when you’re having fun, as an old english expression says. 😁

 

John

[Cookenbacher]

Well this is a treat Giorgio, two Phantoms!

 

A Greek Phantom would match up well with your well known like of weathered aircraft, may I also suggest (tempt you with) a beat up QF-4E?

 

More pics at the bottom of this thread:

 

Edit: Ha! You already commented on the extremely worn Phantom at Holloman.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

2 hours ago, Billy54 said:

I am intrigued by this kit. I did a quick internet search to see its availability and I could only find it for sale in Japan. Does anyone know if it's available in the US?  When I picked up the Fine Molds Tomcat last year I could only find it in Japan. Are there any issues with Fine Molds exporting their kits?

PlazaJapan and hobbylinkJapan are both good for cheaper kits. Postage is a bit high due to covid but I just ordered three Hasegawa kits from PlazaJapan that would've cost me more if I had ordered them domestically. 

[Sting67]

10 hours ago, giemme said:

 

As you will see in all the pics, there's little to no flash on the parts; sprue A shows one of things that are almost worth getting this kit alone, the variramp hole pattern detail:

 

How they did it is beyond me, it looks just great! I applied a thin black tempera wash to the part to make the holes pop out. The instructions recommend to not use primer on the model (I assume thick, filling primer) and especially on this part - the detail is very fine

Another little gem on sprue A is the internal of the auxiliary air intakes; their doors are always open when the AC is on the ground, although not much can be seen inside. Still, I think this is a nice touch.

 

This is amazing. That is what I need and I'm trying to replicate on the GWH F-15E I have, which all in all is a good kit. Absolutely fine detail what you are showing. I didn't see a close-up of this area nowhere else so far. Thanks for the pics!

 

Ramon

[giemme]

10 hours ago, keefr22 said:

That looks good!

 

K

It foes, amazing kit, right?  

 

10 hours ago, Fritag said:

Hooked already 

Glad to have you on board, Steve  

 

9 hours ago, CedB said:

What a superb kit that is Giorgio, ready for some special giemme treatment!  

Thanks Ced, and welcome to you too  

 

7 hours ago, Gene K said:

Giorgio,

 

Superb photos. Have any tips on the lighting to show off the panel lines?

 

Thanks.

 

Gene K

Gene, I use a desk lamp with built-in magnifier when I snap my in-progress pics - nothing really fancy. What I do is to avoid pointing it straight to the part to be photographed, because the reflection would kill all the details, and regulate the angle of the part relative to the camera, again to avoid reflection and catch as much detail as possible. 

I also have to say that the camera on my Samsung Note is the best I've ever had on a phone, that helps a lot.

 

6 hours ago, Gene K said:

 

Sounds like you have some Revell outer wings coming from a friend, and in my experience, that's the easiest way to go ... until you work your magic.

 

 

Gene K

 

 

 I was thinking along the same line, and I see that the Revell parts are a better starting points compared to the Hasegawa ones. One thing I did notice however is that the strake isn't in the correct position, on both Hase and Revell kits. It should be slightly outboard compared to the molded position, with the actual slat having a slot to avoid interference while tilting. Here's what I mean:

http://motty.hobbyvista.com/JAPKOR-TRIP-07/OSAN/Static/ROKAF-F-4E/Details/images/Mottys-ROKAF-F-4E-Details-14_2007_10_06_151-LR.jpg

 

Not sure if this kind of detail is something worth fixing at this scale, or would just look overdone...

 

3 hours ago, neil5208 said:

Been reading through the Fine Molds F4 kit thread over the weekend and just ordered the F4E Early Vietnam version from Japan (not due for release until 30 Jun) so I will be following the build with interest. I believe the first 32 F4E's supplied to the IAF did not have the slated wings, this has also raised on the Kit thread.

Thanks Neil  The decal set I ordered sports a couple of fairly recent schemes, I'm pretty sure they both have slatted wings....

 

3 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

That looks like a really nice, well engineered kit, pity it’s in 1/72.  

I went back and read over your 2015 Phantom build last night. I hadn’t realised it had been so long, it was probably the first build I had commented on, and now you’re doing another one. Time flies when you’re having fun, as an old english expression says. 😁

 

John

Thanks John  It was a long thread, indeed, and a lot of fun  

 

3 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

Well this is a treat Giorgio, two Phantoms!

 

A Greek Phantom would match up well with your well known like of weathered aircraft, may I also suggest (tempt you with) a beat up QF-4E?

 

More pics at the bottom of this thread:

 

Edit: Ha! You already commented on the extremely worn Phantom at Holloman.

Great to have you here, Cookie!  I think I'l stay with the Greek Phantom, though; besides the worn out look and the intriguing camouflage, it also presents a few more challenges to be represented correctly.... you'll see

 

18 minutes ago, Sting67 said:

This is amazing. That is what I need and I'm trying to replicate on the GWH F-15E I have, which all in all is a good kit. Absolutely fine detail what you are showing. I didn't see a close-up of this area nowhere else so far. Thanks for the pics!

 

Ramon

Thanks Ramon, glad if I can be of any help

 

Ciao

[Gene K]

3 hours ago, giemme said:

 ... the strake isn't in the correct position, on both Hase and Revell kits. It should be slightly outboard compared to the molded position, ...Not sure if this kind of detail is something worth fixing at this scale, or would just look overdone...

 

Sounds like a job for your Silhouette - cut the pattern from .005" plastic and insert into a thin slot cut through the leading edge of the outer wing.  I have some strake detail I'll Dropbox to you.

 

Thanks for the tips on how you take your detailed pictures.

 

Thank goodness you didn't bite on Cookie's dirty suggestion!! 

 

Gene K

[Gene K]

9 hours ago, Billy54 said:

Are there any issues with Fine Molds exporting their kits?

 

FM is a small company  that has a lot of projects going in addition to the Phantoms. In that regard, I think they are producing Phantoms at max just for the local market, let alone exporting.

 

Issue #1 - the Phantom kits are very popular, so order early!! The HLJ Private Warehouse is an excellent way to reserve your copy (provided you order before the "Stop Order" declaration (which is bound to happen)). Hobby Search is also a good source.

 

Issue #2 - shipping these days is expensive because of the limited number of flights. Shipping options appear to vary (frequently) based on the destination country. 

 

Gene K

 

 

 

[phantom61]

Giorgio...

 

interesting subject ... despite not being RAF
I'm ready to follow you ... third star on the right and then straight until morning... 🤣

 

ciao 

Silvano

[The Spadgent]

Fashionably late to the party but I’m in of course.  Fantastic start Giorgio. 🤩

 Two though? What are you thinking. 🙀🙀😲  
 

Johnny

 

 

[Gene K]

Giorgio,

 

Just one more "input" before I retreat back to the Peanut Gallery:

 

Since you mentioned that you'll be looking at some "enhancements" to the Hasegawa kit, namely the intake ramps and the spine, you may find this site interesting -- it's sort of the Japanese version of Shapeways, offering 3D printed parts:  https://booth.pm . Click English on the right hand side, and for starters, type in "F-4EJ" in the search box ... and enjoy the browsing, including:  https://v1models.booth.pm/  and https://mach3.booth.pm/

 

Here are specific links to your interest items:

Intake Ramps: https://booth.pm/en/items/2727145 800 yen

 

and here's a handy tool to aid in scribing the fuselage spine:

 

https://booth.pm/en/items/2383791 750 yen

 

(or you could use your Curio to cut something similar  )

 

I can't vouch for the shipping or the Buyee purchasing service since I had a friend in Japan get (too many) items for me.  

 

Gene K

[VT Red Sox Fan]

G & @Gene K are teaming on another F-4–I am all in🙌  Great start so far—best, Erwin

[giemme]

19 hours ago, Gene K said:

 

Sounds like a job for your Silhouette - cut the pattern from .005" plastic and insert into a thin slot cut through the leading edge of the outer wing.  I have some strake detail I'll Dropbox to you.

 

Thanks for the tips on how you take your detailed pictures.

 

Thank goodness you didn't bite on Cookie's dirty suggestion!! 

 

Gene K

I think I'll try brass sheet before resorting to plastic and the Curio; any detail you can share is highly appreciated

And if you read the thread Cookie has linked, you'll see that back then I had already commented about how doing a model like that would have hurt your feelings....  

 

10 hours ago, phantom61 said:

Giorgio...

 

interesting subject ... despite not being RAF
I'm ready to follow you ... third star on the right and then straight until morning... 🤣

 

ciao 

Silvano

Welcome on boar Silvano! (The song actually says "second star on the right...", don't mess up with Bennato in front of me    )

 

8 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Fashionably late to the party but I’m in of course.  Fantastic start Giorgio. 🤩

 Two though? What are you thinking. 🙀🙀😲  
 

Johnny

 

 

Yeah, I know, I must be going crazy ....   Welcome to you too, Johnny

 

6 hours ago, Gene K said:

Giorgio,

 

Just one more "input" before I retreat back to the Peanut Gallery:

 

Since you mentioned that you'll be looking at some "enhancements" to the Hasegawa kit, namely the intake ramps and the spine, you may find this site interesting -- it's sort of the Japanese version of Shapeways, offering 3D printed parts:  https://booth.pm . Click English on the right hand side, and for starters, type in "F-4EJ" in the search box ... and enjoy the browsing, including:  https://v1models.booth.pm/  and https://mach3.booth.pm/

 

Here are specific links to your interest items:

Intake Ramps: https://booth.pm/en/items/2727145 800 yen

 

and here's a handy tool to aid in scribing the fuselage spine:

 

https://booth.pm/en/items/2383791 750 yen

 

(or you could use your Curio to cut something similar  )

 

I can't vouch for the shipping or the Buyee purchasing service since I had a friend in Japan get (too many) items for me.  

 

Gene K

Thanks for yet more pointers, Gene!  Now I know that if my plan for reproducing slatted wings goes south, I have a backup  

 

5 hours ago, VT Red Sox Fan said:

G & @Gene K are teaming on another F-4–I am all in🙌  Great start so far—best, Erwin

Cheers Erwin, thanks - welcome on board

 

Ciao