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

giemme

By giemme
in Work in Progress - Aircraft

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Gondor44 Very Obsessed Member

Gondor44

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4 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Hasegawa and Fujimi both did 1/72 N's.... (not commenting on how accurate they were - or weren't)

 

Keith

Yeah, realised I made a mistake and edited my post .

 

Gondor

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giemme Blabber Mouth

giemme

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On 28/07/2021 at 13:23, steh2o said:

Hello giemme,

great work thus far!

I saw today that japanese modeller Jumpei Tenma started working on a F-4E by cross-kitting Fine Molds F-4EJ and F-4C;

http://soyuyo.main.jp/f4e/f-4e-1.html#last

His build/draw articles are an unbelievable source of inspiration.

Saluti!

Stefano

Grazie Stefano, and welcome on board! :thumbsup:

 

On 29/07/2021 at 14:31, Gene K said:

I admire his attention to panel line differences, but can't decipher (using Google translate) what he is accomplishing by "cross kitting" the C nose section  to get an F-4E from what is essentially an F-4E.  :worry:.  Maybe Giorgio can clarify since he is presently working that section of the kit. 

 

Gene K

 

 

I had no idea, but I think I can live with what FM supplies for this :) 

 

On 30/07/2021 at 13:06, The Spadgent said:

Looking good Giorgio. Thanks for the reply about the TET I’ll give it another go. 🙌 As for the IP she’s a tiny wonder. Bravo sir. 
 

Johnny

No problem, Johnny - and thank you :thumbsup:

 

On 31/07/2021 at 14:07, VT Red Sox Fan said:

G, looking great—will be cool

to see where you take an amazing start—best, Erwin

Cheer Erwin, thanks :thumbsup: See below for some progress, at last :winkgrin:

 

On 03/08/2021 at 19:18, Gondor44 said:

Aerocraft Models do a conversion set to correct that

 

https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/detailed-phantom-intakes-for-airfix-kit

 

Gondor

I have the Airfix kit, I know about those issues, but honestly they don't seem too hard to fix without resorting to AM parts. Still, it's good to know someone addressed the problem :thumbsup:

 

Let's keep this thing rolling, shall we?

 

I've been back home for two weeks now, after spending another two in beautiful Sicily - trying to build up a little mojo but what with the heat and outdoor activities ... :winkgrin:

 

Anyway, I did complete the painting for the WSO IP:

 

fm_ip25

 

Not getting any closer with that pic, it's already way closer than normal viewing distance and looking messy  - unlike in real life :)  I raided the decal spares for a few gauges to put in, as you can see. Backside:

 

fm_ip26

 

It was then time to tackle the pilot's IP; in this case, I decided to glue in the scratch built digital display on the IP, while the central console will be integrated in the IP coaming, since it extends well into it (and on top of it), so:

 

fm_ip27

 

This time I cut the display frame with my Curio - too small of a square to come out regular, but at viewing distance should pass muster.

 

After a Tamiya Flat Black base coat and some detail painting with Lifecolor Matt Black and Dark Gull Grey

fm_ip28

 

I used a couple of decals here too for the central gauges; for the glass screens, I dabbed in tiny dots of Tamiya Gloss Clear with a fine tipped brush.

 

Since fitting the coaming and the scratch built central console required the pilot's IP to be firmly in place, I decided to paint the tub too, so that I could then glue in the IP

fm_cockpit1

 

fm_cockpit2

 

Again, Tamiya Flat Black base coat (airbrushed), followed by Lifecolor Dark Gull Grey (FS36321) again airbrushed and finally some detail painting by brush, using Lifecolor Black and dark Gull Grey. Some lighter drybrush and a black tempera wash to complete the job, all sealed with W&N Flat Clear. There might a bit more detail painting before joining the fuselage halves, but very minor.

 

I then glued in the pilot's IP:

fm_cockpit3

 

fm_cockpit4

 

fm_cockpit5

 

So I was able to test fit the scratch built central console with the coaming dry fit in place

fm_cockpit6

 

I used a square 2mmx2mm plastic rod for that (it's just the basic shape, at the moment), that needs to be glued in the slot I carved on the coaming

fm_cockpit7

 

This should be the final position

fm_cockpit8

 


That's it for the day, all comments welcome

 

Ciao

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giemme Blabber Mouth

giemme

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On 22/08/2021 at 22:19, Terry1954 said:

Great to see this back on the go Giorgio, and some beautiful cockpit work there.

 

Terry

Cheers Terry, thank you -glad you like it :thumbsup:

 

On 22/08/2021 at 22:33, corsaircorp said:

Very realistic cockpit Maestro, and well documented !!

Congrats Amici !!

Sincerely.

CC

Thank you CC, much appreciated :thumbsup:

 

On 22/08/2021 at 22:41, Spookytooth said:

Great to see this one going again Giorgio.

Glad that you had a good time away from the rigours of every day life.

 

I must get back to the bench again myself.

 

Simon.

You definitely must, Simon :winkgrin: Thank you :thumbsup:

 

On 23/08/2021 at 02:04, hendie said:

When are we getting some real.paint on there Giorgio?  All I see is shades of grey... does that count?

Nifty looking grey tub all the same 

I don't know if it counts, you tell me! :rofl:  :rofl: However, if you squint, you should see a couple of red dots here and there.... :D  

 

23 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Neat progress G, good to see you back at it! :)

 

K

Thanks Keith, its' good to be back at some modelling! :D :thumbsup:

 

Ciao

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giemme Blabber Mouth

giemme

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8 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Well doesn’t that look fantastic!!! 👏👏👏 looking forward to get back to the bench myself. Nice one Giorgio. 🙌

Thanks Johnny, much appreciated! :thumbsup: Yeah, about time you resume modelling :D  (I still have to restart working on my museum build myself, BTW ... :whistle:)

 

Alright, here's another small update - actually, scratch building the IP coaming with its central console took quite some time. Anyway, here goes:

 

fm_cockpit9

 

The central square rod had been reworked/shaped, the side voids filled in with plasticard and CA, and the reflector mount added in the form of two 0.2mm plasticard supports. Most of the gluing was done with TeT Fast Setting, with some CA added later to strengthen the bond. I think I'm getting the hang of this glue: very useful for small bits, on which you can start working without having to wait overnight to cure.

More:

fm_cockpit10

 

fm_cockpit11

 

I noticed from some pics of the real thing that there's a prominent cable on top of the coaming, so I reproduced it using some very thin copper wire, glued in place with CA

fm_cockpit12

 

I had to somewhat simplify its path though, because dry fitting it in its proper position showed an interference with the windshield, near the front of the central console (being the clear part overscaled in thickness, as one would expect with injected canopies). BTW, I had to do a lot of dry fit for the coaming/IP/windshield ensemble to make sure they fit properly. In the end, I had to shave off a small part of the IP on the top right, and at the same time carve out some plastic from the corresponding inside part of the coaming (using a Dremel ball point grinding tool).

 

To complete the front fuselage halves, all I needed was to add some more details to the sidewalls, in terms of the canopy opening mechanism. For the Hase kit I have PE parts from the Eduard set. I did consider to "copy" them in some way for the FM kit, but they looked way too flimsy (I'm even considering not using them for their intended kit) and I went with some plasticard support and brass pipe instead:

fm_cockpit13

They should hopefully look the part once the tub is in and it's all buttoned up :winkgrin: 

 

Next, a base coat of Tamiya Flat Black, airbrushed

fm_cockpit16

 

Same for the IP coaming

fm_cockpit17

 

Since I was getting dangerously close to joining the front fuselage halves, I thought it was about time to glue the WSO IP in:

fm_cockpit14

 

fm_cockpit15

 

I also glued the nose wheel bay in place, right underneath the tub:

FMnosewheel_bay3

 

this was previously base coated with Tamiya Flat Black, followed by a top coat of Tamiya Flat White. You can see how FM molded a great deal of detail inside it, so much that I didn't feel the need to add anything, Detail painting will be conducted in due course.

 

Well, that's it for this update, all comments welcome.

 

Ciao

 

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Terry1954 Completely Obsessed Member

Terry1954

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Ditto, ditto, ditto, aka wot they all said!

 

I've got to get myself at least one of these Fine Molds F-4's. I see they have a C and a J out with a D coming. We are lucky chaps and chapesses!

 

Terry

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giemme Blabber Mouth

giemme

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On 30/08/2021 at 00:38, Cookenbacher said:

Excellent tiny work Giorgio!

Thanks Cookie, glad you like it :thumbsup:

 

On 30/08/2021 at 07:37, bbudde said:

As above Giorgio, that looks fiddly and rather splendid. Nice work!

Cheers

Thank you Ben, it was fiddly! :frantic:  :D  :thumbsup:

 

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

Ditto as above G.  Typically impressive scratch building.

 

I’ve acquired some of the TET fast setting - but confess I’ve not yet sorted out what my need for it is :blush:

Cheers Steve, much appreciated :thumbsup: As for the glue, it really comes in handy when scratch building tiny little things; it sets almost immediately and cures in minutes. This heavily impacted my game, as I no longer need to wait hours to go back and refine/sand/polish those small plasticard details (the same applies to tiny little kit details, obvs :) )

 

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

Ditto, ditto, ditto, aka wot they all said!

 

I've got to get myself at least one of these Fine Molds F-4's. I see they have a C and a J out with a D coming. We are lucky chaps and chapesses!

 

Terry

Thanks Terry, you're too kind :thumbsup: You definitely need to get one of these kits - I ordered the J and D too, just waiting for the D to be officially released and then I can have them dispatched from HLJ :) 

 

Ciao

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Giorgio N Blabber Mouth

Giorgio N

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Just caught up with this thread, read all 10 pages and I'm impressed ! Not that I should be surprised, your previous builds had already prepared me for this kind of work... but still, it's a pleasure watching another of your thread !

Will keep following this, I have a few Hasegawa kits in the stash and I may steal some of your ideas to improve them

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Giorgio N Blabber Mouth

Giorgio N

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2 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

To both Giorgio's @Giorgio N and @giemme, what a shame the Italian Air Force never bought F-4's! 😄

 

Terry

 

They tried at some point in the late '60s, when it became clear that the RF-84F were approaching the end of their career and someone in the air force proposed the purchase of the RF-4 as a replacement. While the proposal was only for the recce variant, this was seen as a way to introduce the Phantom with a view to later purchasing the F-4E, as at that point it would have made sense since a Phantom variant was already in service... A sneaky plan that never really went anywhere for a number of reasons, esspecially costs.

Earlier the air force had also considered the F-4C but of course this had been considered too expensive

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