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

[Biggles87]

Agreed on the spectacular looking cockpit(s). You sure that's 1/72?

 

John

[Spookytooth]

3 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Agreed on the spectacular looking cockpit(s). You sure that's 1/72?

 

John

I agree with John there Giorgio, great looking pits.

 

Go with the resin bit mate, much more refined.

 

Simon.

[hendie]

6 hours ago, Johnson said:

I'm not surprised, it's practically non-existent compared to the FM. But a difficult fix. I agree with Alan and Terry (mold/resin), unless you're a real whiz at scribing!

 

Or he could just bite the bullet, buy a 3D printer, learn CAD, create and print his own.  If he hits the buy now button today, he could have it all done by this time next week.  Our dear old Johnny did just that.  Simple really

[keefr22]

Or as I've said before, utilise my favourite fix for this type of scenario - stick the finished Toom to a base and no-one will ever see it....!!  🤣

 

Nice 'pits G !!

 

K

[The Spadgent]

Starting printing bits now Giorgio? Excellent. 😜

Very convincing looking office you have there too old boy. Love it.

🤩👏👏👏❤️

 

Johnny

 

 

[giemme]

On 02/11/2021 at 13:03, hendie said:

Resin copy of part 11?

(Says me not knowing what the 1:1's actually look like.)

It looks like this:

 

As for the resin copy, see below for today's update

 

On 02/11/2021 at 13:20, Terry1954 said:

 

Snap!

 

Terry

As above    

 

On 02/11/2021 at 14:05, Johnson said:

I'm not surprised, it's practically non-existent compared to the FM. But a difficult fix. I agree with Alan and Terry (mold/resin), unless you're a real whiz at scribing!

Definitely not going to scribe that!    Again, see below

 

On 02/11/2021 at 14:28, Brandy said:

Ooh, I say. Where's CED when you need him? Fnaar, snurf!

Right, now that's off my chest:

that cockpit looks spectacular!

 

Ian

We do miss Ced @CedB, don't we?    Thanks anyway, Ian

 

On 02/11/2021 at 16:54, Biggles87 said:

Agreed on the spectacular looking cockpit(s). You sure that's 1/72?

 

John

Thank you John, glad you like it  And I'm pretty sure it's in 1/72, with minuscule PE parts and all...

 

On 02/11/2021 at 20:05, Spookytooth said:

I agree with John there Giorgio, great looking pits.

 

Go with the resin bit mate, much more refined.

 

Simon.

Cheers Simon  Resin has been, see below

 

On 02/11/2021 at 20:28, hendie said:

 

Or he could just bite the bullet, buy a 3D printer, learn CAD, create and print his own.  If he hits the buy now button today, he could have it all done by this time next week.  Our dear old Johnny did just that.  Simple really

Speaking of which: I could just ask old dear Johnny @The Spadgent to do that for me, in turn for modern currency or any other form of exchange.     

 

On 02/11/2021 at 20:49, keefr22 said:

Or as I've said before, utilise my favourite fix for this type of scenario - stick the finished Toom to a base and no-one will ever see it....!!  🤣

 

Nice 'pits G !!

 

K

Yeah, that too  But you know me, Keith, I'll never be able to go by with that...

 

On 06/11/2021 at 09:07, The Spadgent said:

Starting printing bits now Giorgio? Excellent. 😜

Very convincing looking office you have there too old boy. Love it.

🤩👏👏👏❤️

 

Johnny

 

 

See above, Johnny, I'm not starting the 3D frenzy....    

 

Back to some modelling: as you can see from the pics above, that is how those vents are supposed to look; here are the two kits

 

 

FM part definitely looking better, and closer to reality. Shape-wise, quite different from one another, though

 

So I discarded the option of replacing the entire gun cover with a resin copy of the FM part, but I did cast a resin copy of it anyway, to use it as a donor of vents

 

BTW, this was done using a quick mould made out of Oyumaru.

Apologies for not taking in-progress pics (but basically I hacked some plastic in the Hasegawa kit where the vent was supposed to be, cut out the resin bit and glued in place), anyway here it is

 

It was glued in place with CA, so don't mind the gaps around the vent, they're actually not there as I filled in the area with Ciano and then polished.

 

Another task was to rescribe the spine, to reinstate panel lines, round hatches and rivets that got obliterated during the central seam sanding process - but also, to add the AAR door, normally not present on the HASEGAWA kits. I couldn't find the template I used for my F-4C build, so I had to make a new one. I first copied the door from the FM spine on tape

 

then I used it as a base to create a cutting file on my Curio, and put in place like this

 

Scribing done

 

Not quite visible? How about with some balck tempera wash?

 

Still some minor touch ups to do, but getting there. Last thing for the night, I inserted the bottom front fuselage with the cockpit inside the fuselage, and started gluing per sections

 

That's it for the WE, all comments welcome

 

Ciao

[PlaStix]

Hi Giorgio. Hope you and yours are all well. Great to see more progress and that you still bring your own inventive detailing to your project. Lovely work as always.

Kind regards,

Stix 

[Johnson]

Good work on the spine Giorgio, and with the vents on the gun access door. The 

14 hours ago, giemme said:

a quick mould made out of Oyumaru

Looks great. This is something I must investigate. It's the time of year when Mrs. J (and Ms. J 1 & 2 - daughters) are saying 'what do you want for Christmas dad?' The answer 'more storage for my stash' doesn't get the appreciation I'd hoped for. So I'll ask for some Oyumaru/resin etc. 

[corsaircorp]

As usual, great work Mister G !!

If it was'nt for the mach meter reseting.....

Okay, I take my coat.....

Sincerely.

CC

[The Spadgent]

Gah! Only just read this. Sorry G looking great. I haven’t had much time for Modelling over the past week or two. I would have of course helped you out with a print if I could. 
looks like you have it sorted though. 👏👏👏👏

Johnny

[giemme]

On 07/11/2021 at 23:24, PlaStix said:

Hi Giorgio. Hope you and yours are all well. Great to see more progress and that you still bring your own inventive detailing to your project. Lovely work as always.

Kind regards,

Stix 

Thanks Stix, we're all good - and so I hope for you and yours. Thanks for the praise too, you are too kind

 

On 08/11/2021 at 12:46, Johnson said:

Good work on the spine Giorgio, and with the vents on the gun access door. The 

Looks great. This is something I must investigate. It's the time of year when Mrs. J (and Ms. J 1 & 2 - daughters) are saying 'what do you want for Christmas dad?' The answer 'more storage for my stash' doesn't get the appreciation I'd hoped for. So I'll ask for some Oyumaru/resin etc. 

 I wonder why this lack of appreciation about your stash....  Oyumaru is cheap and quick, just don't expect the same results as with RTV moulds

 

On 13/11/2021 at 12:56, corsaircorp said:

As usual, great work Mister G !!

If it was'nt for the mach meter reseting.....

Okay, I take my coat.....

Sincerely.

CC

   Thanks CC!

 

14 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Gah! Only just read this. Sorry G looking great. I haven’t had much time for Modelling over the past week or two. I would have of course helped you out with a print if I could. 
looks like you have it sorted though. 👏👏👏👏

Johnny

No problem Johnny, I was just kidding (for now.... ) Although I am 100% serious on not taking up 3D printing - not till I have a regular job  

 

Alright, here's some more progress, on both kits this time. Hasegawa first: I completed the gluing for the front bottom fuselage, stbd side first

 

 

then once cured, I inserted a spacer between the front wheel bay walls (in the form of a toothpick segment) and glued port side (all done using TeT)

 

 

Time to complete the tub; I had to replace the divider between front and back cockpit, since it was too thick to be inserted right underneath the WSO IP (if you remember, it's a mix of the Hasegawa and Finemolds one)

 

So I used a piece of 0.5mm plasticard, painted and glued it in. I could then place the cable/wires in their final position

 

Should look busy enough, once the central canopy section is in place. I then installed some PE parts in the front wheel bay

 

 

And that was it for the Hase kit.

 

Time to go back to the FM kit; I decided I will install the wing tanks only, no centerline tank. To complete the payload, I will add two AIM-9L per pylon and two AIM 120B in the fore bays. Anyway, after drilling the relevant holes in the bottom wings, it was time to deal with the airbrakes; Finemolds really missed out on this, since all parked Phantoms show deployed airbrakes. Academy and Airfix both provide this option, speaking of modern kits, but the venerable Monogram kit had that already. A bit of a disappointment here, but all in all a good chance to hack some plastic . So after some drilling, chopping, cutting and refining, here is the FM bottom wings without airbrakes

 

Next step was to scratch build their bays; for this, I copied the Eduard PE parts (that I'm going to use on the Hase kit) with some 0.25mm plastic card

 

I traced the rivet lines and scored a bending line

 

After riveting

 

And in place

 

They need refining, of course, but I'll first let them set at least overnight. As for the speed brakes themselves, I think I'll cast a resin copy from the Academy kit; the Airfix ones are a bit too simplified an scarcely (if at all) detailed. Next time, though. Meanwhile, all comments welcome.

 

Ciao

[hendie]

Precision work as always Giorgio.

[Navy Bird]

Giorgio be rocking! Coming along quite nicely.     👍

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Terry1954]

Great idea on the air brakes Giorgio, and superbly executed! (idea stored for my FM F-4 builds)

 

Terry

[Spookytooth]

Fine work yet again Giorgio.

The Rhino`s are taking shape.

 

Simon.

[PlaStix]

Hi Giorgio. As always, it's your attention to the finer details which takes your builds to another level. Always very impressive modelling.

Kind regards, 

Stix

[bbudde]

Looks fantastic, Giorgio

Sehr schön! Bravissimo!

Cheers Benedikt

[corsaircorp]

Impressive job... I'm impressed !!

Congrats, gentile fratelino !!

Hooops my friend Flavio is teaching me again...

Sincerely.

CC

[Cookenbacher]

Great dedication and talent on display here my friend!

[giemme]

On 14/11/2021 at 23:49, hendie said:

Precision work as always Giorgio.

Cheers Alan, thank you!

 

On 16/11/2021 at 16:55, Navy Bird said:

Giorgio be rocking! Coming along quite nicely.     👍

 

Cheers,

Bill

I am! (I think....    ) Thanks Bill

 

On 16/11/2021 at 17:40, Terry1954 said:

Great idea on the air brakes Giorgio, and superbly executed! (idea stored for my FM F-4 builds)

 

Terry

Thank you Terry  More on the actual air brakes below

 

On 16/11/2021 at 18:04, Spookytooth said:

Fine work yet again Giorgio.

The Rhino`s are taking shape.

 

Simon.

Thanks Simon  Glad to hear form you  

 

On 16/11/2021 at 19:59, PlaStix said:

Hi Giorgio. As always, it's your attention to the finer details which takes your builds to another level. Always very impressive modelling.

Kind regards, 

Stix

Thank you Stix, much appreciated

 

On 16/11/2021 at 20:02, bbudde said:

Looks fantastic, Giorgio

Sehr schön! Bravissimo!

Cheers Benedikt

Danke Ben!  

 

On 17/11/2021 at 00:19, corsaircorp said:

Impressive job... I'm impressed !!

Congrats, gentile fratelino !!

Hooops my friend Flavio is teaching me again...

Sincerely.

CC

 Grazie, Alain!

 

On 20/11/2021 at 01:45, Cookenbacher said:

Great dedication and talent on display here my friend!

Great to hear from you too, Cookie! And thanks!

 

Air brakes: I changed my mind on how to replicate them. I wasn't totally convinced about the Academy ones, so I decided instead to try and replicate Eduard's PE air brakes, which I'm gonna be using for the Hasegawa kit. So I taped one to a piece of 0.1mm brass sheet, traced the outline with my INCIDO and scored it with a pointy blade, till I got this (some refining with a file and a Dremel sanding tool took place too)

 

More INCIDO action: I traced the bending lines

 

and the two parallel panel lines on the opposite site, bending then it to shape with the help of a flat nose pair of pliers

 

And here are the two of them

 

I then refined their bays and added the hinges slots, using a Dremel pointy carving tool

 

Not a super-clean job, but once in place the brakes will hide most of it, like this

 

I still need to scratch build the inside of the brakes, and I think I will probably copy the inner PE parts as well, but maybe cutting them with my Curio. But I will do that later, as I went on focusing on the wings themselves; before gluing them to the fuselage, I needed to add the Aux air intakes bay. So I painted it with Model Master Metallizer Titanium, using the brush technique, followed by a silver drybrush and a black tempera wash. The side walls (the little of them that can be seen, anyway) receive a coat of a generic Light Green, a sort of interior green wannabe - it's going to be totally invisible once the intake doors are in place, anyway.

 

Glued in place with TeT

 

You may remember from the initial dryfit that there's a small gap near the leading edge of the wings when you join the top and bottom parts, so I glued a very thin styrene strip on bot h sides of the bottom wing

 

Then I airbrushed the main wheel bays with a base Tamiya Flat Black coat, followed by Tamiya Flat White

 

And before joining the top wings, I drooped the ailerons

 

Finemolds provides pre-cut ailerons, to make your life easier if you decide to pose them with their typical drooped stance (for a parked Phantom); however, they also replicated the different shape of the top side

 

as opposed to the bottom side

 

(both aileron edges completely straight here), so it's just a bit trickier to pose them like that; in fact; i scored top and bottom of the aileron hinge line with a scriber, pushing it down little by little as to not over-stress the plastic and snap it off.

Here's starboard wing, after the same treatment

 

And eventually, wings (and front bottom fuselage) glued together

 

That's it for the day, all comments welcome

 

Ciao

 

[hendie]

Nice brasswork Giorgio. It's a much underrated medium and more folks should take the plunge.

Nice flappery too

[PlaStix]

Good to see more progress Giorgio. Very impressive all round, as usual!

Kind regards,

Stix

[Johnson]

On 11/14/2021 at 10:43 PM, giemme said:

it was time to deal with the airbrakes; Finemolds really missed out on this, since all parked Phantoms show deployed airbrakes

Pah! And I thought that I'd be able to make my FM F-4D OOB! Well good to know anyhow and I have some Eduard airbrakes left over from a Hasegawa F-4J made several years ago.

 

Cracking work Giorgio! Excellent tips.

[Thom216]

Yeah, weird that Fine Molds missed (or chose not to do) the airbrakes. Just about every other kit has it right! Oh well, I guess we'd be suffering from over-indulgence if they did it all correctly. Considering that the detail in the wheel bays and the 'pit will release up some time for that, it 's probably not too big of a sacrifice. You've handled it great here!

[giemme]

On 22/11/2021 at 00:06, hendie said:

Nice brasswork Giorgio. It's a much underrated medium and more folks should take the plunge.

Nice flappery too

Thanks Alan  Brass is definitely a versatile material for our uses

 

On 22/11/2021 at 11:58, PlaStix said:

Good to see more progress Giorgio. Very impressive all round, as usual!

Kind regards,

Stix

Cheers Stix, thank you

 

On 22/11/2021 at 12:54, Johnson said:

Pah! And I thought that I'd be able to make my FM F-4D OOB! Well good to know anyhow and I have some Eduard airbrakes left over from a Hasegawa F-4J made several years ago.

 

Cracking work Giorgio! Excellent tips.

Thanks Charlie   The drooping airbrakes are such a distinctive feature of the Phantom - just like the drooping ailerons   

 

On 22/11/2021 at 21:51, Thom216 said:

Yeah, weird that Fine Molds missed (or chose not to do) the airbrakes. Just about every other kit has it right! Oh well, I guess we'd be suffering from over-indulgence if they did it all correctly. Considering that the detail in the wheel bays and the 'pit will release up some time for that, it 's probably not too big of a sacrifice. You've handled it great here!

It is weird indeed - still , a good fun in scratch building them  

 

I manged a little bit of progress on the FM kit: wings glued in, and as you can see a spacer was needed inside the bottom front fuselage to align the nose wheel bay walls correctly, jsut like on the Hasegawa kit

 

 

There are a few minor gaps to be dealt with, but only once it has totally cured. Meanwhile, I tackled the tail fin: the fin top of this HAF bird should have the typical oval shaped antenna, just like on the Hase bit you see on top of it

 

So the initial idea was to perform some more surgery, by removing the FM fin top and replacing it with the Hasegawa part. Problem is, that the latter is a good 1 mm shorter than the former

 

Early in the build, I had cast a copy of this antenna using Oyumaru and white Milliput

 

So I decided to go for that instead; after some sanding ad reshaping

 

Superglued in place

 

 

I filled in the gap at the back with the usual CA+flour mix (still to be tidied up in those pics). After some sanding and cleaning up, I eventually glued the two fin parts together

 

 

The engineering of this part is just brilliant: no nasty join seam on the fin leading edge to deal with; still there's a bit of a gap on the back side of the insert that needs some care, but it's going to be way easier than a traditional identical halves join.

Finally, a quick dry fit of the fin in place

 

I'll glue it on only once I have completed the nose area; it's going to be easier to handle the model that way. The time to sort the outer wings is approaching fast now....

 

All comments welcome, as usual

 

Ciao